Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are 2 of the PlayStation 2’s most treasured games in the PlayStation’s library of exclusives. Now, people that missed out on these classics have a shot at playing them, and people who haven’t played these games since they came out can enjoy them in glorious high definition. Where Ico and Shadow of the Colossus excel is their stories. The games are developed to give you the bare minimum amount of information to get through the story and let the player put the pieces together.
Ico puts the player in the role of a boy with horns on his head named Ico. The village Ico lives at believes in a curse that is related to horns growing out of his head. The villagers place Ico in a cell located in an ancient castle. Ico escapes from the cell, and soon after meets a young girl named Yorda. Together it is up to them to get out of the castle and avoid the shadow creatures that follow — and try to capture — Yorda.
Shadow of the Colossus places the player in the role of a young man, known to some as Wander, wanting to resurrect his lady friend. Wander has traveled to a forbidden land that holds the secret of bringing the dead back to life. He can bring his companion back to life, but unfortunately for Wander, he must kill 16 massive beasts know as the colossi to do so. Luckily for fans of these games, the developer has spent a lot of time upgrading the graphics for both titles.
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were no slouches for their time when it came to graphics on the PlayStation 2. With their new 1080p face-lifts they look better than ever, and also have 3D support. I never got to play the 3D to see how it is, so try it at your own risk. Both games once suffered from frame rate problems, especially Shadow of the Colossus, but now those problems have been fixed. The visuals in this game really make a case for video games as works of art. The developers went to great lengths to make sure these games look good for fans and newcomers.
The sound design in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are gorgeous in the sense of absence. The only time you hear music in both games is during combat or key plot moments. The lack of sound adds to the sense of loneliness and solitude. When you do hear music, it is used in an amazing way to set the tone for what is going on at the time. The scores are so well done that the sound alone can either get the heart racing as you take down a colossus or touch a person’s soul during certain plot development moments. The music in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are so good that I’d bet people will be scouring the web looking for the soundtracks to buy. While the graphics and sound still hold up the real question is if some of the game play mechanics can still be relevant after all these years.
In Ico players will be jumping, crawling, climbing, fighting, and holding Yorda’s hand as they both try to escape the castle. There are a lot of interesting puzzles throughout the castle and a lot of escorting Yorda around like a lost little girl. Gamers who have played Ico before sometimes refer to Ico as being the ultimate hand holding simulator. The game however will not be holding the player’s hand that much. There is no tutorial on how to do anything, and the game won’t tell you how to get anywhere. This game forces people to try things out, and explore the environment to figure out how to escape. Sad to say though, Ico shows its age in the combat department.
During combat there are these shadow creatures that try to abduct Yorda. If they abduct Yorda, then it’s like dying in most games where the player has to restart from your last save. Ico is not the best at fighting either as he flails his weapon wildly at these shadow creatures. There are moments where the combat system gets in the way of what could be a perfect game. While the story and graphics for Ico are amazing, combat is where Ico falls short compared to its sibling, Shadow of the Colossus.
Shadow of the Colossus is still very solid and exhilarating experience. In Shadow of the Colossus, the player’s main goal is to take down 16 different colossi one by one. They are scattered out amongst the land, and to find them the player holds their sword to the sunlight and the light will converge on the point where they are located. They will also be using their horse, Aggro, to quickly get across the land. Sometimes during the traveling I would diverge from the path and just run around on Aggro to see what was out there. The land is gorgeous and exploring the game alone can be fun to find all the hidden goodies that they don’t tell you about.
There are no mini fights in Shadow of the Colossus, and the game consists of only boss fights against the colossi. When the player finally makes it to a Colossus, then the battle begins. It’s up to the player to take down the monstrosity by climbing on it and stabbing its weak point enough till it dies. This sounds easy at first until you realize the scale of the situation.
Wander is not some super hero or any kind of hero that takes down colossi for the fun of it. He moves and acts like any normal person. So do not go into this game expecting perfect running and jumps. Wander has a grab meter that tells the player how long Wander can hold on to colossi or ledge before he falls off the object he is holding on too. The grab meter is important to keep an eye on at all times, because you can make it all the way to the weak point but if you lost most your meter getting there you’ll fall off in no time.
He is also equipped with only his sword, a bow (with infinite arrows), and his bare hands. By having only these tools at your disposal it adds tension and the importance of paying attention to your enemies patterns and the environment. Each colossus has a weak feature about it to exploit and sometimes you may have to use the environment. Each colossus feels is fresh and fun to go up against and it always feels like you just accomplished something important after each take down.
While it’s not a big complaint, the Shadow of the Colossus control scheme that worked for it in the past shows its age when compared to modern games. The same can be said for Ico as well. If anything these games should teach people a lesson on what we take granted in games that come out today.
One nice features they did for the collection was the addition to special content like developer behind the scenes bonuses. When you pop in the disc and go to the video section there are behind the scenes videos. Each one is interesting to watch as it reveals a little bit more about the worlds of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The special features are definitely worth watching to see all the love and care that went into the games.
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are both solid titles that deserve the critically acclaimed attention they have received over the years. Despite some old mechanics, these games can stand up in today’s market due to their stunning visuals, heart touching story lines, and amazing game play. This HD collection is well worth the price of 40 dollars and deserves the time of any fan or newcomer to the world of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.
