Played a shit load of Shadow of the Colossus over the last two days. What an amazing game. Beautiful landscapes, very peaceful and minimalistic in so many areas. When videogames get talked about for being 'art', I honestly think that this deserves to be in that category. The combat is great in its puzzle-like design, as you takes a few moments to figure out what you need to do. There's a good sense of satisfaction with it. I could honestly just gallop around the field on Agro and it was enough to just look the views and take it all in. There's a great dream-like feel throughout this, a bit hellish in some ways. Found the ending very impactful, beautiful, haunting, and so many other things at the same time.
Only criticisms I have are minor. I didn't enjoy the last two Colossi for different reasons. Didn't particularly enjoy the style for the 15th Colossus and found the whole encounter to be boring and meh, compared to half a dozen that came before it. That last Colossus, as cinematic as it was, was a real pain in the arse to see what you were doing due to the dark lighting, the lightning, the zoomed out camera, the fact that the Colossus is constantly moving its hand (which you are latching on to), making it a pain to control. I generally got on fine with the controls, but the last two Colossi (last one especially) were the only real times where it felt like I was fighting the controls, rather than playing the game. The last one was more frustrating than it needed to be. I think it would have been amazing to watch somebody else play that and for them to nail all of the jumps first time (without running out of stamina), and to be able to take in the visuals. It might be one that maybe I'll appreciate more on a second run through. In fairness, I had been playing the game for about...6 hours before that encounter, so perhaps tiredness was a factor.
It doesn't take the shine off what is an incredible game, though. I like Ueda's games. Hope to god we get another one soon.