Ico Review PS2: Playing it 20 Years Later

 Playing Ico 20 Years Later

by Fausto Chavez

Overview: I played this game back when it was first released in 2001, and again just recently in 2021. Back then I was 21 years old and really loved the game, and was curious to see how this recent playthrough would match up. Ico was an early PS2 release and didn’t make much of a splash initially but gradually developed into a cult legend. It’s an open world puzzle platformer with dazzling graphics and light effects, and had the unique gameplay feature of co-operating with and taking care of sidekick Yorda.

Story: There’s not much of a story that I could tell, other than protect Yorda from the evil spirits, and progress through the country and castles. There were frequent brief cutscenes but they did not advance a story.

Graphics: The graphics were impressive back when first released and still impresses today. The graphics are easily the best part of the game. Your main characters are fluid and graceful and well detailed. The worlds and castles are immense and breathtaking; there’s attention to detail to the Sun and sunlight; inside the castles you have striking contrasts with darkness and light. This coupled with the ambient nature sounds and slow gameplay gives its great atmosphere. At times, it’s fun just moving the camera around and taking in the beautiful views. The graphics, more than anything, is what has given this game its reputation.

Music: There’s not much music here. There is music at the title screen / intro, a very nice and again natural acoustic track. The gameplay sounds are natural, like waterfalls, birds, the sounds of your footsteps and actions. When spirits appear, or Yorda is taken, a slow spooky music will clue you in. The ambient sounds combine with the graphics to create a tremendous relaxing feel.

GamePlay: The main action is puzzle-platforming with some fighting. The fighting is basic, repetitive and not that interesting or too hard, but it doesn’t take too much space in the game. Most of the time you are exploring, trying to figure out what to do to progress to the next section, and attempting to carry out those actions, which consist of pulling levers, lighting fires, dragging blocks, climbing and swinging from chains, etc. This game actually reminds me of Out of This World, having a similar eerie atmosphere and similar gameplay. I’d even say this is an Out of This World remake in 3D, but less restrictive, more freedom to explore. This feeling only increased as the game progressed and became increasingly difficult with precise jumps and hair-splitting platforming. Just like Out of This World the save points are spread out and if you die/fail during a series of obstacles you are thrown back several steps to resume again. At times, the game felt repetitive and boring, and especially frustrating was having to repeat the same puzzles/jumps over-and-over when you or Yorda died before reaching a save point. 

It’s said that this game is short, but only when you know what to do (some YouTube playthroughs are only 3 hours). But it can take many more hours of trial and error to figure out the required steps. I played this game with a walkthrough, and even when knowing what to do it was a challenge due to the somewhat clunky controls, and a few sections are bewilderingly difficult (that platform jump to grab the spinning spokes near the end was a nightmare!!!) until you figure out the precise control sequence (shades of Out of This World). The final section of this game is a long stretch without any save point (other than auto in-game save) that must be played all in one sitting.

Replay Value: This game definitely has replay value (obviously, I played it again 20 years later). In fact, you will be re-playing parts of this game over-and-over trying to figure it out, though thankfully the great graphics and atmosphere soothes the pain. I did feel like replaying Ico again after finishing it this time around, feeling I would enjoy it more now that I knew what to do; but there are other great games out there to play.

Conclusion: This game is overrated—pure and simple. People remember the graphics and atmosphere (which have held up well) but the drab gameplay left a bad taste in my mouth. When I first played it in 2001 I had a lot more time to devote to games and figure out puzzles, but not at this point in my life (I don’t remember if I used a walkthrough back then). This time around, I used a walkthrough from beginning-to-end and could not wait to finish and move on to something more fun and thrilling, because though beautiful, Ico is not that fun. Back then, I remember thinking it was one of the best games I ever played, that it was the future of gaming, and all that hype you hear about it, but today, though still a great game, it’s definitely not among the best, and has slipped significantly in my ranking. The gameplay itself I’d rate a 7 of 10, though the graphics and atmosphere tilt it to an 8 overall.