ICO

Managed to make escort missions the core mechanic and not be completely shit. Say what you want about the game, but that's impressive in its own right. Good artistic vision as all their games show. Not a game I would show to people just getting into video games because I think you need to be someone very specific to enjoy Team Ico's games in general. Emotional story.

I appreciate the attempt to make a minimalist video game, but in this case the characters were so minimally developed that I found that I had nothing to connect to, which ultimately, limited the amount of engagement I felt with the story. Still, it's an unusually moody and atmospheric game and it absolutely deserves recognition for being an artsy game years before anyone else was making artsy games.

I dig the aesthetic and atmosphere, but the gameplay was a bore. Both puzzles and combat are extremely one-dimensional, with the fact that combat consists of mashing one button on damage sponges and all the puzzles are predictably narrow with no flexibility. Most of the time you'll just be running down a straight path to activate a switch and then guiding Yorda through it. It requires no logistical thinking at all. I can appreciate this game as an art piece, but otherwise? Meh?

great ost and atmosphere, gameplay is just alright. Its relatively short enough to say its worth checking out