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Myst for the year 2001...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: October 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Ico is a stellar achievement when it comes to environment. Astounding graphics, understatedly perfect sound effects, and the thoroughly haunting and appropriate music with heavy on the strings. Go anywhere in the castle that makes up the game field and you can see the other portions of the castle from the proper persepective. You're truly immersed in this world.

And therein lies the problem...

As other reviews have stated, Ico is short--astoundingly so, for a game that cost $40+ at one point. Any gamer with even moderate experience would complete the game in less than 10 hours; expert gamers might squeeze in under 5. As a result, the game designers never really build a mythology that is the hallmark of a classic.

Oh, don't get me wrong. For the few hours it lasts, you'll get attached to Ico and his wispy companion. The problem is that, most likely, you won't care about them after it's over. The player never gains a clear understanding of why this castle exists, how it came to be in this state of disrepair, and why the denizens of the castle act the way they do.

In other words, the designers failed to construct a mythology as compelling and immersive as their castle. As such, Ico is much like Myst+, a gorgeous puzzle game (with far more logical puzzles) that ultimately turns out to be not much more than that.

Ico? Fun? NOOOOO

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 23
Date: July 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well, having just bought this game for very cheap, and all the great ratings (including all you whackos in Amazon) it recieved, I thought I had made another good deal in getting a great game for a low price (like Seek and Destroy, Road Trip, etc.) But, I was wrong.
First of all, this game is TOO FREAKIN HARD. I repeatedly had to run up my stairs and check Game FAQs in the first hour of this game. The levels all look the same so you don't know where you're going. Your princess friend has the IQ of a retarded animal, because you have to call to her 5 times (no exaggeration) to get her up a 10 foot ladder, or else she just sits on the ladder blankly, unmoving.
The graphics are pretty weird, Ico looks like a chinese monkey, and the princess just looks like a monkey angel. The reason for this being such a cult hit, getting all these great reviews? Mystery. Please. I only recommend this game if you absolutely LOVE puzzles every second, limited fighting, and going on game FAQS. Maybe I've just been playing too much Dynasty Warriors, but hey; just stay away from the game even at its baragin bin price.

A different type of fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: December 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I got this game for my birthday and I liked it. It's different than most games because instead of defeating enimies, you most solve puzzles. The graphics are beautiful and the sound effects are eerie.

The story in this game(off the back cover):
Within a world of enchantment and wonder, evil resides in an ancient castle. Ico, a young boy born with horns, has been expelled from his village and left within this isolated fortress. Embarking on a perilous quest to save himself as well as a beautiful princess, Ico must find a way to escape. However, escaping will be no easy task. Every towering staircase and stone block is a piece of a puzzle. Every open window, dangling chain and razor thin escape illuminates another mystery.

The wierd thing about this game is that you don't have any health. The only way you can die is if you fall of a cliff and you get a game over if you allow the princess to be captured by the dark spirits. Instead of fighting off the dark spirits, you must cast spells on them which will stop them temporarally but they will still come after you.

The only real downside to this game is that it is incredibly short. I was able to beat it in less than 6 hours, but the game is fun while it lasts.

I would recommend this game to any platformer who is ready for a new type of challenge.

An experience in beauty

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Firstly, this game is not an action game. There is no blood, and there is limited violence. But that is really not the point of this game.

Ico is an enchanting and beautiful game. It sets you as Ico, a boy sentenced to death for being born with horns, and you must escape from the castle of your execution. However, you are not the only one who needs to escape. Yorda is your weakened companion in the quest for survival and freedom. She is of poor health, but can utilize enough magical energy to open barred passages for you.

The music is very light when present at all, but I absolutely adore the final theme. It is very beautiful. The sound effects are light and consist of the sounds one would make walking through a stone structure. The areas are vast, and well structured. The graphics do not fail to please.

And for those of you who need an easter egg or two, there is the mace you can try to find...

Excellent Puzzle Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is one of the best I have ever played! The graphics are magnificent and look almost like an oil painting. The music is great and the puzzles can be real mind-benders. All in all, a fantastic game! This may not be everyones piece of cake however... If you don't like to think, then don't get this game! The only bad things about this game are that it lacks story and is very, very short (took about 5 hours!). This game is really great, but you may just want to rent it first!

