Ico - The Best Video Game Ever?

I haven't had much time to play video games for a long time now, what with one thing and another, so I don't really talk about them much. That, and talking about how many hours you logged last night doesn't seem to impress too many people. Except, surprisingly enough, if you're talking about Angry Birds, which... whatever.

But, seriously guys, Ico is one of the best darn games I've ever played, one of the first games I'd ever point out to Roger Ebert and say, "THIS is art!"

Ico is actually pretty old news - the game's over ten years old now. It got a new lease on life when it was re-issued as part of an HD upgrade collection for the PS3. I'd heard a lot of the hype surrounding the game, so I decided to give it a go.

As far as video game stories go, it doesn't get more basic that Ico. It's a pretty standard "rescue the princess" story - a young boy, Ico, must lead a girl through a crumbling castle full of shadowy monsters that threaten to capture the girl and drag her down into an inky black pit.

Part of what makes Ico such a surprisingly emotional experience is the character designs. Both Ico and the princess are crafted to appear a bit weak and insecure. Ico himself has horns growing out of his head (yeah, I thought it was a helmet, too). He moves about like a growing boy - that is to say, a bit clumsily. When he fights off the shadow monsters, he does so by flailing at them wildly with a stick.

The girl is a bit taller than Ico himself, which makes for a bit of a change from the usual princess-rescuer dynamic (depending on your power ups in Super Mario Brothers, I guess). She moves about a bit clumsily as well, often stumbling over her own feet and requiring assistance to make it over some obstacles. She definitely gives the impression of someone who needs rescuing.

Truth be told, she's a bit of a feminist's nightmare, but you still feel for her.

The story of Ico unfolds simply, with minimal cut-scene interruption. As a result, the bulk of the story is left pretty open-ended. Hints are dropped throughout the game as to the nature of the shadow monsters you fight off and who exactly this strange girl is, but nothing is really made explicit. The player is thus able to fill in the blanks with their own imagination, which is ultimately quite a bit more powerful.

The single strongest aspect of Ico is the emotional relationship that's forged between the characters and the player. There's a relatively simple game mechanic at work here - to grab the princess's hand, you have to push and hold the R2 button. Thus, Ico guides the girl through the many dangers of the castle, all while holding her hand. That one little tactile requirement of the gameplay somehow makes the connection feel more personal. Ico manages to take a pretty standard requirement of playing a video game - pushing a button - and turns it into an emotionally loaded event.

Pretty impressive stuff.

Best thing about Ico? It's short. About four hours of gameplay, total. Given the constraints on my time, a short video game is a better one.