(4/25/2010) One of the beautiful things about video games, as well as other forms of art, is their ability to question the nature of people, of systems, of nature and life. Why do we do terrible things in the name of good? To what end does that bring us? What is the nature of a good deed, anyway?
Fumito Ueda and his development team, TEAM ICO, decided to tackle these difficult questions not in the form of a concrete answer, but in the form of a video game crafted with what can best be described as a forlorn love for the medium. That video game is Shadow of the Colossus, for the PlayStation 2.
Amidst the ruins of a lost, ancient race of unknown beings, a man on a horse strides along an elaborately-built bridge on a horse, carrying little more than short sword, a bow, and a woman's lifeless corpse. He has come to this forsaken, empty land in search of a way to bring his beloved back to life.
The land he and his horse tread upon feels sacred, tranquil, and untouched by humankind for centuries at the very least. At the end of a long, lonesome travel, the man enters a temple seemingly forgotten by time, where butterflies rest along flowers pushing from out of cracks in the old stone of the temple's walls. He rests the woman on a large pedestal at the open end of the temple, blindingly bright sunlight pouring warmth onto the pair, as a gentle, powerful voice echoes through the temple. It speaks in some ancient, forgotten language, telling the young man that if he wishes to bring his love back to life, that he must take the lives of twelve colossi that roam the empty wilds surrounding the temple. They are the only adversaries in the entirety of the game; what amount to twelve boss battles.
Each of these incredible creatures, innocent and gentle beasts that look older than time itself and have done no wrong, are to be toppled by the young man's blade, his bow, and his wits alone; there are no other tools. How exactly do you kill a mountain? And when you do, what consequences are there for taking their lives? As you climb the beast, the music drives you forward, arriving in a crescendo of freedom, an exhilarating sense of euphoria as you conquer the massive creature! You almost forget that what you're doing is wrong...and with each kill, the man loses more and more of...something. The music feels sad as the being topples to the ground, felled for no reason other than the fact that it was an obstacle in the man's way. It is dead, and your only reward is to see the ethereal tendrils of the colossus' soul writhe through the air, finding the one who had done the deed, diving down to the ground and pushing through into the man's chest. Exhaling a spirit-tinged breath, the man collapses to the ground, unconscious.
He awakens again inside the temple, and is given the location of the next innocent creature he is to slay. The cycle repeats.
TEAM ICO is famous for their artistic minds, and this is saying quite a bit considering that the team has only developed two games to date, Shadow of the Colossus being the second of these two. The first game, ICO, is not only the namesake of the developer, but is an equally artistic, beautiful tale of a boy with horns trapped in a labyrinth. His only companion is a ragged princess who speaks an ethereal foreign language, and yet she depends upon the boy to lead her to safety, and to protect her from the shadows that lurk around the labyrinth. Your only weapon, similar to the "hero" in SOTC, is a stick. There are no flashy menus, no fluff or sidequests, and barely any narrative to speak of. It is through this minimalist style that TEAM ICO has crafted their own identity from ancient stone and mythic wonder. These are not games in the traditional sense, and yet they are some of the best the medium has to offer.
The future is looking bright for Ueda-san and his team too, as later this year, the team is looking to bring The Last Guardian exclusively to the PlayStation 3. While little has been revealed of this game so far, it will be the third in TEAM ICO's library, and looks to be a fusion of what can be found in the team's two previous games. The story concerns a young boy, very reminiscient of the main character in ICO, who befriends a large, yet friendly gryphon-looking creature named Trico. Personally, considering the sheer beauty and emotional depth that TEAM ICO's two previous games have held, to say I am eager to get my hands on this newest effort would be an enormous understatement!
Take a look at these two videos! The first is a trailer for Shadow of the Colossus, and the second one is a trailer for the upcoming The Last Guardian. Enjoy!
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