Shadow of the Collossus demo in OPM

[Overbite]

The new OPM mag has a demo for SotC and it's really rad!

The demo DOES have a time limit (not sure how long, felt like 30 minutes) and if you stray too far from the starting temple it crashes, but there is plenty to explore and look at.

And one giant boss to fight! I can't talk about the boss fight because it would spoil it, but it's pretty cool.

There are some problems though. First is the camera. It's kinda weird.

Also there's pop-in, all sorts of slowdown and texture warping. But this is the may e3 demo so it's ok. I hope it's fixed.

the OPM mag gave the game a 4.5/5 and the cons were that the bosses were pretty much all there is to do in this game other than explore the world (and you'll only see a small part of it if you just go from boss to boss)


go give the demo a try. do it!

[Joker T]

Cool, this game looks ace I hope to try it out soon

[PDorr3]

Being the huge ICO fan that I am this game is awsome, more than what I expected. I dont believe the demo has a time limit, its just the game does crash if you stray too far from the map. I played it for 4-5 hours, yes thats right 4-5 hours. There is plenty to do and explore. For those of you that have the demo, here are some areas to try and find:

You can get onto the HUGE bridge, yes this IS possible, but makes use of an exploit, all I will say is "diagonal jump"

There is a nice forest with tons of lush green trees, and lizards!

A small beach place with turles, very nice area

Ocean area where you can go swiming, and see where one of the colossus will be in the final version (it is blocked off)

The best area is the forest, and it is the hardest to find!

The boss battle was great, took me a good 30 mins to figure out how to even get on him. After that it was maybe 5 mins before he was taken down.

As for the cemera yes it is weird, but it is taking a unique panning technique and making the game more dramatic in terms of its visual style.

Also all of the bugs such as slow frame rate, and ugly textures have been fixed according to sources.

Looking forward to the final release!

PLAY ICO!

[roushimsx]

Hmm, this demo sounds seriously awesome. I'll have to see if there's someway I can snag a copy without buying that rag it comes bundled with

sidenote: I didn't like Ico the first two times I tried to play it. Haven't tried it in a year or so, but I'm pretty sure I won't like it now either. Graphically beautiful....yea...but other than that I just found it to be...dull.

[Gamereviewgod]

I'm still split. I'm not a fan of the controls AT ALL. Controlling while riding the horse is unbearable. Turning is frustrating. I don't care if it's real. This is a fantasy world. Make it playable.

The controls of jumping and grasping onto ledges is aggravating too. Why the need for multiple button presses? Overly complicated, and it shouldn't be.

Then I'm confused as to how the Colossus knocks the player off. What makes the difference between a succesful climb and being thrown off? It's hard to see what's climbable (is that a word?) and what's not.

I love this world though. Seeing the the creature for the first time is an experience everyone should have. The sense of size and scale has never been done like this.

[njiska]

See i'm scared about this game. Shadow looks really, really stunning, but between the graphical limitations of the PS2, several comments from the developers about graphical difficulties and then you're comments about how the demo plays, i'm afraid that the final release will suffer from the aformentioned problems.

Here's hoping that the final version is fixed.

[PDorr3]

I'm still split. I'm not a fan of the controls AT ALL. Controlling while riding the horse is unbearable. Turning is frustrating. I don't care if it's real. This is a fantasy world. Make it playable.

I was expecting wore, but I became accustomed to the controls pretty fast. They do take awhile of getting used to, but the horse does not feel robotic, it really feels like you are riding the horse. Also just hit X a few times and all you need to do is stear. I read in the final version that the horse will ride automaticaly during colossus fights to give you better controls when aiming.

The controls of jumping and grasping onto ledges is aggravating too. Why the need for multiple button presses? Overly complicated, and it shouldn't be.

This is one thing that was also aggrivating to me as well, took me a good 30 mins to an hour before I had it down right. Overly complex? yes. Work well? yes. It gave me a sense of control, being able to control how powerful my jumps were and when exactly to grab hold works well. I played for 5 hours (doing alot of jumping and grabing [hint there is an exploit on the castle] and I can say after 5 hours I have all of the controls downpact. [quote]

Then I'm confused as to how the Colossus knocks the player off. What makes the difference between a succesful climb and being thrown off? It's hard to see what's climbable (is that a word?) and what's not.[quote]

See the purple circle in the bottom right? thats the grip gauge. It decreases the longer you hold on. If it deminished the next time the colossus trys to throw you off you will fall. This is good because the battles could easily be exploited by simply hanging onto one spot for a long time, you gotta think quick.

