Ico and Shadow of the Colussus HD Collection reviewed for PlayStation 3 by Joe Bennett. Game supplied for review by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

The PlayStation 3 HD Collections have been somewhat of a mixed bag, with some being of outstanding quality (hello God of War collection) and some less so (hello Splinter Cell). And, in an almost schizophrenic way, this collection suffers the same fate.

Ico and Shadow of the Colussus were both cult hits. These games didn’t sell the units that many of their HD Collection cousins did, regardless of the fact that they deserved to. In fact Ico only sold as many as it did because it received a reprint around the time of the launch of Shadow of the Colussus, much to the chagrin of everyone that had kept their mint cardboard copies (with art cards, don’t you know). The opportunity to earn £60 on eBay had gone overnight, reduced to a mere £20 and interest reserved purely to the collectors.

Therefore perhaps it’s a bit of a surprise that they have been given the HD Collection treatment at all. A welcome surprise though. Obviously the publisher must be thinking that it can pick up some decent sales in the run up to the release of the Last Guardian (the next game from Team Ico). Either that or it decided to do a big favour to the gaming community. Either way this collection represents a fantastic opportunity to own two of the best PlayStation 2 games ever released and, in my opinion, the best game ever released, regardless of format, in the form of Ico.

But what about the games themselves and the improvements that this collection brings that you can look forward to. Well, let’s deal with Ico first:

Ico
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Not in a visual sense (although it is still artistically stunning) but as an experience. Ico remains to this day my favourite game of all time. Never have I played a game that has had me so emotionally attached to the characters. Ico isn’t a videogame, it is a work of art. That’s not said lightly; I’m not trying to be all new-age journalist. It really is.

The visuals are modest yet jaw-dropping at the same time, the dialogue is minimal, the music understated yet emotional, and the game enjoyable, visceral, cerebral and adrenaline pumping all at the same time. And all of these combine into being one of the best games, and in my mind the best game, ever created.

Have I said that I think it’s the best game ever made yet? A few times! Good. And I’m pleased to say that I still found it every bit as enjoyable today as it was when I first played it seven years ago (Ico was released in 2002). Granted some of the control issues are more irritating than they were back then, but for anyone that enjoyed and experienced the game all those years ago, it’s still an amazing experience. The added HD loveliness and improved surround sound is merely a bonus and helps ensure that Ico hasn’t aged at all badly.

Shadow of the Colossus
I have to be honest, I never had the same love affair for Shadow of the Colussus as I did Ico. It was still a great game, visually stunning for its time and still a memorable experience, but I just didn’t connect with it like I did Ico.

Whereas Ico looks beautiful, Shadow of the Colussus, well…doesn’t. The draw distance is still incredibly poor, with textures appearing in front of your eyes and mountain outlines constantly being redrawn as you approach them. Your character, Wander, still runs like he’s suffering from piles and swims like an amputee. About the only thing that has been improved (other than the HD visuals) is the frame-rate, which now sits at a steady 30fps rather than dipping down into single figures. It’s far from ugly, it’s just not as visually appealing.

The game itself is still memorable, with the risk/reward of scaling a 500ft tall Colussus to find his weak spot and repeatedly stabbing him in it to send him tumbling to the ground being a thrilling experience, but the issues that were a little grating back then are even more annoying now.

Simple tasks like climbing on your horse are difficult, with Wander preferring to leap around in the air next to the horse instead. Climbing the Colussi can be random, as sometimes they get stuck in animation loops which make progress impossible, with your character unable to climb while they’re being shaken about and leaving you hanging there until your grip meter empties or you give up to start again. Equally climbing at all can be difficult, with Wander sometimes refusing to jump when hanging from a ledge. The camera also seems to freak out more than it used to.

These are the sort of issues I expected to be fixed in this port, and I’m extremely disappointed that they weren’t. There’s no reason I can think of why textures still pop in, why 2D images still appear to replace 3D textures from afar, or why Wander can be an irritating bugger to control (note that the controls are fine, it’s Wander’s reluctance to do as you’ve instructed sometimes that’s galling). These could, and should, have been improved further than they have.

With all that said though, Shadow of the Colussus is still a smashing game and well worth experiencing. The fifth Colussi (the eagle by the lake) is still one of my all-time most memorable gaming moments, and it was a real thrill to experience that all over again.

It’s just a shame that, even though it is the more recent of the two and that its still great to play, it hasn’t aged as well as Ico. Due, in part, to the lack of effort in the port.

So is the collection worth the money?
Yes. Definitely. Regardless of the issues with Shadow of the Colussus, which some will be more forgiving of than me, it’s still a collection of two of the best games created.

Plus, for those of you with the right kind of TV, this is the first time that you get to experience them in Stereoscopic 3D. The previously unreleased extras (videos, featurettes, a discussion with Fumito Ueda and early concept footage, as well as two dynamic themes, one each for Ico and Shadow of the Colussus) are also a welcome addition but may appeal mostly to those that enjoyed the games back in the day. A return of the art cards, and a cardboard sleeved case would have been nice, especially considering the games within, but the extras should more than suffice.

For £35 (or much less if you order online) you can pick up two of the best games ever released, retouched and improved, and with some nice additional extras. The HD update to Shadow of the Colussus, may not have had quite as much love invested in it as I had hoped for, but many would argue it was fine as it was anyway.