Ico
lolfighter
Snark, Dire Join Date: 2003-04-20 Member: 15693Members
Snark, Dire Join Date: 2003-04-20 Member: 15693Members
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">The Magical Game</div> <span style='color:red'>*** Warning! Spoilers ahead! Do not read if you haven't played the game and plan on doing so! ***</span>
You may want to take a look at <a href='http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/october01/ico/' target='_blank'>GameSpy's review</a>. A score of 94 is pretty rare for GameSpy.
So, has anybody played Ico, that wholly remarkable game for the PS2? I have, and I wonder: What makes this game so fantastic? The review goes a long way towards answering this question, but not ALL the way. I'd like to hear if what I felt so compelling about this game holds true for others (or if, and why, you think it sucked).
Interface: None. No lives, no health bar, no ammo display. Nothing. Just as if you saw everything through your own eyes.
Difficulty: Low. In some games, this would be a disadvantage. Not here. I'm not playing this game to become the "elite" master of shadow-slaying, I'm playing it to enjoy myself. If this means making combat relatively easy so I can focus on the game's rich athmosphere, so be it.
Athmosphere: The deserted castle gives you a feeling of loneliness, making you appreciate the company of Yorda even more. Details aplenty make the dead walls of stone come to life.
Sound: Music is scarce, but excellent when it's playing. Most of the time it's you and the winds howling. Footsteps, sometimes magnified by the echo of large halls. Birds chirping. The distant roaring of a waterfall. Once again, it feels natural.
The characters: Ico is a small boy of twelve, and the image goes over well. His unwavering courage somehow doesn't seem unrealistic, even though it should be. Yorda is highly mysterious, even more so because we have no clue where she comes from or what she's trying to tell us. She is a friendly young girl, cute, which instinctively makes us want to protect her. The Queen doesn't care for the outside world, and is content to leave alone and be left alone, but will not tolerate interference. She bides her time, fully expecting that her shadows will bring Yorda back to her, and only interferes directly when Ico and Yorda are just about to escape.
My only criticism is that the game is so short. You get absorbed in it, you play and play, always telling yourself "Just a little more and I'll take a break", and after two or three sessions like this the game is over. I have played through the game three or four times, and I still want to do it again (this time in two-player mode though). Give me Ico 2.
Anyway, what do you think? What attracted you to (or repelled you from) the game?
You may want to take a look at <a href='http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/october01/ico/' target='_blank'>GameSpy's review</a>. A score of 94 is pretty rare for GameSpy.
So, has anybody played Ico, that wholly remarkable game for the PS2? I have, and I wonder: What makes this game so fantastic? The review goes a long way towards answering this question, but not ALL the way. I'd like to hear if what I felt so compelling about this game holds true for others (or if, and why, you think it sucked).
Interface: None. No lives, no health bar, no ammo display. Nothing. Just as if you saw everything through your own eyes.
Difficulty: Low. In some games, this would be a disadvantage. Not here. I'm not playing this game to become the "elite" master of shadow-slaying, I'm playing it to enjoy myself. If this means making combat relatively easy so I can focus on the game's rich athmosphere, so be it.
Athmosphere: The deserted castle gives you a feeling of loneliness, making you appreciate the company of Yorda even more. Details aplenty make the dead walls of stone come to life.
Sound: Music is scarce, but excellent when it's playing. Most of the time it's you and the winds howling. Footsteps, sometimes magnified by the echo of large halls. Birds chirping. The distant roaring of a waterfall. Once again, it feels natural.
The characters: Ico is a small boy of twelve, and the image goes over well. His unwavering courage somehow doesn't seem unrealistic, even though it should be. Yorda is highly mysterious, even more so because we have no clue where she comes from or what she's trying to tell us. She is a friendly young girl, cute, which instinctively makes us want to protect her. The Queen doesn't care for the outside world, and is content to leave alone and be left alone, but will not tolerate interference. She bides her time, fully expecting that her shadows will bring Yorda back to her, and only interferes directly when Ico and Yorda are just about to escape.
My only criticism is that the game is so short. You get absorbed in it, you play and play, always telling yourself "Just a little more and I'll take a break", and after two or three sessions like this the game is over. I have played through the game three or four times, and I still want to do it again (this time in two-player mode though). Give me Ico 2.
Anyway, what do you think? What attracted you to (or repelled you from) the game?
Comments
<img src='http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2001/20010928l.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
Image stolen from <a href='http://www.penny-arcade.com' target='_blank'>Penny Arcade</a>.
It sums up my thoughts of the game quite nicely. :P
But they are going to do a game, very similar to ICO, called NICO.
Some screenies of NICO, very crappy but you can see what it is.
<img src='http://www.cvgames.com/news/sony/nico050203/nico3.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.cvgames.com/news/sony/nico050203/nico6.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.cvgames.com/news/sony/nico050203/nico1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
Source: <a href='http://www.cv-games.com/e3/e32003_newslist.asp?CompanyID=29' target='_blank'>http://www.cv-games.com/e3/e32003_newslist...sp?CompanyID=29</a>
<img src='http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2001/20010928l.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
Image stolen from <a href='http://www.penny-arcade.com' target='_blank'>Penny Arcade</a>.
It sums up my thoughts of the game quite nicely. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
i followed every single PA since the first and don't remember this. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Well then you missed a few :P
A great reason to go back and read every single one of em ;)
Sad or what! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I have played it, hell I have the game also. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Unfortunately I haven?t completed it yet, because I?m so lazy... <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
But anyway, it?s a great game.