Art in HD.

Truthfully, one of the first things I did after setting up my PS2 backwards compatible 60GB PS3 was to fetch my copies of both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus and load them up just to see the miraculous upscaled HD results. I was disappointed. Why? Well, besides some very minor filtering, the PS3 did not do much for PlayStation 2 software besides merely playing them. Future firmware updates improved the emulator somewhat, but neither brought actual HD output or a way to smooth out problematic framerates. The games were still incredible as they were of course, but fans of Team Ico's PS2 offerings were clamoring for a way to play the masterpieces in an upgraded form since then. Fast forward almost 6 years later and here we are; ICO & Shadow of the Colossus married together on one Blu-ray Disc, remastered in HD, and the end results are glorious.

Fumito Ueda and Team Ico's PS2 games, ICO & Shadow of the Colossus, are often referred to as examples of "Videogames as Art", and us fans of both titles most definitely agree with that categorization. There are not many games that can elicit such an emotional response without even trying to do so. ICO took a simple premise and mysterious plot and built a hauntingly beautiful adventure around it. The game was about exploration and puzzle solving, and besides the actual in game hand-holding, there was no figurative hand-holding to speak of. Players figured out what to do and how to progress just by experimentation. The dreamy setting, unique relationship between the main characters, and shadowy protagonists played off of one another wonderfully, and the fantastic visuals and audio wrapped it all up into an experience not to be missed. When the whole thing finally draws to a conclusion and the credits roll, it's hard not to feel happy, sad and even a bit bewildered. It's one of those games that stick in your head after beating it, and that's one of the reasons that it's still looked upon so fondly.

Now take what I said about my feelings for ICO above, multiply it by 10, and you have Shadow of the Colossus. While the two games share some of the same mythology, unofficially at least, they are far different experiences. SotC is an emotional journey for sure, but on a whole different level. Like ICO, the game places the player in a situation that doesn't quite make sense, and the mysterious details are not exactly explained at the start, or in some respects, even at the end. But where Shadow of the Colossus really differs from ICO is in the gameplay. Whereas ICO is simple to play and usually fairly straightforward, SotC definitely requires some skill on occasion. Shadow of the Colossus is also very much centered on exploration of the huge world, and players can literally waste hours just wandering around the environment seeking out every nook and cranny on the map. Seeking out and killing 16 colossal, mythical beasts to help save a girl is the purpose of the game, but it's what you do in between that helps shape the experience. The game builds up to amazingly emotional conclusion that seems to raise more questions than it answers, and paired with the events of ICO, things sorta make sense.

So why did both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus need to be remastered if the original games were so good? Well, back when both games were released onto the PS2, they were respectively among the best looking games out there. Both had some shortcomings that just don't translate well to the modern HD gaming environment however. ICO actually began as an original PlayStation release, and when playing the PS2 version you can sort of see how this could have been the case. The dreamlike aesthetics are partially by design, but also due to limitations in the game engine. ICO runs in a non-standard, low resolution mode that just doesn't look right on an HD display. In fact, some TVs can't even display the original game running on a PS2 using component cables. The softness of the game along with the fairly frequent repetitive tiling of the textures was offset by gorgeous lighting to provide for an ethereal glow. Remastered in HD on the PS3, the game looks about as nice as you could expect based on the source material. The framerate is dead-on solid, all of the geometry is re-rendered at 1080p with anti-aliasing, and there seems to be a number of upgraded textures. Either that or they have been run through some high quality filters. The lighting is just as striking as before and is still probably the most attractive visual element along with the always fantastic animation. ICO is now displayed in proper widescreen as well, and the extra screen width looks really nice.

Shadow of the Colossus on the PS2 seemingly pushed the console far past its comfort zone. As gorgeous as the huge environments and even more huge and detailed colossuses were, the framerate suffered quite dramatically. While it wasn't necessarily unplayable, there are more than a handful of gamers that just couldn't deal with near slideshow that the game became on occasion. To spite that shortcoming, Shadow of the Colossus is easily still one of the very best looking PS2 games ever created. In being remastered, ICO was simply made more polished, whereas SotC was actually made more playable (and polished of course), and out of the 2 games in the Collection, SotC clearly needed it even more. Now running at 1080p and at a near 100% solid 30fps, the game almost looks totally different. The only thing I could possibly sort of complain about is that it's a little easier to spot some environmental pop-in way in the distance thanks to how much more crisp and smooth the game looks and runs. The motion blur and impressive lighting are intact, and the star of the show is still undoubtedly the colossi. Each colossus encounter is more amazing than the last, and it's just so much more enjoyable to take them on now that you can actually see and follow what is going on. In the PS2 version, the choppy visuals and wild camera swings together would make it difficult to focus on your task at hand. Now that the engine has been smoothed out and visuals cleaned up, it's a much different experience. And as with ICO, it seems that certain textures and effects may have been cleaned up or enhanced as compared to the PS2 original. Particles look particularly good, and up close, the colossi and their furry, detailed hides, look even more impressive than I remember.

The few relatively minor complaints with the games themselves have not been altered or tweaked in any way, for better or for worse. ICO has a very small number of puzzles that require some fairly accurate platforming skills, and there's at least one that kept me busy for far too long thanks to a difficult jump. Shadow of the Colossus does still have the same camera issues that plagued the original, particularly when trying to position yourself around a colossus. There are a number of options available to help tweak it just as there was before, and once you figure out what works best for you, it is less of an annoyance. Lastly, unlike the God of War Origins Collection, the menus and user interface have not been recreated with new 1080p art, but that's not really worth complaining about.

In addition to the remastered visuals, the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection also features stereoscopic 3D support (for those with a 3D-enabled TV), 7.1 surround sound audio, PSN Trophies with Platinums for each, and a number of behind-the-scenes videos for both games. There are also a couple of exclusive dynamic XMB themes included.

So again, like I concluded with the recently released God of War: Origins Collection, the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection is easily worthy of a score equal to what both games scored individually. Especially with all of the enhancements and extras included, on top of the remastering itself and $39.99 price tag. Really, if you passed on one of both of the Team Ico games for whatever reason, now's the chance to experience them in the best way possible.