when i was heading up the western coast of peru i took a boat trip from the small pueblo of paracas to the ballestas islands. often called the poor mans galapagos they are rich with sea lions, penguins and millions of birds. as a direct result of the millions of birds, there is a lot of guano - and bird droppings are big business there - so much so they literally employ people to shovel shit. i saw a few of these structures attached to the islands and they immediately reminded me of ico. i haven't played the game in a while, so it may be a metal gear solid type of misremembrance but regardless there was a connection in my head. looking back at my post about metal gear solid i described it as the best computer game ever made. well i'll add to that sweeping statement by saying that ico is the most emotionally involving game ever made. it looks beautiful, its gameplay is simple and there's essentially only two characters in it - and you really care what happens to them. this kind of emotional reaction isn't unusual with certain songs or films, but it rarely occurs with computer games. sure i've been impressed, or excited, or scared whilst playing other games - but with ico somehow manages to tap into deeper emotions. metal gear solid is more fun, grand theft auto is more playable, but ico is a work of art.

here's the original

when i was heading up the western coast of peru i took a boat trip from the small pueblo of paracas to the ballestas islands. often called the poor mans galapagos they are rich with sea lions, penguins and millions of birds. as a direct result of the millions of birds, there is a lot of guano - and bird droppings are big business there - so much so they literally employ people to shovel shit. i saw a few of these structures attached to the islands and they immediately reminded me of ico. i haven't played the game in a while, so it may be a metal gear solid type of misremembrance but regardless there was a connection in my head. looking back at my post about metal gear solid i described it as the best computer game ever made. well i'll add to that sweeping statement by saying that ico is the most emotionally involving game ever made. it looks beautiful, its gameplay is simple and there's essentially only two characters in it - and you really care what happens to them. this kind of emotional reaction isn't unusual with certain songs or films, but it rarely occurs with computer games. sure i've been impressed, or excited, or scared whilst playing other games - but with ico somehow manages to tap into deeper emotions. metal gear solid is more fun, grand theft auto is more playable, but ico is a work of art.

here's the original