Price: £39.99

Players: 1

Despite the proliferation of games on the PS2 at the moment, only a chosen few make it into the category of 'absolutely must have' and Ico joins that crowd. It has an incredibly simple premise as well. The billing tells of a world where in every generation a young boy is born with horns and this time around, the boy is called Ico and is kidnapped from his village and taken to an isolated castle where he is placed in a tomb to be sacrificed. Charming(!) Ico causes the tomb to shake and it breaks open, freeing him onto the floor below. In the fall, he is knocked unconscious and dreams of a young princess trapped inside the castle, calling out to him to rescue her. For the sake of the game, this is actually his reality and he must save the princess and himself from the wicked queen and evil spirits inside the castle. In other words, you play Ico - who looks like he's wearing the hat that Jay Kay from Jamiroquai used to wear - and after finding and rescuing the princess, you must just get the hell out of there.

But while the concept sounds as original as the creation of another docusoap, it all depends on the execution. I saw clips of it on TV before it came into my possession and looked like I was watching the FMV. I wasn't. I was watching actual gameplay. That's not to say the game doesn't have FMV, since it does, but it cleverly mixes it into the game at certain points. You could criticise Ico for being too linear. You enter a room, you look for a way out and you make your exit, solving puzzles along the way. As you reach the next room, you do more of the same... but it's HOW it does it that really matters here.

The graphics, while having a slight edgyness about them that could possibly be solved with a little anti-aliasing, are, on the whole, shit-hot, with the option to zoom in (hold R2) without losing resolution. As you move around each room in the castle, the viewpoint swishes around to enable you to see the current part of the room in as much detail as is required in order to progress. It can be a bit difficult to work out where all the baddies are if there are a few you need to shake your stick at and kill them, though. Yes, it's pre-defined as to how each room twists and turns and you can't just centre your viewpoint as you might expect and could do in a game like Grand Theft Auto 3, but if you're running about and performing moves such as making a leap off a platform onto a chain which you can then use to climb up, everything fits together perfectly and the end visual result is a very satisfying one.

The sound would greatly benefit from being in Dolby Digital or DTS, but what we do get is a very effective haunting score that growls when you need to be made frightened and sparkles when you're under threat, particularly at times when the princess' life is in danger and you have to stop those attempting to kidnap her. Everything I've said in this review pin-points what an involving an atmospheric game it is. Yes, it's not the most original thing I've ever played, but there's something about it that fulfils the yearning of wanting a full-blown and deeply gorgeous 3D version of Prince of Persia. I know a 3D sequel to that was released, but it just didn't quite look the part and didn't appear to do the series justice. Still not convinced? Well, if you're a fan of adventures where the world of what you're about to experience just opens up to you as you progress, then you'll be in 7th heaven here, but for anyone who's not into that, I'd at least recommend a rental so you can see when a game is properly executed.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.