Price: £39.99 Players: 1 Widescreen: Yes 60Hz: Yes DTS sound: No Shadow of The Colussus is set in a mystical land, where you are a lone traveller riding your horse, Argo. Well, not quite alone because along the way, prior to the start of this game, you chanced upon a young maiden who is unconscious and took her on your way to an ornate church, its walls decorated by huge stone structures of hideous beasts. After lifting her onto a platform where she'll have plenty of light beaming down on her. Black ghosts rise from the floor, you draw your sword in preparation, your horse is startled, but they disappear as quickly as they arrived. A mystery voice confirmed back to you that you are in the correct location of the Domin, they who can bring back the ones with a lost soul. However, there's a catch. Given that you happen to possess the Ancient Sword, you can put that to good use by seeking out the real Colossi, the incarations of those idols. If you can dispatch of all of them, then the Domin will return the favour and bring the maiden back to life. Alas, they also tell you that you will pay a heavy price for their help - one even heavier than the £40 you've just coughed up for this game.

So, of you go to kill the 16 Colossi, but the first thing that sprang to mind was why would you leave your dead girlfriend on a stone tomb that's directly below a much larger piece of stone that could break off and fall on her? Then she'll be even... er... more dead. Or as it's just her soul, is she like a certain parrot and is not so much dead as... resting? The first thing you notice as you run around the church, having already been treated to a spin around the nearby greenery, is that despite the usual PS2 jaggies the locations look gorgeous as you canter around on Argo, moving the right joystick to see all around and take in your surroundings. Take your eye off your location and I noticed it was quite a treat to see the very lifelike movement of the horse whether running, walking, or having to screech to a halt, so to speak. It's no surprise to learn, from the camerawork, that this game comes from the same company who brought us 2002's exceptional Ico.

But how are you supposed to track down the mighty beasts when there's oodles of location space to cover? That's where the light from your sword comes in. Hold it up and it will shine first on the direction in which you need to be heading, and when you eventually track down the enemy - some are more easy to find than others - then the light will show which part(s) of the colussus you need to hit, and in all cases the controller vibrating when it comes across such a point to help you determine where to strike. Take heed that the first time you meet one, you'll absolutely brick your pants when you're going head-to-head with a colussus. Shadow of the Colussus takes a bit of getting used to, but once you've got the hang of it - and it's not too difficult a concept to grab for seasoned gamers - then you'll be able to enjoy it. You'll track each one down and then finish them off largely by repeatedly stabbing designated weak points on each colussus' body after finding some hairy way to climb up onto them. And that's about it, really.

The game is entertaining for a few hours, but once you've killed a few colossi you get the jist of it and whether you want to go and finish all 16 depends on how much you enjoy witnessing the scenery as you go hunting down another one. In fact, it's rather like Ico but without the puzzles, and as you engage the enemy, the camera viewpoint can be a bit poor at times. Visually, the only thing that detracts here are the jaggies that are more obvious at certain times than at others, but it does flow like a dream with very fluid movement so until we're playing this on a higher-powered console then it'll do fine for now. Sonically, it's a treat as well with thundering bass from the speakers, to accompany the vibrating joypad, as you get into a scrap with each of the 100-feet-tall bosses in turn. DTS sound, of which the PS2 is capable, would've been a boon, though. That said, on the gameplay front, it is just a series of boss battles - there's no other enemies to defeat along the way. If it sounds like your cup of tea and/or you were a big fan of Ico, as I was, then at least try it for a rental. Opinions are divided as to whether it's rather lacking or a work of genius. It certainly feels like taking part in a lavish painting as you hang on to a colussus, trying to stab it while it flails about. One to savour in relatively small doses, I think, as opposed to setting aside a whole day to indulge.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2006.