Amidst the bad controls and the irritating camera, The Last Guardian is still a remarkably enjoyable game. It's charming, sweet, and emotional. It's a bit tame to earn that T rating as well, excluding the blood. I would recommend this game to people. Be warned: The. Camera. Sucks. I'd give it a 9/10.
13 Reviews
You feel the relation between ab animal and human.
kiran0601015 January 2020
It contains spoilers
laires-ines20 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I just have gotten the amazing opportunity to finally complete The Last Guardian, a so anticipated game that came out last year. I personally didn't know about this game until its release but receiving it on Christmas 2017 was something fantastic and I couldn't have waited to play this game. I love puzzle type games with an artistic side of it so I definitely liked this experience.
Story:
The game starts with Trico (or Toriko in Japanese) kidnapping a young boy out of his village and when the others become conscious of this they refer to the boy as "the chosen one". Trico then flies away to his preterit place but before he arrives to his destiny, he crushes into a huge stone and loses his consciousness.
After this, he gets caught by some guardian armored puppets who bring him and the boy (who is inside of Trico's body) to some sort of cell. When Trico awakes he throws out the boy but because he is so fragile he can't move properly. The boy then starts to feed Trico and they soon form a relationship that is going to be maintained during the entire game.
Meaning of the story:
Unlike many games, The Last Guardian has a profound message which isn't explained directly. There are various theories about the story of this game and I also came with my own. During the course of the game we are confronted with some objects that are important to the story. There are the barrels which serve as food to Trico, the butterflies, the armored puppets, the other Tricos, etc... At the ending of the game, some of these are explained indirectly: We face the Master of the Valley - a mechanical brain that controls the Tricos. Now this is when I will start to explain my vision. At the very begging Trico had an armor that got destructed during the fall from the rock. This armor seemed to control his movements because when he lost it he stopped caring about kidnapping the boy and he became friendly. All the other Tricos, contrarily, had their armor and they wanted to kill Trico and the boy. So, in my sense of things, this armor controlled the Tricos and the armor was controlled by the mechanical brain or Master of the Valley. Look at the armored puppets, they also have an armor and they are, without any doubts, controlled by the same Master who controls Tricos.
Talking about the barrels now: at the ending of the game, we understand that the barrels are made from people (the sacrifices). Controlled Tricos bring children to some sort of machine who rewards them with barrels. They give the children to the Master of the Valley and in exchange they get food (this food seems to contain some part of the children's life energy). This children's life energy is what makes the system continuing. The origin of the Master of the Valley is uncertain, the only thing there is to know is that it has been living for a long time, consuming human lives to stay alive.
The barrels also contain blue goop, encountered in pots, cauldrons and inside the armored knights.
Now, what do the butterflies mean? In Japan, butterflies often signify the souls of the dead or marked for death. In the game they are always near barrels and sometimes seen in open areas.
Now, Trico's race is a mutation, a chimera. They share parts of birds and parts of cats or dogs (I'm not really sure about dogs). If we put together the name Toriko and translate it to Japanese we understand that "tori" means bird and "ko" is a diminutive of "neko" that is the Japanese name for cat. Since "inu" in Japanese means dog, I will assume that Trico's race is a mutation of bird and cat.
Every time we start the game, we get the chance to see beautiful illustrations of different chimeras like the unicorn or the phoenix. Trico is just another example of a chimera.
The boy's tattoos weren't there before he was kidnapped by Trico. They appeared after he stayed inside of Trico's body. They make reference to the Maori and Samoan tattoos, meaning that the boy is from a similarly tribal village. Maybe this was a way to mark the boy.
In Ico, a play station 1 game from the same company, we can see that one of the characters has similar tattoos to the boy in The Last Guardian.
The mirror the boy finds in the beginning of the game can be used to attack things and it is affiliated with Trico's body, specifically his tail. It's then used to kill the Master of the Valley at the ending. I don't know the real origin or explanation about the mirror but it is important to unroll the game.
The blue doors, where the armored knights bring you if you don't fight back, look like a portal. Perhaps it is a portal to where the Master of the Valley is located. This is never explained and it will be always known as a mystery.
