Game Play 5 out 5
Replayablity 1 out 5
Graphics 4 out 5
Sound 4 out 5
Details 4 out 5
Fun Factor 5 out 5

ICO is an amazingly great, if rather peculiar game. It's the first noir computer game I've played that really pulls it off. It's not gang/criminal oriented, but the graphics and atmosphere of the game are pure film noir.

There is only one thing I could fault ICO for, and that is being too short. But that is more then counter balanced by it's other great features.

In ICO you play Ico, a young boy exiled to a castle because he was born with horns. You escape your cell and spend the rest of the game trying to escape the castle. Aside from the shadowy monsters the attack you in the castle, the game has only two other characters. Soon after escaping your cell you discover Yorda, a young girl trapped in the castle. The final character is the dark queen the rules over the castle.

Ico and Yorda have to work together to exit the castle, but they speak different languages. Nor can you understand what Yorda says, forcing you to interpret her gestures and tone. Both Ico and Yorda actually speak invented languages, but Ico's speach is subtitled in english while Yorda's subtitles are as incomprehensible as her speaking. This small touch adds a lot of flavor to the game.

The graphics are well done. The washed-out color and brooding atmosphere of the castle make it radiate a sense of danger. The castle also has more of a sense of being a real castle then most you find in games. The castle is not particuarly realistic, but for the most part it avoids the common problem of feeling like the castle was wrapped around the puzzles rather then the puzzles being fitted to the castle. The sound is simplistic but adds just the right touch in this game.

One of the high points of this game are the animation and sounds of Ico and Yorda. Ico looks, feels and sounds like a desperate young boy trapped in a castle. He gulps down air and dashes around looking for a way to escape. Of course, Ico is very athletic, capable of jumping far and pulling himself up and down ledges but he is not so absurd as most heros found in these games. And he often looks akward while doing it, as if he might trip and fall at any moment. Yorda is obviously older then Ico but also has obviously been in the castle for many years. She is frail and pale, dependent on Ico both to protect her and find a way out. Yorda is not capable of much athetic activity though, which is why Ico is forced to spend time finding or creating a path that Yorda can follow. When Ico grabs Yorda by the hand and takes off running, the two stumble through a few steps before reaching speed.

In the end, Ico is a puzzle/platform game. There are various monsters for Ico to drive off, but they are secondary to the puzzles. ICO is also a very simple game, with essentially no inventory system nor do you characters have hit points or other abstractions. Ico can carry two things, one slot is a weapon/torch and the other is whatever else he might find. The monsters simply knock you out of the way, since their goal is to grab Yorda and run off with her. The only real oddities found around the castle are the various couches, which serve as save points.

Overall, ICO is one of the most elegantly different games I have played in some time. The story is laid out in only a few words, but is still more engrossing then many I see in games. The characters seem far more like real people then the vast majority of game characters. The end result is a deeply engrossing game, despite is simplicity.

Jay