Greatest Game Ever Created? Shadow of the Colossus.

Our first post will be us defending our thoughts on the what we think is the greatest game ever created. In order to do this, we must first determine what makes a game great. What in our minds, should video games strive to be?

While I appreciate and accept games that create new genres, the process that I'm about to discuss is an old principle. I love what I call the environmental euphoria effect. This happens when the player believes and wants the game's world to be real. This happens rarely and requires the action, music/sound, and environment to harmoniously touch a feeling or tone. What's difficult about this is that it is restricted to certain game genres. There has to be a degree of exploration and nonlinear game play. Games like God of War fail at this as the player is forced through the levels. The video game world is no longer under the player's experience, rather the developers. What games succeed with environment euphoria? Any 3d Mario, Super Metroid, the Fable series, and Banjo Kazooie are just a few.

That being my desire in a video game is why Shadow of the Colossus is the greatest game ever. It creates this better than any other. The game is nothing but exploration and boss fights (each a very unique experience). There is no inbetween repetitive content, such as collecting items or fighting continuous meaningless minions.

Another aspect of SotC is it's unique mythological feeling that is established. The world is strange and unknown. Hardly anything is explained (why are the Colossi there? where did the hero come from?), giving it a very mystical feeling.

Do yourself a favor and play Shadow of the Colossus.