One of the other objects found in The Last Guardian is the eye symbol. Trico is afraid of this symbol for some reason. I believe this was created with the purpose of maintaining Tricos away from the final tower, where the Master of the Valley is located.
The last question to be asked is: "Who is the The Last Guardian?", Is it the boy or the creature? After the credits, a small Trico is shown next to a bigger Trico, meaning that there is more than one Trico. On the other hand, the boy is known to be the last chosen one because he was the one who defeated the Master of the Valley. So, why is he a guardian though? Does this mean that he was a guardian of the valley? I don't know and I believe that many people, if not all, cannot respond to this question. Either way, we can say that, in a sense, both the boy and Trico served as "guardians" to each other, so who knows if the last guardian is actually both of them.
Technology:
In terms of controllability and game mechanics, this game is still far from being very good. In my opinion, it is a shame since the story had so much to give. We know that this was postponed for seven years which is a long time... The developers needed to stay in touch with the newest technology all the time (I think in terms of graphics this game was splendid). What it failed was the fluidity of the boy's movements, whereas he was just too slow to respond to command or even the way he moved sometimes. Every time I was climbing Trico, the movements didn't feel right, sometimes I ended up being teleported magically to a different place in Trico's body, other times the boy was moving upwards but not really climbing Trico.
Some other times the command just failed, I often tried to make the boy do things and sometimes he couldn't, for whatever reason. This really disappointed me in the game, I knew it was a possibility since this game was originally planned for PS3 but it still put me in shock. It even became frustrating sometimes.
The other really disappointing feature in this game is the fighting the boy needs to do in order to get rid of the armored knights. It's the same thing that appears on loading screens. To me, that's a really bad idea and I cannot understand the meaning and the joy behind it. It takes a lot of time and it can certainly decrease the controller's life.
The last thing that made me wonder was the final trophy Though We Are Far Apart which I didn't receive. I receive the other final trophies such as "Spry Emissary" and "Fleet Emissary" but I didn't get the real last one. I've seen that other people had the same problem so I'll consider this as probably a glitch. I don't take trophies as something required but I know that for other people who take trophies seriously this would be a big problem.
Art:
I don't have any problems about this parameter. The art is stunning, the settings are stunning, everything feels creative and I love that! The illustrations in each introduction look amazing and give the game a better felling, especially if you like art. I also loved the design of Trico and the tattoos on the boy's body. Whether Trico's design was taken out of some place or not it still looks brilliant.
Soundtrack:
The soundtrack fitted the game nicely. I can't say that I love every soundtrack but it was definitely thought out by the compositor. They can be relaxing and they were made to fit the journey. My favorites are: Finalle II Escape, The Last Guardian Suite and Epilogue
Overall:
I found this experience unique and I think the game has definitely a lot to give that others don't. Unfortunately, the technical aspects of the game dropped my ranking by two points in a scale of 1 to 10. Anyway, I still think this is a must try that has the possibility to make you love the game. If you like the indie style, I recommend it.
I don't believe I will play the game again because there are just so many more to explore. The game is beautiful to play it once, it won't have the same impact on later tries. Just like Journey. I'm really happy with the experience I had with this game and maybe it was not for the technical aspects of it but was definitely for the story and art!
Ranking: 7.5/10
Story:
The game starts with Trico (or Toriko in Japanese) kidnapping a young boy out of his village and when the others become conscious of this they refer to the boy as "the chosen one". Trico then flies away to his preterit place but before he arrives to his destiny, he crushes into a huge stone and loses his consciousness.
After this, he gets caught by some guardian armored puppets who bring him and the boy (who is inside of Trico's body) to some sort of cell. When Trico awakes he throws out the boy but because he is so fragile he can't move properly. The boy then starts to feed Trico and they soon form a relationship that is going to be maintained during the entire game.
