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This Game is a Must Buy!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I think anyone who owns a Playstation 2 should run out and buy this game. I bought the game two days ago, and it is stunning. The graphics are very well done, some areas look like impressionist paintings come to life. I like shoot em up games as much as the next person, but I can also apreciate a good puzzle game as well. The contols are wonderful, almost becomes second nature to move little Ico around. I found myself becoming very attached to Yorda(the princess) worrying about her welfare. All in all I recommend this game to anyone who likes to have a good time. Oh, and by the way, don't do this game with a stragety guide in hand, you will ruin all the enjoyment you will get out of this game. Use your brain! :)

Fantastic Game That Ends Too Soon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I just completed the actual retail version of this game. I can only accurately describe it in one word; Short. I finished this game in less than 6 and a half hours. I did not cheat (I'm not sure you can) and I did not use a walkthrough. I spent my time looking around and figuring out the puzzles and fighting the shadow monsters. It's flat out the shortest game I have ever played and I've been playing video games many a year. Don't get me wrong, because I can't recommend this game enough. It's beautiful to look at and makes you use your mind, not just a twitchy finger or two. Don't let the demo fool you. Those shadow monsters are much, much tougher in the real game. They don't just run away with the girl, they fly away! And although the demo shows you rooms that are in the game, the actual gameplay in those rooms is much different. The saddest part of this game is that I don't see much replay value. Once you know what to do, you know what to do and it will be over that much faster. In the long run I would suggest renting this game over a weekend and playing until your done.

You'll cry from the beauty of it all.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ico Ico Ico. According to an interview I saw with the creator of the game, it is pronounced "Eeeko." This game is angelic. There is no other word for it.

You play a ten-year old boy (I think he's ten) who is born with horns. In his village, this means death. He is taken to a huge castle and imprisoned a giant urn. The urn ends up toppling over and breaking and your adventure begins. Almost immediately, you find a young girl named Yorda. It is then your mission not only to escape the castle, but to bring Yorda with you.

There is almost no violence in this game. This is somethig everyone should be prepared for going into this game. It is the main problem some might have. I didn't. I thought it was darn refreshing to play a non-bloody, non-kill-em-all game. The closest thing to violence comes with beating away the evil, black spirits with your stick or sword. The only other problem some may have is the length. It's too short. One wants the beauty to last forever.

That said, the game is brilliant. The graphics are simply amazing. The lighting is like some I've never seen in a video game. And then there is the character animations. The first time I stood on a ledge, held out my hand to Yorda, and watched her jump and barely make it, my heart wept. And hopefully, so will anybody else's who buys this game.

Buy it now. Thought it's short, it's challenging. And it's always fun watching your friend or girlfriend or boyfriend trying to solve the same puzzles you already beat.

This is why you bought your PS2!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

So many descriptive terms are overused in game reviews, that it is hard to convey the impact this game has on me. Before I try, I can summarize by saying that in about 25 years of playing computer and video games, going back to Advent and Akalabeth, very few games have ever evoked a real emotional response, and none before this have really moved me to the heart. Many console RPGs have dramatic or melodramatic storylines, but a few lines of text on a screen are silly compared to a real book for that sort of thing. There is almost no text in Ico at all, but the emotional impact is profound.

When people use "beautiful" to describe games with high-quality rendering and well-chosen color, how shall I describe a game whose visual impact transcends the medium and touches the heart like a fine painting? When "amazing" is used to describe games which take full advantage of the latest hardware, how can I describe a game which does things the designers would never have imagined the hardware could do, because they don't rely on mere vertex calculation rates or shading algorithms?

Don't mistake me, technically this game is superb. A big part of the emotional impact comes from the pathos of the very well modeled human figures; when Ico pulls Yorda along at a run, or helps her up a climb, or catches her after a jump, you forget that these characters are rendered 3D models because they look like real people. And there are lots of fine details that you don't even notice consciously; for example, if Ico falls far enough to yell in pain, Yorda tends to come uncalled to show her concern.

In terms of the actual gameplay itself, this game is also fairly unique. Ico is an incredibly athletic and flexible little boy, but the game is not about me, the player, learning how to do square-triangle-circle-circle-L2-down-R1 with just the right timing to do something (ugh, I hate that sort of game). The game is about me, in the role of Ico, figuring out how to get myself and Yorda past each obstacle or situation using my abilities and hers. It's not about figuring out how to climb up the chain or jump across the chasm, it's about figuring out which of those things to do or in what order.

Aside from the emotional tension it evokes so deeply, this is a very relaxing game to play. It's hard to die, and even if you do die or get Yorda killed you can just replay the last scene rather than restoring from a save.

