It’s been a long time since I’ve played a console game. I just didn’t really have time for them for awhile. But I’ve been reading for several years now that ICO is legendary when it comes to video games. It was a ps2 game that originally came out in 2001. I was able to track down a copy (something that is pretty hard to do if you don’t want to pay an insane amount of money) and here are my thoughts:
Let’s start off with what I thought worked:
Story- Okay, really there isn’t much of a story. You’re a kid who is sent to die in this strange castle by your village because you were born with horns. Apparently they’ve done this loads of times before. However by luck or fate you break out. This then starts a quest of you dragging this doom destined princess around with you as you try to escape the castle. So really there isn’t much story. It’s simple and to the point and that mixed with the art–well it pulls it off.
Art- Here I am in 2009 playing a 2001 game and I’m still blown away by the graphics. The team makes even some of the modern stuff look sort of tame. The only problem is you spend most of your time inside the very neutral and bland colored castle. But when you do go outside–well I always found myself taking a moment to look at the beautiful scenery.
Music- The music is great however there’s very little of it. Also the background ambient must be set on a minute loop because you swear you hear the same things over and over again. It’s so sad to have so little of that great music.
Okay, now to some of the dislikes:
Camera Control- The camera feels like it’s being operated by a drunk three year old. There were some incredibly frustrating times when I would be making a crucial jump, and the game would change angles, which would send me falling to my undeserved death. Now this game was from 2001 and I believe (though I could be wrong), one of the first games out for the ps2. Either way I’m looking forward to playing Shadow of Colossus and seeing if they’ve improved their game.
Fighting- The game isn’t about fighting. Every now and then you have to fight off these shadows that won’t to take the princess away. Problem is there’s no block button and all you can do is swing your stick/sword. This leaves the player rolling their eyes and sighing anytime they hear the bad guy music.
AI: Though you only play as one character, you sort of play for two because the princess you are saving has the brain capacity of a very dull rock. She’s slow on the uptake and several times I felt like throwing her off a nearby cliff so I could just enjoy the view.
OVERALL
Overall its a fun, sometimes frustrating, but very whimsical story that will last you a short time (I beat it in just over 5 hours). If you can find it for cheap I say go for it. I can see now how it sort of pioneered a way for games that came after it. I’m hoping Shadow of Colossus enthralls me even more.