Meaning of the story:
Unlike many games, The Last Guardian has a profound message which isn't explained directly. There are various theories about the story of this game and I also came with my own. During the course of the game we are confronted with some objects that are important to the story. There are the barrels which serve as food to Trico, the butterflies, the armored puppets, the other Tricos, etc... At the ending of the game, some of these are explained indirectly: We face the Master of the Valley - a mechanical brain that controls the Tricos. Now this is when I will start to explain my vision. At the very begging Trico had an armor that got destructed during the fall from the rock. This armor seemed to control his movements because when he lost it he stopped caring about kidnapping the boy and he became friendly. All the other Tricos, contrarily, had their armor and they wanted to kill Trico and the boy. So, in my sense of things, this armor controlled the Tricos and the armor was controlled by the mechanical brain or Master of the Valley. Look at the armored puppets, they also have an armor and they are, without any doubts, controlled by the same Master who controls Tricos.
Talking about the barrels now: at the ending of the game, we understand that the barrels are made from people (the sacrifices). Controlled Tricos bring children to some sort of machine who rewards them with barrels. They give the children to the Master of the Valley and in exchange they get food (this food seems to contain some part of the children's life energy). This children's life energy is what makes the system continuing. The origin of the Master of the Valley is uncertain, the only thing there is to know is that it has been living for a long time, consuming human lives to stay alive.
The barrels also contain blue goop, encountered in pots, cauldrons and inside the armored knights.
Now, what do the butterflies mean? In Japan, butterflies often signify the souls of the dead or marked for death. In the game they are always near barrels and sometimes seen in open areas.
Now, Trico's race is a mutation, a chimera. They share parts of birds and parts of cats or dogs (I'm not really sure about dogs). If we put together the name Toriko and translate it to Japanese we understand that "tori" means bird and "ko" is a diminutive of "neko" that is the Japanese name for cat. Since "inu" in Japanese means dog, I will assume that Trico's race is a mutation of bird and cat.
Every time we start the game, we get the chance to see beautiful illustrations of different chimeras like the unicorn or the phoenix. Trico is just another example of a chimera.
The boy's tattoos weren't there before he was kidnapped by Trico. They appeared after he stayed inside of Trico's body. They make reference to the Maori and Samoan tattoos, meaning that the boy is from a similarly tribal village. Maybe this was a way to mark the boy.
In Ico, a play station 1 game from the same company, we can see that one of the characters has similar tattoos to the boy in The Last Guardian.
The mirror the boy finds in the beginning of the game can be used to attack things and it is affiliated with Trico's body, specifically his tail. It's then used to kill the Master of the Valley at the ending. I don't know the real origin or explanation about the mirror but it is important to unroll the game.
The blue doors, where the armored knights bring you if you don't fight back, look like a portal. Perhaps it is a portal to where the Master of the Valley is located. This is never explained and it will be always known as a mystery.
One of the other objects found in The Last Guardian is the eye symbol. Trico is afraid of this symbol for some reason. I believe this was created with the purpose of maintaining Tricos away from the final tower, where the Master of the Valley is located.
The last question to be asked is: "Who is the The Last Guardian?", Is it the boy or the creature? After the credits, a small Trico is shown next to a bigger Trico, meaning that there is more than one Trico. On the other hand, the boy is known to be the last chosen one because he was the one who defeated the Master of the Valley. So, why is he a guardian though? Does this mean that he was a guardian of the valley? I don't know and I believe that many people, if not all, cannot respond to this question. Either way, we can say that, in a sense, both the boy and Trico served as "guardians" to each other, so who knows if the last guardian is actually both of them.
Technology:
In terms of controllability and game mechanics, this game is still far from being very good. In my opinion, it is a shame since the story had so much to give. We know that this was postponed for seven years which is a long time... The developers needed to stay in touch with the newest technology all the time (I think in terms of graphics this game was splendid). What it failed was the fluidity of the boy's movements, whereas he was just too slow to respond to command or even the way he moved sometimes. Every time I was climbing Trico, the movements didn't feel right, sometimes I ended up being teleported magically to a different place in Trico's body, other times the boy was moving upwards but not really climbing Trico.
Some other times the command just failed, I often tried to make the boy do things and sometimes he couldn't, for whatever reason. This really disappointed me in the game, I knew it was a possibility since this game was originally planned for PS3 but it still put me in shock. It even became frustrating sometimes.
