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Unique and fun experience!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you ever find the opportunity to buy this game, you should certainly do so. ICO provides a unique and unparalleled gameplay experience all wrapped up in a moody and atmospheric setting.

Here's basically how it works: you play as a young, horned boy named Ico. You've been banished from your home village and offered up as sacrifice, due to what is implied to be a curse of sorts. But a stroke of luck gives you the perfect chance to escape. On your way out, you find Yorda, trapped in a cage dangling several stories from the ground. While you cannot communicate with her through words (both characters speak different non-existent languages), you still feel compelled to save this alluring young lady.

In order to achieve your escape, and that of Yorda, you must pull her around by her arm (or in some cases, call her to follow you) and guide her through puzzles and obstacles through environmental manipulation, while overcoming well-thought-out and clever platforming tasks to do this. You must also use simple but fun combat techniques to keep the evil shadows from pulling poor Yorda into a dark portal, thus ending the game.

Sound boring? Well, it's really not. Read on!

While most games that require you to lug an extra character around tend to be bothersome and tedious, there is something so gratifying about tugging Yorda around the gloom-and-doom castle in which this one-of-a-kind fairy tale takes place.

With every intricate puzzle, you will have "ah-ha!" moments, and "huh?" moments, and sometimes you will even get "wow!" moments. Few games have provoked so much response from me as a gamer, and anyone looking to connect emotionally with the on-screen character (or in this case, characters), would be a fool not to play this game.

Some gamers complain about the brevity of this adventure, but I am compelled to disagree: the game is simplistic in nature. If it were any longer, it might have seemed a bit...excess. I won't say I wouldn't have appreciated more length to the game, but at the same time, when all was said and done and I was faced with the finale (which is, by the way, very fitting), I didn't feel cheated. I felt like I had experienced something very special and now I was fortunate enough to go and tell others about it!

I wholeheartedly recommend this fantastic work of art, and I hope it finds its way into your hearts and into your PS2s very soon, if it has not already.

Awesome Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

OK...I'm really [bad] at video games, but this game was awesome. The fighting scenes were not hard but the puzzles could be a bit confussing. I was completely addicted to the game because I was determined to win. I was a little sad that fighting the queen was so easy. The graphics were great, and the music was appropriate for the game. After you play it once it is going to be kind of boring to play again. Unless you just want to see how fast you can beat the game. The first time I played it took about 8.5 hours. I am half through now and it has taken 50 minutes. Great Game... I highly recommend buying it!

Freakin' Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It was when playing this game, that I realized:

Electronic Gaming Has Truly Arrived.

I was completely knocked flat by the most fluid character animation I have ever seen, coupled with absolutely breathtaking lighting effects on fabrics of various translucency. The way shadow and light plays on Princess Yorda's dress, especially in well-lit areas like open spaces in outdoor areas is amazing - and even more amazing is the first time you get a close-up look at a tree. Wow. Each leaf varies in shade depending on what angle you're seeing sunlight shine through it. Also, the pool of water by the windmill has the best refraction/reflection visuals I've ever seen in realtime 3D rendering.

I'm used to seeing stuff fade in and out as it becomes distant. Not here, baby. I've never seen a single thing fade out of view, no matter how far away - this leads to some pretty inspiring views of very detailed landscapes.

Also, the character animation (I have to assume they made very extensive use of motion capture) is the most fluid I've ever seen. There are very nearly no noticable "jumps" in the animation when they switch from one sequence to another - the only real exception would probably be when Ico is changing directions while climbing a chain. Yorda's AI for following Ico when he calls is quite convincing, although some few, very occaisional glitches sometimes occur.

The downsides are very minor, but of course every game has 'em. Because the entire game is based in the same setting, scenery changes very little, and although the textures are quite nice, they can be a bit monotonous after a while (though you don't really notice this, because you are so mesmerized by the character animation). Also, at least on my copy, I notice that if you play for long stretches at a time, the game will suddenly go into pause state, and lock up there. But that could just be my copy, which was purchased used.

The game is *not* an action game - if you don't like games which require thinking, don't buy it. There are some bad guys to beat up, but their difficulty tends to be pretty low throughout the game - instead of upping their difficulty, for the most part, they just throw larger quantities of bad guys at you more frequently as the game progresses. Especially irritating is at the end, just before you fight the Queen herself, you are fighting about a hundred or so bad guys, all of whom never even really touch you, because you have such a powerful weapon at that stage that they shirk from you every time they even *think* of getting close enough to attack. The Queen, too, is no challenge to defeat, once you've figured out how to use the monoliths as shields from her petrification attack during the periods in which you are defenseless.

However, as a puzzle game, it is extremely strong. The puzzles are fairly challenging, but not so challenging that you get frustrated and give up. I only peeked at a walkthrough once, and it ended up being a solution I had thought I'd tried already, so didn't keep trying again.

