Huzzah! The Last Guardian is here! After nine years of development, it is finally here, in my hands to review! It's been a long wait and I can't wait to review it!
The Long History:
The Last Guardian is an action-adventure video game developed by genDESIGN and SIE Japan Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It was released worldwide in December 2016. The player controls a young boy who befriends a giant half-bird-half-mammal creature, Trico. He must manipulate Trico, such as by luring it with food, to reach remote places while evading enemies.
The game was designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, and shares stylistic, thematic, and gameplay elements with his previous titles Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005).
Team Ico began developing The Last Guardian in 2007. It was announced at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo with a planned release in 2011 exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console.The game suffered numerous delays; Ueda and other Team Ico members departed Sony, and hardware difficulties forced the game to be moved to the PlayStation 4 in 2012. Ueda and his studio genDESIGN, composed of several former Team Ico members, remained as creative consultants, with Ueda continuing as director and Sony's internal Japan Studio handling technical development. The Last Guardian was reintroduced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 for its 2016 release.
Because of the development delays in The Last Guardian and lack of updates from Sony, The Last Guardian was considered to have been in development hell over its eight-year development period. Ueda and Yoshida would regularly report progress on the game, but the title was notably absent from major video game conventions, including the Electronic Entertainment Expo and the Tokyo Game Show.
The Narrative:
The story is told as a flashback of an older man telling a story to someone. As you play through the game he will comment when you are stuck or when things happen that he remembers. It is quite the unique experience that is worth the play through to experience in itself.
Playing the story:
The game starts off with you, the young boy, and Trico in a cave; Trico is hurt and you must win over his trust by feeding him and healing his wounds. From there he trusts you and becomes attached to you and follows you everywhere on your adventures. Various items become available such as a 'mirror shield' that you can use to draw lightning from Trico's tail to destroy objects you point it at. Trico will also help you reach heights you can not normally reach by climbing up his back and even onto his head, which the studio is a big fan of using since their previous game, Shadow of the Colossus, also used a similar climbing system. The story continues as you trek your way through various sandbox puzzles and make your way to figure out why you are there and what Trico actually is.
Pros:
- The story development between Trico and the boy is very well done
- The puzzles are very good and not too hard and not too easy
- Controls are very well done
- Climbing onto Trico helps a lot and is fun to do at the same time
- Story is very well done, as it should be after taking this long
- Graphics are beautiful
- Music is very well done
Cons:
- Camera is a little clunky sometimes
- Can be hard to tell what to do for each puzzle so there are a lot of times you will be wandering around not knowing what to do
- Most of the areas you visit look the same, with a few new places here and there
Bottom Line:
This game has been long in development and is well worth it. I think it's definitely worth buying and playing through. I don't think it's worth a rent, you should definitely buy it. It would be worth a play through a few times. It might be the same game but it's just that good of a game, in my opinion.
Overall Score:
