ICO is beautiful! Let this review’s long take on the negatives not discourage you from that because the things that work about it work wonders.
The story is simply a boy with horns who is abandoned by his tribe in a castle to be sacrificed. He manages to escape and comes across a mysterious girl who may be his only way out of the castle, but he also has to protect her as there are demons in the castle roaming around trying to take her away. And from there on out, I will avoid all spoilers.
It’s easy to follow but extremely effective, and in a way that also has me convincing harder that it belongs in the same universe as Shadow of the Colossus, because it already has very identical worldbuilding concepts. Strangely though, it seems to take a lot of inspiration from Silent Hill more than anything. The camera has a very cinematic feel to it, it’s a lot more puzzle-based, and it goes a lot more in the direction of survival than action. Don’t worry though, because it’s definitely not a horror game. But it does manage to create a beautiful environment and has you constantly questioning what’s going on with the girl you’re escorting.
Speaking of which, I was surprised by how well the escorting still holds up. It’s not super easy to the point of it being unnecessary like The Last of Us, or absolute perfection like Resident Evil 4, but this might have been the best you could find in the year 2001. My only real problem with it is the main controls and mechanics themselves. For some reason, the analog stick makes sure that your character walks slower at certain angles, but the camera moves around too much to work properly with the directional buttons. Also, there is the save system. I will say that I have seen games that handled it worse, but it’s REALLY bad here. Checkpoints are extremely far from one another and you never know exactly when they occur, and the seats that you can use to manually/permanently save can sometimes be really close to each other, while other times it will take at least 20 minutes before you find another one. These two problems combined gave me my moments of begrudgingly giving up, and are the only thing preventing me from perhaps even giving this 5 stars. It didn't make me rage or anything, but more so getting tired of trying over and over again.
To any first-timer, I suggest that you make sure to save as many times as possible, because I REALLY recommend ICO for the story and especially the atmosphere. Atmosphere to me is just as important as the story itself, because it’s the door that leads the audience into the world of the game, and in this area ICO absolutely excels! There is something so creepy yet authentic and profound about the sheer sense of loneliness you feel while playing this. The way the boy interacts with the girl really gives off the impression that these are two innocent children lost in an unfamiliar world trying to find their way back home. It’s not quite as engaging or greatly playable as Shadow of the Colossus, but Team Ico really have proven themselves to be great at subtle storytelling.
I do wish that I could log this game on the PS2 without getting this shitty poster, because the one they got for the PS3 looks MUCH better.
The story is simply a boy with horns who is abandoned by his tribe in a castle to be sacrificed. He manages to escape and comes across a mysterious girl who may be his only way out of the castle, but he also has to protect her as there are demons in the castle roaming around trying to take her away. And from there on out, I will avoid all spoilers.
It’s easy to follow but extremely effective, and in a way that also has me convincing harder that it belongs in the same universe as Shadow of the Colossus, because it already has very identical worldbuilding concepts. Strangely though, it seems to take a lot of inspiration from Silent Hill more than anything. The camera has a very cinematic feel to it, it’s a lot more puzzle-based, and it goes a lot more in the direction of survival than action. Don’t worry though, because it’s definitely not a horror game. But it does manage to create a beautiful environment and has you constantly questioning what’s going on with the girl you’re escorting.
Speaking of which, I was surprised by how well the escorting still holds up. It’s not super easy to the point of it being unnecessary like The Last of Us, or absolute perfection like Resident Evil 4, but this might have been the best you could find in the year 2001. My only real problem with it is the main controls and mechanics themselves. For some reason, the analog stick makes sure that your character walks slower at certain angles, but the camera moves around too much to work properly with the directional buttons. Also, there is the save system. I will say that I have seen games that handled it worse, but it’s REALLY bad here. Checkpoints are extremely far from one another and you never know exactly when they occur, and the seats that you can use to manually/permanently save can sometimes be really close to each other, while other times it will take at least 20 minutes before you find another one. These two problems combined gave me my moments of begrudgingly giving up, and are the only thing preventing me from perhaps even giving this 5 stars. It didn't make me rage or anything, but more so getting tired of trying over and over again.
To any first-timer, I suggest that you make sure to save as many times as possible, because I REALLY recommend ICO for the story and especially the atmosphere. Atmosphere to me is just as important as the story itself, because it’s the door that leads the audience into the world of the game, and in this area ICO absolutely excels! There is something so creepy yet authentic and profound about the sheer sense of loneliness you feel while playing this. The way the boy interacts with the girl really gives off the impression that these are two innocent children lost in an unfamiliar world trying to find their way back home. It’s not quite as engaging or greatly playable as Shadow of the Colossus, but Team Ico really have proven themselves to be great at subtle storytelling.
I do wish that I could log this game on the PS2 without getting this shitty poster, because the one they got for the PS3 looks MUCH better.