Ico

techniques. Ico is an action-adventure video game. The player controls Ico from a third-person perspective as he explores the castle and attempts to escape it with Yorda. The camera is fixed but swivels to follow Ico or Yorda as they move; the player can also pan the view a small degree in other directions to observe more of the surroundings. ==Plot==

Ico, a horned boy, is taken by a group of warriors to an abandoned castle and locked inside a stone coffin to be sacrificed. A tremor topples the coffin and Ico escapes. As he searches the castle, he meets Yorda, a captive girl who speaks a different language. Yorda is magically linked to the castle and has the ability to open various gates using white energy that emanates from her body. However, she is physically incapable of defending herself. Ico helps Yorda escape and defends her from shadow-like creatures. The pair make their way through the castle and arrive at the bridge leading to land. As they cross, the Queen ruler of the castle appears and tells Yorda that she cannot leave the castle. Later, as they try to escape, the bridge splits and they get separated; Yorda tries to save Ico but the Queen prevents it. He falls off the bridge and loses consciousness. Ico awakens below the castle and makes his way back to the upper levels, finding a magic sword that dispels the shadow creatures. After discovering that Yorda has been turned to stone by the Queen, he confronts her, who reveals that she plans to possess Yorda's body. Ico slays the Queen with the sword, but his horns are broken in the fight and loses consciousness afterwards. The castle begins to collapse around Ico, but the Queen's spell on Yorda is broken, and a shadowy Yorda carries Ico safely out of the castle to a boat, sending him to drift to the shore alone. She says "Nonomori" (translating to "thank you") to Ico as he drifts away from the castle. Ico awakens on a beach shore to find the distant castle in ruins, and Yorda in her human form washed up nearby. She wakes up and smiles at Ico. == Development ==

and director Fumito Ueda The Nostalgia of the Infinite served as inspiration for the game's cover art. Lead designer Fumito Ueda came up with the concept for Ico in 1997, envisioning a "boy meets girl" story where the two main characters would hold hands during their adventure, forming a bond between them without communication. He also cited his work as an animator on Kenji Eno's Sega Saturn game Enemy Zero, which influenced Ico's animation, cutscenes, lighting effects, sound design, and mature appeal. Ueda was also inspired by the video game Another World (Outer World in Japan), which used cinematic cutscenes, lacked any head-up display elements as to play like a movie, and also featured an emotional connection between two characters despite the use of minimal dialog. He also cited Sega Mega Drive games, Virtua Fighter, Lemmings, Flashback, and the original Prince of Persia games as influences, specifically regarding animation and gameplay style. In the three-minute demonstration reel, Yorda had the horns instead of Ico, and flying robotic creatures were seen firing weapons at the castle. Ueda stated that having this movie that represented his vision helped to keep the team on track during development. He reused this technique for the development of Shadow of the Colossus, the team's next project. Ueda, at the time an employee at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, began working with producer Kenji Kaido in 1998 to develop the idea and bring the game to the PlayStation. He was granted his own unit as the studio primarily assisted on games from other Japanese developers. Ueda also brought in a number of people outside the video game industry to help with development. These consisted of two programmers, four artists, and one designer in addition to Ueda and Kaido. Ueda commented that he purposely tried to distance Ico from conventional video games due to the negative image video games were receiving at that time, in order to draw more people to the title. An interim design of the game shows Ico and Yorda facing horned warriors similar to those who take Ico to the castle. The game originally focused on returning Yorda to her room in the castle after she was kidnapped by these warriors. Character animation was accomplished through key frame animation instead of the more common motion capture technique. The game took about four years to develop. Ico and the Queen's words are presented in either English or Japanese subtitles depending on the release region, but Yorda's speech is presented in a symbolic language. Ueda opted not to provide the translation for Yorda's words as it would have overcome the language barrier between Ico and Yorda, and detracted from the "holding hands" concept of the game. Many scenes in the game feature no background music, and many scenes will be accompanied only by sounds in the environment. == Release ==

The game was released in Japan on December 6, 2001 alongside Yoake no Mariko, developed by another unit of Sony as a collaboration with Spümcø. The main theme song of the game, "ICO -You were there-" composed by Michiru Oshima was used in commercials to promote the game in Japan. It was used for the releases in Japan and PAL regions. The North American version was released two months earlier; due to time constraints, it lacks the cover art intended by Ueda, as well as additional features such as the two-player mode. The North American cover has been considered one of the worst video game covers in contrast to the game's quality. In 2016, Polygon called it one of the worst video game covers of all time. In PAL regions, a limited edition of the game was available; this included a cardboard wrapping displaying artwork from the game and four art cards inside the box. In 2006, the game was re-released across all PAL regions (except France) following the release of Shadow of the Colossus, Ico spiritual sequel, to allow players to "fill the gap in their collection". Despite the positive reception by critics, Ico did not sell well. By 2009, only 700,000 copies had been sold worldwide, with 270,000 in the United States, A novelization of the game titled was released in Japan in 2004. An English translation was published by Viz Media on August 16, 2011. == Reception ==

