Anybody who missed out on the classic Ico on PS2 when it was originally released will now be getting a second chance to sample this landmark title, in Europe at least. Ico was originally released back in 2002 and despite some rave reviews at the time it failed to make a mark on the charts, and ended up being deleted from Sony’s back catalogue.

With the European release of it’s long awaited “sequel” Shadow Of The Colossus in February 2006, Sony have decided it would be a good idea to re-release Ico in the hope that more people will pick up on it’s charms this time round. Since Colossus has already had a US release, and Ico was more readily available in the states originally, it seems unlikely to get a second chance there.

In the game you play the part of a young boy who has been imprisoned in a big empty castle by members of his village for having a large horn sticking out the side of his head. He manages to free himself from his bonds, and eventually encounters the mysterious Yorda, a teenage girl who was being held captive in a cage suspended high in the ceiling of one of the castle rooms.

After freeing Yorda, it is your task to try to escape the castle, bringing Yorda with you. The only trouble is Yorda doesn’t speak the same language, so you must literally take her hand and lead her to safety as well. Your main enemy in trying to achieve this is the castle itself, since there are some areas where Yorda can’t follow, and you must prepare an alternate route for her. The other recurring problem you face are the shadow monsters who appear from spooky black portals in the ground. They will grab Yorda and carry her off into these portals, unless you can beat them off first.

The game may look like a standard platform game, but you soon find yourself really playing the part of looking after Yorda. When she is dragged down a shadow portal you really do feel bad about it. This is due in part to the amazing sense of immersion the game brings with it. There is no in-game music, instead the castle comes alive with the sounds of the wind and the echoing of footsteps. Graphically no other game looks anything like Ico, which uses lighting to great effect. When indoors, everything is dark and forbidding, but when you venture outside the sun beams down brightly and you feel almost like you have to squint to see properly.

If you’ve never played Ico before, I urge you to give it a try as it really is a very unusual slice of gaming pie. It may not be very long, and it may have a much slower pace to most games, but by the time you’ve completed it you’ll feel a odd brotherly bond for Yorda. The game even draws you in for a second playthrough, but this time you can understand what Yorda says (first time round all her subtitles are in a strange runic language).

You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Add to Del.icio.us