Rome total war...for years and years I had dreamed  of having an epic strategy game which lets me have huge scale real time battles.RTW delivered and if i had been old enough to jizz i would have.

I'd have to say Mass Effect 2....everytime I play the game I wow over something or other, the game is a true masterpiece.

Metroid: Other M it exceeded my expectations and is my personal GOTY and personal best metroid game ahead of super metroid.

Everything about it was aweomse, just wish it was a little longer.

Oh, I forgot Braid.  I sat there for a while after the credits rolled on that one, trying to soak in what I'd just seen.  I was impressed.

And my favorite game of all time (haven't played it in over a year, though) Metal Gear Solid 3 had the same effect on me.  I'd have been happy if that game had ended the series.  There was no place to go but down from that incredible ending.  In fact, the last couple of hours of that game was without a doubt in my mind, the single most awesome gaming experience I'd ever had.  Some of the stuff was scripted but everything that happened was perfect.  Kojima at his absolute very best.  After the credits rolled, there was nothing left to do but turn off the PS2, turn off the TV, and walk away.

Yeah.  Silent Hill 1 was very good, but it had nothing like Pyramid Head, who I found to be awesome in his own terrifying way.  I decided to pick one out of the Silent Hill games although actually in truth all 4 (can't count Homecoming myself found it very disappointing) had some pretty awesome moments.  Climbing into the tunnel in number 4, the first monster encounter in number 3, etc. etc.

Shadow Of The Colossus

GTA San Andreas

Half-Life 2

Final Fantasy 7

Yeah, he was pretty terrifying, I agree.

But personally, I'd rank SH1 above just for the freaky music coupled with the atmosphere. SH2 had plenty of freaky moments, but the music...they just nailed it in the first one.

I can think of three off the top of my head. 

The first is Assassin's Creed. The original. Every viewpoint in that game... The views were all incredible. I especially loved whenever I finally reached the highest point in any city, and I could look out in all directions and see pretty much everything.

The other two are R&CF:ToD, and R&CF:ACIT. Just the visuals in the games. Very impressive. I was also impressed by Q4B. 

Really disappointed with alot of the things I've seen in the thread, people seem to have a "oh shiny, must be good" mentality anyways here are the games that awwed me

Mirror's Edge, fast paced, think on your feet or die, tons of fun, tons of re-playability 

Lair, gets alot of flak for bad controls but the controls aren't bad they are just hard, anyways what wowed me about it was the massive battles, nothing quite like a few thousands AIs on the screen battling it out, and it's pretty much the only game where I find the AI to be just the right intelligence, they are helpful but they don't do everything for you, and the stealth level was really fun

Shinning Force, Amazed me how much better such an old rpg was then current ones

Phantasy Star online, so ahead of it's time, and such a good game

huaxiong, have you played 4?

while I agree that 1 had an amazing soundtrack that can send chills through your spine, 4 took it to whole new level in terms of music.

example: