Ico – Shadow of the Colossus

Today you are getting a two-fer. This is a pair of older, PS2 games, one of which I have played, the other I have not. Considering their rerelease for the PS3, I have decided to review them. These games have been lauded in the past, gaining a Steve Factor of 12 (two points higher than the highest possible score). This scale was invented by my friend Steve Burger (possibly without him knowing), in whom I have a lot of faith when it comes to rating things and correcting my poor grammar. Let’s see how these games have held up over time.

Ico

 (All images were taken from the internet,

 because I played this on my PS3 and have no way of capturing them otherwise)

Considering it was made by a Japanese company and is rather artistically structured (especially in using silence to great effect), I have decided to review the first of these two games, Ico, entirely in haiku.

Genre: Puzzle? Art?

Masked men bear boy with tabard

Birds chirp in the trees

Horses wind through woods

Developer: Team Ico

Insert spring image

(Hence the reason images like this messed everything up!)

Publisher: Sony

Vast cliffs rise out of the sea

System: PS3

Stop at destroyed bridge

Temple-castle in cliff face

Young boy is horny

Boat crossing water

Water collides with cliff face

People walk funny

Man wields temple key

Statues jump from lightning sword

“Ow, man. That hurt me”

A child sacrificed

Placed in ancient coffin thing

Needs of the many

Coffin falls over

I get to explore a bit

Ten minutes run out

  

Shadow of the Colossus

 

Genre, Developer, Publisher, and System are all the same as Ico

I have played through Shadow of the Colossus before and I have watched people play through it multiple times, but it has been a while and this is the newly refurbished PS3 version, complete with bonus content. Who knows what to expect? So I felt it was in our best interest to play this game from the beginning and give you the usual review thing.

 

So upon replaying this game I have determined that the entire game is about horse-riding and landscapes. Now, I could have sworn there was more to this game – something about killing massive creatures with a magic sword? Well, the sword was present and it frightened some shadowy figures, but that is about it.

There was a cool temple thing and a massive bridge (not necessarily in that order). There was a talking mask that ranted about the forbidden land. In general, I think these guys really need a lesson in story-telling, because, frankly, I was completely lost.

The music is beautiful. I don’t think anyone can argue that and if you do, you’re a jerkface.

Oh, and the main character who is doing all this horse-riding and sight-seeing also has his dead girlfriend. Talk about not being able to let go.

“Oh look, honey,” he says, “there’s this huge alter for dead corpses. Why don’t I get a picture of you on it?”

 (That thing he's carrying? Dead girlfriend. Not groceries)

It’s the world’s most depressing vacation.

Happy Thoughts: Considering that in Ico you get sacrificed by your village and left in an ancient castle to die and in Shadow of the Colossus you’re riding around with your dead lady-friend, I really don’t think there are many happy thoughts to be had. I’m going to go cry in my pillow.

Sad Thoughts: All of the above. Plus, there weren’t any major graphical overhauls for these games so textures that would have worked on a lower resolution don’t look as good. However, considering these were PS2 games originally, the artwork is still rather impressive. Another note on the dead girlfriend: when she’s lying on the alter, how does the main character rip off her cloak without flipping her body onto the floor? That’s just some food for thought.

The Bottom Line: I don’t know what I was expecting from Ico. It’s beautiful and all, but the game could go practically anywhere. My guess is he seeks revenge on his village for being a bunch of jerkfaces (they didn’t like the music in Shadow of the Colossus). And Shadow of the Colossus had a lot of shadows, but very little Colossus. I was very disappointed.