If we’re to believe this is in fact the next Team ICO game (and I do), you need to play ICO and Shadow of the Colossus (especially the latter) to appreciate what’s going on here.  So go out and play them right now if you haven’t already.  OK, good.  Welcome back.  Weren’t they awesome?  What we take away from these two titles isn’t necessarily their storylines alone, but that combined with their gameplay styles.

In the video for TRICO, we see a boy very similar to the hero in both ICO and SotC.  We’re then introduced to a giant, feline-esque animal who shares a special connection with the boy.  A creature so enormous, we immediately think of a colossus.  From here on out it’s just a bunch of climbing and jumping around, the boy riding the giant cat looking like the kid from The Never Ending Story.

What I think we’ll see in TRICO is an interesting sort of dichotomy of gameplay styles.   Clearly, the animal can jump over chasms and valleys–and where it can’t investigate, you’ll need to control the boy.  I think we’re going to see a lot of back and forth between the two, and I’d imagine the user will have control over both–maybe activated by some sort of “switch-player” button (think Donkey Kong Country).

Just think of what an intense boss battle would be like where you need to switch between the boy and animal, cleverly connecting attacks and acrobatics.  Such an original style would undoubtedly need to be complemented by first-rate level design, something we all know Team ICO is more than capable of crafting.

This sort of unique teamwork will probably be offered as an on or offline co-op feature too, since every damn game on Earth feels somehow compelled to offer this overrated mechanic.

It’s tough to draw a lot conclusions from such a short video.  It’s clear the magic that Team ICO is capable of creating is still very much alive and well in the form of whatever TRICO winds up being called.  We’ll see if this video gets replayed during the Sony press conference at E3 and whether or not there’s more to learn about this boy and his abnormally large animal friend.

Make sure you check out my CNET coverage of E3 2009, where I’m sure we’ll learn a bit more about Project TRICO.

I’m not going to lie, the story in F.E.A.R. 2 is forgettable.  Besides the fact that you’re constantly being telepathically poked by a half-dead she-zombie named Alma, there’s really no background information you need to know in order for things to make sense.  For some reason, you’re special and she wants you.   That said, there are some really cool creepy moments that make for fantastic displays of technical eye-candy.  Some of them feel a bit cheap, but most are welcome moments of legitimate fright.  Calling the game “gory” is a bit of an understatement.  F.E.A.R. 2 has some scenes of straight-up maniacal carnage.   These scenes become truly disturbing as some of them are set against paradoxical backgrounds like an elementary school.

Gameplay here is solid.  F.E.A.R. 2 controls just as you’d expect with a few wild cards thrown in meant to separate the game from other generic shooters.  Enemy variation is weak, as I can’t recall more than four character models I had the pleasure of shooting.  Level design gets a bit redundant–something the original game suffered from–but there’s a good enough change of pace to keep the action moving along smoothly.  I personally enjoyed the mech segements of play, where the main character is thrown inside a seemingly indestructible steel robot that fires all kinds of rockets and bullets.

The classic F.E.A.R. slow motion effect is back and is where the game truly shines.  Figuring out how and when to use the time-control asset takes some mastering.  There’s plenty of diverse weapons to toy around with and the game does a good job at encouraging you to try them all out.

At the end of the day, F.E.A.R. 2 is an above-average  first-person horror-shooter with a solid slow-motion gimmick that begins to go stale just in time for the game to end.  It exceeds other titles in terms of production value and polish and allows for an ultimately satisfying experience when all is said and done.

B-

Vitals:

• Release date: 2/10/09
• Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
• Completion: Story mode, 100%

Alright, so let’s talk about the movie.  Get lost if you haven’t seen it already–but I guess I shouldn’t be talking.  The film definitely has a noir feel to it.  Even though it takes place years from now, it borrows a very 50’s-gangster look which occassionally comes off as confusing.  I just chalk the art direction up to the fact that maybe a few years down the road we suddenly decide embrace that time in American history.

So real quick, it’s the future and everyone’s identified by DNA, not photos.  Blood, urine, hair follicles, skin flakes, whatever.  Not only that, but if you’ve got the cash, you can pretty much design a child to have perfect genes and a predisposition to excel in life.  Ethan Hawke’s character doesn’t have this advantage, but he’s fooled enough people with someone else’s DNA that he’s healthy enough to become an astronaut–his lifelong dream.  The week of his big journey into space, he finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation.  All the while he must revisit his troubled relationship with his estranged brother and juggle a budding romantic relationship with a female coworker.

What I liked: I’m a sucker for futuristic movies.  Even though the technology isn’t as impressive as movies like Minority Report or The Fifth Element, the movie defines its own style.  There’s no touch-screens or virtual reality or anything like that. Instead, it’s a vision of the future on par with what The Twilight Zone used to do–and I really enjoyed that.   Gattaca is a space-exploration conglomerate and I loved the space shuttles constantly being launched into the sky that filled the background of countless scenes.

What I didn’t like: The whole “no one ever looks at photos” thing was a bit frustrating, but I understand the point trying to be made here:  Hawke’s character is never “spotted” because he needs to be ID’ed instead.  The backstory with the two brothers’ relationship isn’t as important as it was intended and the last swimming scene had me yelling-at-the-TV mad.

I’d watch Gattacca again, I’m sure there’s a few things to catch early on the second time.  However, I wish I had seen it for the first time back in ‘97 as I’m sure it would have made a deeper impression on me.

Rating: Sorry, I don’t rate old movies!

Yes, I know “Gattaca” is made up of those DNA letters A-C-G-T.