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Stunning

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

ICO is a dream of a game...you'll be hard pushed to find a bad review of it from anyone. There is a simplicity to it that's very rare to find. It's a third person adventure, but there are no menus, health gauges, hit counters, files, items or memos anywhere to be found. The only thing you have to interact with are your two characters and the gigantic location they are lost inside.

ICO begins as a young boy is imprisoned in an ancient fortress by a troop of soldiers. It's made clear that he is considered cursed because of a strange birth defect (he has been born with horns), and also, that he is not the first. But luck is on his side as, for the first time in who knows how many centuries, he manages to survive the incarceration and finds himself free of his stone coffin, but still trapped withing the castle walls. Your job is to get him out of the castle alive.

The castle itself makes ICO breathtaking. A simply dazzling piece of virtual architecture, it sprawls off into the distance as you stand on ramparts and balconies, taking in the view from all around. The game takes you from a vast "burial" chamber through many different environments, including many staircases, vaults, towers and even gardens and a windmill. Yes, much of the gameplay takes place outside, as the castle has extensive grounds, and you'll find yourself wandering thorugh bright sunshine among fluttering pigeons for a lot of your time. The castle is not a spooky or ominous ruin, it's simply a building, and many of the areas are beautiful and peaceful havens of tranquil silence. You'll soon realise that there is no music in ICO, but the sense of location sound is perfect. Most of it seems to be birdsong and weather and atmosphere effects, set off by your tiny echoing footsteps as you run around the environment. It all establishes even further just how real the situation feels. The effect of bright sunlight on some of the grassy areas is wonderfully created, and yet the atmosphere is one of a crisp winter chill. I find it hard to describe, but the game actually made me feel cold, as though I was putting myself right into that location, and thats something that very few games succeed in achieving.

But onto the more important aspect of the game, Ico (the character) has a companion that he meets early on, a reed-thin and fragile girl in white called Yorda, with whom he bonds instantly. They do not speak the same language (Yorda's seldom spoken lines are not translated, where as Iko's language is given English subtitles), but they become united in their wish to escape the castle. Now comes the meat of the gameplay. Yorda is weak and defenceless, but only she can open the magically locked doors that act as end-of-level checkpoints. To reach these doors, Ico must lead, help or make a pathway for Yorda so that both of them can advance. Ico has a variety of moves, such as jumping, rope swinging and climbing, but Yorda can do nothing unaided, and success relies on your solving many puzzles to assist her in reaching the sealed doors each time along with Ico.

Too bad that it's not always that simple, because there are dark forces dwelling within this otherwise tranquil castle. When Ico first finds Yorda, she is in a cage, and it seems that something doesn't want her to leave the place. Every now and then, black shadowy figures erupt from the ground in attempt to drag Yorda back to where she came from. Herein lies the combat section of the game, and although it is a very simple job to whack the shadow creatures into oblivion, the skill lies in getting rid of them quickly before they can drag Yorda off into the darkness. The creatures work in packs, with some surrounding Iko while others bundle Yorda off towards a black portal in the ground where she will sink into oblivion. And if this happens at any time, the game ends. No second chances here! Plus some of the shadow creatures can fly...maybe you can imagine now that the combat portions of the game cannot be treated lightly. Luckily you can save your progress at stone chairs that are dotted liberally throughout the castle, and you should not miss any chance to do so, as they can often be at the end of a very complex puzzle section.

Puzzles...that's what the basis of all non-combat sections are about. Every part of the castle requires a different approach. Every seemingly unclimbable tall tower, or sealed off room, or high-walled dead end can be cleared with a bit of thought and exploration. You'll spend many happy hours working out what to do, and things really do get quite fiendish at times, so completion of some levels is supremely satisfying. Remember that you have to work un-prompted, there are no items, codes or clues to carry around. Everything you need will be in the area you are currently stuck in. It's pure genius.

I could go on, but it would spoil things for the new player to reveal any more about the story. Rest assured though that there is a final confrontation, and many moments that will have you reaching for your hanky. I'll just add a few of my favourite moments to round of this review.

Yorda trusts Ico completely. She won't jump across gaps alone, but if you go to the other side and promise to catch her...try it and see what happens
- it's totally heartwarming.

If Yorda gets too far away from Ico, she is at risk of capture...the game cleverly adds random shadow creature attacks if this happens, or you stay too long in one place.

You can hold Yorda's hand! And if Ico runs while doing so, Yorda stumbles delicately behind him never complaining or letting go, despite the obvious effort it costs her to keep up.

The double doors at the castle gate!! I daren't add any more, but when you finally get these two monolithic doors to open and freedom beckons, the most moving and exciting last level of the game begins. Plus the ending! (hankies again!)

