"A Special Gem"

Introduction:

In many ways, ICO is both a curse and a blessing. It's a curse because from the opening horse-ride to the ending credits and sprawling beach, you're imprisoned in an immense fortress at sea. Also, it's a blessing because the developers were able to make the isolation factor seem involving instead of dreadful. With these two defining elements, ICO unfolds as a passive, yet subtly intense experience over the course of your escape from the castle.

The game does a very nice job of blending the traits of un-knowingness and surprise throughout the adventure, which is always a satisfying pay off and a necessary part of a great puzzle game. You may be thinking puzzle games are frustrating and tedious, when in fact this game offers simple, yet clever circumstances in which common sense makes the game that more enjoyable. Your first step starts here..

Gameplay: 9/10

As the game begins, you start out as a boy named ICO. He has these big horns on his head, and is only armed with a 4x4 as his primary weapon. Your main concern, is to escape the castle along with a young girl named Yorda, whom you encounter early in the story. Upon controlling ICO, you may find the controls to be slightly "jerky" to some extent. But as you progress through the massive fortress, the controls become very maintainable and lag free.

The majority of your time playing the game, will revolve around putting two and two together to make one, basically. Relax, there are absolutely no cliche' key finding and door opening routines here, everything is made to be either broken or fixed to proceed. You use the left analog stick steer ICO around, and holding down R1 to call Yorda over to hold hands and move on. Lots of the puzzles require you to be quick on your feet in case enemies are amok.

Speaking of Yorda, there are enemies in the game named Shadows that attempt to grab and take her into their underworld. They vary in form, yet remain the same in terms of appearance. Combat is simple, as you swing your 4x4 with Square to deter them away and eventually defeat them. Besides the mild difficulty of the enemies, and the moderate difficulty of the puzzles, ICO is an overall solid game as it balances things out.

One of the game's biggest traits is its lack of a game-screen HUD. No life bars, no menus, no leveling-up, no information whatsoever. Once you pick up the game, the learning curve is so shallow that you're up and running within the first few minutes. It's that simple.

Another important factor to mention is that the castle never gets boring. You won't be entitled to keep revisiting the same areas over and over again, you're constantly being introduced to brand new areas. It really gives you a scope of how large and interactive the premises are. You'll be exploring everything from the original prison to large bridges, to sewers, to a large windmill, to courtyards and underground machinery. You'll be able to save your game by sitting on couches scattered through the levels along with Yorda to sit with you.

Story: 9/10

The reason why ICO ends up in the fortress, is because his village thinks it's an omen or a bad thing to have horns. The castle basically just serves as punishment, as all people like ICO meet the same fate. Carried by his own people to the gritty palace, he is told by the villagers that it's for the better of the village. He is put into a small pod in a giant room, being surrounded by several dozen other pods. Once they leave, he is able to rock the stone pod over and break it open, thus beginning his quest.

He encounters Yorda who is in fact the daughter to The Queen of the Shadow creatures. She is very evil and intimidating, enticing ICO to coward away and flee the sanctuary. Yet, ICO refuses and continues to lead himself and his companion out to safety. The Queen and ICO only make brief, if not rare exchanges of words to each other. So it isn't an ongoing rivalry that gets in the way of what needs to be done. The story and the game itself is very minimalist, meaning that it relies on hardly anything to have you engaged.

Graphics and Sound: 8/10

Artistically, this is an amazing work of art in terms of design. Depending on the settings of your TV, this game will either be very drab or enriched deeply within every pixel. The main color of the game is golden brown, giving it a robust, polished coat to the textures that would seem dry on their own. They also make an excellent use of lighting, especially in the outdoor segments where the sunlight is so golden- yellow that it's almost blinding. Obviously since it's a castle, the grand majority of the terrace will be bricks, iron, wood and brimstone.

You will be fairly disappointed when I say that there is no real musical score in ICO. Almost all of the game's music, or lack thereof, is ambient noise in the background such as the wind gusts or unexplained sounds in the sky. It's not silent necessarily, but it's definitely hushed. I think it's a bold move on the creators part, because there really isn't anything in the game that needs to be complimented by lush soundscapes by musical visionaries. It just wouldn't work and would seem very misplaced.

Playtime/ Replay Value: 6/10

Not only is the entire game around 10 hours at the maximum, but there is hardly any reason to go back to it. It's the games' only true gripe, yet at the same time I think the game being any longer would begin to get long-winded. There's just so much substance here in terms of time spent to create the game (4 years), that it's a lot more dense than most 15-20hr shallow games. But, I'll leave the word "substance" up to you to define for yourself.

There's an optional side-quest in which you can acquire a mace, which is ICO's only secret. And even if you want to go back to find this item, you hardly get a chance to put it to really good use. Beginning a new game will rely solely on how impressive it was the first time, which is enough to warrant just one more run-through.

Final Recommendation:

I would say buy the game (if you can find it due to rarity).You won't be playing it over and over likely, but ICO will leave a distinct impression in your mind. The biggest thing you will notice about this game, is that you actually care about the characters involved, even though there's only three of them. I won't recommend this game to action junkies since everything seems subdued, this is strictly for those who long for atmosphere.
A special gem....

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/07

Game Release: ICO (US, 09/24/01)