ICO Collection

While I'm one of the first to proclaim games as a mature art form whenever the topic comes up, I find myself at a critical loss when looking back over my "artsy game" back log. You see, I had never before played a game by Team ICO, a developer who has two of the most highly praised games of the last generation. Luckily, those two games have recently been re-released as HD Classics, so I filled the gap in my arty repertoire. Time for me to let all of you know if they really are as good as people say they are.

STORY
ICO follows the tale of a young boy, cursed with horns on his head since birth, who is taken to a temple and locked in a chamber. After getting free, he meets a young, somewhat lost girl named Yorda. As he and Yorda try to escape the isolated, empty temple, shadow beings attempt to kidnap Yorda. As the game continues, we learn more about Yorda and the situation.

Shadow of the Colossus puts players in the tunic of Wander, a young man who enters a forbidden land to save the life and soul of his young love. To do this, he makes a deal with Dormin, an ethereal voice, who asks only that Wander find and slay sixteen Colossi who reside in this world. Despite being warned of dire consequences, Wander proceeds with his quest.

Both games have protagonist's who seem to have a great love or affection for their female companions, despite certain obstructions such as language barriers between Ico and Yorda, or the whole death thing between Wander and "Mono". The stories also have very few main characters for the duration, which gives the game worlds a sense of isolation and loneliness. The games are both well written, and its amazing to find that I cared so much for the characters despite the low amount of dialogue.

PRESENTATION
ICO and Shadow of the Colossus share a similar art style, with vibrant colours, as well as more light, pale pastel-like colours to add contrast. The world's in which the Team ICO games are set look almost like paintings in which we can move the characters around.

The graphics are pretty good, considering they're from last generation, and I must say, the Colossi benefit most from the HD makeover. They truly look intimidating, and thats part of their appeal. They actually feel COLOSSAL, as opposed to some of the truly huge bosses of God of War that don't feel that big at all.

These visuals all help to keep the games rather immersive, and the soundtracks of each game help the immersion factor along quite nicely. The music of SotC stands out in particular, with the music being rather soft and sparse during travel time, but really picking up and getting louder as the Colossi battles rage on.

Overall, Shadow of the Colossus is the more impressive of the two titles, both visual and audio-wise. Both are immersive, but SotC moreso, thanks to it's expansive, varied open world and the soundtrack that fits so perfectly with it.

GAMEPLAY
As amazing as the atmosphere in these games are, the gameplay almost lets them down; or at least one of them. ICO isn't the most technically sound game, what with most of the game being a massive escort mission , but it does help to convey how Ico feels about his companion. Having to hold her hand almost all the time may be a bit annoying, but it's as good a way as any to tie narrative to gameplay.

The combat in ICO doesn't flow very well, but that may be because Ico is a 12 year old boy. One wouldn't expect him to be a force to be reckoned with. That doesn't excuse the poor combat, however, and if you're going to add it, it has to work as well as possible.
The platforming and puzzle solving on the other hand are a nice contrast, and work quite well. Theres something very relaxing about having a game where you just jump on things and open gates.

Shadow of the Colossus is yet another game with unique gameplay. While normally called an action adventure game, it's different from the usual Action Adventure fare in that it has a wide open world, populated by no enemies or NPC's aside from the 16 Colossi and Wander's deceased love. The game mostly consists of traveling on horseback to each Colossi's lair, followed by a near puzzle-platforming style boss fight with the aforementioned Colossus of the day.

As I wrote before, all of the Colossus battles are fun and frantic, and when your game consists of mainly 16 boss battles, then you'd better hope they were great. And as it turns out, on the most part, they are.

REPLAYABILITY
While not having any multiplayer modes or multiple choices during the story, I feel like I'll be playing the ICO Collection for a while to come. While I'm not a huge fan of ICO, Shadow of the Colossus has hit a high mark in my life as a gamer. I intend on making Wander's quest over and over again for quite some time.

OVERVIEW
While I preferred SotC over ICO, both are fantastic games. It's nice to not have to kill a hundred russian soldiers or blow up giant space crabs; and instead just experience two tales of companionship; one about saving a new-found friend, and the other about trying to hold on to a lost love. Both games deserve the title of classic, and it's great to see the games for such a reasonable price on the same disc. If you haven't played them and want a break from the killfest of other games, then Team ICO's HD Collection is probably right up your alley.