The Last Guardian Review

Platform: Playstation 4 (Retail & Digital)
Players: 1

I was recently at a dinner party where someone said they were thinking about picking up The Last Guardian. I had a hard time recommending the game to him; it’s very much a Team Ico game the way its predecessors Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were, and as such requires patience and understanding to play unseen in the modern AAA gaming landscape. “Do you like getting a cat to do tricks?” I asked him. He shook his head. “Shame, because it’s probably one of the most interesting games I’ve played in years”.

The Last Guardian asks a lot of you: time, dedication, patience, hope, to continue on even at your most frustrated. It asks you to put up with weird controls and a wild camera. It asks you to accept Trico as a whole: cute, but only sometimes willing to listen to you. Give in to it though, and you’re rewarded with an experience we haven’t seen in games in a long time, and possibly might never see again.

TLG is very much like Team Ico’s past gems in terms of weird controls and bad cameras balancing against a vague but very emotional story and beautiful scenery. Here, the game gives you just a bit more story, as a narrator spouts lines frequently, and even offers the most general of tips in the event you’re stuck on a puzzle. For all the cel-shaded-ness of the boy, the rest of the game is a glorious testament to realistic ruins and forests: decay and moss shrouds every building you’re in, with much attention paid to the textures of the ruins themselves. Every bit of the game was gorgeous scenery, with some truly awe-inspiring landscapes. Along with that was Trico itself, wonderfully animated to seem just like a cat. It slinked around and jumped in a manner that reminded me of my mom’s cat, and its feathers waved softly in the wind. The boy is fairly well animated as well, but his visual high points can get lost against the scale of Trico.

Controls are kind of a mess; a single button might do all manner of different things based on if you’re holding something versus if you’re not, and depend on the item being held, but not in any logical sense. The camera swings around wildly if you’re on Trico and you’re in an enclosed space, causing weird clipping issues and the camera to realign itself constantly, even after you’ve set it to where you want. However, the game gives you a mechanic to pet Trico, and I found myself petting him constantly. I’d pet him to soothe him after a battle, to coax him into jumping, to reward him for helping me with a puzzle, and even just because. It’s an addictive little ability to use.

Gameplay otherwise is very reminiscent of the fact that it spent nearly a decade in development: it is a single person linear action puzzle platformer. Your goal is to get from point A to point B by solving something, usually requiring you to climb all over Trico to get to higher ground. The only times I died in the game were due to bad jumps or poorly timed tail grabbing. There’s combat in the game, but the boy lacks the ability to fight. Most times you’re either luring enemies to Trico, or fleeing from them in the hopes you can get somewhere out of their reach. Sometimes, if Trico knocks them down without killing them, you can pull their heads off, which is quite satisfying.

For a game that on the surface seems like a giant escort mission a la Ico, I was enthralled by Trico’s AI. It never felt like a typical npc, and instead felt more like a living creature. Granted, it meant it was a creature who was free to ignore my wishes, wander off, or refuse to go further because it was hungry, but that made it seem all the more lively. In the times it saved my life, I felt relieved. When it cried out from pain or being unable to see me, I felt awful and guilty. When I wasn’t on it, it searched for me constantly, fearing I would leave it behind.

The game is not particularly long; I finished my playthrough in about 12 hours. But those 12 hours made built up such a relationship with Trico that I sobbed openly for about 20 minutes at the end of the game. I couldn’t stop. Sure, the game wasn’t the most polished or best executed, but the story it told and the bond it built was something I hadn’t felt from a game in years. Certainly, nothing like we’ve seen in a long time from a major developer.

I understand The Last Guardian is a hard sell to those who didn’t play Ico or Shadow of the Colossus. It’s a relic of the past, and plays so restrictively compared to modern games. However, if you’re willing to put up with its faults, I guarantee you’ll finish the game with tears welling up in your eyes. A story like this can only be told through a video game, where your connectivity and interactions make it all the more interesting. The Last Guardian is a gem, and will be spoken of in the same hallowed tones Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are.

-Janette (anarchymarie)

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Graphics: GREAT+
Sound: GREAT+
Gameplay: GOOD
Value: GREAT
 
OVERALL: GREAT

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