Review
Release Date: 09.26.2001
Platform:
PlayStation 2Developer:
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (Japan)Publisher:
Sony Computer Entertainment AmericaReviewed by
Brian J. Balsan on 4.27.2003
| Review Rating: 9/10 | User Rating: 8.78/10 |
The Playstation 2 certainly was an example of how hype sells, considering that the only games worth of note for its launch were Ridge Racer V and Fantavision. But the first game to show us exactly what Sony's black box could do was quite possibly ICO, a great game that left people wanting more.
The story of ICO is as follows: A young boy named ICO is locked away in a chamber inside a faraway castle as a sacrifice for being born with horns. In a lucky twist of fate, he breaks from his bindings and shortly afterwards run into Yorda, a strange girl who speaks a foreign tongue. Together, they have to escape the castle, but shadow demons will be constantly looking to turn the helpless Yorda into one of them, so it's up to ICO to bash them away and guide Yorda to safety and, ultimately, freedom.
ICO's gameplay style is a bit difficult to explain...it can be best described as an 'Environmental Puzzler'. Imagine taking "Out Of This World" or "Heart Of Darkness" and throwing them into 3D....That's about 75% of ICO right there. The other 25% comes with the added challenge of guiding Yorda along. Puzzles are designed so that you will have to flip switches and open areas to aid the non-athletic Yorda around the castle. But these switches may not be easy to find, and oftentimes could be right under your nose...not as an actual SWITCH, per se, but as part of the environment. If you find yourself stuck in a hallway with a gap so wide that not even ICO can make the jump, it may not come to you at first to try the open window above you; the puzzles blend in with the environment so beautifully that it honestly doesn't feel like the backgrounds were made merely for aesthetic value...those windows and ledges actually serve a purpose for allowing you to proceed.
There isn't much in the way of music here, except for the ending. The game's sounds are made almost-entirely out of ICO's calls to Yorda or the thwacking of surrounding shadow enemies. Controls are tight, and the ability to guide Yorda by the hand is a unique one. But, as you would guess, it's the graphics that really shine here. The misty atmosphere adds very well to the environments, and animations are dead-on smooth; You can see Yorda being pulled along as ICO takes her by the hand. And everything feels natural...so natural that...as stated before, you may not even notice the answers to solving the puzzles hiding in the foliage.
If there's one major gripe coming out of ICO, is that's it's terribly short. It's not bad for a PS2 game written to a CD-ROM format, but a game this good deserves a longer adventure...or at least, more goodies to keep the gameplay going. Speaking of which, ICO may be one of the few games where America got the short end of the stick; In Europe and Japan, the game comes with an extra weapon and ending not found in the US version.
But despite the short length and the near-lack of anything extra, ICO is a beautiful, solid, FUN game that still manages to amaze, even after the third or fourth run-through.
Let's face it, folks, a game like this will never come along again, unless a sequel is made.
Here's to hoping for such a possibility.
