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Good Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 111
Date: September 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is a very nice game for the playstation 2. It made by SONY so I think it is going to be great. You should get.

Get lost!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: June 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

No honestly, you will get lost in this game. Not the kind of lost because you don't have a map, but lost in Ico's amazing world. I played this game at the 2001 E3 and was blown away. I found myself returning to the game every day of the show just to play the demo over and over again. The game is almost like a dream that is open for exploration....there is no time limit, no health bar, no maps...it's quite peaceful. Granted there are puzzles and some monsters but your character can easily destroy them with his wooden stick, your mission, however, consists of escorting a captured princess out of an abandoned castle. While this may sound like some classic video game plot (and it does) it is done in such a fresh new way that you don't really care. The area in the demo was amazingly detailed, from water that ripples when your character jumps in to the sounds of a slowly turning windmill (I can't wait to see all the locations in the final game). Character control and animation is also astounding, just the way your character tugs at the arm of the princess to guide her around is sweet. Heck, this game is so detailed and emersive that characters speak their own language -created just for this game! Word has it that Ico was originaly planned as a PSone game...so this game has been in the works for a loooooong time. Trust me, when this game comes out in August the wait will have been worth it. If you own a PS2, you owe it to yourself to get lost in ICO!!

Tried a Demo

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 10
Date: July 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

You can find the demo of this game in the latest summer Playstation Underground Jampack. Unlike what the editorial review states, this game is still to this day displayed in a low resolution. Granted, the game isn't finished yet, however, Sony would only have a month to change resolutions, which may take more than a month to complete. Still, the gameplay is fun, and definately different. Might be worth checking out, but I'm gonna be careful after such sony bombs as Legend of Dragoon and Dark Cloud.

The best demo I've played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 26
Date: July 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The demo is amazing.. if you look for the "summer jampack" disk which is only 7.99 - then you can experience this (if it sounds like your kind of game). What follows has no spoilers.

It starts with a good setup movie, which explains how the horned boy got locked in the castle (inside an urn).. the movie is rendered with the game engine! (it is not silicon graphics pre-rendered footage).

After the movie setup leaves the camera alone in this huge prison room in the castle, the floor crumbles and your urn spills open tossing you (the boy) onto the ground.

The initial room is *huge* with 36 of these mysterious urns lining the wall. Since one assumes each urn has a (presumably dead) person in it, this is a spooky setup indeed.

The sound of ICO is very striking.. there is no music while playing, but with brilliant footfalls, torches and other sound effects who needs music?

Movement of the boy is almost flawless.. beautifully animated he walks, trots, runs, trips, jumps and a dozen other things with high realism.

The resolution of the view inside the castle is high (unlike the comment left by another poster), although the rough hewn stones that form the walls and floor, slightly shifting camera, and misty corners to the rooms can give a negative impression to some.. but if you take time with the 2nd analog stick to move the view up and around, looking at the high roof and the detail you will be amazed.. having a quality TV with S-video or better connections helps a lot as well.

Moving through the demo you are required to solve some very simple puzzles and bring down the cage holding the mysterious girl, who is animated with a soft glowing quality that is quite wonderful..

It is only when one reaches the outside of the castle (with girl in hand) that the power and resolution of the ICO graphics engine reveal itself.. the view distance is astounding, with moving clouds in a bright super-white sky, and shifting sea far below.. the grass is almost floro green in the sun, but dark in shadow. A spectacular windmill rotates (with creaking sounds) over a pool of clear water .. the water reflects the windmill and also bounces wavering suns rays onto the wall above it..

If you leap into the pool, the waves spread from your impact, changing the reflections correctly and in real time .. its quite quite stunning, and the best in-game water possibly ever seen.

Shifting the view around one can appreciate the vastness of the castle surrounds, and get an idea of the adventure that awaits the boy and his strange friend in the full game.. there remains only one more puzzle to solve (how to help the girl across the bridge).

Ending the demo reveals an amazing cinema (once again, all in-game clips) that shows night, rain, waterfalls, explosions, trees with leaves waving in the wind, more switches and puzzles and demons. The 1 minute music track that goes with this cinema is also spot on.

Playing the ICO demo (which can be done in little over 10 minutes) over and over again I've spotted more things each time and cannot wait for the full game..

Some (kids) will undoubtably think ICO is "boring" or does not involve blood or guns and so is not for them.. but I'm convinced ICO is going to be one of the top 5 games on all platforms for the year 2001, and will be a game for adults who still have a child inside, and can still lose themselves in a fairytale world.. especially one as beautifully rendered as this.

