I do not know the original PS2 game so I'll rate the game for what it is and not for what it was.

First things first: This game makes me feel bad. I mean it is graphically very beautiful but I never really knew what to think. The boss battles are intense (not difficult but intense).

The open world is epty which creates another strange feeling and hunting down those gigantic, usually peacful creatures doesnt help. But the game successfully does what it wants to do.

It suerly would be a very great piece if the mechanics wouldnt be as horrible as they are...

Imagine if Breath of the Wild controlled like dogshit and took itself way too seriously, that’s this game in a nutshell. I’ll admit I enjoyed the first two thirds quite a bit and the 6th & 7th Colossi are some of the best boss battles I’ve ever played, but good god the sloppy controls in this ruin so much of the fun that could be had with this game.

Honestly one of the most overrated games I’ve played in a while. I hope the miserable failure of The Last Guardian taught Team Ico the true importance of evolution, because despite this being a supposed remake it still plays like a busted up PS2 game.

Much like the world this game is set in, Shadow of the Colossus feels ancient, and not in a good way. I wonder if ICO is actually as good as people say it is, because if not then it’s 0 for 3 from Team Ico in my opinion.

Pros:
+The Colossi look amazing
+Riding around on one, especially the flying ones, is cinematic and incredible-feeling
+The environment looks incredible
+The puzzle elements of the boss fights feels rewarding to figure out for the first time
+The soundtrack is epic

Cons:
-Despite the amazing looking scenery, the world itself is devoid of anything, making going through it 16 times in a row a huge slog, which is made worse by the two following cons:
-The horse controls like crap
-The camera is pretty bad, but especially so while riding the horse
-The fact you need to raise your sword and draw power before you stab makes the CONSTANT losing of grip due to the Colossi moving around unbearable
-Same with trying to climb around the Colossi, as you often manage to make zero progress because your character keeps swaying for like 30 seconds straight
-Too much of the boss fights is just playing the waiting game
-Being knocked down takes way too long to get back up. Especially annoying in fights where the enemy will knock you down, then as soon as you start getting back up they knock you down again, over and over and over.

Mixed:
~The sword acting as a homing beacon is a neat idea, but the vagueness of it just leads to dead ends.

This remaster just wants to be a total replacement of a game the developers at Bluepoint clearly think is already perfect. They change nothing. They improve on nothing. They dont even have the decent to make of the colossi worse. It's the same game. It's disgusting. It's a replacement.

They're never gonna replace the Mona Lisa with a version that has more defined hair, detailed skin textures, and no artistic liberties because clearly the background of the Mona Lisa would look better if it resembled a photograph. That's what this game is. I hate it.