ICO will always hold a special place in my heart, and is one of the best games that came out for the PlayStation 2. It’s a beautiful game in every sense of the word, and I dare anyone who says that video games aren’t real art to play this game and its prequel Shadow of the Colossus. These games are really art games, in the same sense that some films are art films. ICO is simplistic, minimalist in nature, and manages to accomplish its goal to make the player feel a real connection to the characters, not in the role-play sense, but in the sense that Yorda is someone you actually care about, the castle really picks at your brain, and you feel the burden of Ico himself.
Unfortunately, the NTSC version of the game leaves much to be desired, seeing as how it’s unfinished. You can beat the game, but the AI isn’t as good as other versions of the game, some of the puzzles are different, and some of the extras are missing. That doesn’t make the game bad, but it certainly isn’t that great.
Luckily, this was corrected for the PS3 HD rerelease of the game in the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus bundle, which is also 3D compatible. So, if you want to play this game as it was meant to be, I’d go pick up that copy if you have a PS3. If you don’t, since I don’t believe anyone should go through life without playing this game and its prequel, then go ahead and get the PS2 version.
Plot Overview: Ico, a pun on the Japanese word “let’s go”, is a young boy with horns like a bull’s growing out the side of his head. The game opens with him being taken to a foreboding castle, shrouded in mist, by a group of people in what appears to be some sort of ritual. They place him in a sarcophagus of sorts and leave him there to rot. Lucky for Ico, he manages to escape his imprisonment, allowing him to search for a way out of the castle. Where he plans to go, your guess is as good as mine.
He comes upon Yorda, an ethereal girl with some sort of power that allows her to open the castle’s enchanted doors and who doesn’t even speak Ico’s language, and together they attempt to escape. Unfortunately, the castle’s queen doesn’t want Yorda to get away, and shadowy creatures are constantly trying to recapture the fleeing girl. Ico must protect her if he wants to escape from the castle and free them both from their unpleasant fates.
Much of the game is unexplained, seeing as how its emphasis is on emotion and atmosphere, not on tying up loose ends. Why does Ico have horns, and why does his village see that as a bad omen? Why does the queen, or whatever she is, of the castle demand that horned boys be sacrificed to her, and what will she do if they aren’t? Why doesn’t she seem to care what Ico does? Was the castle ever used for anything other than sacrifices? Why does Yorda glow? Do you know what? Most people who play this game won’t care if these things aren’t ever answered. I suggest you don’t dwell on them.
Artwork: Absolutely breathtaking! It’s extremely subdued, and while the graphics aren’t spectacular, they’re far from being horrible. This is scenery porn at its finest, with the game’s high point being the atmosphere and the sense of dread and isolation it creates. Everything is detailed, but nothing stands out as being amazingly grand. The castle is in bad shape and disrepair, Yorda is like an angel trapped in Hell, and the shadowy creatures that pursue her are like smoke chasing after the light. It will take your breath away, and at the same time it will trap you inside of the world these characters live in and draw you into the game in a way most games cannot.
The characters themselves aren’t bad looking. Ico looks like a young Japanese boy with horns, and there’s not much to say about him. He’s meant to look exceptionally plain, as this game employs a minimalist design. The one your attention is meant to be on is Yorda, who is little more than a ghost, it would seem. Because she emanates some kind of light from her body, her features are difficult to pinpoint. The idea is that she’s supposed to be a mystery, not an object of lust. She stands out amongst everything else in the game, but that’s only because she’s like a literal light shining in the darkness.
Animation: When this game was first released, the animation was a grand achievement. Ico would run while tightly clasping Yorda’s hand in his own, and her body and arm would jerk behind him as she tried to keep up with his fast pace, and Ico himself moved with lankiness of a boy his age. Even as he would swing his stick about, or later his sword, it looked unprofessional, like a kid doing whatever it would take to drive away the shadows despite a complete lack of training.
Yorda also has a variety of small animations that she’ll do when left to herself. She’ll chase after the doves that frequent the open air places of the castle, pick at her elbow, or just look up at the sky as though she’s never seen it before, and as far as we know, she may have never seen the sky in her life. Her movements are meant to entice the player and convey the naïve and fragile nature of the character, and they do their job well. They aren’t ever overdone, but to the observant eye, you can see that Yorda does more than just wait for Ico to solve the next puzzle.
Unfortunately, with the advent of advanced motion capture techniques, the animation of Ico looks a bit outdated. It’s not an eyesore by any means, but it’s not up to par with today’s technology. The characters look and move in a realistic way, but sometimes I get the impression that when Yorda takes the time to look at her elbow, as she often does when left to her own devices, she’s actually checking to make sure it hasn’t dislocated from its socket!
Think of it as kind being like the Wizard of Oz. The movie looks old and outdated by today’s standards, yet it remains a classic and highly enjoyable despite the fact that is hasn’t aged technically well. That’s like ICO’s animation; it’s a classic, and you won’t complain about it, but it’s still a bit dated.