Ico received acclaim from players and critics, with an aggregated review score of 90 out of 100 at Metacritic. The game has gained a cult following, and is considered by some to be one of the greatest games of all time; Edge ranked Ico as the 13th top game in a 2007 listing, while IGN ranked the game at number 18 in 2005, and at number 57 in 2007. Ico has been used as an example of a game that is a work of art. Some reviewers have likened Ico to older, simpler adventure games such as Prince of Persia or Tomb Raider, that seek to evoke an emotional experience from the player; IGN David Smith commented that while simple, as an experience the game was "near indescribable". Critics praised the game's graphics and sound design; Smith continues that "The visuals, sound, and original puzzle design come together to make something that is almost, if not quite, completely unlike anything else on the market, and feels wonderful because of it." Electronic Gaming Monthly notes that "Yorda would probably be the worst companion - she's scatterbrained and helpless; if not for the fact that the player develops a bond with her, making the game's ending all the more heartrending." The game is noted for its simple combat system that would "disappoint those craving sheer mechanical depth", as stated by GameSpot Miguel Lopez. The game's puzzle design has been praised for creating a rewarding experience for players who work through challenges on their own; Ico is also considered a short game, taking between seven and ten hours for a single play through, which GameRevolution calls "painfully short" with "no replay outside of self-imposed challenges". G4TV's Matthew Keil, however, felt that "the game is so strong, many will finish Ico in one or two sittings". Awards Ico received several acclamations from the video game press, and was considered to be one of the Games of the Year by many publications, despite competing with releases such as Halo: Combat Evolved, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Grand Theft Auto III. The game won two Interactive Achievement Awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in 2002 for outstanding achievement in "Art Direction" and "Character or Story Development"; it also received nominations for "Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", "Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year", "Innovation in Console Gaming", and outstanding achievement in "Game Design" and "Sound Design". It won GameSpot annual "Best Graphics, Artistic" prize among console games. It was one of three titles to win the Special Award at the sixth CESA Game Awards. == Legacy ==

Several game designers, such as Eiji Aonuma, Hideo Kojima, and Jordan Mechner, have cited Ico as having influenced the visual appearance of their games, including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, respectively. Uncharted 3, Fez, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and Rime. Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator and director of the Dark Souls series, cited Ico as a key influence to him becoming involved in game development, stating that Ico "awoke [him] to the possibilities of the medium". Goichi Suda said that Ico saving method, where the player has Ico and Yorda sit on a bench to save the game, inspired the saving method in No More Heroes'' where the player sits on a toilet to save the game. Ico was one of the first video games to use a bloom lighting effect, which later became a popular effect in video games. Jenova Chen, creator of art games such as Flower and Journey, cited Ico as one of his biggest influences. Ico was also cited as an influence by Halo 4 creative director Josh Holmes. additionally, Neil Druckmann credited Ico's gameplay as a key inspiration when developing the game's story. Film director Guillermo del Toro cited both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus as "masterpieces" and part of his directorial influence. Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead considers it one of his top ten video games of all time, saying it "might be the best one". Related media Ico featured a limited amount of music and sound effects. The soundtrack, , was composed by Michiru Oshima and sound unit "pentagon" (Koichi Yamazaki & Mitsukuni Murayama); it was released in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment on February 20, 2002. The album was distributed by Sony Music Entertainment Visual Works. The last song of the CD, "ICO -You Were There-", includes vocals by former Libera member Steven Geraghty. On June 11, 2009, a paid add-on pack was released for the game LittleBigPlanet, including costumes (including Ico and Yorda), stickers, and sound effects from Ico. Titled Team Ico, the pack was available for download from the PlayStation Network store alongside similar materials from Shadow of the Colossus, after being teased by the game's developers, Media Molecule, about two weeks prior. Ico makes cameo appearances in ''Astro's Playroom and Astro Bot'', with Yorda also appearing in the latter. Other Team Ico games Shadow of the Colossus was developed by the same team and released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. The game features similar graphics, gameplay, and storytelling elements to Ico. The game was referred by its working title "Nico" ("ni" being Japanese for the number 2) until the final title was revealed. When asked about the connection between the two games, Ueda stated that Shadow of the Colossus is a prequel to Ico. Ueda has said that "the essence of the game is rather close to Ico". HD remaster A high-definition remaster for Ico, along with Shadow of the Colossus, was released for the PlayStation3 in September 2011. In addition to improved graphics, the games were updated to include support for stereoscopic 3D and trophies. The Ico remaster was based on the European version, including features missing from the North American release, such as Yorda's translation and the two-player mode. In North America and PAL regions, the two games were released as a single collection, while in Japan, they were released as separate titles. Both games have since been released separately as downloadable titles on the PlayStation Store. Patch 1.01 for the Ico remaster added the Remote Play feature, allowing the game to be played on the PlayStation Vita. == Notes ==