I love this world though. Seeing the the creature for the first time is an experience everyone should have. The sense of size and scale has never been done like this.

Yes it is very mezorizing, try exploring a bit of the demo and see if you can find the areas I listed above, alot of fun!

[RJ]

I'll just paste what I posted about it over on AA last week:

I just finished messing around w/ the demo for over an hour- WOW. I got more out of that than some games I've had before!

I had more fun exploring & doing horse tricks than actually defeating the colossus. I played a little game w/ my horse- if you're a distance away, you whistle ("x") to call it; any closer & you speak to it, & it comes. Then I'd run away from it, creating a chasing game. Watching it, it seemed a bit cruel to the horse! I liked how the horse kicks up dirt as you're riding.

I was getting a bit frustrated w/ trying to climb the colossus, & getting stomped by its feet. I followed the "guide" in the OPM mag & died a few times before doing it. Then I explored the surounding area, as suggested in the article. What an expansive place for a demo! I found a couple lakes, swam in one, jumped/fell off a bridge, & found a wooded area far to the east of the main temple. The mag says the area is devoid of life except for a few birds, but I found lizards (some w/ white tails) near the woods I discovered.

I also saw a few pyramid-shaped stone buildings, seemingly temples w/ shimmering energy barriers on the back. Some of these were out in the open & just disappeared as I rode toward them, but a couple I was able to dismount & go up to. The one in the woods I was able to kneel & begin to pray(!), then the demo crashed. Obviously they're meant for other parts of the game.

[Overbite]

Forgot to mention in my post:

I hope in the full game the tips can be turned off. I was messing around trying to figure out how to get on the boss when the helpful tip popped up and told me exactly what to do. Thank's for taking all the fun out of it, game!

Also, if you kill a lizard and then press O over it's tail, you eat it and your health and grip meters get a little bigger.

[sabre2922]

See i'm scared about this game. Shadow looks really, really stunning, but between the graphical limitations of the PS2, several comments from the developers about graphical difficulties and then you're comments about how the demo plays, i'm afraid that the final release will suffer from the aformentioned problems.

Here's hoping that the final version is fixed.

I cant wait to play this beautiful game on "the graphical limitations" PS2

Please njiska get off your "I hate PS2 kick" and just give in to the fact that ALL the systems have a LOT to offer a gamer especially the "graphically limited" ps2 that you have such a dislike for.

[PDorr3]

Forgot to mention in my post:

I hope in the full game the tips can be turned off. I was messing around trying to figure out how to get on the boss when the helpful tip popped up and told me exactly what to do. Thank's for taking all the fun out of it, game!

Also, if you kill a lizard and then press O over it's tail, you eat it and your health and grip meters get a little bigger.

this is something people are complaining about, and I also think there should be an option to turn it on and off, but according to the review it seems like we will haveto stick with the hints. Best way to avoid them would be to just ignore them when they pop up.

[RJ]

I wasn't able to kill a lizard no matter how hard I tried.

[Overbite]

I wasn't able to kill a lizard no matter how hard I tried.

shoot it with an arrow

[Poofta!]

well, i hated it. i think it probably would be more fun to pick up broken shards of glass with my anus.

then again, i thought ICO was a terribly dumb game, so if you thought it was 'ok' or liked ICO, give this a try, every one else keep walking,nothing to see here.

[Six Switch]

i got the demo today and i have to say it is pretty good.still working on the boss though,but man this game is pretty.

[davepesc]

I just couldn't shake the bad feelings I got from this game. I honestly felt bad killing the colossus.

I mean, he's just there walking around and scratching his butt when I climb him and stab him in the brain for no real good reason.

It's like kicking a really, really big dog.

[Muscelli]

I got this issue, and dont want the demo (no ps2) if anyone wants to get this awesome game out of my hands for the shippign price, Id be more then glad to.. just dont PM me about it, all right?

[MaSKaMaN]

I'm very interested in the demo, but the problem is that I'm from Spain, so if you'd like to send it here just tell me.

Of course I will pay all shipment cost.

Greetings.

[Nesmaster]

Well i played the demo, for about an hour before fighting the colossus for a good 10 minutes. Great stuff! :P

In that hour i didnt find any of the places PDorr3 mentioned, but i'll be going back to it shortly

[YoshiM]

I just couldn't shake the bad feelings I got from this game. I honestly felt bad killing the colossus.

I mean, he's just there walking around and scratching his butt when I climb him and stab him in the brain for no real good reason.

It's like kicking a really, really big dog.

Play magazine had a big article about this game a few months ago. The developers were shooting for the ability to play with the gamer's emotions and it looks like in this case it worked.