This is the point where a lot of people would quite happily dismiss Colossus. After all, if there’s nothing to do besides ride around a fairly barren landscape for sometimes upwards of ten minutes, just to get to a beast and then kill it – sounds like a recipe for boredom, doesn’t it? Well, for those looking for pick-up-and-play, quick-and-easy cheap thrill gameplay – you’re not going to find it in this game. Move along, please, there’s nothing to see here.

But for those able to appreciate purity of game design (and it really is this pure; there’s nothing extraneous at all), to enjoy clarity of purpose, to understand the singular nature of the mission at hand…well, Shadow of the Colossus is just utterly magical. And that’s before you even get to the colossi themselves.

Now, here comes the most frustrating part of the review. Because, quite simply, there’s so much to tell, and yet so much I just can’t spill the beans about. To reveal the nature of the encounters would be grossly unfair, as one of the trump cards the game holds is the astonishing unveiling of each of these behemoths. Quite frankly, every single encounter with these mythical creatures is memorable in some respect. Each one is almost a self-contained puzzle, in that first you have to locate the colossus, then figure out how to climb onto it, then discover its weak points and stab merrily away with your magic sword. And whilst that may sound repetitive, particularly given the fact that there’s 16 of the beasts to kill, each one has to be approached in a fundamentally different manner, making every battle entirely unique.

And what battles they are! Every single scrap becomes a real struggle, as the wonderfully realised and animated colossi won’t just idly stand by and be slaughtered – far from it. Many are initially docile and merely attempt to defend themselves against your attacks, whilst some are much more aggressive and actively try to crush, bash or smash you into tiny pieces. Once aboard your foe, you’ll have to make clever use of your continually draining grip meter by letting go at the right time and allowing your strength to build up again as the beasts shake and shudder violently attempting to throw you off as you flail wildly around like a ragdoll, desperately clinging for dear life to that small patch of fur that’s the only thing preventing your avatar being hurled to the stone floor with great force. It’s a testament to the cinematic intensity of these epic fights that you’ll find it hard to prise your index finger from the R1 button after each encounter finally ends. And when they do end, you’ll feel a strange pang of guilt as these giants slowly collapse to the floor, with a mournful, haunting melody playing over their demise.

Which leads us neatly onto the music – my God, the music! It’s absolutely stunning; reaching a new high for in-game scores, it provides a host of memorable themes, with the stirring and pulse-quickening dramatic crescendos during the battles only matched by the aforementioned moving codas after each clash. It’s probably the singular most successful aspect of the entire game, as even the magnificence of the graphics has a downside – the frame rate stutters at times, and there’s the occasional bit of pop-up. They’re but minor blemishes though – perfectly tolerable given the age of the hardware and how much it’s being pushed. Acceptable sacrifices they are, but there’s one thing which isn’t – the camera.

Because in striving for that cinematic feel, the game’s camera is necessarily awkward. It frequently moves to try and present you with the “best” view, which often is spectacular to look at, but totally unhelpful from a gameplay point of view. It’s very frustrating to fall off a colossus because you misjudged a leap due to the jittery cinematography, and there’s even the occasional moment of complete camera madness, where the view swings around wildly, attempting to get back on track but failing miserably.

There’s also the problem that the colossi themselves - while hugely impressive in terms of scale, creativity and sheer beauty - act far less organically than we were led to believe from previews. Each one reacts in the same manner each time, so it’s more a case of trial and error methodology to discover the stratagem for victory, rather than a constantly changing battle situation with numerous solutions to the problems therein. There’s a couple of different approaches to one or two encounters, but they’re the exception rather than the rule.

And yet, when you’re standing on the shoulders (or neck, back or arms) of giants, none of this matters. All the problems seem to just melt away, as you gape in awe at the beautiful genius of what’s unfolding in front of you. As image after astonishing image scorch themselves onto your retinas, and permanently etch a never-to-be-forgotten memory in your frontal lobe. As you ride your trusty steed Agro across the desolate yet oddly serene and gorgeous landscape, and marvel at the true sense of companionship you feel with the most realistic horse in gaming history. As you race alongside one of the gigantic beasts, which dwarf the protagonist as he makes a prodigious leap onto a ridged section of torso. At these moments, Shadow of the Colossus becomes much more than just a game. It’s a work of staggering intensity, of magnificent artistry, of supreme design and wonderful imagination. It’s a goddamned work of art, and it renders any criticism completely pointless. Dodgy camera? What dodgy camera?

Oh, and then there’s the ending, which makes the entire journey worthwhile – it’s awesome. Moving, surprising and enchanting, it’s the perfect finale to an almost perfect game.

So, in short, the best arthouse boss rush you’re ever going to play. Would it be wrong to label it a colossal achievement? Well, bad puns are our speciality...