The other really disappointing feature in this game is the fighting the boy needs to do in order to get rid of the armored knights. It's the same thing that appears on loading screens. To me, that's a really bad idea and I cannot understand the meaning and the joy behind it. It takes a lot of time and it can certainly decrease the controller's life.
The last thing that made me wonder was the final trophy Though We Are Far Apart which I didn't receive. I receive the other final trophies such as "Spry Emissary" and "Fleet Emissary" but I didn't get the real last one. I've seen that other people had the same problem so I'll consider this as probably a glitch. I don't take trophies as something required but I know that for other people who take trophies seriously this would be a big problem.
Art:
I don't have any problems about this parameter. The art is stunning, the settings are stunning, everything feels creative and I love that! The illustrations in each introduction look amazing and give the game a better felling, especially if you like art. I also loved the design of Trico and the tattoos on the boy's body. Whether Trico's design was taken out of some place or not it still looks brilliant.
Soundtrack:
The soundtrack fitted the game nicely. I can't say that I love every soundtrack but it was definitely thought out by the compositor. They can be relaxing and they were made to fit the journey. My favorites are: Finalle II Escape, The Last Guardian Suite and Epilogue
Overall:
I found this experience unique and I think the game has definitely a lot to give that others don't. Unfortunately, the technical aspects of the game dropped my ranking by two points in a scale of 1 to 10. Anyway, I still think this is a must try that has the possibility to make you love the game. If you like the indie style, I recommend it.
I don't believe I will play the game again because there are just so many more to explore. The game is beautiful to play it once, it won't have the same impact on later tries. Just like Journey. I'm really happy with the experience I had with this game and maybe it was not for the technical aspects of it but was definitely for the story and art!
Ranking: 7.5/10
This game is absolutely beautiful
kalilka11 February 2021
This is my favorite game of all time. The story is amazing, the world is wast and stunning, and the journey and the companionship that builds between the kid and Trico is so beautiful. It's probably not the type of game that fits someone who likes things to go fast and smoothly, because the whole point of the game is that you have to encourage Trico to do what you want despite the fact that you can't communicate that well with him. The game is about forging a stronger bond with Trico so that you can start cooperaring better, and that's honestly one of the things that makes the experience so fulfilling. It's more about attention to detail and love of exploring than it is about scoring points and reaching the end. And lastly, though I loved the whole game, the ending completely floored me and made the whole thing into a masterpiece. Please, go ahead and try it. It's worth every second you put into it.
I grew to love this little gem of a game.
basilbrush83-690-11395014 November 2018
If you haven't played the last guardian yet? You should, "imo".
Give yourself time in the beginning hours and it will definitely grow on you. By chapter 3 I was hooked, and I can honestly say I had an emotional attachment to both of the main characters and I cared about what was happening to them. For me this was a welcome feeling as I have been a gamer for !many! years and have not felt this way with any other game i have played.
It can be infuriating at times but keep at it, (sometimes camera angle and laboured controls) will test your patience. It's not perfect but it came pretty damn close for me.
I can't say too much as this review would contain spoilers, it's a short game that packs a punch.
One last thing, watch the end credits when you complete the game as it has a short fmv at the end.
It can be infuriating at times but keep at it, (sometimes camera angle and laboured controls) will test your patience. It's not perfect but it came pretty damn close for me.
I can't say too much as this review would contain spoilers, it's a short game that packs a punch.
One last thing, watch the end credits when you complete the game as it has a short fmv at the end.
A masterpiece
gastonsandegard25 April 2021
A Meta Masterpiece (a fairytale about learning to trust)
albertchessa9 January 2020
To this day, The Last Guardian is my favourite work of art/entertainment/storytelling for one simple reason:
The realism with which the process of trust-building is portrayed and implemented into the core mechanics and narrative.
No other arc is as important, or effective, as that of two beings learning to trust each other.
Sadly the most common critique for this title is that 'it does not control well'.
