This minimalist trend did nothing good to ICO`s development
This already mentioned lack of soundtrack during the gameplay lets you hear nothing more than your steps and voice and the noises of the environment. I can understand that this may have been done to immerse the player more into the game, but in my case it just bored me. Another good thing about this game are the graphics, they are not the kind of graphics one expects to have in a game, so this distinction is certainly something to like. The making of the characters and the environment is done in a simple way. Which in this case is done artistically, the scenery is beautiful, although repetition makes it boring.
The huge environment makes you feel very small, and it takes a lot of time to go through them, which of course, is boring. No music, big spaces, doesn't equal to fun. Moving to the storyline, well, there isn't much to say about the story. You are a boy who is offered as a sacrifice because he was born with horns (which makes me think that the childbirth must have hurt). You break free and encounter a girl who's locked in a cage. You release her and shadows attack, they also try to take her away. And how are you supposed to fight these shadows? With a lame and almost non lethal stick. Of course later on you can get a better weapon, but most of the time you have that stick, which takes ages to kill a shadow.
Not much else to say about the story because it would be spoilers, since it is a short and simple story, which I dislike. Now talking about the gameplay, which I did say a bit already. It is a third person view and there isn't much to do than swinging your stick at shadows and trying to get the girl not kidnapped by the mentioned shadows. If they get her and drag her into a black hole in the ground, you lose. There is no life bar, so that is the only way of losing, other than falling from a high altitude. Gameplay is boring and annoying because of the girl that can do nothing good and always gets caught. There are some "puzzles" to resolve in order to proceed, but they are lame and easy. Other than that is half the game running to the next boring area to either solve a puzzle or "attack" enemies.
In conclusion, the game is not good (at last from my point of view). It goes from good scenery although repetitive and frustrating combat to mindless running around. There is a two player mode, but I wouldn't call it that way since the person that gets to play as the girl can only run and scream, not even a decent jump. There is also an alternative ending, which many people find cute, I find it unnecessary. So finally I don't recommend this game.
Music: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 2/10
Story: 1/10