G.O.T.Y. 2001 Editor's Say - "Sensational"" "A beautiful game" Find out what i thought...
ICO – PS2 review by Simon a.k.a. [TheDevilDweller]
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*****Review*****
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ICO is a beautiful game with such a compelling storyline, great game-play, great puzzles and an outstanding atmosphere.
The story is… remarkable and really quite moving. You play Ico, a young boy who has had the misfortune of being born different from everyone else, or different from what everyone else expected. Ico's nightmare began on the day he was born. Instead of seeing their son as a miracle of life, his parents and villagers had nothing but fear and disgust in their eyes. At the moment when Ico was raised up to the light, a scream rang out into the night. For there, in plain view were two very small but very distinct horns protruding from either side of the newborn infant's head.
Ico's birth was not joyous nor was it a proud celebration. His arrival into the world brought only suspicion of evil. The villagers had hoped against hope and prayed that the curse might skip their generation. The horns clear as day on Ico's head where the sign of the curse, and it could not be ignored. Nor could the plagues that struck their children, or the failure of the harvests year after year. They prayed desperately for the day when the curse would end. That day was on Ico's twelfth birthday.
At dawn, faceless horsemen came for Ico. His mother and father did not try to resist, nor did they weep for the loss of their child. His burden was decided long ago.
The horsemen rode deep into the dark forest. As they rode in silence, Ico had no idea what lay before him past the forest but fear raced through his young body as his heart pounded faster in his chest. After many hours an ancient fortress ruin came into view. From that moment the fear Ico felt grow stronger as he tried desperately to escape. Ignoring his desperate cries, the horsemen dragged the terrified boy through the fortress gates and into a vast stone hall. Its walls where filled from floor to ceiling with rows of strange stone caskets. Ico feared for his life. It was at that moment that he realised that this was his end. The faceless horsemen bundled him into a casket and pulled the heavy stone lid closed, shutting out the light forever. Ico was left alone in the darkness confused and scared. Left alone, to die with no memory of him ever existing.
The game starts of after the horsemen leave Ico (you) to his demise. Ico tried desperately to free himself from the casket. After a short moment, and after Ico was about to lose hope, the casket that imprisoned him cracked as it tipped over and crashed to the ground, sending Ico flying through the air freeing his from prison. Moment's later Ico discovers that this whole fortress is his giant prison and is desperately trying you escape.
Through his struggle of trying to escape from the fortress (his prison), Ico meet a young girl named Yorda who has been held captive in a small cage, consumed by loneliness and sorrow, also a prisoner like Ico, or so he thinks. Ico, with his kind heart frees Yorda from her torment only to unleash shadowy spirits emerging from gloomy corners, desperate to drag Yorda back into the darkness. Both Ico and Yorda must work together through every twisting staircase, creaking door, and towering pillar as part of a large puzzle to find an exit to the fortress.
Ico is a big puzzle game. The game-play is fairly simple. You control the young cursed boy Ico. You can run, climb and jump just like you would expect from an adventure game. Ico can also lunge an attack, which is used to attack enemies, or to hit objects. Yorda accompanies you through the game and she isn't nearly as movable as the Ico is and can be pretty useless when enemies are near by. While enemies can and will harm you, there main goal is to the drag Yorda into the darkness so you will have to keep an eye out and protect Yorda wherever and whenever you came. Once a shadowy spirit has Yorda, it will drag her towards a dark hole that will fill her with darkness. Once that happens, it's game over so you will have to act fast and help Yorda then this happens. Yorda will pretty much follow you wherever you go but she will need help from time to time. You're going to spend lots of time creating paths for her to safely cross, which means you'll lower platforms for her to hop onto, create bridges for her to cross, and narrow gaps enough for her to jump across. You can take her hand to help her keep up with you but may cause her to stumble to the ground. Help her climb certain places, cry out to her if she to far away and she can even help you by contributing with a puzzle. Some puzzle may take some thinking to solve but most of them are pretty doable without frustration.
Ico can be quite moving and cute in terms of the game-play. The animation and body language say a lot about Ico and Yorda i.e. when your holding Yorda's hand, you get the image of say a young girl (or boy) with a puppy tugging and pulling at the leash, without any intention of harming the puppy of course. Yorda's reactions when you attempt a long jump or when you lose your balance, shows you how kind, warm and caring she is, more about Ico (you), than herslef. Even thought Ico is quite a sad story and starts of quite dark and miserable, Ico also has a cute side, and perhaps the cutest thing in Ico is when you Save the game. Ico and Yorda both sit on a stone seat hold hands with their heads touching one another as they drift away into a dream when you save the game. And when you load your saved file, they simple wake up and continue on. Things like that make Ico a very unique, and memorable game.
The thing that stands out very well (apart from everything else) in Ico is the visuals. The visuals are outstanding, even for a game from the last generation. The visuals are different from most games you may have seen before. Everything looks as if it where painted on, rather than it being 3D models, which gives a great tone to the overall atmosphere, and story. Ico is the type of game that when you arrive in a new location, you will stop and gaze at the beautiful sceneries, which look like painted canvases. Most of the time you'll be inside the fortress, or inside tones, caves and so on, but whenever you get to see the outside, it really is a treat.
The sound design is great from the games point of view. The music fit the tone of the story very well and the overall sound-effect are great.
While Ico is not a very long game, or as long as you would expect, which will last about 6 hours or so but, it is very enjoyable and playing it through again with Yorda's voice translated into English for us to read is definitely worth another play.
Overall Ico is a beautiful looking game with a great intriguing storyline. Beautifully animated character and breathtaking atmosphere and environments. The game-play mechanics are quite easy and may not be the same as other typical adventure games, but Ico is an outstanding game from an artistic point of view. The game isn't perfect; it did have some problems here and there but nothing that stops it from being an outstanding work of art.
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*****FINAL OVERALL SCORE*****
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Plot: 10/10
Life Span: 3/10
Presentation - 10/10
Graphics - 10/10
Atmosphere - 9/10
Game-Play - 9/10
Controls - 9/10
Sound Effects - 9/10
Concept - 10/10
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FINAL OVERALL SCORE – 9.5/10
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ICO – PS2 review by Simon a.k.a. [TheDevilDweller]
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