ICO - PS2

Beauty. Absolute beauty. I could ramble on and on about the sheer beauty of this game, but since I'm doing a review here, I'll let some poor soul listen to my sleep-inducing blabber later.



Graphics 10

This must be the first game on the PS2 that proves that sheer pixel count and deep colour pallet aren't the only things that give gamers a visual treat.
There is still that other thing called... Design. Once you start, take a good look at the castle. Then take a look at everything else. It is pure artistic beauty. The entire castle is immensely huge and designed with an imagination that rivals the classic medieval castles of Europe.
The walls are crumbling, the bridges are broken and the passages are all caved in. It looks so incredibly real that you'd think you were taking a filmed tour of a real castle. And it's all backed up by a nice resolution that doesn't fail to please eye.
Plus the character graphics look simply great. Each of the relatively few characters are very unique, from the horned Ico to the pale-grey Yorda.

And don't forget that fog. The fog gives this an authentic feel of age and mystery, keeping you in the mood to explore all the mysteries found within the castle.
The water too is impressive. They don't just reflect the surroundings, they actually FLOW! The awe-inspiring environments are the ones that set the mood of the story.



Gameplay 9

This offers challenging puzzles with rather simplistic combat. The puzzles consist mostly of pushing blocks and jumping and hanging. They will require proper timing and thinking, but nothing that will really have you thinking for long periods of time. Expect to encounter a lot of them, as the game is littered with puzzles.

As for combat... well it's a practical minimal. First off, the is no life bar (a mostly unheard of concept in Action/Puzzle games), and fighting consists of swinging your weapon around taking out those shadows that come in from holes in the ground to take Yorda off to somewhere unpleasant.
The only way to die in this game is by either taking a nasty fall or Yorda gets carried off. If she does get carried away, Ico turns to stone. Also, certain puzzles may require you to leave Yorda for a while, and doing so will run the risk of baddies appearing in her room and take her away. Make sure to do things quick and get back to her ASAP.

Unlike other games, Yorda isn't a girl who will always follow you around. You must TAKE her around. Press and hold the R1 button to hold her hand and take her out of the castle.
If she gets wanders off far, use R! to also get her to come, jump over gaps etc.
However, her AI is superb, and she won't do things if it'll obviously take her to her doom. Sometimes she'll hesitate, and at some refuse outright. If she does, you may need to find some other way for her.

The controls are spot on and you should have no fear of accidentally running off the side. Your moves are pretty much basic.
It's just walk/run, attack, jump, move object and call/hold hand. They are tight and responsive and will pose no problem. Plus the camera will almost always give you the best angle, so don't worry about not seeing where you need to go.



Sound 10

There is beauty within silence. There is hardly any music in this game.
You can easily count the tracks with one hand. Not that it's bad, in honesty it's not needed at all. This is the first game I've ever played that never relied on music to fill the environment and mood.
It is greatly replaced by the graphics and sound. Subtle sound effects like clangs, footsteps and rustling leaves all add to the atmosphere of a huge castle. However anyone looking for magical melodies will definitely be disappointed.
You can say I gave it a 10 for the lack of music, but it's their decision to minimize music and use other effects and sound that makes it really deserve that score.
The voice acting is done by Japanese voice actors (Seiyuus in their language), and with a untranslatable language the voice acting is near flawless.



Story 9

Ico's the title of this game, and it's also the name of the games lead protagonist. He's a young lad who just so happens to have horns, and because of that his village has him locked up in an abandoned castle high above (and I mean HIGH) a lake.
Upon being imprisoned, he soon escapes his sarcophagus-like cage, and finds out the castle isn't as abandoned as everyone thinks. He would later find a young and mysterious girl named Yorda, and here the journey of these two young ones begin as they try to escape from their prison. But there are dark entities out to reclaim Yorda and a few surprises to look forward to.
While the story doesn't seem all that engaging, you really feel for the characters and want to help them with their predicament. That's excellent writing right there!



Overall 9.5

I would really urge you to buy it now. Games of this size and uniqueness are ridiculously rare. You may never chance upon a game like this in you whole life ever again. If you can get the PS2 copy GREAT! Get it. Or you can wait until the end of this month and pick up the HD remaster on PS3(which comes packaged with the prequel: Shadow of the Colossus)



(Some screenshots taken from the HD remaster)