ICO Comments by Kristan Reed

I agree with the 10/10 thing for once. When I first started playing Ico though I thought it was merely 'okay'. But something clicked about a 1/4 of the way through, and I was totally bowled over.

Amazing game.

Why not just go for broke and give it 11/10?

Easily one of the biggest highs of the current generation of consoles.

Interesting, but this just makes the 10/10 for colussus seem overblown. It shouldn't get maximum marks for art direction and emotion primarily. An 8 or a 9, but not a 10.

Has this been re-released? /puzzled

Naw, SotC is a 10 for many different reasons than raw emotion and art direction, hopefully fully explained in my lengthy review ;)

After playing both and from a retrospective viewpoint

Colosuss 10/10

Ico 9/10

Yes, it's re-issued today at a tempting low price. Go buy!

need to play this game....

Considering some of the AI and control issues in this game, a 10/10 seems mighty generous.

Guess I *really* should play it this time around then.................

gah. how much is a PS2 these days? mussttt... plaayyyy... ICOOOO

Must dig this back out again and delete my savegames.

This has to be one of the most memorable games I've played in years.

I heart ICO

I've completed it for the third time last weekend. I agree with everything Tom said, especially that... it really isn't fair.

/sobs

It's one of the best games ever made. That is all you need to know.

Awesome game.
Glad it's been re-released

You bunch of sobby swishes.

"Colosuss 10/10

Ico 9/10"

I would switch those around and maaaaybe cut a point from both (cetainly from SotC). Played SotC for the first time yesterday and although it is very good, it didn't push all my buttons. Artistically it is awsome, but I wonder if the GFX and character design hadn't been so impressive, whether the rest would have seemed quite as good.

/waves at Anna

Play.com are selling it for £16.99

There really is no excuse not to buy it now..

Me - I actually had to turn the pad vibration off because, when I ran and held her hand tightly, jerking her along stride by stride, I felt like I was hurting her.

Wierdo.

Excuse me I havent finished reading the review yet but what the fuck are you on!?!

Mario Kart is as good today as it was when I first played it, newer versions maybe shiney and easier but Mario Kart is gameplay encapsulated in a grey cartridge.

EA got to you didnt they, you went on a press junket and they crammed you full of mind control drugs and played whale music at you while forcing you to recite 'new is good, old is bad' over and over again :|

So should I buy it again?

I'll force it on people.

Yeah. Don't forget, once you complete it once, you can understand what the girl is saying! I have an all time favourite game in my heart, Relentless or LBA (Little big adventure), and ICO is sharing now the place with it.

This is a game that was supposedly underrated on its original release and as result has been retrospectively overrated since. It's all very pretty and atmospheric, but once the novelty has worn off you're left with a one-track experience that borders on tedious - pulling levers, pressing switches, headbutting spirits... and then doing it all again until, as I did, you give up and do something more interesting (like staring at the wall).

when it was first out i recommended it to a mate who was not really into games.....it changed his gaming life.

ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVA.....

@El_MUERkO - you are dead right. still prefer the snes to the others although the ds and gba ones are v good

Yep, LBA and LBA 2 two other games that share the special 11/10 above the rest.

Best thing about Ico's re-release.

Greedy Ebay bastards get royally shafted :)

Peej

"Yeah. Don't forget, once you complete it once, you can understand what the girl is saying!"

I only found that out last night during SotC inspired ICO chit chat (never quite finished ICO first time around). I'm going to have to play this again aren't I, but I have so little time and I've started Psychonauts now.

With a bit of luck, the fly type sickness that is doing the rounds will lay me out and I'll have to stay at home for a few days. Probably not though. I am always just ill enough to feel rough without ever actually being off work.

"when you flick the analogue stick the opposite direction to the one you're facing, you instantly turn on the spot, with one frame of animation. It's not rough-hewn; it's the way it needs to be"

Love is blind isn't it?

WOW I need to buy this, and at only £18 it's a bargain!

I hate to be a stick in the mud: ICO is a memorable and enjoyable experience, but I didn't find it to a be quite the Zen of gaming that it's touted to be.

