Lost in the World of Video Games...

As many of you well know, my blog has been rather sparse as of late. In fact, the crickets have been chirping for well over two weeks by now. The reason for this scarcity is mostly due to the Microsoft game developers for creating one of the most addicting games I have ever played: Fable. So far (according the in-game clock) I have spent over 19 hours the past week or so immersed in a fantasy world.

In Fable you start out as an innocent young boy in a mythical world with magical creatures. As you progress in the game you are forced to make choices that determine whether your character will become good or evil. For example, if you decide to pillage a town and slay its inhabitants, you will obviously earn evil points, and your character will begin to physically express his wicked heart (i.e. you will begin to grow horns out of your head, your eyes will turn red, etc...). But right now my character is aligned to the side of righteousness and I have developed a halo above my head :)

But another game that I got for Christmas has wowed me even more than Fable; Shadow of the Colossus is the most epic and artistic game that I have ever played. It has a very simple setting: the girl that you love has died and so you have traveled to the end of the world to seek out a legendary power rumored to be able to bring the dead back to life. When you arrive you discover a temple filled with 16 statues. The god of the temple informs you that if you wish to bring your love back to life, you must slay the 16 colossi (the incarnations of the statues) that inhabit a desolate, cursed world. Armed with only your sword and bow, you must somehow topple these giants, thousands of times larger than yourself. The game, composed entirely of 16 fights, is strangely captivating, and never gets boring. This is one of those rare games where every moment is great. The first time I fought a colossus my mouth dropped wide open in disbelief. Shadow of the Colossus is easily one of the top five best games ever made.

Ok, well, I'm gonna go slay some giants right now... be back later...

-John