I really have only two complaints about this game: The save points are slightly too far apart in places, so you need to commit to 20-30 minutes of playtime at a chunk if you want to quit and go to bed or work. And the game itself is short by most standards; it's only about 12 to 20 hours worth of play total.

But overall, this is one of the best experiences I've had with a computer or video game in my whole life, and I encourage you to give it a try.

Best Adventure Game for Non-Pubescent Males

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you are an adult with lots of responsibility and little time to camp out in front of the TV playing video games, Ico is the adventure game for you. It is true that the game can be completed within 10-15 hours if you NEVER look at a guide book. However, since those of us in this category may only spend 1-5 hours a week playing video games, that's enough to make the game worth our precious hours of game time. The game is simple to learn. No complicated fight combos and fighting is only occasionally warding off ghost. No graphic gore or bouncing breast, making this a good choice for kids and women. Control of Ico is excellent and the storyline is outstanding. The game is worth playing to the end, the VERY END!

An original and fun game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

ICO is a very interesting game. The closest comparison I can think of is like a 3D version of a Prince of Persia type (if anybody still remembers that) where you have to climb ledges and jump from platform to platform, etc..

The catch is that in addition to winding your way through this fortress, you also have to take (coax, drag, etc..) a lovely young princess with you. The whole point of the game is to get her safely out of the fortress. If she dies, you die. If you leave her for too long, she gets attacked by shadow demons.

The graphics in this game are quite impressive. The fortress itself is immense. Some of the areas are huge, and they're all beautifully rendered. The graphics reminded me a lot of Myst and Riven (except they aren't static images). The characters are also very well rendered. The interaction between Ico and the princess is very realistic (sometimes he has to grab her hand and drag her around... this is incredibly realistic).

Gameplay is very interesting. When you're first trying to figure out what you can get the princess to do, and how to interact with the world, the puzzles are very hard. It gets easier as you go, but it's still interesting until the very end. One of the coolest things about this game is that there is no visual difference between scenery that's part of the puzzles, and stuff that's just in the background. In a lot of games, you can cheat a little bit because objects that are useable always kind of stick out into the foreground. I found this to be a really cool feature because it makes the puzzles much more difficult and fun.

This game took me about 10 hours to finish. It's not quite as long as I might have liked, but I was very satisfied at the end.

A perfect world

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Ico is a beautiful game. You're the title character, a boy born with two horns, who's one day put away in a giant, dark castle for all eternity. But the cell Ico is locked into falls over and opens up. Ico gets out and soon after he meets a girl, Yorda, who is captured in a huge cage in one of the castle's many halls. Ico sets her free and together they start their search for freedom; the way out of the castle, constantly followed by dark, smoky spirits which are trying to pull Yorda back into their black poodles leading to their underworld.
Not only do you have to protect Yorda from the spirits (if she's captured, also you will be killed by an evil dark force spreading out from their underworld holes), but you'll have to solve puzzles to open new doors to new rooms. As Yorda can't climb, swim or jump as good as you, you'll also have to solve puzzles to make ways for Yorda so it's possible for her to follow. In addition to the fact that her being captured is the same as your own death you'll also need her force to open up special gates, so you better watch her carefully and not leave her alone for too long.
The game is throughout perfectly well done. The visuals; from the massive castle constructions rising above to the seemingly bottomless walls and cliffs disappearing through fog into the ocean far below, from the play between light and shadow in the castle's many courtyards and through open windows onto the castle walls to the tight steamy underground caves with their waterfalls and rusty constructions and waterwheels. Then add the realistic sound effects which are changing depending on where ever the characters are; if it's a small rom, a hall, a cave or a courtyard; or how far away from the "camera" they are. Even your steps never sound the same. Then you have some fantastic ambient sounds adding even more realism to it all. And the voices are wonderfully relaxing and natural.
Finally add the animation. The main characters are so alive it's almost scary moving seemlessly on their own or together hand in hand. When you leave Yorda alone she'll walk around on her own, look around and respond to you in a way so that you'll question if it's not actually real the stuff you're watching. Sometimes she can even be awkward not following you. Annoying all right, but it adds to her personality. I would't say it's a bug. The game is too well done for that.
The puzzles can sometimes be easy indeed, but more often it'll be more than just finding the next lever and you'll more than once have to use your brain, experiment and even take chances that might seem lethal in the first place. Once, in the beginning, I got stuck because I underestimated Yorda's abilities. If I had read the booklet more carefully I wouldn't.
The downside of the game is that it is fairly short. I completed it in about 10 hours and I am an average gamer. And since you're only equipped with a stick as a weapon in the beginning, fighting evil spirits is actually harder at the start than when you progress in the game and get more powerful weapons, like the sword. Because the spirits are the same thoughout the game. They're never advancing, so towards the end, enemies are a breeze to get rid off. And when you at last defeat what you'd call a boss, who you'll think is the first of many, the game is finally over. I am not spoiling anything saying this because this is even written in the booklet.
Younger gamers will maybe spend longer time completing it. Older gamers should just enjoy this perfect game world; a poetic game more realistic and atmospheric than most others.
If you own a PS2 you should really buy this, if not it's nearly worth buying a PS2 just because of Ico.

