The game starts with your character being hatched out of a sarcophagus type thing. The detail and design is simply breathtaking. I haven’t seen anything that I’ve enjoyed this much visually since Myst. The character animations are quite fluid as well. The graphics are some of the finest I’ve seen. The castle halls are massive with incredible detail. What really got me was the pond by the windmill. I was first struck by the reflections in the water, but when I fell in and the water rippled out from where I landed, my jaw was gaping. Even the grass will make you want to stop and stare. When I finally got outside the castle, I couldn’t believe how lush and organic everything felt. Screen shots simply cannot convey how beautiful this game looks.

The control scheme is fairly straightforward. Run, walk, jump and climb. There is some basic combat with you swinging a 2x4 at some menacing shadow-like creatures, but the emphasis on the game is definitely exploration and puzzle solving. What sets this game apart is the call to the princess-type character. You need to get through this game with her and therein lies the challenge. By calling her she’ll come to you and hold your hand. You’ll be able to drag her around on level surfaces and where you climb you’re able to pull her up. The one moment of suspense that I absolutely savored came when I jumped to a bridge and beckoned her to follow. She jumps, and barely makes it by catching you hand. I was on the edge of my seat through the whole scene.

I really liked not having to learn a whole lot of button combinations and moves. I find that if I get too distracted by the controller, I get taken out of the game. I never left Ico once from the moment I started. Simplicity is the name of the game. There are no health meters, lives, or other icons distracting you from the settings of the game.

It looks like people are finally figuring out how to wrest the most from the PS2 hardware, and it’s about time. Ico is mysterious, atmospheric and, above all, incredibly engrossing. After playing through it last night, I couldn’t wait to go through it again this morning. Ico is the closest I’ve come to having a cinematic experience with a video game. In fact, when my son saw me playing, he asked me, "What movie are you watching?" He just naturally assumed that it was a film. Heightening the cinematic feel of the game is the camera work. I’ve never played with anything quite like it. The camera basically follows you around from a fairly distant angle, but it is also used to focus your attention on certain areas of play. Let me say it again, this is more like a movie than anything I’ve seen before. Like I mentioned, the demo doesn’t hint at the plot or the object, and I hope that they keep it that way. I’m sure there’s a lot of back story out there telling us how the boy came to be entombed and who the girl is, but I don’t want to know it; I want to discover it.