Video Game Summary: April and May

I've had the opportunity to play plenty of great games over the last two months. The best of the best follow.

1. Ico (Score: 98)

This Playstation 2 game is a real gem, an action-adventure game stripped down to the basics. Players take control of Ico, a young boy born with horns. The customs of Ico's village dictates that every child born with horns is a bad omen and must be escorted to an isolated castle and imprisoned there. Ico is fortunate enough to escape his cell and wanders through the immense fortress, where he meets Yorda, a young girl also trapped in the castle. For the rest of the game, Ico explores the castle, solving its puzzles and protecting Yorda from enemy spirits who ceaselessly try to reclaim the young girl.

The gameplay in Ico is as simple as its minimalist storyline. Most of the game is spent exploring the castle, solving its mysteries and hoping to find a way out. Ico can climb, run and jump across chasms; he can also fight off evil spirits with whatever's handy: at first a simple stick, later a sword. What lends Ico a sense of urgency and, dare I say, poetry is the relationship between Ico and Yorda. The latter, whose connection to the castle and its spirits becomes more clear throughout the adventure, is trapped between the corporeal and spritual world. Ico must escort her AND protect her at the same time he is making sense of the castle. He can call to her, grasp her hand and lead her, and help her cross chasms and climb walls. There is something very touching about two youngsters, scared and overwhelmed, holding each others hands in a world trying to separate them.

Ico is a short adventure and can probably be completed in 6-8 hours.

2. Soul Calibur (Score: 97)

Many people consider Soul Calibur to be the greatest fighting game ever made. It's difficult to argue with them. Soul Calibur is the continuation of the Soul series, which debuted in arcades as Soul Edge and found a home on the Playstation console renamed as Soul Blade. Like its predecessor, Soul Calibur is a 3D weapons-based fighter. Each colorful character uses a distinct weapon and employs a specialized fighting style. Unlike its predecessor and unlike every 3D fighter to come before it, Soul Calibur introduced a revolutionary 8-way run, where fighters could move freely in three dimensions.

The moves in Soul Calibur fall into four main categories: vertical attack, horizontal attack, kick and block. Characters can also performs throws, parries and "soul charges," short bursts of energy which strengthen other moves. Fighting in Soul Calibur requires a healthy dose of strategy. Vertical attacks can be sidestepped; hortizontal attacks can be ducked; fighers can even circle their opponent and grab them from behind. Adding to the mayhem are precipitous stages on which fighters can accomplish a "ring out" by tossing their opponent from the ring and into oblivion.

Soul Calibur sports several modes, including Arcade, Versus, Survive, Team Battle and, best of all, Mission Mode, in which players complete specific fighting scenarios, winning credits to purchase artwork, costumes and hidden stages.