is a Video game of action/ventures Japanese developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The play left in October 2005 to North America and in Japan and in February 2006 to Europe. The play is developed by the TEAM Ico, which had previously dealt with the play Ico .

The play follows the progression of an young man named Wanda which traverses the world and cuts down colossi in order to save a deadened young girl. The adventure dissociates plays of action/ventures in the sense that there are neither cities nor keeps to explore, not characters with whom to interact, and not either of usual enemies to fight except for the sixteen colossi,

Gameplay

There are in the play neither villages to explore, neither characters with whom to speak, neither objects to be collected (except perhaps lizards which influence the size of the gauge of agrippement and the fruits the bar of life), nor enemies, apart from the sixteen colossi. The player passes most of the play to be moved in vast environments and without life, in the search of one of the colossi. The goal of the main character, Wanda (The Wanderer, the Vagrant), is to cut down all the colossi to be able ressusciter an young woman of which it deposited the body in the temple of a mysterious region. Little information are given on the history or the motivations characters during the play. This reinforces the side symbolic system of the search, a hero accompanied by sound only horse and a magic sword, left to face impressive colossi, to save a woman. The play is not nevertheless Manichean because the colossi all are not aggressive, and one becomes aware of the egoistic and unjust character of this search during the play.

The colossi are appeared as gigantic creatures carrying of the armours or the carapaces, which often should be climbed to be able to reach their vital points. The confrontations are supported by a music to cut the breath, which changes with the wire of the progression of the player on the colossus. As the equipment of the hero is limited and solidified with the beginning of the play (a horse, an arc and a sword) and that the victory results partly from the interaction with the decoration, Shadow off the Colossus can be considered at the same time as a Jeu of action - ventures and a play of reflection.

Wanda aggripe with the cornices and the colossi with the R1 key of the joystick. This idea is taken up with ICO, where this key made it possible to the main character to hold the hand of Yorda.

There are many small dispersed temples which are useful to safeguard the part. It is enough for that to request while pressing on the round button opposite the temple. Many lizards with white tail generally live close to these temples.

Colossi

There are 16 colossi in Shadow off the Colossus :

After having embanked each colossus, their bodies become hard like stone and are sometimes encrusted with sparse plants. A broad spoke of light, visible by far, then floods the inanimate body of the colossus. If the player wishes it, it can defy a colossus previously shot down by approaching its corpse and while requesting in front of him (reminiscence mode).

Mode Time Attack

When the play is finished, either in normal mode or in difficult mode, a " mode; Time Attack" becomes accessible, and the player can again defy each colossus while requesting in front of his statue in the temple. The defeat of two unspecified colossi in a limited time involves the release of a short video sequence: the camera shows the small basin at the entry of the temple in which appears a special object. They are generally used to increase the power of Wanda or allows him to more easily locate the colossi and the no-claims bonus.

The reward for the achievement of these challenges varies according to the difficulty. The use of the objects gained in these challenges is not possible in mode time attack.
To obtain all the objects, the 16 challenges must be accomplished. There are thus eight objects to collect in the normal mode and eight in the difficult mode.

; Agro Chestnut

• Freed after having finished the mode Time Attack in normal mode

; Agro White

• Freed after having finished the mode Time Attack in difficult mode

No-claims bonus

In Shadow off the Colossus hides several secrecies and modes of play déblocables, which make it possible to gain various prices. The majority are available only after having supplemented the search first once, but some can be also discovered in the course of part.

• the spot on the face Agro : if a safeguard of the play Ico is present in the memory card, the white spot usually in the diamond shape on the face the Agro one appears in the form of a " I" (with the C-W communication of the title of Ico ).

• Mode Reminiscence : the player can defy the colossus again, for example involving itself, simply while approaching the corpse and while requesting (thanks to the button Action of the lever).
• difficult Mode : after having finished the play first once, it is possible to start again it in difficult mode. In this mode, the colossi have more force and have additional vital points at various places of the body.
• Mode against shows it : kill the colossi in a limited time.
• Fruits and lizards : the flora and fauna can help Wanda in its search. To eat fruits increases the bar of life, and to eat the white tail of the lizards increases the gauge of strength. Certain prices of the mode Time Attack are useful to quickly locate these fruits and these lizards with white tail.
• secret Garden : it is possible, with a gauge of agrippement sufficiently large (or a technique of particular rise specific to versions NTSC), to climb the wall of the sanctuary and thus to reach the broad bridge. Beside this last a staircase rises which leads to a luxuriant secret garden.

