ICO

What could be more random than me waking up on New Year's day and deciding I needed to play Ico? Only returning to blog about it after a hiatus of over a year. I swear I had no intention nor had even considered doing either when I went to bed last night.

I want to start by addressing the box art. The art on the left is the cover the UK and Japan got, inspired by this painting here: The Nostalgia of the Infinite by Italian Surrealist painter Giorgio de Chiricio. The UK cover is a clever way to convey what the game is all about. Action is such a small part of this game, there are no mini bosses and only a handful of occasions where you fight enemies. The game is about exploring and experiencing the story. And also ladders and windmills. The American cover however, seems to be trying very hard to hide what the game is. Sure these are all images from the game, but the US cover makes this look like an action title. At least they left a windmill in the picture... But the US getting stuck with crappier box art is nothing new, so I'm not going to dwell on it. On to the game.

I played this game years ago on the PS2, but it never really grabbed me. When I heard this collection was coming I figured the HD makeover and the trophies would finally get me to finish the game. When I started playing I checked my trophy log. I had two trophies from this game, the last of which coming in November, 2011. It absolutely didn't seem like that long ago to me. The game doesn't have many trophies (16) but I was about a quarter of the way through the game when I started it up again today.

The HD graphics really didn't do anything for me. Like a lot of these HD remakes, I don't remember the PS2 version looking any worse than this game. I'm sure if I compare them side by side the difference would be obvious, but this is not a pretty game, it is very noticeably a PS2 title that I'm playing here. But whatever, you don't play ICO for the graphics.

The gameplay hasn't aged that well. It's certainly playable, but often frustrating. For those who don't know, the game is essentially a giant escort mission that has you leading princess Yorda through a giant castle to escape from a witch. Yorda rarely just follows you on her own accord. You frequently have to holler at her, or to be doubly sure you can grab her hand and pull her where you want to go, a method I employed for most of the game. There are basically only two ways to die in this game: Fall to your death (which I did a lot) or have Yorda get kidnapped by goblins and fail to get to her in time (which happened less frequently)

The sound in the game really stands out as well, both good and bad. The main theme is haunting and beautiful. I really loved the guitar melody during the end credits. But the game made the interesting choice to keep the music going when you pause the game which bothered me. I pause because I want to clear my head and take a break, not keep humming along to the score. The waterfall sound effect sounded like radio static. I had to turn down my sound when I played these levels.

If Ico came out today it would be an indie title. I see something like Limbo as the spiritual successor to it. It doesn't do many things, it feels very small, but what it does is satisfying and compelling. Ico has the reputation for being an underrated gem. Perhaps it's the 13 years of anticipation, or playing it two console generations after it came out, but I found the end experience good, but not stellar. It does pave the way for me to finally move on to Shadow of the Colossus, something I cannot believe I have put off for this long.

Date Completed: 1.1.2014