The three games made by Team Ico have been some of my most anticipated games for about as long as I can remember, and since I absolutely loved the Shadow of the Colossus remake back when I played it on the PS4 two years ago, I was even more excited to eventually give Ico a try. Long before I played any of these games, I remember being struck by the beauty and detail of this game's European cover art, and it looked like one of those covers that perfectly reflected what it was like to play the game. As it turns out, I was half right, because while I would say that I liked Ico overall, the elements that this game handled poorly meant that this statement would have to come with a bunch of asterisks right alongside it.
If there was one word that I'd use to describe the atmosphere of Ico, it would be "mysterious", as practically every aspect of the game's presentation evoked that feeling. This game placed a heavy emphasis on visual and environmental storytelling, as the simple, fairytale-like plot, fictional languages, and minimal dialogue put a stronger emphasis on having the moment-to-moment gameplay be the main source of the game's storytelling than the cutscenes. This stripped down, minimalist approach made me really appreciate the detailed art direction, as the cinematic camera angles gave the castle's mossy stones and rusted metals a strong sense of ancience. Ico also doesn't use music very often in favor of the naturalistic sounds of bird chips, waterfalls, and Ico's own pitter-patter, but the game's few uses of actual music were beautiful, and they greatly strengthened the emotional impact of the scenes that they were featured in. Despite how all I did was have her hold my hand and watch her climb ladders throughout my playthrough, I was surprised with how much I cared about Yorda, as having to take her everywhere made me feel like I had formed a genuine bond with her without having the game straight-up tell me that I did. All of these elements made for an especially impactful ending, as the use of the song "You Were There" being combined with the filmic cutscenes left me in awe.
Despite how much Ico got right in terms of its atmosphere, storytelling, visuals, and uses of sound, the actual gameplay was what held me back from liking the game as much as everyone else apparently does. The worst part of Ico would easily be its combat, as everything about it felt unintuitive with how long it took for enemies to die and how sluggish the weapons were to use. Every combat encounter in Ico felt like it was interrupting the game rather than complimenting it, as spending minutes at a time just mashing square until the copypaste enemies eventually went away felt mindless, and it didn't even really make sense for a quiet, thoughtful game like this to even have combat in the first place. On top of that, the wonky controls felt like they were working against me a lot of the time, as they not only made the combat more annoying to deal with, but they also made making any jumps or even walking in a straight line annoying to deal with. Granted, Shadow of the Colossus also featured some janky controls, but the weighty physics applying to both you and the Colossi made the fights exhilarating, whereas the simpler gameplay of Ico made its unresponsive controls a lot more apparent. That being said, I did enjoy the game's final (and only) boss battle, as having to run behind cover in between attacks made for a tense and exciting fight. Ico is not a perfect game by any means, but I'd still consider it to be solid time overall, and while it didn't reach the heights of Shadow of the Colossus, I'd still say that I'm interested in checking out The Last Guardian at some point.
If there was one word that I'd use to describe the atmosphere of Ico, it would be "mysterious", as practically every aspect of the game's presentation evoked that feeling. This game placed a heavy emphasis on visual and environmental storytelling, as the simple, fairytale-like plot, fictional languages, and minimal dialogue put a stronger emphasis on having the moment-to-moment gameplay be the main source of the game's storytelling than the cutscenes. This stripped down, minimalist approach made me really appreciate the detailed art direction, as the cinematic camera angles gave the castle's mossy stones and rusted metals a strong sense of ancience. Ico also doesn't use music very often in favor of the naturalistic sounds of bird chips, waterfalls, and Ico's own pitter-patter, but the game's few uses of actual music were beautiful, and they greatly strengthened the emotional impact of the scenes that they were featured in. Despite how all I did was have her hold my hand and watch her climb ladders throughout my playthrough, I was surprised with how much I cared about Yorda, as having to take her everywhere made me feel like I had formed a genuine bond with her without having the game straight-up tell me that I did. All of these elements made for an especially impactful ending, as the use of the song "You Were There" being combined with the filmic cutscenes left me in awe.
Despite how much Ico got right in terms of its atmosphere, storytelling, visuals, and uses of sound, the actual gameplay was what held me back from liking the game as much as everyone else apparently does. The worst part of Ico would easily be its combat, as everything about it felt unintuitive with how long it took for enemies to die and how sluggish the weapons were to use. Every combat encounter in Ico felt like it was interrupting the game rather than complimenting it, as spending minutes at a time just mashing square until the copypaste enemies eventually went away felt mindless, and it didn't even really make sense for a quiet, thoughtful game like this to even have combat in the first place. On top of that, the wonky controls felt like they were working against me a lot of the time, as they not only made the combat more annoying to deal with, but they also made making any jumps or even walking in a straight line annoying to deal with. Granted, Shadow of the Colossus also featured some janky controls, but the weighty physics applying to both you and the Colossi made the fights exhilarating, whereas the simpler gameplay of Ico made its unresponsive controls a lot more apparent. That being said, I did enjoy the game's final (and only) boss battle, as having to run behind cover in between attacks made for a tense and exciting fight. Ico is not a perfect game by any means, but I'd still consider it to be solid time overall, and while it didn't reach the heights of Shadow of the Colossus, I'd still say that I'm interested in checking out The Last Guardian at some point.