Weave

Scenario

The history of Shadow off the Colossus starts when Wanda crosses a large viaduct to enter on prohibited grounds. Gone up on its Agro horse, it arrives in an enormous sanctuary at the center of the area, then deposits on the furnace bridge the wrapped body of a shroud which it transported. It withdraws cloth and one discovers the face of a named young woman Mono. At this point in time several creatures which seem made of a very dark ether appear to attack the characters. Of appearance humanoïde, the creature-shades are quickly overcome by Wanda, armed with its sword.

Leaving the heights of the temple, the désincarnée voice of an entity known under the name of Dormin is made hear, surprised that the traveller has such a weapon. Wanda requires of Dormin to save his/her friend, by reinstating the heart in its body. He explains to him why that will not be possible for him that when the sixteen Idole S of stones of the temple are destroyed. It is necessary for him for each statue to overcome as a preliminary the giant who is associated to him and who puts back some share in the area. For that, Dormin explains to him why it must use its sword, a single weapon with the magic capacities.

In spite of the warnings of Dormin which explains to him why it will have a Grand Prix to pay a price to reanimate Mono, Wander leaves to research the colossi. After the death of each colossus, the physical appearance of Wander is degraded: its skin becomes paler and its darker hair, while Mono finds a fresher dye.

After the death of the twelfth colossus, with the accesses of the viaduct an small group of warriors appears directed by a Shaman called Seigneur Emon; they continue Wanda. Exhorted to press itself in its task by Dormin, Wanda arrives soon at sixteenth and last colossus. But in way, whereas it crosses a bridge, the work collapses. Its Agro horse has just time to eject it on a slope while is to carry to him in collapse and fall into the river, of the hundreds of lower feet.

The group of warriors arrives at the sanctuary whereas the last idol of the temple is destroyed. Wander appears little of time afterwards, it has from now on a cadaveric dye and raises two small horns which have just left its head. Informant that Wanda is had, Emon orders with his warriors to kill it. Whereas it tries to join Mono, a warrior strips an arrow with the leg to him, while an other transpierces the heart of a sword to him. A black blood runs out of the wound, and the body of Wander covers darkness then it fall on the ground (as the colossi die).

Dormin then takes the control of the spirit of Wanda then is transformed into a colossus-shade. He explains why its body had been separate for seal its capacity. Whereas its men flee, Emon throws the old sword of Wander in a small basin at the bottom of the temple. A swirl of light creates for itself and absorbs Dormin and Wander. Emon and its men leave the grounds then prohibited, the viaduct which gives access the temple collapses behind them. As they arrive in safety at the entry of the area, Emon hopes that if Wander survived, it will be able one being day able to repair its actions.

In the temple, Mono awakes, in accordance with the promise of Dormin, while Agro joined it in spite of a wounded leg. They approach the basin in which Wanda and Dormin were aspired, and there find a young boy with small horns on the head. It takes the child with it, then follows the horse to a luxuriant secret garden, located high in the sanctuary.

Characters

The main character of the play is an young man (doubled by Kenji Nojima) fore-mentioned Wanda . Appelé Wander in the versions Japanese woman and American (what means wandering in Japanese), one does not know if it is its true first name or a simple name of the character, With died of each colossus, the player can hear his voice is done more audible, it seems to be explained in an incomprehensible prattling (as in Ico once again). The black horse Agro finally is the third main character. Very faithful to the hero, it will come to find it with the temple after the death of each colossus, it will be averra very useful in the battle against certain colossi.

Dormin is a mysterious entity which lies in the large temple in the middle of the prohibited grounds. The nature even of Dormin is very strange: speaking about him in the plural, it is expressed with a sometimes male désincarnée voice (doubled by Kazuhiro Nakata), sometimes female (doubled by Kyoko Hikami), and sometimes seems to change in character. Progressively of account, one learns that Dormin is an entity déchue, which saw its capacity sealed in sixteen colossi distributed in the given up grounds, this for a still unexplained reason. It accepts mono ressuciter if the young hero cuts down the colossi. Although he does not warn Wanda of the true nature of the colossi, with the first access, Dormin does not seem to be animated by bad intentions, since he prevents it that its quète could have serious consequences.

To the beginning of the play, a narrator (doubled by Naoki Bando) presents the new grounds on which Wanda enters, while insisting on the fact that they are prohibited. Later, the voice of the narrator is again made hear mouth of the lord Emon , a Shaman with the head of an small group of warriors. Carrying a mask, its face is discovered only at the end of the play. It seems to have thorough knowledge on Dormin and the prohibited grounds. With its group, it continues Wander and tries to prevent it from returning its capacity in Dormin. It will use at the end of the set of powerful Magie S to dam up the entity.