Sound Effects: Sound effects are top-notch in this game, seeing as how there’s hardly any music, most of the game is just listening to the sound effects. Again, the idea is to make you feel isolated and lonely, and sometimes background music will distract from that, so instead you get to listen to the castle. The wind howls through the corridors and blows about in the open air, carrying on its path the sounds of the sea and the birds that live there. You can hear creaks and moans from things like windmills and whatnot, and every little thing Ico does seems to project the correct sound effect.
The doors seem to sound like a jolt of electricity has just rushed into them when Yorda opens them, which is really the only thing that seems a bit odd to me.
Music: There’s very little music in the game, but the little bit that’s there is timed perfectly to create a different kind of mood for each situation it’s utilized. When the shadowy beings emerge to try and recapture Yorda, a very hushed and subdued music begins. In fact, I’m not sure if you can even call it music, but it effectively does its job and immediately creates a sense of uneasiness and even panic as you try and protect Yorda from being taken. There’s also a great ending song called “You Were There” that summarizes the feelings evoked by the game as the final cut-scene rolls.
The music is good, but I don’t know if I’d ever buy the soundtrack to the game. The music is there to create the mood, not to be listened to over and over again.
Gameplay: ICO is a puzzle game, but it’s done well. Nowadays, puzzle games usually give away the answers to the puzzles before you have to really hurt yourself thinking about them, insulting the intelligence of players, in my opinion. ICO has its fair share of easy and maddening puzzles, and it never just gives away the answer. In versions of the game that aren’t NTSC (this has been corrected for the rerelease), Yorda will point to where you should concentrate your efforts if you really have that hard of a time with the puzzles.
The puzzles consist of navigating from room to room, trying to find a way for the fragile Yorda to cross. She can’t do most of what Ico is capable of, including jumping long distances, climbing chains and ropes, scaling walls, and swimming. You have to find a way to get Yorda from point A to B, and sometimes if you leave an area for too long, the shadow beings will emerge, forcing you to hurry back and protect her, for if she goes it’s game over. As the game progresses, the puzzles get more and more complicated, and eventually you’re not just trying to get from room to room, but you’re also trying to charge up the main gate so Yorda can open it.
Now, I’m pretty sure that the developers’ main aim of this game was to make the bond that exists between Ico and Yorda extend to the player as well. As such, the gameplay really centers a lot around her. You have to do the puzzles to help Yorda navigate, thereby always keeping her at the center of your attention, and sending the shadows after her when you leave her alone for too long. It’s almost as if they realize the coast is clear and attack, especially seeing as how these creatures aren’t that interested in Ico.
No matter what you’re doing or where you are, you have to think of Yorda, asking yourself, “Where is she? If I leave now, will I just have to go running back? How do I get back? How do I get Yorda over on that ledge?” It’s maddening, but at the same time it actually does get you to care about her as a character, even though in reality you should just view her as a liability whose only real use is to open doors.
There’s a few other nuances the game utilizes to further this bond. The controller rumbles when Ico holds Yorda’s hand, since that’s usually the only way to get her to follow you, and having to hold her hand makes things a bit more interesting. You also have to help her get up high ledges and encourage her a lot to go the places you need her to go.
Characters: This game is virtually void of characters, with the main focus being solely on Ico and Yorda and the bond that exists between the two. The only other character with any kind of presence is the castle’s master, but you very seldom even come across her.
Basically, it boils down to Ico being an energetic and intelligent lad who must use his great physical stamina and brain to navigate through the evil castle, Yorda is a frail girl whose only real ability is the power to open the doors within the castle.
Character Development: There’s a bit of character development, although I won’t spoil it, but I think a lot of it exists within the player’s head. The game itself doesn’t present a lot, leaving the player to fill in gaps, and practically encouraging that kind of thing. It’s easy to see things within the game that actually aren’t there, so to speak.
Tone: The game is supposed to make the player feel lonely, trapped within a desolate castle with a companion that you cannot understand. There are moments of panic and concern, but most of it is trying to find an escape from the all but abandoned castle, taking in the environment and feeling like you’re nothing more than a needle inside a haystack.
Dialogue: The characters all speak in made-up languages. Ico’s is subtitled in the player’s native tongue, so to be understood, and the queen-like character speaks both Ico’s tongue and Yorda’s. Yorda’s is subtitled in made-up hieroglyphics (in other versions of the game other than the rerelease, her speech is subtitled properly on the second play through), making the player feel a boundary they can’t quite overcome. It’s very well done.
As such, the dialogue is very minimal, and it doesn’t tell the story. The scenery and animations are the real story-tellers here, and dialogue is used only to basically set-up the story and characters, filling in the story only when it’s absolutely necessary to do so.
Recommended? I think everyone should play this game (and Shadow of the Colossus) at least once. Some people think it’s overrated, others think it’s underrated, and I’m with the latter. This game is absolutely brilliant in concept, design, and execution. It does what it sets out to do and doesn’t try to impress anyone with flashy graphics and a massive, convoluted story. While language-learners might not get much out of it (I wish Yorda’s language was learn-able), it’s still a very touching and heart-warming game.
