An artistic masterpiece that should be appreciated as such
Many people have complained that the story in this game is weak or non-existant. If you are expecting a highly detailed plot about saving the world, you will be dissappointed. The plot in Shadow of the Colossus is a much deeper one than simple facts, figures, names, and physical happenings. The story can be analyzed on many different levels, the simplest of which would be you are on a quest to kill 16 colossi to save your lost loved one. However, there are many moral questions lurking just beneath the surface of the story if you pay close attention to it. I won't mention them here because I think the beauty of art is for everyone to come up with their own interpretation of it. I thought that the ending of the game was absolutely brilliant, leaving itself very open to interpretation and speculation.
One of the places where this game truly succeeds is in the way it can make the player feel a certain way. This is mostly accomplished through the music and the graphics (including the spectacular cinamatic camera angles). As you climb the colossus, the music, of which there was hardly any before, gets very powerful and gives you a real epic feeling. When you slay a colossus, the game plays music that sounds sad, and it shows the colossus slowly fall over with blood spraying out of it. It evokes a sense of guilt in the player at having killed such a magnificent, and seemingly innocent, creature. When you are riding around, the game gives you a truly lonely feel, like you are the only living thing and that you are lost, and not only in the physical sense.
Yes, this game has a couple technical flaws, but I think that if you can appreciate this game on an artistic level you can easily overlook them.
Overall, this game is one of the few that shows video games as a true form of art and should appeal to anyone that can see beyond simple facts and figures and appreciate things on a deeper level.