"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." --Albert Einstein
In what is surely a record, I knocked Ico off my play list after it resided there for 19 years.
I understand and respect Fumito Ueda's game design philosophy and Ico's "design by subtraction". But I think too much got subtracted out of Ico, and the game suffers for it.
The combat is too simple. The one button action is repetitive, boring, and frustrating. Sure, Ico can't die, but Yorda can be kidnapped, ending the game. As a result, the stakes are raised not by doing damage to you, but by keeping you out of the fight for long stretches of time during which the shadow monsters can make off with Yorda. This is accomplished by having blows put Ico on the ground, unable to stand up for what feels like an eternity. This design mechanic may be realistic and the frustration it induces may be intentional, but it's still annoying. Even the offensive side of combat is frustrating. Landing a blow on a monster can feel like a game of chance, with indiscernible vulnerability windows, and after you whack one, you are unable to whack him again for what also feels like an eternity. Multiply by multiple monsters per encounter and multiple whacks per monster and it gets really old, really fast. All you can do is whack and hope you win. No block, no dodge, no counter, no alternate attacks, no strategy, no nothing. The closest the game gets to strategic combat is when the occasional monster will play coy with you and stay out of striking distance until you turn your back to it, so sometimes you need to turn your back on a monster and wait for it to approach Yorda before you can lash out at it. If I'm being honest, I'm not even convinced that is a gameplay feature and not a bug. It's impossible to say.
Otherwise, the gameplay is okay. It does some interesting things like make you hold onto Yorda by holding down a button as you drag her around the environment. The art direction and music create a sublime, melancholy mood, also aided by the layered, labyrinthine level design. The castle setting is laid out well and offers some neat paths which double back on themselves and open new openings, kind of Metroidvania-lite.
I like what Ico has going on, but it's just so barren. The world is barren, the story is thin, the characterization is non-existent, the gameplay is stripped down to the bones. Ico is more of an atmosphere or mood to experience than it is a game to play, which is why I appreciated it but was thankful that it's pretty short.
I'm glad it exists, and I'm glad I finally played it. I understand it's gone on to inspire game developers and influence games across multiple platforms and genres, which is awesome. I just think I respect it more than I like it. But that's okay.
In what is surely a record, I knocked Ico off my play list after it resided there for 19 years.
I understand and respect Fumito Ueda's game design philosophy and Ico's "design by subtraction". But I think too much got subtracted out of Ico, and the game suffers for it.
The combat is too simple. The one button action is repetitive, boring, and frustrating. Sure, Ico can't die, but Yorda can be kidnapped, ending the game. As a result, the stakes are raised not by doing damage to you, but by keeping you out of the fight for long stretches of time during which the shadow monsters can make off with Yorda. This is accomplished by having blows put Ico on the ground, unable to stand up for what feels like an eternity. This design mechanic may be realistic and the frustration it induces may be intentional, but it's still annoying. Even the offensive side of combat is frustrating. Landing a blow on a monster can feel like a game of chance, with indiscernible vulnerability windows, and after you whack one, you are unable to whack him again for what also feels like an eternity. Multiply by multiple monsters per encounter and multiple whacks per monster and it gets really old, really fast. All you can do is whack and hope you win. No block, no dodge, no counter, no alternate attacks, no strategy, no nothing. The closest the game gets to strategic combat is when the occasional monster will play coy with you and stay out of striking distance until you turn your back to it, so sometimes you need to turn your back on a monster and wait for it to approach Yorda before you can lash out at it. If I'm being honest, I'm not even convinced that is a gameplay feature and not a bug. It's impossible to say.
Otherwise, the gameplay is okay. It does some interesting things like make you hold onto Yorda by holding down a button as you drag her around the environment. The art direction and music create a sublime, melancholy mood, also aided by the layered, labyrinthine level design. The castle setting is laid out well and offers some neat paths which double back on themselves and open new openings, kind of Metroidvania-lite.
I like what Ico has going on, but it's just so barren. The world is barren, the story is thin, the characterization is non-existent, the gameplay is stripped down to the bones. Ico is more of an atmosphere or mood to experience than it is a game to play, which is why I appreciated it but was thankful that it's pretty short.
I'm glad it exists, and I'm glad I finally played it. I understand it's gone on to inspire game developers and influence games across multiple platforms and genres, which is awesome. I just think I respect it more than I like it. But that's okay.