It seems to have completely soared over the heads of these people that that the boy's frantic, flapping (and yes, non-video gamey) and anxious animations,
As well as the stop-start, sometimes incongruous, and ultimately unknowable (in the same way that we could never fully control or predict the behaviour of a cat, for instance) behaviour of the creature,
Were not only designed intentionally that way,
But serve double-duty as powerful metaphors for the development of the title itself.
The boy *is* Fumito Ueda, and the beast *is* the game itself.
As we know from TLG's prolonged development, the boy/Fumito really and literally struggled with getting the beast/the game to go where he wanted it to go.
So much so that a whole other platform - a whole other approach - was needed.
This turning point, from PS3 to PS4, is actually noticeable in-game.
After about 5 hours of gameplay, one notices that the creature does respond more keenly to your cries. In turn, you as the young adventurer also have grown more patient of and respectful towards the creature,
Who is just as young and just as scared as you.
I believe this was the moment that Ueda and his team 'cracked' The Last Guardian - when developer/boy and game/beast stopped fighting each other,
And instead listened, compromised, and strived forward together.
Just revisiting my memories of the title makes me want to experience this singularly master-crafted work of art once again.
Could not recommend enough, but it is only for those who are patient and have the capacity for understanding, surrendering to and appreciating *not* being handed everything immediately, no-lag, give-it-to-me-right-now.
This title will one day be used (if it isn't already) to help people who have the obsessive need to control everything in their lives, or who have succumbed (as far to many of have) to entitlement and instant-gratification.
The Last Guardian gently and powerfully invites you to let go of what you think a video game should be (namely super snappy controls, for the impatient and simple), and allow yourself to be literally swept off on the back of an unforgettable adventure,
One that becomes more and more powerful each time you revisit it.
The realism with which the process of trust-building is portrayed and implemented into the core mechanics and narrative.
No other arc is as important, or effective, as that of two beings learning to trust each other.
Sadly the most common critique for this title is that 'it does not control well'.
It seems to have completely soared over the heads of these people that that the boy's frantic, flapping (and yes, non-video gamey) and anxious animations,
As well as the stop-start, sometimes incongruous, and ultimately unknowable (in the same way that we could never fully control or predict the behaviour of a cat, for instance) behaviour of the creature,
Were not only designed intentionally that way,
But serve double-duty as powerful metaphors for the development of the title itself.
The boy *is* Fumito Ueda, and the beast *is* the game itself.
As we know from TLG's prolonged development, the boy/Fumito really and literally struggled with getting the beast/the game to go where he wanted it to go.
So much so that a whole other platform - a whole other approach - was needed.
This turning point, from PS3 to PS4, is actually noticeable in-game.
After about 5 hours of gameplay, one notices that the creature does respond more keenly to your cries. In turn, you as the young adventurer also have grown more patient of and respectful towards the creature,
Who is just as young and just as scared as you.
I believe this was the moment that Ueda and his team 'cracked' The Last Guardian - when developer/boy and game/beast stopped fighting each other,
And instead listened, compromised, and strived forward together.
Just revisiting my memories of the title makes me want to experience this singularly master-crafted work of art once again.
Could not recommend enough, but it is only for those who are patient and have the capacity for understanding, surrendering to and appreciating *not* being handed everything immediately, no-lag, give-it-to-me-right-now.
This title will one day be used (if it isn't already) to help people who have the obsessive need to control everything in their lives, or who have succumbed (as far to many of have) to entitlement and instant-gratification.
The Last Guardian gently and powerfully invites you to let go of what you think a video game should be (namely super snappy controls, for the impatient and simple), and allow yourself to be literally swept off on the back of an unforgettable adventure,
One that becomes more and more powerful each time you revisit it.
Story is decent, but game mechanics are not!!
tjlilblue31811 March 2019
I enjoy what story is in this game. It has a lot of heart and emotions involved which make up a good experience. The only problem (and it's a major problem) is that it's too hard to control Trico! You will tell him to jump one way and he will jump a completely different way. It makes playing the game so irritating/frustrating and a lot of times I will get exhausted and stop playing because it would take too long for Trico to do what you want.
I want to continue on playing the game because I want to know what happens to the characters but it is extremely difficult to want to stick around and play it when it takes me an hour to get out of a room when it should only take 10 minutes.
