The Last Guardian has finally arrived! I am a big fan of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus and I never gave up hope for TLG. I commend Sony for seeing the game through to completion and not just letting it die out as vaporware. I was definitely still excited to play it after the long wait.
Previous Team ICO games have been unique in this industry and TLG follows in their footsteps. If you are looking for a breath of fresh air from all the formulaic games of modern gaming, this game is worth checking out. There are things that the game does exceptionally well while failing miserably in other areas.
Let's get this out of the way... this game runs like shit. This is probably the most disappointing thing about the game. It is amazing how a game that is in development for almost a decade, and released on a console a generation ahead of its target platform, can still be so unoptimized. This game runs so bad on the base PS4 that I ended up buying the PS4 Pro just to play the game at a mostly stable 30fps. Shame on you Team ICO and Sony. This is unacceptable. However, I was not going to let the performance deter me from experiencing this game that I waited so long for.
The art direction is superb and the environments have a great sense of scale. You will be navigating through tight areas and huge open areas as well. In fact, the environment design is one of the strongest parts of the game. It is what drives the core gameplay. If you enjoy environmental puzzles, exploration and observation, you will be engaged from beginning to end. What makes this game unique is how you and your companion Trico work together to traverse these environments.... and oh what a companion the beast is.
Trico is hands down the most amazing companion in all of gaming. Trico genuinely feels like a real animal. You will grow attached to this animal and it will bring out emotions, both good and bad. Trico is extremely well animated and has a wide range of emotions and behaviors. I often found myself just watching Trico because of how interesting it is. You depend on Trico to fend off the enemies that are trying to capture the boy. Trico is very protective and will viciously attack anybody who poses a threat. The beast will often get so fired up in battle that the boy needs to calm it down by petting it post-battle. It's little moments like this that accentuate the strong bond between the two characters and being part of forming that bond is special. It is a good feeling knowing that you got each other's back and are there for one another. Going on an adventure with a companion of this caliber is a real treat and it makes the game that much more epic.
As much as I love Trico, there were times that I wanted to choke the beast out. You will try to issue it commands and it will not respond. This is not a situation where the animal is stubborn and you have to persuade it. No, the game simply will not acknowledge your commands or sometimes Trico may not be in a position to execute the necessary animation. This will lead to a lot of frustration and will test your patience. You will waste a lot of time with this.
The camera system will also fail many times, especially in close quarters which will add to your frustration. The controls are a little bit clunky too because the animations use a lot of physics and momentum. This makes for a beautiful game to look at, but not exactly the best to control. The controls are more annoying than frustrating. You are not going to face cheap deaths due to them, but they are certainly not ideal.
The overall visuals are good and despite its start on the PS3, it does not look like a last-gen game. The PS3 could never handle this game as evidenced by the poor performance on the PS4. The game has an impressive draw distance while maintaining a good level of detail. It does not resort to excessive depth of field or other cheap tricks to hide lack of detail. The game is rendered beautifully. The physics and special effects are standouts. Plenty of destruction with a lot of debris and dust clouds. This is integral to making Trico believable. The beast's size and weight is enormous and when you see the environment crumble as he jumps and lands on things, it is very immersive.
The Last Guardian uses the visuals and audio to great extent to deliver on immersion. The game doesn't even have a HUD as to not take away from the immersion. So, it blows my mind how the game has these constant controller prompts (that are fairly large) throughout the game. These are very distracting and definitely break the immersion. I can understand these in a beginning tutorial, but to have them throughout the whole game and not give an option to disable them is a huge oversight and mistake by the developer.
The game's pacing is definitely a strength as it does an excellent job of ramping up the challenges and introducing more varied and interesting environments. The story is simple and serviceable. It is revealed in several cutscenes throughout the game and is effective in building the relationship between the boy and Trico.
Overall, just like the game has a heavy focus on the relationship between boy and beast, I can't help but think of the love-hate relationship I have with The Last Guardian. For all the things that it does so well, there are some serious issues that bring the whole experience down and can not be overlooked. The game is definitely a good experience that I recommend, but it does not have the impact of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus before it.
7/10