The Last Guardian spent years in development, and for a while, it seemed like it may never be released but finally, in 2016 it happened. The Last Guardian is a game that has been on my 'to play' list for some time, so after I saw it come up on the PlayStation Store for under €20 I thought it was finally time to play it.
Stew. Stew is a great way to make a cheap meal, it contains lots of vegetables, and a healthy portion of meat to make a kind of thick soup. My mum used to make it growing up, she made it with dumplings which were really nice fluffy pieces of heaven. That all being said I never really liked stew, I liked the meat, I liked the dumplings but the overall concept just never did it for me. Playing The Last Guardian I found myself asking was it really tasty or was it just another stew?
Story
There is nothing worse than waking up, not knowing where you are and finding a giant cat/dog/bird-like creature beside you, unfortunately, this is exactly what happened to little Timmy (no clue what his name is, but unlike Kratos, I couldn't just call him 'boy'). Once Timmy wipes away the cobwebs he starts to look for an exit but quickly realises he is going to need help, cat/dog/bird-like creature seems the natural (and only) choice. The first thing to do is grab a couple of barrels of Wicked and feed them to his new friend Trico (don't know how he came up with the name but is easier to say than cat/dog/bird-like creature) before trying to escape together. The story, at its core, is about Timmy and Tricos relationship and getting to see it develop.
Similarly to Shadow of the Colossus, there is a certain lack of story, you get small fragments here and there but a lot is left up to you to figure out and fill in the blanks. While I liked the relationship between Timmy and Trico, I didn't like the feeling of directionless in the overall story. I was hoping the ending would at least be a little more satisfying than the rest of the story, but nope it wasn't to be. Overall I didn't like the lack of story and the small amount there was just wasn't very engaging.
Visuals
I found the visuals, for the most part, to be pretty underwhelming. There are old ruins all around and nature has started taking over, in theory, this should have looked great but instead, it just looked dull. Perhaps this was done to help you better appreciate Trico's design which was really different and interesting. There were some sections later in the game which were a little more visually engaging. Overall I felt the visuals were lacking, especially when you compare those Japan Studio used in Shadow of the Colossus.
Music
The music is definitely one of the strongest elements of the game. It has a large soundtrack that is well suited to a game about exploration, while I was listening to the score again parts of it reminded me of the Netflix TV series House of Cards. The score was created by Japanese-American composer Takeshi Furukawa. He has helped create the music for ad campaigns for Apple, Sony, and Canon, outside of this he has also worked on TV series such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Trek Enterprise.
The soundtrack runs a little over an hour and has many great tracks, my favorites being 'Falling Bridge', 'Hanging Gardens', 'Sentinal II', 'Victorious', 'Alone', 'Final I Apex', and 'Final II Escape'. Overall a really solid soundtrack which is almost equal to that used in Shadow of Colossus.
Gameplay
The Last Guardian is a third-person puzzle game, the only weapon Timmy has is his shield and Trico. In the early part of the game, Timmy has no real control over Trico but as you progress you can issue basic commands. The commands work, sometimes, not really. Trico sometimes feels like a puppy, occasionally it will listen, other times it just pees on the floor. The more the game progressed the more I became frustrated at Trico not carrying out the command, more than once I had to check a walkthrough in case I was being dim, I wasn't.
Occasionally you will have to separate from Trico, which always felt sad as he cries out for you. Little Timmy will often have to climb up and pull a lever so Trico can follow you, this can be a little frustrating. Do you remember the early Assassin's Creed games? There would be a ledge just above Altair/Enzio's head, you would press the button to jump up, they would then slowly turn their head smile at you, jump away from the ledge shouting weeeeeeeeeee as they fell to their death. This happened to me on more than a few occasions while controlling Timmy, it was mildly infuriating.
Something that really drove me bananas (why don't we use that term more it's so fun) were the camera angles. I can't tell you how many times the screen went black as the cameraman went for a coffee break, eventually, he would return and all would be okay - ish.
The best part of the gameplay was the relationship between Timmy and Trico, there were some real bonding moments between the two of them. I realised something about Trico halfway through the game, he needs barrels of Wicked to get him going, and green smoke to relax him, basically, he is a party creature.
In honesty there is a lot more I can say about the game but almost all of it would be negative. Overall the gameplay itself was quite poor, most of which could have been improved by a few relatively minor fixes.
Final Thoughts
After just over fifteen hours, how did I feel? Relieved. I was glad that the game was over. While I liked the dynamic between Trico and Timmy and the great soundtrack almost everything else was seriously lacking. Perhaps this is my stew, lots of people gave it rave reviews but for me, The Last Guardian is not something I will be revisiting, this one gets 2 out of 5