There's also a replay bonus of getting Yorda's language translated on your second play-through - it worked for me, I was so in love with Yorda at the end of the game I had no hesitation is playing it all over again to find out what she was saying. Hopefully you will too - the game requires that you want these characters to find freedom, and it succeeds in amazing style. As ICO provides such a totally satisfying and emotional experience, I really can't fault it.

Very engaging, definately worth at least one play-through.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

That, however, is the only caveat: I played this game once, and only once. I'm sure I'll play it again someday, and I enjoyed playing it very much, but I when I was done with it, I was done. It's been on my shelf for quite a while now.

If you can find it for 20 bucks or so, it's a great deal. Otherwise, you may want to put purchasing this game on a backburner.

puppy love

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a very easy game to love. Intriguing characters, beautifully sculpted and animated environments, and deep emotional impact. Its a bit bizarre at times, and it is way too short, but its well worth playing.

This game is Da BOMB

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

My parents were going to LA and I was stuck in my house for the weekend. I dropped by Blockbuster and I remembered the my friend said that he bought ICO and it was pretty good. I didn't know how long it was cause I like 5-10 hour games rather than an average 60-90 hour RPG's. I decided to borrow this since it appeared to be one of the only fun games they had on the shelf. I moved a TV into my room along w/ some snacks. When I played 5 minutes into the game, I was like "oh...shi* this is hella cool." The badguys don't vary, they're just monsters made of dark smoke(shadows, as it is referred to). Since I used a walkthrough (You shouldn't. It's more fun), i beat the game in about 5-6 hours approx. I suggest you don't play w/ one cause it really spoils the fun. I like the fact that you don't have a life bar. You can only die when you fall from a very high place or if the shadows capture the princess. Graphics are amazing.Unique, original puzzle like obstacles. You can ride windmills, jump grom cages to cages, levers, secret doors, bombs, all kinds of stuff. The chains you jump to are REALLY REALLY smooth. It appears just as "slick" as a real chain. Replay value is okay, but not too high. Beating it once, I wanted to play one more time, and at most a third, but not likely. I recommend renting this game over buying this game, But the first time is just awesome. Have A BLAST

Wooden Shoes

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The makers of this game did a wonderful job paying attention to detail. The landscapes are almost breath taking and and the sounds are very realistic. The play control seems a little choppy to me but that could be expected since he wears little wooden shoes. This game has some great scenes and was fairly fun to play. I wouldn't mind playing through again.

Very beautiful, very clever, but too short!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ico is one of the best puzzle games I have played, and certainly one of the most graphically beautiful games I have ever seen. I would, every now and then, forgo game play and just pan the camera about enjoying the environment. I loved the trees - individual branches, and even leaves, would rustle and dance about in the wind. The animators and artists developed a very complete and generously detailed world to explore. I think comparing Ico to Myst would be the most accurate description of the game. They are both largely peaceful games with beautiful environments and sounds to enjoy, and complex cause and effect puzzles to labor through.

The puzzles are difficult at best and mind-numbing at their worst. Possibly the most frustrating thing about the puzzles is that at no time do the designers obscure the solutions so badly that you would have to cheat or encounter blind luck to solve them. Why was this so frustrating? Because it means that your ability to solve the puzzle depends entirely upon your powers of observation, memory, and logical progressive thinking. The solutions are all right there for you to see, if you could only just figure it out! Unlike the Tomb Raider games, which seemed to delight in hiding one of the secrets or levers or such behind some object, where it is physically impossible to see it, and you need to literally stumble upon it to find it. (Although I may complain, I can, none-the-less, gleefully recommend the first and the fourth games in the Tomb Raider series as tremendous puzzle-solving games with a flavor relative to Ico... the second and third are a bit more combat-orientated.)

Now, although the game design is extrodinary, I cannot help but find three relatively mild detractions to add to this review. The first complaint I had involved the camera angles, of which the player has no control over. The camera fixes itself, and the best you can hope for is a panning range of maybe 130 degrees to the left or right of the point of view forced on you. It is limiting, and, at certain times, extremely annoying. For example, when attempting to judge or line up a jump, a flexible camera angle would have been very welcome. My second complaint involved the murkiness of some of the puzzle environments. At times it became difficult to define ledges, distances, or pathways solely because of the blur of browns and grays in the backgrounds, and dim lighting and/or fogs or sprays in the foreground. Although it added to the challenge of the puzzles, sometimes it was just an aggrievation standing between you and the solution you know is correct. My final complaint is simply that the game was far to short. I completed the game in just over 6 hours, and that includes time I took to just sit and watch the trees and birds.

Taken altogether, I can truthfully recommend Ico as a beautifully rendered, wonderfully complex puzzle game (the final puzzle sequence may just drive you over the edge). I recommend it especially when a long weekend is upon you, and you can sit a few hours each day, and just play the game through.

