‘Shadow of the Colossus’ review: A monumental masterpiece returns

A groundbreaking interactive adventure from years past gets rebuilt from the ground up to allow new gamers the chance to control the Wander on his quest to take down some multistory behemoths in the Forbidden Lands.

Suffice it to report, Shadow of the Colossus (Sony Computer Entertainment and Bluepoint Games, Rated Teen, $49.99) was great back in 2005 on the PlayStation 2 and now looks even more incredible on the PlayStation 4 through any large, 4K-compatible television.

For those unaware of its origins, the story finds the androgynous hero looking for a way to resurrect his favorite dead maiden Mono. He must first visit a massive shrine.

After some booming direction from a disembodied entity named Dormin, he is told to seek out and destroy the Colossi, an assortment of 16 large creatures roaming around a peninsula, and his wish will be granted.

Using a sword, that when held up in sunlight will direct beams toward the location of each beast, he mounts his trusty steed Argus and heads out across vast landscapes, exploring both above and below ground, to engage the monsters.

Each Colossi offers a slightly different challenge, whether they are walking on land, flying or swimming underwater. The Wander must find the best way to climb upon each, usually using large tracks of flowing fur, and with either a sword or bow, strike at the its weak points, denoted as glowing sigils.

It’s an exhilarating exercise played out over and over again, and each hunt feels like a gnat striking out against a “Lord of the Rings”-sized battle elephant.

Now, despite, the thrills of climbing these creatures and plunging a sword into them, as geysers of black goo spew out, there is something sad and outright distressing about killing those majestic Colossi that, by the way, are hurting nobody.

It’s simply more depressing to watch their demise now that the misty, slightly unfocused visual design has gotten that detail-rich digital makeover.

In fact, Sony noted that the pivotal Shrine of Worship location now has more digital detail power than the entire PlayStation 2 version of the game.

That potent polygonal and pixel upgrade now reveals plenty of craggily reptilian skin on the Colossi, impeccable stone work on ruins, patches of moss clinging to ancient pillars sunken in the water, and highlights the fine serrated edges of one of the creature’s pointed stone leg thrusting down to impale out hero.

An up-close look at the Wander highlights the imperfect skin on his neck with a wisp of veins and tiny mole or, while he is in action, viewers can see subtle splashes in the water as he swims or his horse kicks up dirt as it gallops.

More amazing to consider as one climbs the Colossi, each strand of dynamically generated fur on the creatures was designed by artists through a set of texture maps that define variables such as strand stiffness, length, color, flow direction and an array of other parameters.

Developers have done such a fantastic job of adding wonderful detail that they now have included a rich photo mode editor to take shots of their gorgeous recreation in action.

A player can stop the game at any point and manipulate a frozen moment through options such as depth of field, vignette, camera, filter and post FX as well as move the camera around to take any position, tweak the colors and even focus from the perspective of the horse before snapping the screenshot.

And, any of those 15 photo filters can also be applied at any time throughout the action to offer some cool, artsy variations to the exploration and battles.

My only slight beef is that the camera is still a bit too loose and controls could have used a bit more refinement. Having the Wander climb, hang on ledges and jump to ledges can be difficult, and Bluepoint could use some lessons from Nathan Drake’s “Uncharted” fluid game mechanics.

However, some game mechanics have been tweaked and, according to Sony, include faster underwater swimming, easier mounting of Argo (even in running situations), quicker weapon switching and streamlined game saving and loading options.

For those who have completed the game during its earlier iteration, it’s probably not worthy of a replay. However, gamers who have never played “Shadow of the Colossus” should gleefully dive into a challenge and expect to spend roughly 12 to 15 hours conquering this now stunning-looking world.