ICO Comments by Kristan Reed

so, simple question.

i know i'll love both ico, sotc and katamari, but are they worth buying a ps2 for? (cos i don't have one)

the alternative is buying them with a view to playing them on ps3. is backwards compatibility with the breadbin going to be an issue (cos i'd like me one of them!)

Yorda even calls out "Eee-ko" in the game, if you're in any doubt.

I can totoally understand everyone who dosen't want to give this game a go.

I've seen enough to know its NOT my kind of game, and will bore the hell out of me.

Much Like REZ and other "Indie" titles, juste not what I came to VideoGames for.

Counter-Strike (1.6) is the ONLY 10/10

Since when where Sega and Sony indie devs?

Much Like REZ and other "Indie" titles, juste not what I came to VideoGames for.

You came to videogames for what? Electronic Arts?

Counter-Strike (1.6) is the ONLY 10/10

Wow, you fail at understanding videogames. Real ones.

Much Like REZ and other "Indie" titles, juste not what I came to VideoGames for.

A good game is a good game, don't just label it an "indie" title and dismiss it based on your preconceptions.

> A good game is a good game, don't just label it an "indie" title
> and dismiss it based on your preconceptions.

Agreed, judge each game on it's own merits.

It sounds smoison prefers online gaming though, and ICO won't scratch *that* particular itch.

I think the description he was scrabbling around for was "alternative".

If ICO, Rez and SotC are the alternative to most of the drivel I have to play every week, I'm happy with that moniker.

"Wow, you fail at understanding videogames. Real ones."

LOL, thanks for you holly opinion SATAN.

But if you consider one person on vote, CS 1.6 will be considered a better game.

ICO a joy to play and I have to agree with the 11/10 mark.

One of my desert island games this, beautiful to look at and very very atmospheric... superb!

I'm glad you reviewed this again... I say ICO for game of the year 2006.

surely a "holly opinion" would be from SANTA?

Oh yeah forgot to mention... ICO showed what could be done with the PS2... IMO it blows apart any games I've seen so far on the X Kack 360.

So neh!

But if you consider one person on vote, CS 1.6 will be considered a better game.

Do you want to know why? I'll tell you: mainstream. It's like music. Mainstream crap sells and is better known. Alternative is quite often better and superior yet nobody knows or cares about it.

Don't ask me why, I don't know. I refuse to swallow any sort of crap, I select what I hear and play. I don't buy the first thing I see on shelves like many do.

I have the official ICO soundtrack (imported from Japan) here - forgot it was in my desk drawer at work... now on IPod for the journey home !

Anyone want a copy ? Offers ?

Do you want to know why? I'll tell you: mainstream. It's like music. Mainstream crap sells and is better known. Alternative is quite often better and superior yet nobody knows or cares about it.

Don't ask me why, I don't know.

The reason is marketing. It's easier to push say, Westlife on the idiot public, than is it a bad such as Tool. Most people are generally really stupid, and they are just sheep. They listen to whatever they are told by the government, and marketers as if it was the gospel. People just cannot form their own opinions on anything these days, they don't know any better than what Radio 1 play, or what they read in Smash Hits. Alternative music isn't better because it's alternative, and neither is ICO. ICO is just a wonderful game, love went in to making it, and it shows. It deserves success, and I hope it gets it this time.

They thought it was worth reviewing twice, and two-out-of-two think it's great! Where's the problem?

No problem, just think it's silly to review the game twice when both writers are of the same opinion.

No problem, just think it's silly to review the game twice when both writers are of the same opinion.

They didn't say exactly the same, did they? They only gave it the same score.

"I'M ACTUALLY RIGHT! SUPER MARIO KART IS AWFUL!"

Heretic!!! I played it last weekend 2-player with a friend and it was amazing. Just how I remember it from school.

Steering, elephant gunning, power-sliding...it's just a perfectly balanced game.

Was I the only one who tried to bump Yorda? Tall, inocent girls FTW!

I must be a cold man, best thing I liked about ico were the cutscenes.
I don't belive anyone who played ico for few hours and didn't yawn at least 9 times.

...than is it a bad such as Tool.

Well, you said it.

"The reason is marketing. It's easier to push say, Westlife on the idiot public, than is it a bad such as Tool. Most people are generally really stupid, and they are just sheep. They listen to whatever they are told by the government, and marketers as if it was the gospel. People just cannot form their own opinions on anything these days, they don't know any better than what Radio 1 play, or what they read in Smash Hits."

