Ico

Moby ID: 5158
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Description official descriptions

Ico is a boy with horns. At the age of twelve, when his horns grew large enough, the elders send him away to be sacrificed in order to prevent evil spirits from attacking the village. Entombed in a crumbling ancient castle, Ico only manages to begin his escape when a freak earthquake shakes loose the vessel he has been locked in. Ico shortly meets a princess named Yorda, who has been imprisoned by the evil queen. The two children must explore the ominous castle, trying to find a way to escape, persecuted by the queen's shadow minions.

ICO is a third-person perspective game that mixes action-based exploration gameplay with puzzles. The game is set almost exclusively in the castle, which consists of dozens of rooms, passages, platforms, and contraptions. Ico will run, climb, and jump his way through these environments. The puzzles in the game are physical (environmental): Ico must push and pull objects, manipulate switches, re-arrange structures, etc.

Yorda will accompany Ico throughout most of the game. Many of the puzzles revolve around creating a way for Yorda to access special glowing blue doors, which only she is capable of unlocking with her powers. Being less athletic than Ico, Yorda will often need a more comfortable path built for her. Ico can hold Yorda's hand to lead her with him, and also call her to come nearer.

With the exception of the final (and only) boss, all the enemies in the game are shadows. They attack in groups, either at pre-set points, or when Ico is separated from Yorda for a long time. Their goal is always the same: to capture Yorda and carry her towards a black whirlpool. If the player fails to rescue her before she is consumed by this shadow portal, the game is over. Conversely, Ico can not be killed by the shadows; they can only push him, preventing him from reaching Yorda in time. The player must therefore fend off the shadows (Ico uses a stick for the largest portion of the game), at the same time hurrying towards Yorda. Protecting and rescuing Yorda is one of the primary gameplay elements in ICO.

The game has no HUD (heads-up display). Other distinguishing features are the soft lightning visual style, low-key use of in-game music, and conversations through a fictional language, leaving much to the player's imagination.

Spellings

  • イコ - Japanese spelling
  • ěť´ ě˝” - Korean spelling

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

193 People (147 developers, 46 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 90% (based on 66 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 191 ratings with 8 reviews)

Mystical and pretty, and with a bit of retro-cool.

The Good
This is the only PS2 game I'm interested in really. Well alright, Metal Gear Solid 2 has my attention but it's not the sort of thing I can be bothered with. Especially because I saw my friend playing it and near the end there was a 45-minute cutscene...

I like ICO because I'm still fanatical about old games, like Prince of Persia and Flashback, and their styles of playing. Maybe this is because my PC is pretty much incapable of playing any games released today (I don't actually own a PS2 but I have completed ICO), but at least this carries on the traditions of old. Although, unlike Prince Of Persia, it is gorgeous to look at. Even though graphics don't mean a thing these days, at least not in terms of the game having any lasting appeal, ICO has a particular look. It's sparse and drab, but it gives a hell of a lot of atmosphere because of it. And it also lets the lighting effects do their thing: inside the castle it's dark and gloomy, outside it's so bright it makes your eyes hurt. But that's great. The sense of scale too is a sight to behold. Standing on a bridge overlooking most of the castle, with about 3000 feet below to fall, is an experience in itself. As is plunging from the top of a windmill into a pool of some of the most brilliantly rendered water seen in a game.

The characters are beautiful too, especially in their animation. Ico really does run about and act like a 10yr old, albeit one with the combined fitness of 30 top class athletes. Yorda on the other hand would blow away in the wind and her daintiness is so great you just want to sit back and watch her do her own thing for half an hour.

Fighting is great fun. The shadow monsters are intelligent and almost funny to watch as they evade your blows; but there is still a real satisfaction when your strike hits home and you save Yorda and yourself from the jaws of death. Again, the graphics are top notch with the enemies. Even though they look like they've been stolen from Heart Of Darkness a little bit.

Finally, the showdown at the end is really exciting and tense to play and to watch. In fact, the whole game is a visual feast so I might as well shut up about the graphics. I don't actually remember any music in the game though, even though I'm sure there was some, but at least that shows it doesn't impose.

Great box covers too.

The Bad
No-one else I know seems to think this, but there just wasn't enough to it for my liking. It's very linear from start to finish both in the gameplay and in the environments. The latter is what I found the hardest to cope with: other than the grey stone walls of the castle and the beautiful skies and grass outside, there is nothing to look at. Even though the appeal is in the simplicity, there needs to be some other environment. It gets better near the end when all of a sudden Ico finds himself somewhere else, but that's not enough. My favourite bit in the whole game was with the windmill, that's the only time there is any water. Considering water has rarely been done so beautifully you think they'd have used it just a little more often.

Also I don't think there is any real story in this game. The game does give reasons for the presence of both characters but the reasons aren't important. The story never moves on except for one or two instances, the rest is just a lot of...dare I say...jumping around?

Also, because of the lack of variety, it can almost get boring. I can't imagine playing for much longer than an hour as the puzzles never let up, and they're all very similar anyway - usually involving Yorda, some boxes and switches.

