ICO

I picked up the ICO and Shadows of the Colossus pack for PS3 and started up ICO, since I beat SotC a year or two back.

The story is good. The game starts with a decent length intro cutscene, with very little dialog. From there, you're on your own to explore and figure out what's going on. You quickly discover a girl, Yorda, and the two of you continue your attempt at escaping, with you being the main driving force behind that.


The gameplay blends seamlessly with the story. Most things you can do, she can't without your help. The special doors you need to get through, she can open but she can't reach them on her own. This goes all the way down to the save mechanics. To save the game, you have to bring her to a stone couch, where only after both of you are sitting does the game allow you to save. Oh, did I mention she's being hunted by weird shadow creatures you have to to fight with a large stick?

The music plays a really important role in setting the tone, as neither character speaks the other's language. The rest of the tone is carried by the limitation of communication, and how you convey the tone through your decisions and facial expressions.


The controls are what you would expect from a climbing puzzle game, and I rarely ever cursed the controls. I did get upset at a few puzzles that were needlessly difficult, but almost in the tone of Braid, the puzzles are unique and you have to bring new ways of thinking to the table to solve them. All while not leaving Yorda behind. If you leave her behind in a room for any decent length of time, the shadow creatures will come steal her, and then you die. So... don't do that. Very rarely you will have to leave her alone for a short while, but if you get too far away, you're doing it wrong.

I would highly recommend this game. The only regrets I have is that I do not have a 3D TV to play this on, and the other regret is that it took me this long to play this game. It was amazing.