Last week was the first round of the PS2 odd debate brackets. Katamari Damacy and Metal Gear Solid 2 started things off with many Dtoiders so befuddled and torn that they didn't know who to vote for.
At first, MGS 2 took a monstrous lead, with two votes for every single Katamari vote. Then, in some entertaining tallying irony, a proverbial ball of votes began to roll and gain speed. For several scrolls of the mouse the Katamari wad of support grew and grew, unanswered by its opposition. By the end it was an all out race for victory, with Solid Snake being chased by a giant rolling shadow. Here are the results:
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (60 votes) -- Winner!
- Katamari Damacy (47 votes) -- Good night, sweet Prince.
I'm crushed that there's no chance I'll be able to use the Katamari Colossus picture below as next week's debate banner, but alas, we move on.
If you thought last week's discussion was a tough decision of polar opposites, then get ready for a repeat of debate distraught. This week is a battle between emotions and art versus killing and action. Both games are epic, but the similarities end at their start menus. I noticed both games mentioned a lot last week in response to the bonus question, so feel free to give this debate a lot of thought.
Which game do you think is better, and why? Give it some serious thought, get some PS2 childhood friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner.
Contest:
10:02 PM on 11.18.2008
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No contest.
I've seen the pic for probably years now, so I'm not even sure where the art came from.
And i don't even think god of war is that great.
God of War was a great game, but Shadow of the Colossus drew me in to the story through the gameplay rather then then little story segments sprinkled in to break up the gameplay. I felt shocked and sad when my horse went over that cliff in Shadow of the Colossus.
Shadow of the Colossus was a damn good game, and what was there, was all amazing. Great graphics, raising-the-bar gameplay ideas that greatly impacted the industry, and an emotional tone and mood that many games have strived to reach, but few games have ever accomplished.
And let's point out something REALLY amazing -- Shadow of the Colossus is an adventure game. NOT an action adventure. If anyone tells you it is, you have my permission to slap them or submit them to lengthy diatribes about why they should feel bad. I hate how little adventuring there is in game these days. How there can't be adventure without the action. And no, fetching items in Platformers doesn't really count. And sure, Zelda games have lots and lots of action, but they have just as much or more adventure to match it. Shadow of the Colossus? Honestly, not a lot of action at all. But a fuck ton of adventure. My dream game, something I had wanted fulfilled through a controller for so many years.
So why won't I vote for it?
Shadow of the Colossus is like a term paper that's the best a teacher has ever read in all their years of teaching, yet it's 1/5th the minimum page length requirement. As amazing as it is, it's just a few scenes. Each are mostly flawless as they are unique, but that doesn't mean it deserves a better grade than someone who offered a much much larger game, filled with many more scenes that each offer the gamer more things to do. Not ground-breaking, but more complex. Much more coding involved, much more 3D design and objects to run past and interact with. Many many more all-nighters of level design and character design, etc, etc. Not to mention far more rendering and actual cinematics.
Shadow of the Colossus doesn't have to worry it got shown up though, because it's the student who you know will go on to bigger and better things. But on a 1-to-1 level, there's just more to God of War, and it offers so much more.
One more analogy to beat a dead Colossus: SotC is the best single scoop of ice cream I can ever remember having on the PS2. But God of War is an all you can eat buffet with a whole counter full of desserts. Both are worth trying, but one heavily outweighs the other.
VOTE: God of War
It speaks to the scope of my childhood imaginativeness.
"God of War 3" is coming soon to PS3.
Shadow of Colossus on the other hand, had so much promise, yet parts seemed just unfinished. The overworld, while expansive and beautiful, felt empty and dull at the same time. The Colossi (and lizards) were the only creatures in this world. And the story.. well, maybe I missed out, but I skipped it because it was boooooring. Plus, the camera _nearly_ ruined the game.
Despite this.. shadows was still such an emotional experience for me -- even though I was completely ignoring the story and hated that damn horse -- that it has to get my vote. Every time I took down a monster, I felt a bizarre conflict of triumph and guilt. Great stuff. I'm just sad knowing that it could be so much better and open itself up to more people with a little more work.
