Ico is a game developed in Japan for Playstation 2. Ico himself is the main carachter and Yorda is his protegée. The story of the game is unfolding as the game proceeds so I do not want to spoil anything by telling you about the story here.
Ico is a grandiose epic adventure game wich, amazingly enough, is based upon ordinary but advanced platform gaming and a close to non-existent dialogue.
Graphically, the game is utterly detailed with many fine effects. When Ico looks at the sky he is dazzled by the sun and when he gets out of the water after a swim, the water is dripping from his clothes. Beautiful!
The music and the soundeffects are also very skilfully done. To that I must add the effects that are being produced when Ico is holding Yordas hand. She does not run as fast as he does and you can feel that all the way out in the hand control. She gets out of step and at the same time the hand control vibrates. The effect is complete.
The atmosphere in the hughe castle where the story takes place is an atmosphere of foreboding. It is desolated and downright an artistic handicraft.
The puzzles are based upon escape. In every new scene Ico have to find a way out for both himself and Yorda. She can not jump or climb as good as him wich means that most of the time Ico have to find alternate ways to help Yorda through the scenes.
Add to that the "shadowmonsters" that are attacking Yorda as soon as you leave her alone for more than a little while. It takes a few moments of thinking to get it right.
To sum it up:
This is not a violent game despite the fact that you have to dispose of quite a few "shadowmonsters".
The game is based on proceeding through equal parts of pondering and "hand control control". It may sound very simple but it is an entirely unique concept that at least captured me for a few hours.
Ico is not a long game but long enough to drag you into the world where it all takes place. And I must admit that despite my not being the sentimental type of person, I got a tiny tear in my eye when I watched the ending sequence.
Released: 2002
The game is for Playstation 2 only!
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