From the fairytale narrative to the use of Middle Eastern instrumentation, the game succeeded on technical merit and elegance. To be fair, it was not really within the scope of the story of the game to address these sorts of issues, and, at the very least, there was consistency throughout the presentation. This quality was baked into The Sands of Time, and, along with a mechanic that allowed for rewinding of time up to 10 seconds, it made the game an outstanding entry to the series.Īlthough Sands brought forth a number of new gameplay ideas to the adventure genre, its Middle Eastern themes bordered on the most broad characterizations and stereotypes. It was much more about how to progress in the first place. There was little platformer-like timing elements to take into account. But Ico puzzles were never about actually being able to pull off the moves. Certainly, there were still buzzsaws and spike pits.
It seems only fitting, then, that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (the first Prince of Persia title to be released in this console generation) should seek to act on lessons learned from Ico. Although Prince of Persia puzzles have historically been focused on traps such as spike pits and running buzzsaws as opposed to intricately designed locking mechanisms, both games represent a cerebral take on the adventure genre. Ico owed a large debt to the Prince of Persia franchise with respect to two particular qualities long associated with Prince of Persia: its use of environmental puzzles and its outstanding animation. Trying to pick your way throw an enormous and foreboding castle, figuring out how to get from one room to the next is an extremely rewarding gameplay experience, if you’re willing to hang up the ubiquitous blood and sex for a moment.
There are a number of reasons to love Ico, but chief among them is its reliance on environmental puzzles as a gameplay mechanic. I guess what I mean to say is I miss the sense of wonderment and discovery I experienced playing through Ico for the first time. I suppose I could go back and play it at any time.
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