IN CASE YOU WERE TOO LAZY TO NOTICE, HERE'S ANOTHER WARNING: SPOILERS DEAD AHEAD.
Shadow of the Colossus, is, and always will be, the best game ever made. It is a true artistic achievement and was handled like a child in development. The amount of care that was taken to bring this title to your television is equal to the amount of love a mother gives to her children.
Keep in mind, we're talking the HD version on the PlayStation 3
=The Story=
All of these people out there stating that games aren't art should take a look at this game and see how wrong they are. It's not just pretty graphics and good gameplay, it's what matters the most, the story.
A young man named Wander takes his dead fiancé Mono to a forbidden land so he can ask a demon named Dormin to bring her back to life. Dormin says he will do so if Wander kills sixteen ancient giants made of stone and iron: the colossi. However, Dormin warns Wander that if he chooses to carry out his request, he will have to pay a heavy price. Wander states that it doesn't matter, and he begins his quest.
=The Gameplay= The gameplay is astonishing for 2005. The smooth movements at 30 frames per second blow my mind. The controls are nice and accurate, they are sensitive, but not too sensitive, and even though they may seem a little strange to western gamers, you easily get used to them and have the pattern memorized after about thirty minutes.
=The Graphics= Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is what I hate. These nine year olds saying "I LIKE IT BECAUSE THE GRAPHICS ARE GOOD." Yeah, so what? Even if they were N64 Graphics this would still be a good game.
But that's the thing... GOOD. This game is ASTONISHING. The graphics surprisingly play a big role in this, bigger than any other game ever made. Not only are they magnificent for 2005, but they feel so... REAL.
The game is heavily dependent on atmosphere for the experience. And the more realistic it looks, the more it works. The game is supposed to feel empty, but GOD, did they overdo it. And surprisingly I'm glad they did. It's overdone, but in a good way.
The good graphics make it feel barren, like there's just you. The environment consists of almost no forest, there is mostly barren plains, desert, canyons, or marshlands. AND I LOVE IT. The more realistic it looks, the more it works, surprisingly.
=The Colossi=
(MAJOR SPOILERS, MAJOR SPOILERS, MAJOR SPOILERS, MAJOR SPOILERS, DO NOT READ)
These things are actually the good guys. That makes you the enemy. How 'bout them apples?
These sixteen giants ranging from fifteen feet tall to FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY SEVEN FEET LONG are actually parts of Dormin's soul. When you kill one of them, the piece of Dormin they contained enters Wander's body, and in the end eventually using his body as a way to give Dormin physical form.
They were made to prevent Dormin's resurrection in the first place.
They also move with the beauty and grace you would expect them to according to their size, making a great factor in immersion.
Also, Dormin is quite a confusing fellow. Despite the fact that he was using Wander to gain a physical form, he still stays truthful to him and brings Mono back to life.
This shows he isn't evil, he isn't good, he's... in-between. Come to think of it... the same thing is there with Wander. Sure, he caused Dormin to be resurrected, but he didn't know that, and he had purely good intentions.
In the end, this is why it is the best game ever made. It's not simply an adventure story, it's not simply an action game, it's a controversial game. It's making a statement about humanity and how there is no absolute good or bad in anyone. Even though at heart we're all good people, we can do some truly horrifying things.
Did Wander commit genocide? Sure, but he wasn't aiming for that to be his goal, he was just trying to bring someone he loved back to life. Did Dormin use Wander? Sure, but he also tried to warn him of the price he would pay, and in the end he carried out his promise.
The game is about what we are: human. We aren't sure about anything and we never will be. We're too complex and intricate on the inside though we look so simple on the outside... JUST LIKE THIS GAME.
You know what, forget it. This game IS humanity. Inside this little disk is every single one of us, showing just how strange we are, and how blessed we are that God decided to make us.
Ocarina of Time never did that, now did it? No. But this game did. So yeah, without a shadow of a doubt, Shadow of the Colossus is the best game ever made, and won't be beat anytime soon.