In The Great Games column we look back at titles that have defined video games over the years and earned a special place in the history of the medium.
ICO doesn’t begin all that spectacularly. You awake to find yourself inside a castle with little idea of what to do or where to go. In that manner, it very much mimics many classics such as the original NES The Legend of Zelda. There’s a story and a goal, but you’re going to have to figure that out as you go. It’s part of the brilliance of the game.
As you progress you discover a fair maiden who needs your help, and frightening black shadow monsters. Frightening is not an overstatement either, as the first time you encounter them and they begin to pull your companion underground you will shriek in horror. Each subsequent appearance is nerve rattling, especially as the level complexity increases.
That level complexity is also part of the genius of the title. You don’t feel like you’re exploring levels designed by someone as much as a real world place. Well, in so much as a fantasy setting can somewhat feel real. Who can ever forget the first time they figured out to leap onto the windmill? What other quixotic titles would allow such a thing? All of this combines to give the player a sense of place sorely lacking in most games.
By the final battle, which fittingly is not quite what you might expect, you’ve grown incredibly attached to your companion. In the final moments of the game, as you glimpse its epilogue, you realize you’ve been on an adventure unlike anything you’ve experienced before, and so far haven’t again since. As with most great games, ICO transcends the medium. There’s no higher compliment for a game.
Critical Reception
The game is undoubtedly driven by its smartly crafted aesthetic mood, though its production never compromises the gameplay it provides. At a moment when cheap visual fluff is all too often framed by derivative game mechanics, ICO stands sound and elegant. It’s an aesthetically driven game done right.
Even if it may not seem like your cup of sturm-und-drang tea, you owe it to yourself and the games industry at large to chip in a bit of horizon-expansion all round. Ico is something new, different, and brilliantly executed — the more we see this kind of innovation, the better off we’ll all be in the long run.
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