It's kind of like a waking dream (which is nice) and the graphics are lovely, but at the end of the day, it's a relatively simple platform/puzzle game that's kind of like looking across a beatiful valley as the sun rises, thinking "hmmm..nice" with a relaxed smile on your face. But then, if that's what I wanted out of gaming, I could actually go out into a beatiful valley, wait for the sun rise and do it for real:). I didn't feel compelled to play it again once it was finished either. Sorry chaps.

7/10

Having said that, if you haven't played it before you really do owe it to yourself to give it a go 2nd time round.

So for a game to be great it must be possible to play it again?

You seem to miss the point.

OK, that's it then.

/goes to store
I'll have one PS2, a copy of ICO, SotC, and Psychonauts please. Oh and a mem card.

On the subject of Ico:

"This time, please do be."

It looks like they have on play.com, its number 3 in the sales chart and they've run out of stock.

@ Arbiter

You said:

"It's just sad that we're unlikely to see its like again, and certainly not from a western developer. Not because of a lack of talent or appreciation for its many virtues, simply because it doesn't fit into the franchise and demographic driven cookie-cutter that is slowly killing the industry."

The thing is, the fact that ICO did so badly in sales and yet Sony still developed SotC is hugely encouraging. It show that they are prepared to put time and money into games that are not guaranteed to sell, and I believe Team Ico have already announced they are working on a PS3 game. So it's not all doom and gloom, especially if the ICO re-release and SotC do well.

As for the ICO naysayers, meh to you. Meh all over your faces. Meh. ICO is the best game of the last generation, and one of the best games ever. If one or two dodgy cameras or dull enemy AI mean that you can't see that then I think that's a shame.

Although I love them both dearly, I have to say I prefer Ico to Shadow of the Colossus.

But 10/10 scores? You know, one of my teachers in high school had a motto when giving out grades: "Only God gets a 10/10".

No game is perfect, and what about HL2? Or Halo? Or...

Ciaran pick up a copy of We Love Katamari as well.

And if you really do go and do that you deserve a medal in my opinion.

could this be one of those of thousands attempts to make everybody buy shadow of collossus, great it is, but i dont know how to get on that guy!

one of my teachers in high school had a motto when giving out grades: "Only God gets a 10/10"

I hope you beat the living snot out of him. Have you seen the middle of Africa? Just a huge bloody desert! Shoddy work. Those Ice caps aren't holding up too well either. 6/10

I bought ICO about 2 years ago in a promo edition for 7 pounds, beacuse I couldnt find the regular version.
I've decided to purchase it after finding my demo disc that came with the PS2 and was amazed by it.
This is truly one of the best games that was ever made, and deserves that 10/10.
Now all I have to do is to buy SotC

Is it still really such a surprise that graphics based on good design and art direction age much, much better then graphics purely based on technology?
(the visuals of WoW vs. EQ2 for instance)
Someone needs to dig out the dreamcast and put on Jet Set Radio, twice the ago of Ico and still good. Or recall Doom 3, already looking oldfashioned when it was released (thanks to HL2).

Still waiting for my copy to turn up. How's the boxart?

The REAL this gen!

To those people who claim Ico has been overrated in hindsight: it's not true. Many people, including me, bought it on the release day, and said it is an istant classic, and probably the best game this generation has to offer. We didn't wait 3 years and suddenly said it's great.

As for the ICO naysayers, meh to you. Meh all over your faces. Meh. ICO is the best game of the last generation, and one of the best games ever. If one or two dodgy cameras or dull enemy AI mean that you can't see that then I think that's a shame.

Couldn't agree more. :)

happy new 2002!

@kangarootoo

"the fly type sickness that is doing the rounds"

oh no - kangarootoo in Cronenbergesque black-hairs-extruding-themselves-from -his-shoulders-type-infection-nightmare. Can you hold a controller with articulated chitinous appendages? or indeed suck up partially digested parsnip crisps through a proboscis? Hope it passes mate.

/pedant hat off

it's not overrated because every time i show it to some friends we reach maybe 1/3 of the game in one sitting

So, is it a good game then?