anyone play the Shadow of the Colossus demo?
 

now i'll preface this by saying that i am an absolutely huge fan of ico, and i've been waiting with baited breath for "nico" for the better part of three years...

but wtf is up with shadow? it's almost as if they took the most annoying parts of ico (the battles) and made them the focal point of a game. the camera is very bad, which wasn't a problem in ico because most of the time the camera was set in a perfectly placed location since you were dealing with small gamespaces. this time around, you're in a wide open 3d world, and have control (to an extent) over the camera. that aside, there are no real mental challanges like in ico, instead it's been replaced with running around and dodging until you can grab onto the collosus and stab like a cheap slasher movie.

i don't know... maybe i'll play it again tomorrow and see the genius inside it, but right now it's looking bleak.

played it again today and beat the demo. it's more fun now that i understand how the battles work, but i'm still not a fan of the camera, especially on horseback. it really makes exploration a chore by not pulling back far enoughto let you get a good view of the surroundings and oftentimes letting your character fall to the edge of the screen. this is a case of style over substance, i'm afraid.

i've already heard some people expressing a lot of disappointment with the game. i still havent picked up ICO, but i doubt i'll be getting this till it is cheaper (though i still think it looks pretty cool).

you can probably get ico for like $12-$14 at this point. it's possibly the most solidly designed game ever made. the downside is you'll probably finish it in less than 8 hours... but at the cost of two movie tickets, it's by far worth it.

i just beat ico... amazing. it's got some of the best character development i've ever seen in a game, which doesn't make sense at all.

my brother in law has this... but i don't have anything to say other than that. my brother said "LOOK WHAT GAME JON GOT~!!!!!" and i blinked and ate some cereal.

well, it looks like i'm eating my words. i'll probably be buying this with my next paycheck.

what convinced you to buy it?

seeing it in action and rave reviews from theshizz and yourself, basically.

i bought this last week, played it for an hour that night, beat the first 2 colossi, and haven't touched it since. it's so fucking amazing and fun though, i must get back to it soon...