Reviewed: October 15, 2001
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer
Sony Computer Entertainment
Released: September 25, 2000
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
10
9
10
8
9.5
Supported Features:
At first glance ICO may seem more of an interactive tech demo for the PS2 than an actual game. There is little story, a minimal opening movie that really doesn't begin to explain anything; sparse dialog throughout the game and what little there is often captioned in a foreign tongue. There are only two characters not including the villainous queen (boss), one location, no inventory, no health, status, or other information displayed on the screen, and only one type of monster that comes in a handful of various shapes and sizes.
You might ask, "What's left?" And I would answer "Only one of the most engrossing cinematic adventures in console gaming history!" To understand the simplistic charm that is ICO you only need to play it for about 15 minutes. You will be drawn into an amazing world of fantasy and puzzles and adventure that won't let you go until you have finished your quest.
In a bold move, the designers have scrapped every preconceived notion of what makes an adventure game an adventure game and put every last drop of creative juice into the actual gameplay. ICO is first and foremost a puzzle game with a few random monster encounters tossed in every 10 or 15 minutes to liven things up. Combat takes a definite backseat to exploration to the point that you can run from many of your encounters.
ICO is not only the name of the game but also the name of the character you are in control of during your amazing adventure. ICO is one of the "cursed" children who are born to every generation of the nearby village. His curse - he has a pair of bull-like horns. For his "crime" he is banished to a giant seaside fortress and imprisoned in a stone sarcophagus for eternity. Fortunately, for us, ICO manages to escape a few moments after the opening movie concludes, but not before a haunting dream sequences where is has a vision of another trapped soul also imprisoned in the fortress.
Once you are free of your trappings you can explore the fortress and locate the girl from your vision. Her name is Yorda and she has also been imprisoned in the fortress for as long as she can remember, but for an entirely different reason that I will not reveal here. Suffice to say, her destiny is in your hands, and you must begin the fantastic journey to lead her out of the fortress and to safety.
Escape is not going to be easy. The fortress is filled with Shadow Demons that appear from portals that spring up at random throughout the fortress. These demons come in a variety of shapes and sizes, some even capable of flight. Their only goal is to capture the princess and drag her down into their black portal. So intent are they in their purpose that they will virtually ignore you until you get in their way.
You can battle these demons with a minimal arsenal that consists of a board, sword, or mace. The mace is the only "secret" in the entire game and is well worth the effort to locate, as it can kill most demons in two or three hits. The demons exhibit some incredible AI, often teaming up to distract our hero while others drag Yorda to the nearest portal.
The only other obstacle standing between you and your freedom is an elaborate set of puzzles that are integrated into the amazing architecture of the fortress itself. There are no crazy Myst-like puzzles or brainteasers in this game. Every puzzle is logical and usually requires minimal manipulation of the immediate surroundings such as lighting a sconce or pushing a box onto a pressure plate to open a door.
ICO is far more maneuverable than Yorda and he will often have to proceed ahead and clear a path that Yorda can follow. For instance, ICO can climb chains whereas Yorda can only climb ladders. This might create a puzzle where ICO must climb a chain to a new level and pull a lever to open a door allowing Yorda to join ICO on the upper ledge. ICO is also able to jump further than Yorda and may have to jump large gaps then encourage Yorda to follow, grasping her arm at the last second.
Holding hands hasn't been this important since dating in the 60's. ICO must continually hold Yorda's hand and drag her around the castle. He can help her climb ledges and you must always have a grip on your girl when going through doors into new sections of the castle. If you ever leave Yorda behind for more than a few minutes the demons will pounce and you will be forced to race back to where you left her and usually pull her out of a black portal.
Control is amazingly smooth and intuitive. There are only a handful of commands such as jump, attack, hold hands (call Yorda), and zoom. The left stick moves ICO around smoothly at variable speeds based on how far you push on the stick. The right stick pans the camera around the massive levels allowing for some breathtaking views of where you are going and where you have been.
The entire game takes place in, on, or below the massive fortress. The architecture is "smart" with every tower, ledge, and stair having a real purpose, and everything is interconnected. You can be standing on a high tower and survey the entire fortress knowing that you will be exploring that location one or two hours later in the game.
The first thing to mention is the interface, or rather the lack of one. You will be surprised to find there is no health meter. In fact, it is very hard to die in ICO short of falling or allowing the princess to be captured by the Shadow Demons. All information required to play the game, which consists of your current weapon, is right there on the screen. Even the save game system is cleverly integrated into the game through the use of sofas scattered about the fortress.
The camera system in ICO is beyond perfection. Not only does the camera follow our main characters flawlessly, it also zooms in and out and pans around to provide some truly cinematic experiences. There was never a single instance where the camera angle hindered an action sequence or a combat situation.
Again, I must commend the true-life architecture of the fortress. While a structure such as this would never be feasible in real life due to the massive scale, every section of the castle serves a purpose and are all linked together in a realistic fashion. The textures are crisp and detailed and you will be hard pressed to find any repeating textures on any given scene. One of the most amazing things you will see in the game is a large tree about halfway through the game. Each leaf is individually modeled and lit in real time, and the entire tree blows in the wind.
Lighting has never been more accurately reproduced in a game than it has in ICO. Daylight streams in through windows, and when you go outside you are temporarily blinded by the sun, as the screen washes out then slowly comes back into detail. The same happens when you go into a dark room as the room goes dark then details slowly appear as "your eyes adjust". There is even a rainbow that is rendered in real time in the spray of a waterfall if you can catch the sun just right.
ICO and Yorda are beautifully modeled and animated. ICO moves just like an impatient young boy, while Yorda glides along gracefully, at least until ICO grabs her hand and yanks her down the hall. ICO shimmies up chains and climbs ladders with perfect animation, and Yorda can be found wandering off chasing the birds that flutter around the outdoor areas of the fortress. She is never more than a yell away, and when you do call out to her the camera will perform a majestic pan from your location to hers, so you can always keep an eye on her.
Music is all but extinct in ICO, but the few sections of music that accompany the cutscenes are amazing and fit the game perfectly. Music may also kick in during a particular section of the adventure to create additional emotion, usually tension.
The sound effects in ICO are equally as perfect as they are few. All of the characters speak in a foreign language, so you will be reading subtitles, at least for the languages you (ICO) can understand. Other effects such as the wind blowing through the high fortress walls, or the rushing of water in the underground waterfall area, or the flutter of wings as pigeons flutter about the castle are subtle and add just the right ambience to this realistic fantasy world.
ICO is short. My first time through took about 12 real-life hours to finish the 6 hours of gameplay. On my second and third passes through the game I finished in about 5-7 hours each time. ICO may be short, but it is a leisurely game that begs to be played slowly, as you wander around the fortress and pan around the amazing vistas taking in the spectacular scenery.
The game is linear and there is no real reason to replay it after you have finished it the first time, but I am willing to bet that you will find yourself irresistibly compelled to play it over and over again. And with a total playtime of less than 8 hours, this game becomes a fun diversion when you are tired of all your other PS2 titles and just want to have a magical experience.
ICO is destined to become one of the most talked about PS2 games of all time. While it may be short in length and sparse in complex gameplay, it is a masterpiece of gaming engineering that proves once and for all that style and quality will always prevail over the hordes of mediocre titles that trickle in to fill out the PS2 library. There may be other games out there that offer huge epic stories and months of gameplay, but none of them will offer you the magical experience of ICO. If you own a PS2 then you owe it to yourself to add this legendary title to your game collection.