ICO

ICO is a game that I can't make up my mind on; I mean on one hand it looks incredible especially for it's time (2002), the lighting and atmosphere really makes for an immersing gaming experience. The gameplay on the other hand can be irritating to the point of just switching the game off altogether, not the puzzle element, which I admit I can find annoying because you do get the sense of satisfaction when you finally figure it out, nor the cinematic following camera view, which can at times severely hinder the game play. But by the stupidity and general uselessness of the princess Yorda, I mean ok they don’t speak the same language and she has been locked up by her fruitcake of a mother so she’s probably a tad malnourished, but you can’t leave her alone for a second without having to run back and fend off some shadow monster that’s trying to drag her off. If it succeeds by the way then its game over and you have to go back to the last save point.



She won’t even make any attempt to run away when the monsters come for her and to start with you’re armed with a stick which is about as much use as swatting an elephant with a feather, ok that’s a slight exaggeration but you get my point. Maybe it’s just the whole ‘escort-quest’ style of gameplay that I hate in general, I mean it must be an absolute nightmare to program an NPC to do what they do at the moment so I know I’m asking for a lot, but It can’t be all that hard to program her to ‘/on combat initiation /run to ICO/ failing that just /run away/ Yorda’ or something. At least in Wow the NPCs make some effort to defend themselves.

On a lighter note the packaging that the game comes in is really well considered and even includes some game cards that really present the game well, and after all it is a visual joy to watch and interact with. The kind of thing that makes you feel like a grown-up and that it’s something you’re long suffering girlfriend could tolerate having on in the same room as her, or at least the same building.



Much like ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ (SotC) the back-story, and to some extent the in-game one to, are kept vague. For instance he’s a boy who was born with horns much like what your character in SotC ends up turning into in the final scene. This is seen by his neighboring villagers as a curse and he’s shipped off to this fortress where he finds Yorda and they then have to escape together. However in the intro scene you see Ico being led to the castle by three horsemen two of whom have horns.

Anyway enough for now, I’ll post more when I’ve completed it.