Broken, yet whole
residentgrigo13 April 2017
I have been waiting for this game since the 2007 announcement and honestly never expected a masterpiece after all the development setbacks. At least finally know why it took this long. Team Ico never managed to get the core game mechanics to work, as I have no other way to describe the way the game fails to "work" at times. Most of the game revolves around making your companion Trico do the one thing that will get you to the next puzzle room and accomplishing that boils down to try and error. A 6-8 hour game thus becomes a 10-12 hour game. I would perfectly understand Trico having a mind of her own but that's not what went wrong here. A game with a heavy amount of climbing ultimately NEEDS to work when the right bottom is pressed and this isn't always the case here. You even get constant vocal cues on how to solve the next objective, as the developers seemed to understand that their own shortcomings. It's also noteworthy that the game looks like a PS3 game (outside of the highly scripted last hour), while playing like a PS2 game, but these are secondly concerns. More music would have helped too and the solid story is a bit more straightforward than I expected. The 2 much older predecessors are thus much better experiences in the end. Even the similar Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom for left me less frustrated but I can ultimately recommend the TLG to the right audience. It's highly unique, ambitious and you get to play as a "passive companion", as Trico ends up doing all the heavy lifting. Newcomers should get the Team Ico HD remasters for last gen first though. I ultimately wish that I could love the game but I only somewhat like it in the end. A shame, as Ico is one of my favorite games. 6,5/10
Pushing the boundaries of the technology
AnonymousCritic18 December 2016
The level designs, lighting, puzzles and plot are a masterpiece in their own right, but in doing so the game clearly pushes the boundaries of the technology required a little to far.
This title not only gives you an AI companion that walks alongside you on your journey, but actually relies upon it to complete most of the puzzles. Any video game with an AI companion suffers from the issue of the Artificial intelligence falling far behind the flexible and rational intelligence that is expected, however, whilst it can be slightly frustrating the companion in this game is years ahead of other titles, it looks and acts in a rational manner and its animations are flexible enough to adapt to nearly all scenarios. Any issues can be overlooked but if the companion were another humanoid rather than an animal it would be more obvious. In this respect, when the boy your are playing as becomes unresponsive or performs an unintended action, it is far more frustrating. Similarly, although the camera follows your avatar without player control you are left to suffer some horrible and confusing angles at times.
If your are a fan of Fumito Ueda or linear-puzzle games then this is a must play game, if however, you are looking for fast paced action games then this is not the game for you.
This title not only gives you an AI companion that walks alongside you on your journey, but actually relies upon it to complete most of the puzzles. Any video game with an AI companion suffers from the issue of the Artificial intelligence falling far behind the flexible and rational intelligence that is expected, however, whilst it can be slightly frustrating the companion in this game is years ahead of other titles, it looks and acts in a rational manner and its animations are flexible enough to adapt to nearly all scenarios. Any issues can be overlooked but if the companion were another humanoid rather than an animal it would be more obvious. In this respect, when the boy your are playing as becomes unresponsive or performs an unintended action, it is far more frustrating. Similarly, although the camera follows your avatar without player control you are left to suffer some horrible and confusing angles at times.
If your are a fan of Fumito Ueda or linear-puzzle games then this is a must play game, if however, you are looking for fast paced action games then this is not the game for you.
One of the most insufferable games I've ever played
TheCorniestLemur3 February 2021
Title says it all, really.
However, the title doesn't say that there are good things about this game. Before getting to them, however, I feel I should lay out the premise of this game, which is that you are a little boy who wakes up in a ruined castle next to a giant cat/bird thing, and you both have to rely on each other to survive and escape the place.
You might have already inferred the problem with this: relying on an AI companion. This is annoying in nearly any game at the best of times, and this game is entirely built around the concept, and is far, far, far from the best of times.
It's the kind of game that really wants you to feel a strengthening relationship between the boy and the aforementioned cat/bird thing, and it might have achieved it...if the AI didn't irrevocably kill any chance of that happened.