A game I will add to my collection

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 13
Date: August 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I played the demo and I will buy the game this august

Very cool concept, but requires patience.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: August 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I just played the demo, and this game reminds me of Myst. You are trapped in a beautiful world and you have to figure out where to go/what to do. It tests your ingenuity and resourcefulness. The gameplay is really quite simple to learn, the detailed 3D surroundings and fluid movements of the characters are captivating, and the all-visually-told story is engaging. The interaction between the Ico and the princess (or whoever she is) is very...sweet. A girl could appreciate this game, but I dont see many younger kids gettting into it. It could be a bit boring to anyone who only wants to see blood and guts with techno music blaring in the background. Since I have no attention span whatsoever, I found the game boring after a while. But it is fun to watch other people play and try to collaborate on the puzzle-solving. My husband, on the other hand, thought it was the best game he ever played. He did admit, however, that he would like to see demons other than the same black smoky ones that try to kill the girl once in a while. If she dies, it's game over. The nice thing is that you can only move about and die in a manner very much resembling reality. Although there is nothing scary about the graphics, the suspense itself can give you chills at times. This game is definitely a gem among gems, but I can't see its popularity extending past a rather limited audience. ...Of course, I wouldnt mind being proven wrong.

The Best Game You've Never Heard Of

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If by chance you are wondering how spectacular ICO really is, and I quote, you owe it to yourself to pick this wonderful experience up as soon as it hits store shelves. Not only is it the most wonderfully crafted piece of Playstation 2 software I have had the privilage of testing, but also quite possibly the most original. You don't just play the character, you feel the emotional bond that only a good game can bestow upon a player. ICO is your extension into a world, so beautiful and surreal, that the experience will stay with you well after you've played them game.
Gameplay reminiscent of "Out of this World", "Prince of Persia", "Flashback", "Blackthorne", and "Heart of Darkness", but fully realized in a true 3-D environment. Also boasting some of the most amazing visuals on any PS2 game thus far, looking more like a live painting, brushed over a living breathing world, then a standard live action environment.
If you love adventure, fantasy, and you are craving for something new, then you truly do owe it to yourself to experience ICO. The greatest game you've never heard of.

ICO, a breathing fantasy world meets Enya

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Blow over Dark Cloud, shift yer booty Tomb Raider, a new hero has entered the building. Or Castle, I should say. After numerous replays of the highly underestimated PS2 demo of ICO, I have come to the dreamy conclusion that few games released this year have caught my attention so dramatically. What a magnificent suprise! First, ICO starts with no background, few instructions, and a mysterious beginning. Our nameless protagonist falls from what seems to be an enormous clay jar, either birthed or released into a dark, cold stone hall. From there, he must scurry around the enormous rooms, climb stairs and boxes, scale dangling chains, pummel away a small band of smokey spirit enemies with a stick and make death defying jumps over a broken bridge. All the while, you must rescue and lead a sun starved princess out of the expansive walls of this mysterious prison castle. I've seen a slew of reviewers (and promotionals) that say, "best-looking", but until you've seen ICO, you're just reading advertising. Just wait til you see the grassy knoll, pond and windmill that wait for you outside the castle doorways. This game embodies the word "beautiful". The animations and actions of the character and the environment interact as if they were real. The gameplay is simple, yet intruiging. Needless to say, I will be spending my carefully saved [dollars] on ICO as soon as it hits the shelves.

Videogaming catharsis

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Add one more star if you can see video games as a form of art. And like great art, it's not necessarily what you do see but what you don't see. It seems as if the more simplistic a game is, the greater it is in terms of gameplay. N64's Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Dreamcast's Jet Gring Radio, and even old classic like Pac-Man and Pong were like that. There is no inventory system in ICO to fumble around with, and you run, jump, and swing your stick weapon to fend off enemies, all the while guiding a princess out of the puzzling castle walls, and that's about it...literally. As far as graphics goes, ICO is simply, and I stress the word simply, gorgeous. This goes to show that no matter how powerful a system says it is, it all comes down to individual skill and talent in aesthetic design. In other words, you either have it or you don't. And it's plainly obvious the makers of ICO have it. I expect these guys to only get better (ICO is amazingly their first game) and to be around for many more games that will delight the most jaded videogamer.

I'm convinced!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I played through the demo twice, and I'm totally sold on this game. I just pre-ordered it so I'll be sure to have it. I can't wait. I've heard it's being compared to Tomb Raider, but that doesn't do it justice. It's more like a 3D version of the original PC game "Prince of Persia". It has that creepy, deserted
castle feeling, low-key, mostly ambient music and sound, fantastic animation... you get the picture. Honestly, you'll be amazed at how good this game looks. It definitely has a stylized, blurry look that screen shots don't really do justice to. It re-creates a sense of space unlike any other game I've played. In the demo, looking up into the vaults of a *HUGE* castle-tower... I really experinced vertigo as I rode up the windmill and looked down from 100 feet in the air... wow. I actually got chills. Ok, so it was supposed to be a launch title and it's a year late, but the time was apparently well spent. This is one to watch!

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