Ico
THE GOOD:
Fantastic atmospheric graphics
Sense of scale is incredible
Thought provoking puzzles
No stats, HUD or other distractions to worry about
THE BAD:
The camera fails at times
Yorda doesn't always do what you want
A little on the short side
SUMMARY:
In a videogame market obsessed with "Urban" murder simulations that shamelessly ape GTA without any of the charm, endless WWII shoot-em-ups and interchangable Devil May Cry clones, ICO stands out as a shining beacon of originality and fun, shaming the cash cow developers who throw out yearly sequels with an extra graphical tweak.
The story is simple. You play as a small horned boy (The Ico - pronounced Ee-ko - of the title) who is tasked with rescuing a princess named Yorda from a huge castle. Far from the most original or in-depth plotline, but that's the point. In a world where you load up Splinter Cell to be hit with endless T.V. news reports about Merigastanis and Georgian Algorythyms without any clue as to what this means to you as a player, Ico's simplicity is it's beauty: You and the princess are good, the shadows who appear and try to abduct the girl are bad. No 20-minute cutscenes or Character arcs required to explain that, allowing you to get straight into the game.
This simplicity extends into the game itself. There are no HUDs, because neither player has a life bar. Fall too far off a ledge, or allow Princess Yorda to be abducted by the Evil shadows and the game will end. You have one weapon that you carry at all times, and You use it, and the occasional perishable items like Bombs and clay pots, to solve the puzzles you come across during the game.
At heart that's what this is: an old fashioned puzzle game. Ico himself has too manipulate his surroundings to create a path for Princess Yorda to escape the castle. Yorda can climb ladders and jump gaps, but only with Ico's help, so working together is a must: At times it almost feels like you're controlling both characters rather than just Ico himself. Leave Yorda alone for too long and the Shadows will attack her, but sometimes the only solution to a puzzle requires doing just that. Yorda's heart renching screams from the next room signal an attack, and the shadows deliberately pick the most innopportune moments to show up en masse, forcing you to speed-solve puzzles so you can get back to your charge in time to prevent her abduction.
A special mention must go to the graphics. In the intervening years since it's original 2002 release, many games have appropriated the graphical charms used in ICO, but none have ever matched its sense of sheer scale. Wandering out onto a baclony high above the castle and seeing the sheer size of the Fortress compared to the tiny frail figures of your protaganists is humbling and intimidating in equal measure. Other effects like the wonderful water ripple simply add to what is already an astonishing achievement on a 6 year old console.
As for the negatives? Well it's a little on the short side, averaging about 7 hours for the first playthrough. Yorda occasionaly has a brainfreeze and won't do what you want her to do, and the camera can be dizzying if you run too close to it. But these are tiny flaws in what is all around, a top notch package.
ICO beats out the usual mainstream dross not by being bigger or flashier, but by the simple ingredient that games with twenty times the budget and exposure lack: It's got heart.
