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Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

never got ICO.

here's what I wrote about Ico after beating it in January:

wow. Just wow. I played through Shadow of the Colossus about this time last year. Seemed fitting to get sucked into Ico now. So my thoughts... uh. Let me gather them as best I can. First off, I'm glad I played this on PS3. I think that there is a big difference in appearance from videos I saw. But let me tell you, Ico ran amazingly in HD. It's impossible to talk about Ico (now) without comparing it to SotC of course. And that's a tall order, as SotC is easily one of my favorite games of all time now. First let me start by saying I loved Ico. I really did. It's a very different game, so comparing them is almost pointless. Ico had a lot more focus on puzzles. In that sense, it was often a very relaxing game. And for the most part the puzzles were well thought out. I was able to play mostly FAQ-less, finding myself really only stumped a couple of times (mostly during the waterfall section). But mostly the puzzles would get me thinking for a while, but weren't usually too obscure so as to feel unfair. I personally found the controls very easy to pick up after playing SotC as well. I think my only complaint would be with the combat. Personally, I almost feel like until the end of the game, the combat was almost unnecessary and in a sense felt like a jarring interjection to the puzzle solving segments. Perhaps that was the point? I will admit that the last battle took me a WHILE to figure out. But felt great once I knew what to do. And now the obvious stuff: Ico is beautiful. Just a gorgeous game to look at and listen to. I also found myself very attached to Yorda in a protective way. Funny, as I normally am not into escort-missions. But some Ueda scripted it all in such a way that it felt very emotionally-taxing for me. And some scenes toward the end really brought on a sense of high melancholy. The bit after the credits, where Ico is free to explore the beach -- and eventually see the words "the end" were another genius touch to the cinematic-gameplay experience. One that only makes me hope that Last Guardian is really going to happen soon. I can see myself playing through this one again -- maybe even soon. It only took me a little over seven hours. But they were seven hours well spent. And I feel like the world the Ueda built offered plenty to explore that I may have missed the first time.