(this is actually just my review from gamersmark :)
ICO
By Jeff Ricks
Introduction
Ico is a young boy with horns that was taken to an enourmous enchanted castle. Your goal is to help him escape. But along the way you run into a mysterious girl named Yorda. She is very frail and quiet. The basic gameplay in ICO is figuring out how to get you and Yorda through many different difficult situations. This is by far the most amazing Puzzle game
I've ever played.
Presentation
The presentation in ICO is pretty basic, but in its own way completely unique. The main menu gives you a few options and is pretty basic. You're basically thrown straight into the game the second you turn the console on. But when you pause the game it is still basic, but the screen goes to a kind of eery snow effect. Menues aren't a major part of the game, but they do add a little to the mysterious atmoshpere of the game.
Graphics and Sound
ICO isn't a game that is supposed to look realistic. The enormous castle and huge atmosphere that is setup in ICO gives you a feeling that you are tiny and insignificant. The amazing thing is that the graphics are like an impressionistic painting. When I first saw the graphics my jaw dropped and I was in awe. And I usually don't really care about graphics. Let's just say they are beautiful.
The sound in ICO is eery, echoey, and very fitting. When you hear Ico yell for Yorda you get one more reminder of how big the place actually is. There is an added scary and creepy effect when spooky music is played every time you get near one of the shadow demons that are guarding the castle. Overall the sound is exactly as it should be, eery and quiet.
Gameplay
Gameplay in ICO is simple and at the same time can be very complicated. Ico was taken to this huge castle and he is trying to get out. This would seem easy enough except that isn't all, he meets Yorda and has to get her through everything, too. And she isn't exactly a nimble or strong person like Ico. He may be a boy, but he is pretty strong. The castle has a curse on it and there are weird shadow demons that try and grab Yorda and take her into black holes that appear in the castle floor. They show up at random times and all Ico has for the majority of the game is a 2 by four to protect Yorda and himself. Mostly they don't create too many problems, but when you're swarmed with many of them you can lose Yorda and have to run and save her from her underground doom.
The demons are just a small portion of the game though. The main portion is solving puzzle-like situations that could baffle a genious. In order to get Yorda through the castle you must get through many obstacles, you'll have Ico climbing, swinging on chains, and throwing switches. Whenever you want to move to a new area you have to take Yorda by the hand and if you have the controller vibrations on, you'll be able to feel her being dragged behind you, this was one of my favorite features of the game. Another thing that I found really cool and unique about ICO is when you're wandering around the castle you'll see very distant places that look just like atmospheric backround images, but then a while later you'll realize you're actually in that place! It was something I don't think I've ever experienced in a game.
If you're a great problem solver ICO won't be challenging much at all to you, but if you're like me you'll take about a half hour to figure out how to get to a balcony or something. It can be really difficult a lot of the time.
Appeal
This game as almost all puzzle games are, doesn't have much replay value. If you play it and beat it, you probably won't want to play it again, because the game would be simple. After playing it once you'd already know how to do everything, so it doesn't exactly appeal to those who love replay value. But don't put it off for that reason alone, this game is, and I think for at least a good while will be, the best puzzle game in exsistence. The story and the atmosphere are so amazing you'll never forget it. Plus with incredible graphics that left me awestruck, and challenging gameplay, this game is almost an absolutely perfect convergence of everything gamers want in a game.
Conclusion
Every owner of a PS2 should play this game at least once all the way through. I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying it due to the lack of replay value, but you should rent it. If you have to rent it a few times, you still wouldn't have spent as much as buying it, and still would've gotten just as much out of it. No one, absolutely no one that enjoys video games should go through life without having played this game.
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