ICO & Shadow of the Colossus

Over this past week I decided to start up the PS2 and play ICO. I have not played the PS2 since I got my Xbox 360, which is awesome, but I have many games on my PS2 that I would love to beat and play, ICO was one of them. I know ICO is an older game, but when I played it when it first came out at the store, I just didn't get it, I knew nothing about it. What lead me to buying ICO was after I beat Shadow of the Colossus. I got online to read more about Shadow and their were a lot of comments about it possibly being related to ICO and that the game play was similar. So naturally I went and bought a used copy.

I just beat it yesterday and loved playing every minute of it, it was just one of those games that is a blast to play. If I were to classify it, it would be a Puzzle, Adventure game, I love games that allow you to climb walls search rooms trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B. It was nice to get away from those games that constantly throw one enemy right after another at you. It allows you to really explore and a lot of the time that is what you have to do to move on to the next level. You only have 2 weapons to use a sword or a stick, you just have to love the simplicity. I won't go into what the game was about, but the basis of it is you are trying to rescue this girl from a Giant Castle. You have to solve puzzles or come up with ways to get yourself and the girl from one point to another. Was the game hard? No, not to say there wasn't a challenge, there were times when I spent quite a bit of time trying different things to get us to the next room or level. There is definately a challenge to the game, but a different one than I have ever experienced in a game. The feeling that I had when I finished the game was that it was a blast to play, an enjoyable experience.

Shadow of the Colossus, from the same people that made ICO, was another one of those games that without a doubt ranks up there as one of the best games ever. I purchased Shadow of the Colossus about a year ago after reading to good reviews on it. As all the reviews say it is hard to associate this game with any other game, other than being similar to ICO, but really it was different. I couldn't put this game down once I started playing it. For those that don't know you are a boy trying to save a girl, again, but this time she is dead and by defeating the Colossus (the only enemies in the game) you will bring her back to life. It is really one of the first games that I can say I was emotionally involved with, I really felt like I was on this awesome adventure, but a lonely one. The Colossus were an awesome sight and I can't remember ever seeing bosses that big in a game before. To be honest I loved just sitting there watching them move around even though they were after me. I also hated to see them get defeated, really they weren't doing anything to anyone, they were all alone. This game was more a challenge than ICO was just because figuring out how to beat the Colossus was a challenge, especially those that moved faster and you didn't have the time to look around and analyze everything. My favorite by far were the absolute giant Colossus, there is nothing more exhilarating than hanging onto the hair of the colossus head while he is shaking you around like a rag doll, hoping that your grip strength doesn't run out. I can't ever remember being that excited about playing a game day after day. I love all the Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, Devil May Cry and God of War games, but this one provided that experience that I have never had in a game before. I look forward to playing it again on the hard difficulty and I know that I will enjoy the experience.

I would love to see a game like Shadow come to the next generation consoles. I can only imagine what it would look like in HD, the game was amazing on the PS2, it would be incredible on a next gen console. If you own a PS2 both of these games are must have games, but if you can only get one, go with Shadow. If needed a reason to buy a PS2 and didn't want to shell out the dough for the next gen systems, these are really, really good reasons to buy a PS2. Check them out, you will not be dissappointed.