As an aside, I could also highly recommend Ico's cartoon-like kissing cousin puzzle games The Lost Vikings and its sequel, Norse by Norsewest. As Ico is required to clear pathways for the delicate princess Yorda (who has to take ladder rungs at a "one-foot-stop,repeat" basis), these games contain three characters, each with their own abilities, and each required to clear sections of a pathway, in a specific order, such that all three can escape a game area. Although trapped in a virtually archaic two-dimensional scrolling screen, the Viking games are extremely good with progressively more and more difficult puzzles.

Fun, but short

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played this game on the demo disc and thought it was awesome so I bought it expecting it to take a while to beat. Unfortunatley it only took a few days of playing to beat it, but for [the price] I guess its a good buy. The graphics and control are great and the puzzles can get tough. I found myself getting stuck quite a few times trying to figure them out. You should probably rent it before you buy it if youre good at puzzle games.

Incredible Creative Originial

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

And that's how you spell Ico
Pros:
-Beautiful graphics
-Nice stroyline
-Packed with puzzles
-Pretty addictive gameplay
-beatin the heck outta enemies is pretty fun
-Sutible backround music
-Nice voice acting(I usally like subbed rather than dubbed)
-Characters you will definitly like, even get attatched to
-This game got me emotionally attatched to it
-In the end this is a superb game that made me fight back on tears
Cons:
-Box art might turn you off, but don't let that stop you from playing this once in a lifetime experience.
-Puzzles can be frustrating(Especially if they have fatal falls)
-Leaving the princess behind can cause you to run back(Cuz evil spirits might attack her, when she's ungaurded)

If you have UK version, which is a bit harder to obtain, then this is the extra pros and cons that:
--Even if the replay value is low, it's a neccesity to play it again for the stiff below.
--A light saber(When you first get it, it looks like a cheap replica you can get at a Star Wars convention, but when you hold Yarda's hand, Luke Skywalker wishes he was as cool as you)
--Translations of Yarda's and the Queen's diolauge(In English, Oh YEA!)
--Various film effects(You can set it to the point where the in game picture looks like an old style film, I only like it because it reminds me of silent hill)
--Yarda is playable with second controller(If you don't want to lead Yarda around a second time, have a friend help you out)
--A alternative ending(You'll have to pick up something to get it)
Cons: A bit expensive, a modified PS2, or a International PS2, and the game, which is dang near impossible to find.(Took me forever to find)

One day I read random reviews on Gamespot. This got a 8.5, and When I saw it on a site for 15 dollars, I thought it was an RPG or something like that.

When I found out it was an adventure game, it almost turned me off, because I hate games with puzzle(Rememinice of Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia, yea games you NEEDED strategy guides for. But, I couldn't get over the fact that many reviewers said it had an emotional attatchment. I then felt like I had to buy it.

This game is just an emotional masterpiece that took my breath away. When I was playing the game I was in Ico's world rescuing a beautiful girl named Yarda. I just felt intent to gaurd her no matter what. I kept on thinkining "If any of you black punks wanna touch her, I'll send ya'll back to hell where y'all belong.

This game by all means deserves a shot by anyone with a PS2. To those with a modifed PS2 or International, definitly try to get a hold of the UK version. But whichever version, This game is , to me, definitly the defintion of Art in a videogames. This is what you get when you put Shakesphere and Davinci together; a great Midevil Romance that is pleasure to the eyes. But the romance surpases Romeo and Juliet, and the art would make Davinci weep.

This game is one of the, if not greatest game ever created.

peace

Beyond Video Games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This will be short.

There are plenty of fantastic games out for the PS2. Some are acclaimed for their graphics, others for their gameplay, and still others for their storyline.

None have approached what ICO has brought to the genre. Beyond its beautiful appearance and realistic sound, it is the only game in my experience where I have honestly cared about what happens to someone other than my own character.

To play ICO is to know how video gaming will surpass movies in the future, both in terms of emotional content and suspension of disbelief. Although the mechanics of the game are simple and its story iconic, there's a suprising amount of just plain ol' "magic" to it that lingers with you long after finishing the game.

One word sums up the whole experience: sublime.

A great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ico managed to create a companion based sub genre that has been copied in more recent titles. The game introduced a compelling emotive aspect to the story in the form of a companion that travels with you throughout your journey and is directly affected by your actions. The expressions and behaviors of the two main characters are convincing, as is the gargantuan medieval castle which you are trying to escape. The design of the Italian style castle has a life like sense of scale and interactive objects like windmills, gardens, water pipes, towers, cathedrals, tombs and ramparts -- an architecture lesson in itself. The story is plainly told without many cutscenes or drama. Yet the actual process of scaling walls, jumping over chasms, flipping switches, wading through streams, climbing ladders, swinging on chains, is evocatively captured because each character navigates this terrain in their particular way. Also they cannot proceed without the others help. The relationship of the main characters is ambiguous (although, according to some fansites . . .). Yet the story reaches a surprising end, avoiding any lengthy exposition, which is consistent for a game that conveys its emotion through visual style.

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