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[Strum la Frantique]

I've gushed enough about Ico plenty of times, yet strangely a search for the term brings up nothing, so here's another but with a twist.

Ico is still a great game, starting to look a little rough now after 10 years, but still a great way for burn a few hours away. The true HD upgrade (read: not just an upscale job like Capcom and Ubisoft have done recently) brings a nice clarity to the game without obviously highlighting the aging visuals, some basic landscape geometry, and what was even for the time some dodgy animations. It doesn't improve the game, it just makes it a treat to play on PS3, no need to dust off the PS2 and squint your eyes through the murkiness anymore.

Shadow of the Colossus was a very good game, ambitious to the point of bringing the PS2 to it's knees and making it beg for mercy. The frame rate went from average to atrocious, and it impacted the gameplay. Forgiveness of that fact though, rewarded you with a different gaming experience that was often frustrating. The best fucking HD upgrade ever in the history of HD upgrade turns this game into the best fucking PS2 game ever made thatw as sadly hidden beneath technical issues. Anyone that has played the game on PS2 will be grinning from ear to ear just watching the intro, the visuals are crisp brimming with nice textures (it's not PS3 game quality, but they update the PS2 to the present day well enough) and it all runs smooth as a whistle. Then you jump on your horse and where once there was stuttering and pop-in and all sorts of game chugging shit...it's smooth. You approach the Colossus, and before when he went to strike you with his big hammer and the game slowed to a slide show, it's now perfect. What's left is the game it was meant to be, Bluepoint must have slaved away for months getting this code running right on the PS3, it's perfect.

Shadow of the Colossus alone is worth the asking price, take Ico as a bonus thrown in. Not meaning to discount Ico, but where before I ranked Ico ahead of Colossus, this collection changes that. Colossus on PS3 is one of the best fucking games ever made.

Sadly though I can't access the two documentaries and dynamic themes through the voucher code given with the game (an all too common occurence with these voucher codes), because obviously Sony hasn't put up the content yet ready for release date. I'm hoping the documentaries do the games justice and aren't a 2 minute concept art reel.

EDIT - Oh and Americans finally get to own Ico without atrocious boxart, albeit only in a small size.