This is one of my all-time favorite games, right up there with the Metal Gear Solid series and Max Payne (only played the latter on PC).

Selling GREAT....for a REASON!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

At the E3 convention last summer, I heard a ton about this game with an odd title. So I had to hunt around the convention hall to find a group of TV screens showing the gameplay of this fantastic little game. Unfortunately I'm not able to buy EVERY game that I want when they first come out...but I finally managed to get ICO a month ago or so. I played the game for 3 days (evenings actually...after work) and finished the game in a total of about 8 or 10 hours. It may not seem like a super long time to play a game, but the scenery and the character movement are well worth the price of the game.

The game is essentially 'Escape from the Castle' with a few little quirks and twists. The movement of the characters is intuitive and easy to handle...and rarely will you find yourself sitting in front of an area saying "well how come he doesn't just grab that rope". Everything in the game makes sense, and visually you'll sit back and enjoy the short cinematic animations that come up every so often.

Looking for a game for that you can pop in when friends come over, ICO is the game. It plays like a movie, so don't be surprised if everyone watches one person play the game...for hours.

Amazing puzzle game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I haven't played a puzzle game in years.Mostly they just frustrate me. But this game has great puzzles and an excellent story. I great game for anyone who enjoys solving puzzles and likes a good story.

Buy this Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a gamers game. It is one that harkens back to simpler times in gaming. This is not to say that the game is simple. Actually it is very challenging. This simple part about it is the beautiful story and the straight forward gameplay. Here you will not find over the top guns and impossible manuevers. Here you will find an increadibly detailed, immersive world, that you will enjoy getting lost in. You will find characters that you relate to and actually care for by the end of the game. The game architecture is beautiful and the story is the one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of encountering. If you enjoy adventure type games, then buy this game. It is what a video game should be.

Bottom line, if you want to see what the PS2 is capable of, and you enjoy a good story, buy this game.

It's not that good, trust me.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 17
Date: June 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game, thinking it would be as good as the many reviews claim. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. This is just my opinion, but, this game is boring as hell. You just wander around a drab-looking castle looking for a way out. Maybe it's because I'm 16, but I need something more exciting. You pretty much just run back and forth opening doors, dragging boxes and fighting evil spirits occasionally. Even when you do that, it's just plain annoying. Trust me, it's not all as impressive as they say.

he is a plagarist

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: September 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The first review on this page was coppied directly out of playstation magazine. It is even titled the same. The game is great though.

Not For Everyone

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: November 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Again, the video game industry has succeded in building up tremendous hype and aniticipation for a game which cannot possibly live up to it. I've heard all the talk that most likely caused you to look up this game: amazing graphics, intuative concepts and deep gameplay which mirrors Zelda. After having experienced this game, I am deeply dissapointed.

The concept is at least original - overcome obstacles and challenges and help a princess follow you to the exit of a castle. Along the way, solve puzzles so the princess can continue to follow behind you. This plays well for the first hour or two, but quickly becomes annoying and repetative.

There are some great puzzles in this game that will leave you scratching your head for hours. However, that's about all the game is - puzzles. There are a few action sequences, but those simply involve pushing the fight button repeatedly. Once you get sick of the same old puzzles - some of which take forever to solve because of the bad control - Ico loses its appeal.

The graphics are somewhat impressive, but they can't show off much besides the inside of the castle, plus there is a lot of fog. Many other PS2 games have superior graphics. Often, intircate parts of the puzzles get lost in myraids of grey and fog, making the puzzle nearly impossible to figure out.

It comes down to this: if you're a die hard puzzle/strategy gamer, check out Ico, but don't expect much more. Calling this an RPG is an outright lie. If you expect variety from a game, avoid this one. I checked it out for a 5 day rental, played it straight through over one night, then returned it the next day out of boredom and went back to Devil May Cry - a much better investment. There are lots of better PS2 games you should look into. Otherwise, just save your money for a Gamecube.

Who Wouldn't??

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: April 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Okay, I'm picky about my games, but I play this game all the time. I play it, because I if I play a really LONG game, I'll get really obsessed with it. I first played this game when I was in... third grade. I loved it. My friends and I would leave her somewhere, and watch her run toward Ico. She stares at you a lot, which is VERY freaky. I didn't expect to much out of the game but it's pretty good. Now, I like the graphics, but the fighting needs to be looked at again. It's simple. The first time I played, the monster things NEVER took her into the deep dark hole thing. May I remind you, I was in third grade. It's a great game, and if you own a PS2 just rent it sometime from your local Movie Gallery, Mr. Movies, Blockbuster, Video Update, or just buy the darn thing. Aight, I got one last announcment. My name is Randi (I'm a girl) and if you live in Minnesota I'm on the news Channel FOX9. I review movies, so just watch for me on FOX9 Morning News, 5-9 am. Bye!!
A game Freak(...)

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