Zero Punctuation: Shadow of the Colossus

[RTR]

That's not your prostate. And you must really like KFC. For some reason, I'm the only one I know who eats it at a more or less frequent rate. I just think it's tasty.

Damn good review, sir.

 

[daxterx2005]

Dragon force reference: Thumbs up
Bashing SCII: Thumbs up

TWO THUMBS UP!

 

[bennie2069]

I love that game too! A fav from the PS2.

And SC II and go suck a lemon. I don't think Blizzard needs anymore of my money! lol.

 

[Littaly]

Weird, I thought this was gonna be one of those "Everybody is so crazy about this game but wake up it blows because I say so and have really irrelevant reasons".

 

[JohanGasMask]

I love when Yahtzee compares good game elements to bad and boring game elements.
Good show, Yahtzee.

 

[BoldBaldBastard]

I don't understand why so many people wanted Yatzhee to review Starcraft2 in the first place?

It can easily stand on it's own with alone it's singleplayer. I played through SP and really enjoyed it, it had a good story. I tried some multiplayer, but i was never really thrillingly good at RTS-es though.
I used to be one of the first to be able to figure out what unit does what, but the whole Beta program kinda voided that advantage.

Why would he want to review such a good game, when he loves to give critique?

 

[ribonuge]

I think I will make a conflicting statement about this review.

"Hell, it's about time"

Heh.

 

[reiem531]

Thank god we finally got to get yahtzee's opinion, which he had already made perfectly clear countless times before, about an over hyped, half a decade old title that quite frankly fucking sucked ass. That's right everyone, it sucked.

The title alone was boring enough and did nothing to inspire players to rush out there and pick it up. From the damn title alone you got the feeling that this thing would be there for a long, long time and could be picked up whenever. The controls were not laid out well, the world had dyslexia when it came to pacing, and the boss fights were boring. GREATEST GAME EVER!!1! No, just the most over hyped game ever. Stop praising mediocrity.

^obviously did not understand the game.

 

[Nazulu]

Damn Good 'ey? Great! Cause I was planning on getting this game as well as Ico and a PS3 that can play PS2 games.

Also, glad your still sticking it too SC2, it's definitely not worth the hype.

 

[Stefan Larsen]

he meant two x's

 

[www.2geeks1donkey.com]

Yahtzee is a god.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

You know, I always wondered what Yahtzee really thought of this game (I knew he appreciated it at least since he's referenced it favourably before) but I never really had much hope that he'd actually review it, even as a retro review. So this was a really interesting review to watch.

I also liked seeing his brief commentary on ICO, which in my opinion is arguably a better game- it has a lot more gameplay depth (it's a puzzle platform action adventure, while Shadow is more minimalist), has a better story (not actually difficult, as once again Shadow's plot is very minimalist), a MUCH better camera (something I'm surprised Yahtzee didn't touch on, as Shadow's camera sometimes spazzes out completely when you're particularly close to a colossus) and dispenses with the unnecessary GUI altogether, making the game more immersive. But I think Shadow of the Colossus just gets more recognition than ICO because it has giant stone monsters in it. They're both brilliant, but if you ask me ICO is just that little bit more so.

Thank god we finally got to get yahtzee's opinion, which he had already made perfectly clear countless times before, about an over hyped, half a decade old title that quite frankly fucking sucked ass. That's right everyone, it sucked.

The title alone was boring enough and did nothing to inspire players to rush out there and pick it up. From the damn title alone you got the feeling that this thing would be there for a long, long time and could be picked up whenever. The controls were not laid out well, the world had dyslexia when it came to pacing, and the boss fights were boring. GREATEST GAME EVER!!1! No, just the most over hyped game ever. Stop praising mediocrity.

You are wrong. Sorry, you're entitled to your opinion, but it's wrong. Sure, you didn't have to like the game if it doesn't particularly appeal to you (maybe you'd like it more if Wander had a rocket launcher and Mono had enormous tits), but it does not "suck". It's not even "mediocre". Maybe it isn't the "GREATEST GAME EVER!!1!" but if you say it simply "sucks ass" then you're wrong. Sorry.

 

[alittlepepper]

Love this game. Story was confusing but the game itself made up for it. I often found myself imagining my own stories as I would play through it. Great game, great review, and yay for bucking the trend and reviewing something other than what everyone in the world tells you to.
I've not even seen gameplay footage of SC2 and I'm already sick of hearing about it...
But of course, that's just what hype tends to do to me.
Anyway, back OT: Great review, Yahtzee. Well done, though I would disagree on the point of the smaller colossi. Sure they weren't as visually impressive as the bigger ones but I thought they were pretty thrilling in their own way just because they were so much faster.
Still, to each their own! Looking forward to the next one.

