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Location: G-town, Na Hampsha, United States

I was born at a young age, soon I had grown into an older person, with more years under my belt than when I was born. At the age of five I had my fifth birthday. Seven years later I was twelve years older than the day I was born. A few years later I was older than that. Soon I was old enough to start a web log. A year after that I was mature enough to call it a blog. Shortly after that I typed this. Oh, how the years go by.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!

Not really. Just though I would take the time to post something. The holiday season is here and mostly gone. Oh well, I never did like the whole "Let's celebrate because everyone else does at this time of year" thing. Personally, I prefer Festivas. On a side note, Christmas was lousy this year. My dad got sick, my uncle couldn't spend the day with us (He lives at a local nursing home and we didn't want to risk him catching what my dad has), and we didn't have a nice Christmas dinner. Whatever. On the up side, I did get Shadow of the Colossus for the PS2. I can think of one word to describe it. Awesome. So without further adieu, Jacob's spectacular game review #1:

Shadow of the Colossus takes place in a distant land. You play the role of a young hero out to bring your recently killed girlfriend back from the dead (presumably not as a zombie) The game starts with you setting your dearly departed gal on a large stone alter within a temple of some sort. Soon after an echoing voice calls down from the ceiling telling you that to resurrect your sweetie all you have to do is destroy the giant stone idols that line the room. Simple enough, only problem is, the idols can't be destroyed by mortal hands. Right. Luckily for you, there is a loop hole. If you can seek out and destroy the sixteen colossi that inhabit this land the idols will fall. The stage is set and away you go.
The first thing one might notice about this game is the massive scope of the playing field. The player is given a horse (its name is Ago for those who care) and the standard holy sword and bow and arrow set. From there you are left to roam the land on horse back guided by a form of divine GPS by means of reflecting light off your sword. Your travels lead through dark forests, across vast gorges, over vast fields and through baren deserts. The landscape is stunning. Spread across the land are the ruins of some ancient civilization. The player is free to explore wherever they see fit. My personal favorite spot is a thin pass leading along a high cliff that overlooks a towering waterfall that drops into a deep lake far below.
Aside from the scenery, the Colossi are definitely worth seeing. As there name implies they are huge. Most are the size of small apartment buildings. Each Colossus is unique, ranging from four legged beasts to towering giants wielding massive swords. Most can be found roaming the ruins of some lost city but some inhabit the depths of deep lakes and a few soar through the sky. They all have a vaguely Aztec feel to them and all appear to be made of stone with patches of fur in places. Battling the colossi involves climbing onto the hulking creatures and scrambling across their bodies desperately searching for that one weak spot to sink you sword into to slay it. This is often much easier said than done. Many of the giants require quite a bit of strategy to reveal the weak point or provide an opportunity to mount them. Once on them the player is provided the challenge of holding on for dear life while the Colossus bucks wildly to dislodge the unwanted passenger. All the while, the player, like a tick on the back of a bull, must slowly crawl across the creature in search of a symbol that marks the Colossus' weak spot. One the creature has fallen the player is returned to the temple and sent out to find the next one.
This game is definitely one of my favorites, visually stunning, strategically challenging and an all around great gaming experience. In fact, my only complaint is that the game is a bit short. It took my less than ten hours of game time to beat it on normal difficulty. Even so, I would recommend this game to anyone looking for something challenging and fun. Jacob's rating: 9 out of 10.

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