The mysterious narrator also intervenes on the European official site, but its personality seems very different from that of Emon. Sometimes the answers which it gives to the questions of the visitor seem to indicate that itself is unaware of many important details of the history. It is difficult to say if the narrator and Emon are indeed the same person.

Music

The musics of the play are composed by Kow Otani, which according to criticisms, does here a work of great quality. The pieces particularly mèlent the cords, the percussions, and the French horn. Kow Otani plays itself the parts with the Piano with the Irish Bouzouki, and deals with the programming of the Synthétiseur.

In Shadow off the Colossus , the musics appear only at the times important of the action or the scenario: at the time of sequences kinematics and combat against the colossi. Most of the time, when the player is with the sanctuary or crosses the given up grounds, the musics are absent, only are made hear the noises caused by the hero and his horse and the murmurs of environnment. This absence of music of music contributes to create a climate of loneliness, which points out that of Ico.

However the play has a consequent band, on December 7th, 2005 leaves to Japan OST the play, heading Shadow off the Colossus: Roar off the Earth . It is not for the moment envisaged any exit of the album apart from the archipelago. Roar off the Earth gains in 2005 the price of " Original soundtrack of the année" déscerné by the American magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly .

Development

Genesis

Following success criticizes of Ico left in 2001, Fumito Ueda, with the head of the studio of development 1 of SCEI (renamed " TeamIco" , in reference to their first project), wants to set up a new project based on the idea first of moving platforms. After the exit of Ico , the team is as a reduced manpower, the developers are called on other Sony projects or see their contracts quite simply arriving in the long term. Ueda then decides to recruit new developers and passes an advertisement in the very popular Japanese magazine Famitsu in July 2002. The advertisement appears in double-page and profits from a neat graphics which points out the style of Ico, it is to some extent the first advertisement of the play. The team seeks developer specialized in physical and gravitational simulations. This advertisement is a certain success and soon, not less than 500 candidates try their chance.

The development of the play begins really only in 2002 under the name of " project; Nico" , this title is a Mot-valise in Japanese: formed starting from nor (2 in Japanese) and " Ico".

One of the first presentations of the play is done with the DICE Summit of 2003, one sees there a group of characters hooded and horned who attack then embank a colossus.

Concepts

Ueda and the producer Kenji Kaido are very demanding towards the team and hope to produce a work of great quality. Ueda often requires material changes during the development so that the play corresponds to its vision of the project.

Just like for Ico , Ueda work much on the atmosphere of the play. Here all is made to propose the even esseulée solitary pace of the hero. From this point of view, the hero will not meet any human character before the any end of the play. The creator also insist to set up a world which would seem really enormous and which however does not contain almost any animal life, besides some rare birds or lizards.

Exit

For the amateurs of the team games, the TEAM Ico offers a DVD no-claims bonus for the Pre-order S Japanese of the play. One finds there of several vidéos on the development and the presentation of Ico and Shadow off the Colossus : for example it video of the DICE Summit, all vidéos of demonstrations, the explanations on the screen of Nico and a presentation of the menbres of the development team which present their ideas in connection with the play.

The advertizing campaign launched for the exit of Shadow off the Colossus in the United States shows a certain originality. This countryside of viral Marketing was based on a network of Web sites dealing with the remote existence of giants who would have populated the ground. The principle was to reveal improbable discoveries of fossils and skeletons of colossi to the four corners of the world. Giants who were the characters of the play Shadow Of The Colossus. The word of mount hawked the rumor with the ears of certain credulous Net surfers who believed in the miracle, whereas others more informed raised the veil of trickery by evoking this famous advertizing campaign.

Reception

Critical

Rewards

With the sixth ceremony of the Range Developers Choice Awards, which proceeded in March 2006, Shadow off the Colossus gained five prices out of nine possible:

• Play of the year
• Range Design
• Character Design
• Visual Arts
• Innovation

Anecdotes and curiosities

Randomly of some technical handling, of the users discovered that the name of the backup file present on the memory card of the Playstation 2, comprised word NICO. The engineering team made a wink with the provisional title used for the presentation of the concept of Shadow off the Colossus .

The end of the play clearly evokes its relationship with the history of Ico. The author expressed recently himself on this subject and confirmed the narrative bond between the two plays. Shadow off the Colossus préquelle being acknowledged Ico.

External bond

• European Official site

Random links:

Park of Gayeulles | Zacualpan de Amilpas | FC Omniworld | Secrecies (novel) | Handle-with-Griffon