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Despite the proliferation of games on the PS2 at the moment,
only a chosen few make it into the category of 'absolutely must have'
and Ico joins that crowd.
It has an incredibly simple premise as well. The billing tells of a world where
in every generation a young boy is born with horns and this time around, the
boy is called Ico and is kidnapped from his village and taken to an
isolated castle where he is placed in a tomb to be sacrificed. Charming(!)
Ico causes the tomb to shake and it breaks open, freeing him onto the floor
below. In the fall, he is knocked unconscious and dreams of a young princess
trapped inside the castle, calling out to him to rescue her. For the sake of
the game, this is actually his reality and he must save the princess and
himself from the wicked queen and evil spirits inside the castle.
In other words, you play Ico - who looks like he's wearing the hat that Jay
Kay from Jamiroquai used to wear - and after finding and rescuing the princess,
you must just get the hell out of there.
But while the concept sounds as original as the creation of another docusoap,
it all depends on the execution.
I saw clips of it on TV before it came into my possession and looked like I
was watching the FMV. I wasn't. I was watching actual gameplay. That's not to
say the game doesn't have FMV, since it does, but it cleverly mixes it into
the game at certain points.
You could criticise Ico for being too linear. You enter a room, you look
for a way out and you make your exit, solving puzzles along the way. As you
reach the next room, you do more of the same... but it's HOW it does it that
really matters here.
The graphics, while having a slight edgyness about them that could possibly
be solved with a little anti-aliasing, are, on the whole, shit-hot, with the
option to zoom in (hold R2) without losing resolution. As you
move around each room in the castle, the viewpoint swishes around to enable
you to see the current part of the room in as much detail as is required in
order to progress. It can be a bit difficult to work out where all the baddies
are if there are a few you need to shake your stick at and kill them, though.
Yes, it's pre-defined as to how each room twists and turns
and you can't just centre your viewpoint as you might expect and could do in
a game like
Grand Theft Auto 3,
but if you're running about and performing moves such as making a leap off
a platform onto a chain which you can then use to climb up, everything fits
together perfectly and the end visual result is a very satisfying one.
The sound would greatly benefit from being in Dolby Digital or DTS, but what
we do get is a very effective haunting score that growls when you need to be
made frightened and sparkles when you're under threat, particularly at times
when the princess' life is in danger and you have to stop those attempting to
kidnap her.
Everything I've said in this review pin-points what an involving an atmospheric
game it is. Yes, it's not the most original thing I've ever played, but there's
something about it that fulfils the yearning of wanting a full-blown and deeply
gorgeous 3D version of Prince of Persia. I know a 3D sequel to that
was released, but it just didn't quite look the part and didn't appear to do
the series justice.
Still not convinced? Well, if you're a fan of adventures where the world of
what you're about to experience just opens up to you as you progress, then
you'll be in 7th heaven here, but for anyone who's not into that, I'd at
least recommend a rental so you can see when a game is properly executed.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
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Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.