The Bottom Line
Tranquil, occasionally frustrating and beautiful. If they just add a bit more to look at and do, (but not too much), for the sequel it'll be perfect. Still worth buying anyway.

PlayStation 2 · by Shazbut (163) · 2003

If you have someone for whom you would do anything, play this game.

The Good
ICO is very unique in the way that it combines graphics and music in order to achieve a wonderful feeling of nostalgia/longing, while being very dark and stressful at the same time. Additionally, it makes an interesting use of the surroundings in order to produce puzzles that fit the game perfectly, not being blatantly easy nor excruciatingly difficult. The use of voices is also very well executed, even if it is used scarcely (which just feels right in the barren, lonesome world of ICO). And of course, the main characters themselves are what makes the game work, with the relationship existing between them being the focal point of the game, and what stood out the most – it is a beautiful portray of friendship, and probably the game’s most appealing trait.

The Bad
The only negative aspects of ICO are really the fact that combat is very plain and simple (even though this is most likely purposeful to fit the mood of the game), and being a relatively short game (despite being slow-paced).

The Bottom Line
While surely not a game for everyone (due to its slow pace and heavy mood), ICO can arguably be considered one of the top - let’s call it “spiritually enhancing” - games ever made. If you let it, ICO grabs you by the hand (pun intended) and takes you along an emotional rollercoaster that you cannot feel disconnected from - both graphics and music contribute immensely in order to make sure your anxiety will leave you on edge, yet totally immersed. And that is probably ICO’s most recognizable trait – it deep-dives you in such a way that you will not want to surface back to the real world. Essentially, that’s what games are really all about.

PlayStation 2 · by Rik Hideto (473497) · 2014

The only computer or video game so far that I would unreservedly call "artistic". Also fun and playable

The Good
The beautiful and just slightly surreal surroundings, the emotionally-charged artwork and story, and the very lifelike animation of the main characters make this game very emotionally touching. It's like a masterpiece of fine art that you can play. The first time I saw the pathos of the little boy holding out his hand to lead the little girl out of danger my heart skipped a beat.

The actual gameplay emphasizes creative thinking over reaction time, and rewards experimentation - there is no jarring death screen if you miss a jump, you just start the long fall, the screen fades out, and you are back to a little bit before the mistake. There is no inventory management beyond finding weapons; all the puzzles revolve around looking at the environment and finding a path through it.

The complete lack of words in most of the gameplay makes the story really revolve around actions of the boy and the girl, and makes their relationship as human beings in a strange and scary place much more touching than mere words would; the actual words in speech from the maleficent being (avoiding a spoiler here) are even more dramatic against that backdrop. Everything in the game is finely tuned to touch you in the heart, not just the mind or kinesthetic sense.

The Bad
Sometimes the interface is confusing. It took me a dozen tries to light the end of the stick, despite the instructions in the manual and more detailed instructions from online sources.

The Bottom Line
Since nearly the beginning of computer games in the 70s and 80s, people have talked about them becoming an art form. This is the first, and so far only, game to really live up to that idea, providing an evocative emotional experience unique to the medium. It's beautiful, it's fun, and it seems way too short when you've finished it.

PlayStation 2 · by weregamer (155) · 2003

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
512x256 PAL shots GTramp (81965) Jun 30, 2013

Trivia

Art

The original artwork, designed by Fumito Ueda, was inspired by the works of the surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico. For comparison, the painting The Nostalgia of the Infinite bears a strong resemblance in style to the cover art.

Development

ICO was originally meant to be released for the PlayStation, but the development was halted and then continued for the PlayStation 2. A screenshot gallery of the first version has been included with the limited edition of Shadow of the Colossus. Also, originally Yorda was due to have horns, not lead character Ico

Extras

The European Limited Edition version has a double cardboard-sleeved case and contains four postcard-sized art cards.

Novel

In 2004, author Miyuki Miyabe released a novel in Japan based on the game. She wrote it because of her appreciation of the game (ISBN 4-06-212441-6).

Version differences

The US version does not contain the second playthrough bonuses present in the Japanese and European releases. These include translated subtitles (initially hieroglyphs), the option to have a second player (who controls the princess), a secret weapon different from the one findable in the first playthrough, and the option to play the game with one of four cinematic video filters. There are also changes to some of the shadow generation points, fights with enemies are slightly harder, and the Waterfall and Windmill puzzles are simplified.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2002 – #7 Best PS2 Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2002– Best Atmosphere of the Year
    • 2002– Special Game Idea of the Year
  • EGM
    • February 2006 (Issue #200) - #121 out of 200 in the "Greatest Games of Their Time" lisz

Information also contributed by Big John WV, Indra was here and Mark Ennis

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by nullnullnull.

PlayStation 3 added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Macintrash, Jeanne, Sciere, Leandro S., Zeppin, DreinIX, Patrick Bregger, Rik Hideto, yenruoj_tsegnol_eht (!!ihsoy).

Game added October 15, 2001. Last modified March 15, 2024.