ICO

"Artistry"

So, I bought into the hype. All the accolades that have been showered upon Ico got to me: "Sleeper hit of the year," "Ground-breaking masterpiece," "Finest PS2 game so far," etc. I didn't know much about Ico other than that it was a puzzle game, but I purchased the game regardless. After popping the disk into my PS2, and watching the gorgeous intro (which, oddly enough, suffered from a slight case of slowdown), my heart sank like a rock. Ico turned out to be a 3D platformer. I loathe 3D platformers. These crap collectathons popularized by the N64 just grate on my damn nerves. But for whatever the hell reason, I didn't throw my controller at the TV screen and I continued playing Ico. I'm glad that I did, too, as it turns out Ico isn't really a 3D platformer, it just takes the basic maneuvers of Mario 64, throws everything else out the window (goodbye, fetching 1000 coins / rings / whatever), then adds puzzles. Lots of puzzles.

Let's rewind for a bit here so we can talk about this game's story: A village, in the middle of nowhere, I'm guessing, since it's never really said, is haunted by spirits. Once in every generation, a child is born with small bull horns jutting from their head. Once that child comes of age - that age being twelve - they are to be sacrificed in order to keep said spirits from harming said village. It is Ico's turn to die. One early morning, a group of masked horsemen whisk the boy away to a great castle of unparalleled size - a castle crumbling due to its old age and the harsh gray seas that surround it. There, Ico is placed into a bizarre-looking tomb where he will spend all of eternity. An earthquake is his saving grace, as it loosens his tomb up enough for him to break free. And not only does Ico break free, he nearly breaks his skull open when he tumbles out of the tomb and lands on his head. Lying on the ground unconscious, he dreams of an ethereal princess (Yorda) locked up in a giant bird cage.

When he awakes, the player takes control of the ugly little bastard. After a few minutes of climbing and jumping, he meets and releases the princess he saw in his sorry wet dream. Portals from the ground open up, and a gang of spirit demons, which look like evil muppets, emerge and try to drag the ghostly cutie into one of the portals. This is the basic point of Ico: solve some environmental puzzles and defeat the muppets from hell, all the while guiding Yorda, by hand, out of the castle. It's not as easy as it sounds, though. For starters, Yorda isn't as athletic as Ico is (which I find somewhat odd, considering she's a couple of years his senior, but what the hell do I know). She can't jump very far, climb chains, push or pull blocks, fight demons, light torches, hit switches, or shimmy across bars and ledges like our ugly little protagonist can. Yorda can, however, open mysterious doors that block their path to freedom.

The gameplay is all fairly simple: the number of weapons you receive is small (a stick, two swords, and a mace), the puzzles aren't too puzzling, and those damned demon spirits are easily disposed of once you acquire the sword. In fact, gamers expecting lots of action will be sorely disappointed, as battles aren't very numerous. Puzzles, however, are. They make up much of the gameplay, and thankfully, they're very well designed. The player must explore absolutely everything in order to progress: take every jump that seems reasonably safe, sometimes even unreasonable leaps; climb every ladder and chain; and push any and every block you see. A few puzzles require more skill than thought (like climbing a gargantuan windmill), but only a handful are will offer a challenge (knocking down a bridge using your body's momentum, for example). The majority are at a Fisher Price level of difficulty that require little skill or thought in order to be solved, they just look damn nice. The enormous wood and water structure, for example, must be seen to be believed.

Which brings me to Ico's visuals. Puzzles and muppet-bashing are fine and all, but it isn't really what makes Ico shine - it's the graphics. You see, this is an aesthetically-driven game. The meticulous attention to detail, large and imaginative world, serene atmosphere and gorgeous lighting make this possibly the most beautiful games I've seen to date, even three years after its release. The characters could've used a few extra polys, admittedly, but there were times when I'd just stop playing so that I could look around and take it all in - the birds, the sun, the sky, the never-ending sea. Heavenly. This is world all its own, a setting I can only dream of being a part of.

But it's the character animations that really won me over. Ico and Yorda are a heart-warming pair of kids. The way Ico calls to Yorda, then tugs her arm when they're running together will pull your heart strings. When the two of them sit on a couch (to save the game), they'll nod off, slumped against each other and holding hands. When the spirit demons appear, Yorda will run behind Ico and look around nervously. It's downright adorable.

All of this brings the gamer - or my pansy-ass, at least - that much more into the game. The emotional investment I had with these two really amazed me. There's a point in the game where Yorda uses up too much of her power opening up the castle's front gates, and she becomes very weak. She breathes heavily, she can't run very far, she's constantly hunching over, grabbing her stomach. I became nervous, even frightened. I actually cared for Yorda, and I was upset over the fact that I couldn't do anything to help her. When playing this game, I felt like I was that ugly little bastard, and that I had to protect Yorda with my life. Bizarre.

As much as I love Ico, it isn't without its faults. Ico suffers from a fussy camera and sensitive control, problems that seem to plague the 3D platforming genre as a whole. The game also is also incredibly short. Seven to ten hours short, actually. Some may be put off by the game's ease, too: as I stated before, the puzzles aren't brain-rapingly hard, and you can only lose if you fall from a high place, or Yorda is captured by the spirit demons.

These faults are just dirt spots on a diamond, though. Ico is a pretty simple game: simple puzzles, simple character designs, simple story and almost no music. But it breaks down that wall between video games and art, its ambiance and personality is something to truly behold. Ico is just something you have to see, something you have to play, something you have to feel, in order to fully understand. It cannot be summed up in mere words (which sort of defeats the purpose of writing this review, but whatever). Ico is gorgeous. Ico is brilliant. Ico is unforgettable. Ico is a true work of art. Ico won't be loved by all, of course, but it should be experienced by everyone. Ico's a celestial masterpiece, both epic and intimate.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/19/01, Updated 06/05/04