ICO: PS2 Game Review

Courtesy of Sony

A word of warning to the adrenaline junkies and hyperactive freaks who're hooked on the high-speed, mindless mayhem of Quake. ICO isn't for you. ICO doesn't ram high-speed graphics down your throat at 100 bazillion miles per hour. ICO is way cooler than that.

Courtesy of Sony

Courtesy of Sony

ICO is a gorgeous puzzle game for the Playstation 2 video game console. You control Ico - a young boy with horns. He is sent off to a castle and in the middle of an important event everything starts to fall apart. He spots a beautiful young girl (Yorda) and decides to rescue her. The story of ICO is all about getting the two of them out of the castle, past puzzles, obstacles and shadow monsters.

ICO rocks because of how well it is put together. All the little details are perfect - the way Ico holds Yorda's hand when he leads her around, the way the light reflects off objects - even the foggy clouds are perfect. There aren't any menus, stats, points or other clutter while you play, it's just Ico the castle, the princess and lots of weird shadow monsters. The graphics and style make it worth it just to sit there and look around, never mind solving the puzzles.

On the downside, ICO isn't too long. If you're a brainiac and blast past all the puzzles you'll be done in about 20 hours. If you can score it as a 3-day rental, it'd be absolutely perfect. But because it's so short, its rating comes down a notch.

How Hard Is ICO?
It's easy to learn the controls and the puzzles are fairly challenging.

ICO Age Rating: Teen.

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