If it wasn't for the combat and camera...

[CT]

This game might have been perfect.

Still, it's amazing, one of my personal favorites of all time.

[Achrdili]

Yep, cammera was horrible but I still loved it! And ending song was so awesome!

[The Relentless]

Camera does annoy me at times. I didn't like combat at first, but started to like it once I figured out more of the moves that help take foes down in single atacks. Once you do that, combats are much faster and less of a time-sink.

[Whiskey_Fox]

Once you learn the counter dagger stab, this game is a piece of cake. And yes, aside from camera this might be the best game to have come out in the last generation of games. This game rocks!

[LikeASomebody]

game is money

[Xello]

need to remember when it was released though. i judge the combat a bit harshly now in comparison to the likes of AC but this predates those games by a good while and it was pretty amazing at the time. And holds up astoundingly well in my opinion.

[Kinosen]

It's interesting how inspired Sands of Time was from Ico, mediocre combat included :)

[CT]

Kinosen a écrit :

It's interesting how inspired Sands of Time was from Ico, mediocre combat included :)

Has Jordan Mechner or someone else said that Ico inspired Sands of Time?

I can see the similarity in design philospohy but not much else.

[Dusk of Oolacile]

Both the combat and the camera are great. You just have to learn to use them.

[Fire.al]

yeah one of the better game ever made! Near to perfection!

Assassin a écrit :

Yep, cammera was horrible but I still loved it! And ending song was so awesome!

and yes the ending song is awesome

[Kinosen]

HAMSquad a écrit :

Kinosen a écrit :

It's interesting how inspired Sands of Time was from Ico, mediocre combat included :)

Has Jordan Mechner or someone else said that Ico inspired Sands of Time?

I can see the similarity in design philospohy but not much else.

In this interview with IGN in 2003, Mechner names Ico as a significant influence: http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/10/24/chat-transcript-with-jordan-mechner

[Aidan]

brace yourself, rage incoming.

combat is so damn frustrating. it keeps locking onto enemies when I don't want it to and theres no way to change your target. and why do you have to absorb every enemy or else they'll come back to life.It just breaks the flow of combat because every 3 seconds the game stops, you absorb an enemy and THEN you go back to fighting the other 3 enemies. there are never less that 4 enemies per fight but at any given time 2 of them are just standing there doing nothing...the ai is so stupid... I'm at the first boss fight and it's so damn frustrating1 he blocks all my attacks no matter what I do and the enemies that guard him keep respawning. I've killed about twenty of them but more keep coming. I hate that! and the checkpoint is put in such a stupid spot. of course there isn't one before the boss, I have to do half the freaking level all over again just to get back to him because I rage quit. GRRRRRR! !!!!1!

and what a damn console port - the button layout makes no sense. you drink from fountains with RMB but you absorb sand with e? why? theyre both context sensitive actions, why do they need different keys? and on the other end of the spectrum, wall run and block both use the same key. why wouldn't wall run/climb be the same key that you jump with? It makes no sense, is archaic, and was obviously designed for a pad. Oh yeah, and it doesn't work with my 360 pad. AAARRGG!!!!!!1

okay, I'm feeling better.

The platforming is top notch though, even if the camera angles get a bit wonky.

[CT]

Ha, like I said if ti wasn't for the camera and combat issues...

Unfortunately occasionally the 2 issues present at the same time, and it's very annoying.

This game came out I believe a year before HL2 and Steam, so PC gaming was as close to rock bottom as you can be and ports for PC were utter crap because of publisher's attitudes towards the market. Hence the weird control options (even though you can edit them) and the lack of controller support. Some things never change though eh?

The combat isn't particularly fun, but I think the "finishing blow" isn't a bad idea in theory. It's execution here wasn't particularly great thourgh.

The good news is that you don't have any other boss fights like the initial one that you're stuck on. Push through it and you'll find a great game