Game of the Week: The Drop-Dead Gorgeous ‘Shadow of the Colossus’

Stick these in your system.

Whether your system of choice is a Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4 or PC (or all four; we’re not judging), now is a good time to be a gamer.

A Playstation classic gets a new life in 4K, the UFC gets EA’s treatment and a new VR game makes a cyberpunk splash this week in games.

Now get those thumbs ready…

Shadow of the Colossus

The groundbreaking game from Team ICO has been given the 4K treatment and is now officially a must-own classic for anyone with a PS4 Pro. Shadow of the Colossus feels a lot like an open-world Zelda game if you took out all the in-between and focused only on the bosses. Given little more than your sword, your horse and a wide open landscape to explore, you must quest until you find a Colossus, decipher its weak point, use the environment to exploit that weak point and then do it all over again once you emerge victorious. Chock full of mystery and hidden secrets, SoTC is a game that has captivated Playstation gamers for years and it’s never looked better, thanks to the added horsepower of Sony’s PS4 Pro. (Buy)

Honorable Mentions

UFC 3

EA’s newest MMA fighting game is undeniably an improvement on past entries in the UFC series but for us, it still pales in comparison to 2K’s WWE games and, perhaps most importantly, it fails to capture the same level of competition that we so sorely miss from EA’s own, inexplicably abandoned Fight Night franchise. UFC 3’s substantial learning curve may be worth it for die hard fans of the octagon who’ll undoubtedly enjoy the benefits of the improved melee system. Outside of that built-in fanbase, though, we can’t help but feel like UFC 3’s not exactly friendly to newcomers. (Buy)

Sairento

Not for the faint of stomach, Sairento’s cyberpunk samurai experience is a unique game in the VR space that debuted this week on the HTC Vive with an Oculus Rift version on its way. Wielding guns and swords with superhuman abilities, Sairento is the latest in a string of VR games that continue to push the boundaries of what these new gaming platforms are capable of delivering. Sairento isn’t without its drawbacks — movement in the game is fast and can nauseate even the most seasoned VR players — but it’s an incredibly fun experience that absolutely nails the swordplay and gunplay that translate so well to virtual reality. (Buy)