Shadow of the Colossus wins
God of War is a very good game, but it didn't really bring anything new to the table to really change the way we thought about video games. When you take it to the basics, GoW is really just a beat 'em up (hey, I never said there was anything wrong with that :P) God of War is a veerry great series, but it most definately can't hold a candle to Shadow of the Colossus.
Shadow of the Colossus all the way!
I loved GOW's story, I really did, but my vote is for Colossus.
I enjoyed my time with GoW, but SotC, at the expense of sounding cliche and trendy, was a beautiful emotional game.
The strongest thing about the game is something that, even if stated near the beginning, is damn near implicit through out the entire game: For the one you love, how far will you go to undo the unrevokable? Even since the promo material, that idea has been incredibly powerful with me.
Further the game play was magical, imo. The horse you merely guided, the grip you had to maintain, the stabbing you had to charge.
Graphically, SoTC won't necessarily age well, in a graphic whore sense. But the entire package of it is just amazing to me.
Colossus.
No other game has ever moved me so effectively, and I wasn't really into GoW.
Contest, there is none.
Colossus gets my vote.
GoW was awesome but I just love games like SotC that have that kind of atmosphere and deal with those kinds of emotions. I loved the way you were just some kid, you didn't really have anything special about yourself, you weren't a space marine, a space mechanic or a knight/destined one(Link), when you jumped down a ledge or the ground shook you'd stumble and lose your footing. All you had was your horse, your tools, and the voice that lead you further. It really made me feel that determination.
And the fights were amazing! Soaring in the sky on wings, Leaping onto a moving beast from horseback like a movie, holding on for dear life and hoping the beast doesn't hold you underwater for too long while racing through lake.
Then the music, GoW's music is great, it suits the mood but there was something about SotC that just captivated me with its music. Violins are fantastic instruments and they have a wonderful timbre that allows soft, haunting music one minute and sharp, epic and sometimes frightening music the next
The long journies almost annoyed me but then I felt they really gave a feeling of passing these great obstacles to get the job done. I've never felt part of the story more than in SotC, I was in it, barely aware I was playing a character.
Vote for SOTC.
Shadow of the Colossus was a better story, deeper, and probably technically superior. But God of War was a hell of a lot more fun for me, i love running around killing swarms of things. Also, God of War got a franchise
Man, I knew in my gut Shadow of the Colossus was gonna win, and I'm glad, but it looks like a lot of you guys skimped out on last week's bonus question! There seemed to be about the same support for God of War and SotC.
I already know what next week's bonus question will be if SotC continues with the lead: "What was your favorite Colossus?" Can't wait to see what the responses will be! Maybe I'll even give it a whole game debate after this odd-debate series ends.
Its awesome... i wasnt particularly fond of Gow
God of War FTW.
Shadow of the Colossus is an anti tech demo for the PS2 with a lot of dull gameplay between the awesome Colossus battles.
...mostly because I find the GoW series to be fairly overrated. They're good actions games I guess, but I don't see why people get excited about them.
Now, I really enjoyed God of War....great gameplay and fun story. Its just that while playing Shadow, I was so overcome with wonder and amazement the whole game. It was by far one of my favorite games that year :D
God of War is a worthy contender but it didn't have an emotional impact half the size of SOTC. It was very fun. That's it.
It's almost the perfect game. Bosses that are live action puzzles in themselves, a simple storyline with a great twist or 3. Only its replayability becomes boring as it would of been nice to through in a few generic monsters to fight, but then you have the previous game which is SotC's sequel Ico. so you can forgive it for this.
God of War was a awesome title in its own right and God of War 3 cannot come soon enough. But there is a mental limit for me for how much broody hatred lusting for revenge I can take before it just seems overdone. otherwise great game.
SotC FTW
I could get stabbed by people here for saying that.
The overall badass action of God of War was so testosterone filled and lots of fun. It never let up. But those little moments in Colossus made me go "whoa," and is more memorable.
My vote goes to Shadow of the Colossus.