Ico was amazing. If it were merely pretty it would have been forgotten already. There have been roughly 4,392,721,921,009,332 games in which ones rescues a princess. All those games start outside the castle and end when you get to her. As a companion, Yorda was quite different than the companions that normally accompanied players. She needed protection, but she wasn't just a walking objective. She was actively engaged in the world. When the player is trying to figure out what to do next, Yorda is exploring the world around her. She'd walking up to the edge of a waterfall and kind of lean back and forward in an attempt to survey the whole thing, she'd chase doves, if the player accidently detonate a bomb (which would knock the kid on his butt) she'd come running to see if he was okay.
Another thing that made Ico special was the sensible puzzles. At a time when keyhunting and box stacking were popular (and puzzles that strayed from those two mainstays tended to be obtuse) with Ico you knew when you entered a room the tools needed to solve it were in the room and that solving it involved logical thinking, not rubbing the blue fish and the green orb together in the right spot. That ran the risk of players walking into a room and immeditately figuring it out, but more often players had to put some time into it (sometimes I would examine an area, be stumped, then come back and recognize what I had overlooked).
Also, the castle was really impressive, massive and intricately constructed, but in ways that make sense. I dislike hiding behind the words of others, but Edge wrote such a great feature on the castle I'll quote them.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/places-icos-castle/
Given its function as both a prison and site of ritual child sacrifice, Icos castle is disarmingly picturesque. The setting achieves balance through contrasts; dank, moss-speckled chambers open out on sunlight-warmed courtyards. Its atmosphere teeters between comforting and oppressive, the familiar and the otherworldly. Still it remains one of the most coherent game spaces ever created: providing glimpses of areas already explored and others yet to be visited, the castles convincingly pragmatic architecture sets the imagination racing at what long-dead occupants may have used each area for. As game designers increasingly lean upon the narrative crutch of audio logs to deliver historical context, its refreshing to explore a world in which ghosts are conjured with the most subtle design touches.
Things that have a history just by themselves tell us so much about them from the damage and tarnish due to deterioration, the castles real-world architect, Team Ico creative director Fumito Ueda, tells us. Whats appealing about that is that it evokes imagination, I think. It makes you wonder what kind of history its got. I didnt want the player to think that these were levels created by designers. I wanted them to believe that beyond their screen was a castle that had existed for a very, very long time, which was built by someone they didnt know.
Its no accident that despite their modest commercial record, Team Ico is an influence many designers cite. *Shrugs* I agree they take too long to make games, but once the games are made, they are something special.
CarnageHeart
For what it's worth, I was agreeing more with Dvader's assessment of their two games, not that the team itself is overrated. Difficult to make that call when they've only released two games.
I understand that Ico is loved, and I can appreciate it for what it does right. I just couldn't get past the lackluster platforming. The fixed camera angles never gave you enough info to know when you should be jumping. Nearly quit playing because of how far a a simple misplaced jump sent me. It was frustrating more than it was enchanting.
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