Ico is one of the most atmospheric journeys, and will always remain as an instant classic.
Set in a unknown place, at a unknown time a boy born with horns reaches his twelfth birthday which marks the time of his sacrifice. He is taken to a castle in the mist and locked in a stone tomb standing upright but luckily, a strange earthquake sets him free. Ico soon finds a mysterious women named Yorda, locked in a odd bird-like cage. Upon freeing her, the story is set into motion as Ico works his way through the castle, hoping to free both himself and Yorda. Without spoiling anything, the story has a few emotional cut-scenes that feel meaningful. The way the story captures emotion is hard to explain, but it's definitely unique.
Not only that, but the way Ico and Yorda cannot understand each other, yet they slowly develop a relationship and work together to escape the castle is also hard to explain. The game has very few cut-scenes, and even less dialog but it still has a large amount of character development.
The story is brought to life by the elegant graphics and a stunning amount of detail. The characters don't necessarily look amazing, but through smooth animation it achieves a sense of realism. The graphics have a unique art-style that will make you enjoy every moment of the game and you will probably spend minutes staring at the environments. The attention to detail is definitely impressive, and is something to remember. And since the game has nearly no soundtrack while you explore, it's allows you to really focus on the effort put into the sound effects. Footsteps, dialog and even the sound of a stick crashing with the ground is spot-on, and proves that it doesn't need soundtrack. The soundtrack it does have is perfection, and adds a sense of emotion and wonder when watching the few beautiful cut-scenes.
As you advance further into the castle, you will continuously be attacked by strange creatures that appear as a black mist. Gameplay is not as interesting as it could have been here, since the only way to lose to them is if they take Yorda. So you must beat them off with a stick(or other melee weapons once you acquire them), but the overall feel of combat is painfully slow. You basically run around mashing one button, and combat certainly feels forced. It only achieves at slowing you down to make a short game a little longer, but you can't help but think about how the combat could have been a little more involving.
In order to make further progress into the castle, you must take into account that Yorda cannot climb and maneuver like Ico, so you must find ways for Yorda to cross areas by using platforming and puzzle-solving. The puzzles are never overwhelmingly challenging, but they do sometimes manage to make you think. The platforming is also easy, despite a few areas where the camera blocks your view.
The camera is not a big issue though. You get to control it to a certain extend, but you can never move it's overall location. Still, it gives you a clear view of the areas and is never a problem unless when you have to line up a perfect jump.
Not only that, but sometimes Yorda becomes a bit stuck. If you need her to stand on a switch, sometimes she will go in the opposite direction. It isn't a huge problem, but it could use some improvements. Luckily, you can grab Yorda's hand to make quicker progress since her A.I isn't the quickest and by doing this, she moves at your pace. Finally, the length of the game only clocks in at about five hours.
Ico does have poor A.I, slow combat and the story is sadly short; but if you look beyond that, you see a true masterpiece and a unforgettable classic filled with many emotional points, entertaining puzzles and heart-warming moments. Time was spent on this game, and it appears in every corner regardless of the problems. It really is one of the most original tales, and undoubtedly one of the best games on the PlayStation 2.