Ico Hands-On

Every generation, a boy is born with a set of horns. Under the assumption that he is demon spawn, the inhabitants of the horned boy's village sacrifice the him by locking him in a nearby castle and leaving him for dead. This generation's horned kid is named Ico.

Sony's upcoming puzzle-oriented action game puts you in the role of Ico as he is left in the huge castle. Shortly after starting the game, you discover a mysterious caged girl who speaks an entirely different language from yours. Sensing that they're both in danger, Ico decides to escape the castle with the girl. So, the gist of the game is that you must lead the girl around the castle, keeping her safe from harm as you help her traverse the castle's many obstacles.

Most of the game is spent with you and the girl hand in hand, running through the castle. But when you reach an obstacle, say a broken bridge or a raised drawbridge, you'll have to let go of the girl and find a way to get over to the other side of the bridge. This usually involves various platform-game methods such as climbing and jumping. Once you're on the other side of the broken bridge, you can put your hand out, and the girl will jump across, grabbing your hand so that you can pull her up. Some rooms in the castle have large shadow creatures in them, and they will attempt to grab the girl and drag her down through a hole in the floor. If this happens, you lose, so you're forced to fight the monsters using a couple of different possible weapons, including a stick and a sword. Other puzzles involve jumping onto a spinning windmill, lighting your stick on fire and using the flame to ignite bombs, and much more.

Graphically, Ico has a slightly grainy look to it right now, but the animation and overall style of the game look pretty nice. Ico and the girl look great, and the animation of them running hand in hand is really nice. The game's sound is quite minimal--you'll hear music only during cutscenes and certain tense moments--so most of the game is nearly silent, save for the sounds of your footsteps. The game's story is told through extremely brief in-engine cutscenes, from which you eventually learn more about the girl's identity and meet the castle's evil queen

Originally scheduled to be a PS game, Ico is currently scheduled to be released for the PlayStation 2 this August.