[Nate]

Just finished Ico. Aside from some minor quibbles, it's like Fumito Ueda reached in to my brain and moulded the perfect game for me. Puzzles, exploration, beautiful scenery and combat that's really only there to add a little tension, but is simple enough that I can beat it in my ham-fisted sort of way.


And here are my quibbles: I really didn't like the character of Ico. He just comes across as boorish and impatient and it seems like he ignores the fact that Yorda finds many things difficult. It's incredibly difficult to control walking speed, so when I was holding hands with Yorda he would end up dragging her along. When you press and hold the 'call' button, rather than shouting out once and waiting for her to catch up, Ico shouts out repeatedly and rudely. His controls aren't great, so that if I was anywhere near the edge of a drop, I'd often find myself running along and then suddenly stopping and teetering on the edge. And then, if I didn't correct immediately, he'd drop down and hang by his hands. It really breaks the flow of the platforming.

The HD-ification isn't great. I didn't mind most of the time, given that the landscapes are mostly buildings and stone, but the water and particle effects were really crude.

But, all that said, it's a great game and I'd definitely recommend it.