 

[daedrick]

...aaaand the crowd goes wild.

And "crowd" includes myself. I've always wanted to see Yahtzee review this game.

Incidentally, if the game release schedule has dried up, would you consider a review of Metro 2033? If nothing else, it's a game with plenty of flaws to criticise.

Oh shit, who didn't LOVE the part when you have a children on your back... my god it was annoying trying to aim with that little fellow kicking my arms so I was sure to miss the damn SUPER speedy rats.

Good times.

 

[pingnak]

So, I take it Yahtzee liked this one...

 

[Snakepiper]

I understand that your not into RTS games but the only one Ive ever really seen you review was halo wars, and that blew serious balls. At least give a good RTS a review before you ignore them completely.
I honestly don't care if you rip it apart because you always find the problems that everyone has with the games to rip them apart on. In my opinion SC2 is great but then again I have always liked RTS games. Any way thats just my little opinion in this giant mess of comments that will probably never be read.

 

[PlasticTree]

Christ, you must love saying something nice about a game for once.

..And no, I'm not saying hów good that must feel.


Personally I'd love to play Shadow of the Colossus, since I never had the opportunity to do so. Meh, I bet this game costs way too much on E-bay these days.

 

[Harkonnen64]

Can I come up to the tree-house too, Yahtzee? I'll bring chips (or crisps as I believe they're called in Australia)!

 

[Warforger]

You realize that the vast, VAST majority of people playing SC2 absolutely suck at it, right? They might have potential, but even a ton of people that still play Starcraft 1 have no idea how to play. You can't base a game's depth off how its worst players play. The only reason tabletop games don't have "spamming units" is because the sort of casual players that actually expect that sort of thing to work anywhere above bronze won't make the commitment to pay for all the crap needed to play tabletop. Dawn of War is not a bad game, you're just straw-manning it based on its worst players.

Oh yah, maybe having played with the pro's qualifies as "straw-manning it based on its worst players".

You have to use tactical thinking, fight for map control and preserve your units in Dawn of war. Same with starcraft but you can afford to lose troops if you did more resources in damage to your opponent. I don't know what games you are playing.

Yah which is like the first or second tier. Let's put it like this, if you lose one squad of Space Marines in DoW, is it that devastating? No you can just build more. You could throw away an army then build another one while the enemy is walking towards your base.

That claim is laughable at best. Especially in the face of games like World In Conflict or Ground Control.

Seriously? Re-read what you just typed, and tell me how a game would ever end if every time you lose your army you could just "build another one while the enemy is walking towards your base." Losing military units without inflicting comparable damage leaves an opening in your defenses, which must be addressed by focusing on military production which harms the rate of economic growth, or taking the chance of not focusing on production which risks a counter-attack that can REDUCE your economy, giving the opponent a long-term advantage. It also shrinks the size of your future army while leaving the opponent's army the same size, which he can continue to bolster to remain at a military advantage and contain you while he expands, or he can expand immediately without risk of being overpowered, either way putting you at a long-term disadvantage that can cost the game. Only a fool would charge straight into an enemy base after a close victory and hit the rebuilt army. Any decent player would use the victory to establish map control and deny expansion while he secures the lead. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Have fun staying in Bronze forever.

Ahuh. Surely you knew that was a exaggeration? How's staying in Freshman English forever doing for you?

Let me rephrase what I find wrong. There isn't as much tactical decisions as much as it is who can spam faster then the other by having the most economy points, this is how by the end of tier 2 the strategy is over because now your just focusing on amassing the largest army and picking off your enemy, so basically you win by early game, otherwise you just sit around the rest of the game achieving little.

My point was that every individual unit is very unimportant and disposable, if you lose one space marine squad, fluff wise its devastating, but game wise time to get another one.

 

[Samcanuck]

Well how about that. THAT is doing something different. I really enjoy your show Yahtzee. I respect that you are exploring an element outside your niche....so thumbs up from me. Seeing the odd good game (especially nostalgic) gives comparison and is entertaining.
You did that with psyconotts, correct? (Yes, the spelling is crap...but nothing like a pint after work, eh). Anyways, keep up the good work man.