It's not that most people are stupid or aren't capable of forming an opinon, it's just they don't really care about music. They certainly don't care enough to spend chunks of their free time wading through the quadrillion different bands and styles of music out there to discover new, underpromoted or otherwise obscure stuff that they'd otherwise quite enjoy. For this reason, the big sellers tend to be stuff that's played on mainstream radio stations and is easy to listen to (and stuff for idiot teenagers, but that's another issue). The charts are, basically, full of music for people who don't like music.

In a special two-for-the-price-of-one clarification, this is one of the reasons EA dominates the games charts, too.

...than is it a bad such as Tool.

Well, you said it.

Haha, that was quite the unfortunate typo, and I won't bother with changing it. Besides, Tool are great, no doubt. They were the first obscure band that came to mind and it pretty much works..

I still think that generally, people are stupid. You only have to look at any blog or forum on the internet for proof of that - people who have no understanding of even basic grammar.

The charts are, basically, full of music for people who don't like music.

This is one of the most logical things I've heard in a while, though. I completely agree.

@ecureuil

"The reason is marketing. It's easier to push say, Westlife on the idiot public, than is it a bad such as Tool."

Thats over simplifying things, and making some big assumptions about the general public. For the record, I much prefer Tool to Westlife. But the reason it is easier to market Westlife is because the majority of the public honestly, gennuinely prefers them to Tool.

Its all very well saying that the public are sheep, being led by marketing people. But we ARE the general public. We can assume some lofty elitist status of "the informed few", but we buy the marketing just the same as everyone else. We simply have different tastes. Do you think that bands like Tool aren't marketed using exactly the same methods? We buy into it just the same as the Westlife fans, the only real difference being that Westlife are liked by more people and sell more records, hence being classed as "mainstream".

There are plenty of shit underground metal acts out there balancing things out, just as there are a fair few talented pop acts (even if the music they make isn't to my or your own tastes).

hey, leave the kids alone man. They have plenty of time to realise that their existences are just as humdrum and meaningless as everybody else's and descend into cynicism like us old gits. let them think tool are special for a bit, there's a chap.

Bleh, Ico is the definition of mediocrity imo, gameplay-wise. I don't feel I have to explain myself here, that's just my opinion.

And don't rag on a guy because he likes CS. My oh my we're all impressed how sensitive you are, liking ICO and whatnot, but don't get all holier-than-thou on people for not liking an 'arthouse' game. Games are about having fun, something I had very little in ICO.

And yeah, CS is probably the best and most balanced online shooter I've ever played. 10/10 from me there too :)

love is Ico , Ico is love

Not a 10, but a better game than SOTC.

May well have to buy this, 18 squids for a game that the majority seems to think is a classic? Count me in.

Do have to finish Burnout Revenge and Spartan Total Warrior first though..and Vagrant Story. Oh, and Project Zero.

May have to wait a while..

When 'mediocre gameplay' is mentioned, do they mean 'simple gameplay'?
'cause a simple game is definatly a lot more preferable then a complex game.

Sorry, but when a reviewer says that a game is 10/10, he kinda loses credibility

Oh look - score criticism on Eurogamer! How unique.

Alright. Several points:

What's the point of having a 10/10 system if the reviewer is unable to use all 10 values on the scale?

A 10/10 scale is not supposed to be a precise "score", it is more of a "category". The reviewer is not trying to hone his opinion into a precise value from 1 to 100, like games mags always used to and some websites continue to do (which to me is silly... all those games mags that somehow judged a difference between an 82% game and an 83% game... ridiculous).

10/10 is a "category" - ten notches that a game can be placed into. The very best games go into the tenth notch. They don't have to be perfect to achieve this - they just have to be the best.

Perfect. Best. Perfect. Best. Not the same at all. No game can ever be "perfect", because if only from a technological standpoint, games get better graphics every few years. So just accept that the tenth notch on the scale means "best".

The reason Ico gets 10? I think it's because it's a masterpiece, when most other games are just games. No other game in history has made me feel the things I felt playing Ico. No game has ever made me feel like a big brother to a vulnerable girl. No other game has made me so angry when the enemies appear, because of what the enemies are trying to do - take her away.

CS sucks. BF FTW!!!

/runs away

/then runs back wondering how people got so easily distracted when this thread is supposed to be about ICO.

Sands of Time was clearly influenced by ICO and is in itself a good game. I think the characterisations and atmosphere are what makes ICO special. I loved the game, although I only played it through the once (and have no immediate plans to play it again). But, as with any game (or film or book etc), it isn't going to appeal to everyone.

10/10? Yeah definitely. It did things no other game at the time was doing anywhere near as well, and it still stands head and shoulders above anything similar that's come since. However, I do think part of the reason people tend to be so passionate about this game is the scarcity. Until now, I think playing ICO probably had a certain cache attached to it, which will now no longer be the case (since the number of copies in circulation probably just quadrupled.

