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When compared to the other major entertainment
mediums, music and film, videogames are rarely considered to be an
art-form. In many cases this is justified, shooting and robbing
people in
50Cent: Bulletproof is hardly beautiful or awe-inspiring.
However, considering the nature of videogames, which, in many cases
are essentially Interactive Movies, it is obvious that there is a
lot of scope for developers to make games far more inspirational and
with far more impact than could ever be possible in film. As it
stands, on the outside, videogames are still widely regarded as just
a bit of fun, not as a serious vehicle for artists to express
themselves. There are exceptions to this though, one of the most
prominent recently being Toshio Iwai’s collaboration with Nintendo
on the highly original
Electroplankton. Although rarer than your standard
First-Person Shooter or Platform title, there are also other games
that have made a valid attempt to move the player rather than just
inciting them to fight on to the end of the Level. The recent
release of
Shadow Of The Colossus for the PlayStation2 has brought with
it a re-release of its creator’s previous title,
ICO. Despite launching early in the PlayStation2’s
life-cycle and only ever having achieved competently-average sales,
ICO remains to some as a masterpiece of game development, and
is sought after often with a high price-tag.
ICO
is an Adventure game that has no Levels, Rounds, Stages or any of
the progression-system features found in most games. The entirety of
ICO revolves around the two main characters, Ico, the outcast
boy with horns and Yorda, a fragile and ghostly princess, and their
escape from a huge fortress. In order to do this you control Ico,
and must guide Yorda through the game without her falling prey to
the various Shadow Creatures that will regularly attempt to capture
her. Despite regular battles, ICO does not feature an
extensive combat system; in fact the only attack button is Square.
There are also very few weapons in the game, meaning that ICO
is far more about puzzle solving than hack-n’-slash. The puzzles
involved in your escape are fairly logical, surprisingly rewarding
and anyone who has played the likes of
God Of War will have few problems for the majority of the
game. The basis of many of them is to find a way of transporting
Yorda from one area to the next. Although Yorda is fairly athletic
and can climb ladders and jump small distances, she can’t go to many
of the places that Ico can. This system means that in general you
will always have an idea of what to do; the challenge comes from
actually figuring-out in exactly what way you will use the abilities
at your disposal, and it is this that keeps the game interesting
despite its relative simplicity. Although the game performs well
within its own scale, Yorda can be inclined to get somewhat confused
when the player has several obstacles between Ico and her. However
this occurrence is fairly infrequent and although occasionally
irritating, rarely distracts you from the overall high quality of
this game.
From a technical perspective, ICO is
definitely outstanding; mainly because
it features no noticeable
Load Times. This would be an achievement on any PlayStation2 game
but to achieve what ICO does, a four-year-old game, is
remarkable. When you reach the higher points of the fortress you can
admire the view, and what a view it is: the entirety of what a
person could see is all present-and-correct with the fortress
stretching out in all directions, showing-off some incredibly long
draw distances. Some parts of ICO, whilst running along some
of the huge bridges for instance, are almost breathtaking in their
epic scale. Some might argue that this is all just aesthetics, but
it is because of this level of detail and polish that the game does
feel more like an Interactive Movie than your typical Third-Person
Adventure.
The focus seems softer than most games with very few
sharp edges present on-screen and all of the shadows and Glare
Effects seem perfect, which further helps to make ICO’s world
that much more believable. The animation of Yorda and Ico is also
brilliant. Ico isn’t your typical hero and his occasionally ungainly
clambering is very realistic, which can only help to make his plight
that much more endearing. Yorda is also charming in her own way; she
can’t speak to Ico, seems to be almost entirely clueless most of the
time and depends entirely on Ico’s lead; a classic damsel in
distress. All of these
 traits are captured superbly by the animation
of the models and seeing Ico drag Yorda around by the hand, instead
of your typical square-jawed hero sweeping her off her feet, seems
like exactly what would occur in this adventure. The only real issue
with the graphics is the developer’s choice to use a Fixed Camera
in-game. Despite sitting-well with the games distinctive movie-esque
style, the camera angles can occasionally be quite off putting and
make controlling Ico a little more difficult than you would hope.
The sound quality is, unfortunately, not quite as inspiring,
although still of good standard. Yorda’s cries for help and Ico’s
shouts to her sound like you would expect them to and the inclusion
of reverb on some effects to augment the epic scale of the rooms
make the game sound almost as realistic as it looks. The game also
occasionally features some light background music, but it’s not
really anything that will enhance gameplay further.
ICO
is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most beautiful games ever
made and possibly as close as the medium gets to art. However, it
would be foolish to assume that this is a game for everyone. To
those who are content to bask in the grand scale and presentation of
a game will find that ICO is very hard to beat on any format.
However to Bob, who likes to shoot aliens, save the world and blow a
whole load of stuff up along the way, ICO is not likely to
impress. There is also not a
lot to do once you have completed the story, resulting in the title
opportunely gathering dust a few weeks
after purchase. In spite of this, ICO is still worth picking
up, especially with its budget price-point. Anybody with an interest
in the videogame industry, or the game's successor
Shadow Of The Colossus, should try this title, not because
it’s the “best-game-ever”, or even that it’s the most fun, but
simply because it is a perfect example of how a game should, and
could be made. |