Excellent and underrated, good for kids

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played the demo, and that convinced me to buy it. It's a movement or puzzle oriented adventure game with absolutely gorgeous indoor and outdoor environments rivalling the Myst series. It's very sweet, as you play a small boy trying to escape from a huge castle complex with his friend Jorda, whom you have to protect from shadowy creatures with a stick and assist in climbing ledges and other obstacles. The sets are well designed, diverse (within the European castle genre), and immersive. The motion capture for the characters is very well done, and Jorda's AI is advanced enough that getting her to follow you or do what you want is not frustrating. It's very good for kids, as there is basically no violence; nobody is injuired. Swinging at humanoid shaped black smoke which is trying to usher Jorda away is about the worst of it, and there's not much at that. For the ESRB to rate it "Teen" is a travesty, as this is suitable for kids of ALL ages, but because of the beautifully rendered scenes and amazing motion capture of the characters, it's something that adults can enjoy, too. After reading the ESRB's rating guidelines, I have a feeling it got a "Teen" rating because the stick-swinging wasn't "slapstick", since Ico tries to have realistic looking characters and motions, but assuming that realism is always for adults and animation is only for kids is just one of the ESRB's many flaws which make its ratings useless.

Amazing and impressive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game was a change in what I'm used to playing. First, you don't collect any weapons. You just use whatever you happen to find lying around you starting with the stick( which can be used as a torch which is useful) and later on you'll find some more damaging items as you play along.The second was the amount of puzzles that are thrown at you. Now that was a plus in my opinion, solving a puzzles is just something that appeals to me and I admit it got alittle annoying at times but I got past it. And last thing had to be how Ico and Yorda communicated. When Ico spoke( his language was a made up form of Japanese or that's what I heard) subtitles would appear in english. Now the annoying part of the game was when Yorda spoke. Her language is also a made up one but very different from Ico's. When she spoke a form of hirogliphics,(sorry if the spelling on that word is wrong),would appear confusing you. Keep in mind that this is done intensionally.
Basicly you're in a castle, alone and you find a girl trapped in a cage and you help her out. Finally she's free and she speaks to you...Damn! You have no idea what she's saying and that in itself is a puzzle that you have to deal with. It makes you feel how Ico is feeling. Yorda sometimes gives you clues or even points you to the right direction, which I did not see the first time playing the game. That's a plus, now the down side is that she tends to wander out your sight, and yes I am serious she actually wanders off. That is another new element in the game, a princess with a mind of her own. This is a bad thing since you have to protect her from being harmed or should I say kidnapped. She is weak, slow and basicly can't help you in any fights. You have to get her through the the castle and even leave her alone at times to find a safer path for her to cross. She is the one thing you have to protect because once those shadow demons, monsters or whatever their called take the game is over.
If she happens to wander away you can actually yell for her and she comes running to you. Neat..AI is absolutely amazing in this game. This game is a must if you like testing you mind. The graphics a are beautiful the controls are smooth and easy to master. And the puzzles can be mind boggling. The only complaint I have is that it was too short but that does not and will not affect my score one bit. Go and buy it now. You will not be disappointed one bit.

THE EPITOME OF BEAUTY

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

ICO is the absolute epitome of beauty and is worth *every last* cent you pay for it ! There isn't a SINGLE thing wrong with this game other than the fact that it's too short and that you don't get to control Yorda as you do in the Japanese or PAL versions after beating the game the first time. But even without those extras, the game is AMAZING on EVERY level in EVERY way !!! Walking around the castle or outside of it, you can be TRULY entranced by the beauty of your surroundings ! The voices in the game seem real, as well as the realistic movements of Ico and Yorda. It's fun to just walk around in awe at the entire game while trying to solve the puzzles. Not to mention the ending is great, too! Another phenomenal thing about the game is the ambient and beautiful music ! The entire game is like one amazing interactive painting -- it's indescribable! It's almost impossible to understand mine or anyone's review until you actually play ICO. No. - correction: until you *EXPERIENCE* ICO. . .

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