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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.

ICO

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 11
Date: November 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for someone else. They liked it, I guess. It's an older game, and it doesn't interest me. If it interests you, try it I suppose, 'cause it's probably cheap. And if it's not, you're getting ripped off.

ICO is a Rare and Inspiring Quest for the Ages. Don't Miss This One!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

ICO is an absolutely brilliant, gem of a game. I won't give away the ending, but it has an amazing, yet simple twist of fate. The makers of this title were superb in their thirst for creating adventure. It is extremely well done, complete in details and seamless design. But when I say that it's "imaginative" I don't JUST mean the game's design. I also mean that the game inspires the imaginations of its players. As I was helping ICO solve the doomed castle's puzzles, my mind was racing as it tried to imagine the complex back story of the castle, its dark queen, ICO and his princess. I would not hesitate to buy this game's sequel, if ever one is produced, but I would be even more interested to see a prequel brought to bear on this tale. The game itself feels like the middle chapter in an epic trilogy of the Lord of the Rings genre. I would love to hear what the game's designers had to say about the story before we meet ICO and what lies ahead in his and Yorda's path. The game was an instant classic and even after beating it you will have a hard time letting it go. It is just that enjoyable. Give it a shot; you won't be disappointed. And if you are part of the industry, please, PLEASE make a prequel or sequel to this inspiring quest!

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.

One of the All Time Greatest Games ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: January 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have just completed playing this game all the way through and I was moved to write a review on it. It is, in my opinion as a gamer, one of THE best games to ever grace a console. If you own a Playstation 2, you must play this game. Whether you are into adventure or action, you must play this game. If you have never played this game, consider yourself deprived. In all of my years as a gamer and that is many, many years, I have never come across a game such as this. This is just totally awesome. Once you play it, you will never come out the same. You cannot stop playing this game. I was totally addicted.
The puzzles in this game are just pure genius. The action, although it takes a back seat to the puzzle elements, are sufficient. If I were to compare this with any other game, it would be Zelda. But this game is in a league of its own. It simply OWNS the genre called adventure. I would wonder if the guy that calls this game a rehash of Tomb Raider actually played this game through. I have played Tomb Raider and I don't think that it is anything at all close to ICO. It's like comparing a Mercedes with a Hyundai.
I was totally engrossed by this game. I was up until the wee hours during the ending. This game will grab you by the shirt and never let go. It has one of the greatest cinematic effects in any video game. It plays like a movie. All the elements of a great game are in it. Along with the great graphics (even by today's standards), awesome sound and absolute perfection in gameplay execution.
If you own a Playstation 2, you owe yourself a play through with this masterpiece. I am now a believer. All those "effusive" rave reviews are all warranted. If I knew how great this game was before I had purchased it, I would have easily spent the fifty dollars that other games are going for (most of which are not worth the list price). People say that this game is short but I say that it is perfect. Believe me it is not short unless you go to sites for game cheats. It will suck out time from your life but it will be all worthwhile. Besides, its not the length of the game, it's the quality of the time. And this game has it all in spades!
So to conclude this review I have to say that this game is one of THE greatest games of all time!

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.

ICO-noclastic...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game early on it's re-release, as it went for silly money once word got out of its enchanting quality, and copies were scarce to come by for awhile. This game is an experience, much enhanced by its haunting soundtrack - for which I bought the cd for! The blend of puzzles and action is of equal balance in the main, and you'll rejoice when you advance following each obstacle put before you in the game. The graphics are good not great but it is a 4 year old game. The challenge is high enough, my only critique is the length of the game, a tad short, but that's just my opinion, but this is so damn good regardless, an experience bettered on the ps2 only by Okami, MGS3 and SOTC. Get it or regret it!

Emo kind of game that has little replay value

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Ico has some of the most atmospheric music and level designs out of any game ever produced for a console. It is a fairy tale meant to enchant (semi-)grown-ups. However many gushing reviews you may read about the emotional response Ico brings out in people, you may notice that the actual gameplay pales in comparison to the game experience. Fighting with a stick means lots of button mashing and little in the way of technique or strategy. The 3D camera controls are of an early vintage that may frustrate modern gamers. I polished it off in 10 or so hours and I was really trying to take my sweet time.

All in all this is a wonderful game to experience, but as for playing it... not so much. 3 to 4 stars.

folks, it's a Tomb Raider rehash!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 20
Date: July 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought the Official Playstation Monthly for "OPM's Essential 100: PS1, PS2, and PSP Games You Must Play Before You Die" list. Ico caught my eye since "for many, Ico was "the first videogame to be considered 'art'" and "if you have not at least tried this game, you are missing out on one of the most moving experiences in videogames". I also saw all the 5 star reviews here on Amazon.

How come nobody points out this thing is a rehash of "Tomb Raider"! Exactly the same "big operating knob poking out of wall". Exactly the same "big block to push and pull". Extremely similar "Gaze out on big vista as best you can using bad camera controls", except that this time you're looking around a vast castle in the mist, instead of vast underground tombs in shadow. Same lack of soundtrack. The same jump and hang and shimmy mechanics. Ico is five years later but incredibly similar, despite some superficial differences (young boy instead of woman, the useless Yorda you have to drag around). I prefer Tomb Raider because you scramble up or slide down surfaces in it, and Ico is very upright.

Sure, Ico has more atmospheric room designs and some nice cut scenes but that's all. I don't understand the effusive praise.

Brevity is wit

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: July 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

There was a band in 1974 that hailed from Queens, NY. They were tired of self-indulgent guitar solos, tired of 20-minute songs with movements, tired of the things that had filtered into music that didn't belong there. So they brought it back to basics, stripped everything that didn't need to be there and just made quick, catchy songs and have since been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

That band was the Ramones.

I bring them up because ICO is the video game equivalent of the Ramones. In the age of GTA, it seems like almost every video game tries to cram in as much content as possible, but in most cases this added content is a bore to play and is only there to increase game length. ICO doesn't bother with such things. It does one thing and it does it well and it repeats that one thing. From beginning to end, ICO is a joy to play, with each new room you cross being more enjoyable then the last. It's over somewhat quickly, but the experience is so wonderful, you won't care.

I describe ICO as a minimalist Zelda. To be more specific, ICO is basically a giant Zelda dungeon, with dozens of puzzles, enemies, items and upgrades awaiting. The puzzles in ICO are fiendishly clever and they're also not obvious right away due to the puzzles being part of the castle's architechture and not typical "hey this is a video game!" puzzle. In most video games, there's an obvious button you need to stand on, or lever you've got to throw, but in ICO, it feels like you're really exploiting loopholes in the castle's structure. When you get to the windmill, you'll know what I say is true.

Some would say the combat in ICO is poor and the game is over far too soon, but these people are simply wrong. Difference of opinion be damned. The combat is simple, like the rest of the game, and the overall experience of the game is one that I will not soon forget. The story of the game, which I purposely did not talk about, is amazing. It can be summed up in a few sentences, but experiencing it is absolutely emotionally powerful. ICO is one of the best games of this last generation and you would be wise to pick this game up.

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