Sometimes a game comes along that's been developed with such dedication and care that you can't help but be amazed by it. Shadow of the Colossus, known as Wanda and the Colossus in Japan, is definitely one of those games. Directed by Fumito Ueda and his team who are also responsible for the cult-hit Ico, while Colossus is considered the spiritual successor to Ico, the only confirmed connection between the two is that they take place in the same universe. Of course, the developers have put in plenty of things that can easily lead creative gamers to their own conclusions and theories about the storyline and how it related to Ico - which is difficult to talk about without spoiling anything. There's so much I want to say but just can't!

Like Ico before it, Shadow of the Colossus is a game that has a deep and rich story but refuses to tell you about it. As you begin you see a young man named Wander traveling via horseback across a mountain range and, eventually, into a completely abandoned and absolutely huge land that is only accessible from a mammoth bridge high above the ground. We see Wander arrive into some sort of temple that contains sixteen giant statues. Once inside, the young man removes a heavily covered cloak from his horse to reveal a young maiden, dressed completely in white, who is apparently dead. As he places her on a table, black beings rise out of the ground, easily dispersed thanks to a sacred sword Wander has stolen. Afterwards, a voice speaks to Wander, a voice that he has been seeking, of a being that controls the dead and could give the young girl back her life, a life taken as a sacrifice thanks to her cursed fate. However, in order for Wander's wish to be granted, he must find and kill the sixteen idols, known as Colossi, each represented by a statue in the temple. No explanation is given and one of the major goals of the game is to make you morally question your actions of killing these creatures.

You begin your quest with your horse Agro, a sword, and a crossbow... and that's all you get! Throughout the entire adventure you won't find any secret treasure chests containing magical weapons to help you slay the creatures. This game does not hold your hand at all, either - as soon as you start you're on your own, with the only text displayed being the translations of Dormin's cryptic riddles and messages that are attempting to help you. The fact that you don't get any new items makes the game even more of a puzzle adventure: you know you don't need to use an item you just unlocked to defeat a boss, so you have to come up with a new use for your familiar tools.

Right away you'll instantly know Shadow is from the same team as Ico thanks to the animations, which are so amazing and fluid that just running, leaping and rolling is enough to make most third person games feel completely insignificant. Then, you'll be stunned as your horse gallops, leaps and neighs with amazing realism and care. The camera angles as you run through the verdant forests, the hidden oases and dry, deserts are so cinematic and breathtaking that it makes any journey a joy to behold, no matter the distance. This is easily some of the best animation I have ever seen captured and I hadn't even taken down my first colossus when I came to that conclusion.

You have to use your magic sword to pinpoint the location of these behemoths. Pushing circle thrusts your sword into the air, then a group of lights shine into and out of it. Moving around moves the lights and when they all come together to form one beam then you know where the creature waits. You also have a map but it's obscured by clouds, which only are removed upon finding a colossus. Upon defeating one, the creature's face appears where he dwelled, allowing you to go back and reminisce about the battle (which allows you to replay any fight in a classic film style).

Before I get onto fighting the creatures however, an equally as important aspect is the land itself. Since any human is absolutely forbidden from entering the land, you won't find anybody else out there except you and Agro. In most games this would result in the world being incredibly dull and lifeless, but somehow the developers have managed to make it feel very much alive and eerie. It's hard to put into words what exactly makes the travels so special. As I mentioned, there are no hidden weapons to go out and search for; however, there is a good reason to set out and explore - which I'll get to - but you'll more than likely end up exploring for the simple sake of journeying around this completely abandoned and mesmerising land.

As you climb cliff sides, explore shallow lakes, swim through bodies of water and examine small ancient structures (also used as save points) you'll start to discover things out there. Hawks fly above, birds gather up in groups on the ground to scout for food, turtles crawl around occasionally and lizards crawl through valleys. Examine these lizards further and you'll discover that they can be killed and their tails collected. The reason for collecting them isn't apparent immediately, but eventually you'll notice that Wander's stamina has increased. Likewise, climbing trees and discovering fruit leads to your health meter increasing over time, as a result of eating the fruit, after you shoot it down with your bow of course. The game never tells you this, or points you in the direction of these things; it's entirely up to you to hunt out and find them, and I haven't mentioned nearly all the things you can do out in this vast and lonely landscape.

The ambience is another feature that really helps create a feeling of isolation and exploration. Upon climbing up to a great peak, the wind really picks up and whistles by your ears and the complete lack of music during these sections just adds to the overall effect. Fumito Ueda and his team have given this abandoned, forbidden land a huge amount of personality and it is also due in part to having gigantic sections of nothing but desert or grass, making all those oases and cliffs you come across even more important and intriguing. The fact that you can even stand up on your horse to reach greater heights adds a little more strategy and feeling of achievement when you reach an out of the way area, but perhaps the most important aspect is that you know human life is forbidden in this area and no-one else has been here for a long, long time.

