Fumito Ueda-- the next Kojima?
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:00 pm
I've been playing the overlooked PS2 gem Ico recently. For those who aren't familiar, it's a stately, pared down adventure game in which you play as a young boy with horns who endeavors to escape from a mysterious castle with a silent, supernatural princess in tow. The emphasis is on protecting the princess from shapeless evils, solving puzzles and navigating through the castle's many maze-like passages. It has gorgeous sun-drenched graphics and might be one of the best pure gameplay oriented games since Jordan Mechner's original Prince of Persia.
What's got me so excited now is that Fumito Ueda, the writer, designer and director of Ico, has a new PS2 game coming out this October: Shadow of the Colossus. Again, it looks like an exciting title with simple gameplay and breathtaking graphics, in which you must hunt out and destroy 16 giant monsters in order to save a young woman-- presumably a princess. While Ueda's titles so far certainly lack in original stories, his minimalist approach to games is refreshing, especially for somebody like me who's been immersed in the plot-heavy titles by Kojima for a long time. I find that in an environment of endless repetition in gaming Ueda is one of the few original creators, and may very well be the best new talent since Kojima or Miyamoto.
Anybody's thoughts about these games, or their maker?
What's got me so excited now is that Fumito Ueda, the writer, designer and director of Ico, has a new PS2 game coming out this October: Shadow of the Colossus. Again, it looks like an exciting title with simple gameplay and breathtaking graphics, in which you must hunt out and destroy 16 giant monsters in order to save a young woman-- presumably a princess. While Ueda's titles so far certainly lack in original stories, his minimalist approach to games is refreshing, especially for somebody like me who's been immersed in the plot-heavy titles by Kojima for a long time. I find that in an environment of endless repetition in gaming Ueda is one of the few original creators, and may very well be the best new talent since Kojima or Miyamoto.
Anybody's thoughts about these games, or their maker?