Anyway, spare a thought for all those poor souls trying to sell their copies on eBay, expecting to make £40+ from it. The bottom just fell out of the market. Guess they're really going to have to push those art cards... :o)

http://video-games.search.ebay.co.uk/ico_Sony-PS2_W0QQcatref
ZC11QQfromZR40QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ11320

@squeakyg

Perhaps EGs score system should go up to 11...

Ico and SotC if you see it buy it. We need more games like this

I loved every second of this game. A few of my mates weren't so 'down' with it because it wasn't as 'fast' as Sands of Time, but this, for me, represents the very pinnacle of engaging video games that just trap you in their wonderful little world until the end. It is a marvellous piece of work, simply marvellous, and yes, it is better than Colossus imo.

is it just me or were there a number of "the"s missing in kristan's review text?

/takes annoying pedant hat off

Mario Kart is simply superb, no other game has surpassed it for multiplayer racing.

Gush gush gush gush gush.

Gush....gush gush gush gush.

Guuuuush.

/Soooooo wants (although never posted before) to be aligned with the common view

/hits self in scrote (this time) for being cynical (again:)

You say Eeko, and I say Eye-ko, let's call the whole thing off...

"Mario Kart is simply superb, no other game has surpassed it for multiplayer racing."

What about Halo 2?

despite not being pushed enough this game did have one of sony's best ever promotional items on original release - that postcard encased in bubble wrap was perfect.

What makes Ico great? Purity of vision and soul.

"Nobody knows whether to call it "Eye-ko" or "Eeko", and is afraid of looking like a twat by choosing the wrong one."

It's pronounced ee-co according to an interview with the developer ages ago, forget where soz.

I have the Japanese version right here, and the title is both written in Roman alphabet and the Japanese katakana writing system.

The katakana says I-KO which is pronounced as EEKO in English. Which is great, but if you write "Ico" then there is only one proper pronounciating for it in English: EYEKO.

If they wanted it pronounced as EEKO then the developers should have written the title as Eeko, Eacko, Eekoh, Aeko, etc... Anything but "Ico".

Anyway, great game.

If they wanted it pronounced as EEKO then the developers should have written the title as Eeko, Eacko, Eekoh, Aeko, etc... Anything but "Ico".

And the English pronounciation is relevant why? ;)

In German, "Ico" is pronounced "Eeko", so there.

So which is best, SOC or ICO? From what I've read on here and various sources, ICO has the upper hand, although I can't herlp but think

1. Killing massive Collosi in a vast land surely has to be better than escorting a dainty girl through....doors? (seems just like POP:SOT to me.)
2. SOC will have better controlls and graphics, being a lot newer game and all.

Now, I know SOC isn't everybody's cup of tea, but it reminds me of Zelda OOT in many ways, and I love that game.

Just spent money on a new PC (£500 not inc monitor) so not got much spare cash this month, as well as ICO being sold out on Play.com at the moment (I spotted that ages ago for £17.99 damn it!) I am tempted to just start getting into some new RTS games, as I haven't played PC games for years. But ICO and SOC are sooo tempting! Been waiting for SOC for ages too, but I didn't know about the re-release of ICO...for £18! Haven't completes Res Evil 4 yet though, so maybe just stick with that and PC games for a while, at least 'till ICO is back in stock at Play.

Zerob_Cool: I'd say, Shadow of the Colossus has more "Wow... holy shit, did you just see that? Phwoooar" moments than ICO, which has only "Wow... that's beautiful", I'd recommend SotC since it is the prequel to it. Yes, that's been 'confirmed' on the official site.

It has to be said: You Were There is such a bloody beautiful song.

This game can be the reason of PS2's existence.

I had to mod my PS2 'cause it was absolutly impossible to buy legal copy of it at Russia. It worth it. It worth it twice. Plaing US version, then Euro with its nice additional features and small differences - what a pleasure! I think I can enjoy every single moment of this game.

May be it has some flaws but who cares?! Because it IS the game you'll remember after 5 years with nice warmth in your heart. I'm absolutly sure about it. It's like a first love transfered to gaming experience.

As a conclusion: I wish I were you if you are not still played ICO. I wish I can play it for first time once again.
* Excuse my english :) *

@UncleLou

In German, "Ico" is pronounced "Eeko", so there.

That's very interesting! I've been told it is also pronounced as "Eeko" in one of the lesser known dialects of the Ankole kingdom in Uganda.

"That's very interesting! I've been told it is also pronounced as "Eeko" in one of the lesser known dialects of the Ankole kingdom in Uganda."

I really hope you just tried to be funny.

SNES MarioKart IS still great too.