The Last Guardian Game Review

 

The Last Guardian Game Review

Pros
Completely captivating story
Trico actions in an astonishingly lifelike style
Participating relationship between boy and Trico
Brilliant set piece seconds

Cons
Management scheme may be greatly fiddly
Getting Trico to do what you'd enjoy at times is despairing

About the game

 

The Last Guardian game tells the story of a young lad and his ginormous bird-dog-rat partner, Trico. The story begins with both waking up in a cavern, not comprehending how simply they got there. What's immediately obvious, however, is that Trico isn’t actually friendly.

Bound in chains, Trico is initially competitive towards the tat-covered lad – his name's unknown through the storyline – but after the young boy finds nourishment for the creature in a couple of aglow barrels, Trico dampens its standing. This is a fantastic thing because both boy and creature will rely on each other throughout their entirely participating journey.

Gameplay

The Last Guardian operates very much like a medley of the programmer’s preceding efforts. You, as the lad, can scale Trico much like mounting creatures in Shadow of the Colossus, while the recognition of teamwork and non-verbal communication is reminiscent of Ico. As you've got to climb, crawl and jump around this world, finding levers to pull to open doors and direct both of you through the labyrinth. The 15-year old formula has had some tweaks, though not as much as you might expect, and this often results in The Last Guardian’s greatest defects.



Many the gameplay relies on communicating between the lad and Trico. Neither share a common language and for that reason must gesture towards one another in the hope the message gets across. It won’t be long before you’re given the ability to direct Trico using each of the tasks the lad can do – essential stuff like move here, jump up there, shove that, but all essential for advancement – and sometimes the inability for the giant creature to do what you want will bring about great frustration.

Trico’s learning as much as you are, albeit at a slower speed, so of course, it mightn't comprehend what’s going on. Mechanically, however, it may be a crash.

The frustration lies in comprehending the answer to the puzzle, but the game not allowing you to solve it, either through a bug or merely subordinate layout. For instance, within a room Trico was required to move through a particular doorway which was partially obstructed. You've got to ordered it to go through after clearing the means, merely for Trico to get right up to the doorway and then run away, as if there were some invisible obstacle obstructing its path.

Game Controls

It doesn’t help the controls are as fiddly as they were on the PS2, either. Transferring the lad by means of the world is janky and cumbersome, with the platforming mechanisms penalizing a shortage of pinpoint precision. The camera might also be jarring. When caught in a corner or on a piece of scenery, the screen completely fades to black before showing you a distinct perspective of what you were looking at, completely disorientating you.

In place of understand the relationship between Trico and additionally the lad as they solved puzzles through their enriching bond and developing their specific language. This inconsistency is really more unsatisfactory because, when it works, The Last Guardian is striking.

Seeing Trico and additionally the lad slowly develop trust is a real pleasure. The game takes its time to come up with the relationship and is even more powerful for it. The relationship between the lad and Trico increasingly more engaged by this believable bond – almost like a Disney movie. As the player, the link developing more strong through each minute of risk.

At the beginning of the game, Trico got the lad from A to B. However, by the halfway stage, every time Trico was even a hint of threat during the unbelievable set pieces. That need to petted Trico frequently, even though there’s no actual increase from doing this. The Last Guardian does an astonishing job of making you care.

Furthermore, Trico’s features dampen over the course of the game, making it increasingly more adorable with every passing hour. Initially, Trico’s eyes can flash disagreeable white and purple – you afterwards locate this is corresponding to various matters within the game, by means of example, Trico either desiring food or being in ‘strike’ mode. At some point, you can see Trico for what it is: a awful creature becoming really linked to the child it's saved, and who's saved it, in a strange land.

Bottomline

Studio Japan has continued to show how it can do so much while saying so little. The atmosphere, characters and everything about the story is incredible. The Last Guardian gameplay storyline is a simple one, but powerful nonetheless.