A videogame story that works! A nice, entertaining evening.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I adore video games, but rarely find ones worth all the hub-bub they are given- yeah the box looks great, the stills were amazing- it has to be great for 50 bucks... right... all to often wrong. This game was different. I'm an older gamer (at least in terms of video games) and now have a game I can really enjoy. It doesn't have a ton of fighting, but that gets boring eventually regardless of how intricate they try to make the controls or how many millions of variations there are on a different "move". The puzzles don't require a stroke of PURE LUCK, GENIUS or WALKTHROUGH GUIDE to get through. Some will keep you guessing for a while, some are quickly apparent but all are solveable! And the story is intriguing.
Having Yorda follow Ico and rely on him for her safety is a different and great new twist to typical vidoegame fare. While Ico is acrobatic enough to climb chains and jump from ledge to ledge you need to think about how Yorda will make passage from location to location. The graphics are truly beautiful and worth a few moments to just pause and look around and take it all in. The trees were really amazing as were the water effects. The little details were appropriate and helped create the mood and draw you into this altered reality. The sound effects were also quite nice and appreciated.
The game is (I'm told) short- I haven't finished yet though I'm a fair way through and it hasn't taken days to do... but I don't mind that. I'm tired of being bogged down in complex meaningless storylines that I need to keep notes on. This game feels complete as is. If you have a real life and can't play for a week you can pick it up and keep going... Games like Final Fantasy et al felt as though if you didn't keep up with it DAILY you would totally lost when you returned to it... That doesn't work for adults who have REAL lives to attend to- not just video games.
In short- great game, lots of fun, AND different from the typical stuff being hawked.

Best gaming experience I've ever had

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Should you buy this game? That's a tough call. In a sense the game is a short lived experience in that you'll probably finish it in ten hours. After that the reply value is limited in terms of challenge (i.e. there are no more challenges). But you will never forget the time you spent with Ico.

You have to rent it at least. Some people have taken to calling this game "art" and I agree. Once you play Ico you won't see gaming the same again. The mood and atmosphere of Ico are unsurpassed by any game. I'm going to be expecting a lot more from games in the future.

WOW!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is an amazing game! I finished it in about a week and as soon as the game ended I started a new game. (It's that good!) The graphics almost bring tears to your eyes because they are so hauntingly beutiful, and if you are afraid of heights then this may not be the game for you. (My heart skiped a beat several times from fear of falling.) The game will suck you in and make you feel like you are really their(Much like Myst and Riven) The story is also very well done and very sweet. If you like Myst, Zelda and Tomb Raider then this game is a dream come true.

P.S. when you finish the game WAIT through the credits, the game is not quite over.

6 hours short

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: January 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Before I get into the good things about Ico, I must say that I finished this game in under 6 hours. I'm not a fast or great gamer, it's just that Ico is very short. Too short for $... On top of this, one major section is a mirror image of an earlier puzzle. Also, there is little reason to play it a second time through, so why buy it?

Otherwise, Ico is a wonderful, beautiful adventure game. You play a young boy with horns, trying to escape from a mysterious castle. The castle itself is gigantic, with towering walls that rise 400 feet above the ocean. As you climb level after level, you can see the levels you completed below you, making the sense of scale mindboggling. And while Ico has many bland, low-res textures that look really ugly, there is a wonderful glow to everything, almost as if you were looking at a painting and not a video game. This game has some very beautiful moments. Also, the plot is fairly engaging, and the ending is very satisfying - just be sure to wait past the credits.

As for actual gameplay, Ico is pretty standard adventure game stuff. You run, jump, push blocks, and climb rope. There are lots of easy yet obscure puzzles, as you must open doors and pull levels to get from area to area. Most puzzles are based on exploration. Ico's biggest twist is the addition of Yorda, a princess who you must protect and escort out of the castle. She can't go everywhere you can, and while you are off opening a path for her, monsters sometimes come to grab her.

Rent this game first, you see everything in 1 weekend.

More art than videogame

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: February 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

ICO is more art than a game. It manages to draw the player into its world and does something that very few games (or movies or books for that matter) manage to do, which is it makes you care about the characters in the game. You REALLY want to save the girl and began to care for her character through the game. A great game...

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