As I mentioned, increasing your stamina is an important part of your journey; performing almost any action uses stamina and if you run out of it in the middle of a battle you're in trouble. Hanging onto ledges, climbing walls, pulling back your bow and arrow before a shot are all examples of actions that use stamina. Of course the main reason you're going to want to play Shadow of the Colossus is right there in the title: fighting each Colossus. These are the only battles in the game... all the puzzles, all the enemies and all the bosses are the colossi.

Trust me when I say that these battles are epic and they aren't always easy either. Each creature has specific vital points, one of which is almost always on the head and your goal is to get on top of it and stab your sword down into each one a specific amount of times; all while the beast is swinging around, trying to throw you off, which can be a real problem, as getting up to these areas often takes a lot of effort. Sometimes you can climb right up along the fur of the creature, other times you'll have to climb up a large structure and leap onto the colossi, or get them to do a specific thing that allows you access onto them, such as attacking you but missing (which is not always easy, these things are HUGE).

All the Colossi have superb sound effects matched with their actions that truly give them an even larger feel - the thud of their feet coming down, the ground crumbling and raining down stones and dirt, the sound of their grunts... combined with the superb and realistically slow animations, these are sixteen bosses that will stay with you for a long time - don't expect to forget any of them. In fact, you'll probably end up very emotionally attached to a select few; the developers want you to feel morally bad about killing these sometimes curious creatures, but in all honesty that will only happen on select occasions, most of the other times you'll be attacked first and have no choice but taking them down. Still, few games create a feeling of sadness and regret after you take out a boss but Shadow definitely does on more than one occasion, helped largely by the epic orchestra backing the game (which is some of the best music ever recorded in video game history and gives you an amazing sense of despair and solemnity).

I won't go into specifics for any of them, as it would probably ruin the challenge of figuring out how to ascend them, but trust me when I say that each is very different from the last and none have the same solution. Though they all have a very similar appearance, they also vary drastically and have their own animations and physics - some even soar through the air at all times (which is absolutely stunning) while others reside submerged underwater; there's even some you'll have to stand on your horse while galloping at full speed to get to. The only downside is that once you figure out the secret to climbing them, it isn't too difficult to pull off again, especially since once you get up you only need to stab vital spots a few times. A time trial mode is unlocked upon finishing the game, allowing you to see how quickly you can re-conquer these mountainous beings.

That isn't all, either. Despite the game being fairly short (10 hours may not seem short to some, but when you always know your current progress and how many creatures are left, it certainly goes by fast), there are at least three new modes unlocked afterwards and you'll even obtain new things that make playing the game again different than it was the first time. Shadow of the Colossus is not meant to be finished after playing it just once - you may see the ending, but the adventure is far from over and there is definitely much more out there to experience in the isolated, forbidden world.

One thing I haven't really touched on much is the graphics. Though they may be choppy during cut scenes, it had to be done. The PS2 is being pushed to the absolute limit of its power and it's obvious when you reach to final battle, which is absolutely epic in scale and even has amazing weather effects to boot. I've already mentioned how good the animations are and how atmospheric the world is, but I haven't mentioned the camera. When you pan around, it always has a bit of a blur effect, giving the game an even more cinematic feel, which is furthered by the odd angles it moves to whilst riding Agro across valleys. Speaking of cinematics, you're always in control of the camera during the cut scenes and can zoom in and out as well as pan around slightly - even on the menu screen. It's a great touch that just further emerges you in the experience and the developers go as far as giving you control of an uncontrollable scene you can't change the outcome of to get you even more emotionally attached. The detail and craftsmanship in this game is on a level much higher than many other games out there; when you play this you feel like you're playing an advanced game... a work of art that is matched by only by the highest quality of games - the likes of Resident Evil 4, Ico and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Since the colossi are the only enemies, some players will definitely not appreciate ridding horseback the rest of the time; I can easily understand a lot of gamers finding it dull and tedious, especially when there isn't much out there, but I still insist that those people at least play Shadow of the Colossus - they won't think it's perfect but the epic sixteen battles are impossible to deny. They're plain brilliant and even though I wouldn't have minded some more jumping puzzles before some battles, I still think the game is as close to a masterpiece as any has come in a long while. There's nothing else like it and there probably won't be again. The ending is on an epic scale and absolutely awe-inspiring, and though it raises more questions than it answers and is the only elaboration on the story since the opening, it's impossible to talk about why it's so great without ruining anything. Just prepare to be sitting in reverence on the edge of your seat for a good while.

Shadow of the Colossus is a very important game that shows original concepts can reign supreme - it takes video gaming to a higher form of art that is rarely seen anymore and leaves most other games in its very large shadow. Be sure you play it, even if you don't like Ico. It may be Ico's spiritual successor but Shadow of the Colossus is very much its own game that won't take you long to play through, but will be remembered for a lifetime.

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).