Trico is an utter pain in the butt to convince to do anything. He'll outright ignore you, start doing what you want only to change his mind halfway through, and many was the time I was screaming at him for ten whole minutes because I knew exactly what I needed him to do, and how to get him to do it, and he just. Wouldn't. Do it.
Some believe this is an intentional choice, made to make you feel as though you are commanding a real pet, who is not always going to listen to you, but the problem with that is that the love I have had for any pet I've ever owned has never depended on it doing a trick so that I can continue whatever I'm doing. There's always the option to give up and give him belly scritches if your dog is refusing to roll over. If Trico isn't listening to you, there's really not much you can do except wait there until he decides to obey you. It's a game in desperate need of a giant rolled up newspaper ability.
If it was intentional, that almost makes it worse, because it totally ruins some moments where the relationship between Trico and the boy is very obviously shown to be improving, like one moment when I fell from a great height, only for Trico to appear far below me, crane his neck out in anticipation as I fell through the air, and our eyes met as he proceeded to...give me puppy dog eyes as I tumbled to my death.
Hilarious as it was on reflection, it was significantly less amusing at the time when the game then made me do that entire platforming section over again.
But I've ranted about the godawful AI enough, so now I'm going to rant about the game design instead. There was rarely a moment when I felt challenged by a puzzle in this game, and believe me, I'm dumb. Really dumb. I don't have an easy time with puzzle games, but there were maybe three moments throughout the entirety of this one where I got stuck for a little while, so I feel more than qualified to say that it's far too easy. Nearly everywhere you go in the game looks identical to the last area you were in, anytime you are caught by the enemies roaming around you never feel threatened, because even if Trico isn't around to smash them all up, all it takes to escape them is mashing the buttons for a while and then you can proceed, and the controls are so stodgy when you're trying to climb anything or move the camera about.
I didn't think the soundtrack was very good either, when it certainly wants to have a big presence in certain moments, but just fails to deliver.
I've been really negative for a while, so please believe me when I say that there are good aspects to this game. It's well directed for the most part, the graphics are beautiful, even if the lighting can hurt my eyes on occasion, it doesn't drag itself out, which I find is rare for a lot of triple A games, there's a pretty nice twist at the end, and perhaps most impressively, the animation on Trico is absolutely fantastic. In fact, it almost feels like most of the game's budget went towards making Trico act and move like a real animal, and while it did pay off with flying colors, it also would have been nice if some of that money went to...you know, the gameplay?
I can't tell you whether or not this game is worth playing, because it's a very subjective experience. If you're drawn in by the relationship between Trico and the boy, and can forgive the horrendous AI, then you'll likely love it, but if spending ten minutes waiting for Trico to jump up to a ledge or something is a dealbreaker to you, then please don't bother, because I haven't had as miserable of a time playing a game in quite a while.
However, the title doesn't say that there are good things about this game. Before getting to them, however, I feel I should lay out the premise of this game, which is that you are a little boy who wakes up in a ruined castle next to a giant cat/bird thing, and you both have to rely on each other to survive and escape the place.
You might have already inferred the problem with this: relying on an AI companion. This is annoying in nearly any game at the best of times, and this game is entirely built around the concept, and is far, far, far from the best of times.
It's the kind of game that really wants you to feel a strengthening relationship between the boy and the aforementioned cat/bird thing, and it might have achieved it...if the AI didn't irrevocably kill any chance of that happened.
Trico is an utter pain in the butt to convince to do anything. He'll outright ignore you, start doing what you want only to change his mind halfway through, and many was the time I was screaming at him for ten whole minutes because I knew exactly what I needed him to do, and how to get him to do it, and he just. Wouldn't. Do it.
Some believe this is an intentional choice, made to make you feel as though you are commanding a real pet, who is not always going to listen to you, but the problem with that is that the love I have had for any pet I've ever owned has never depended on it doing a trick so that I can continue whatever I'm doing. There's always the option to give up and give him belly scritches if your dog is refusing to roll over. If Trico isn't listening to you, there's really not much you can do except wait there until he decides to obey you. It's a game in desperate need of a giant rolled up newspaper ability.
If it was intentional, that almost makes it worse, because it totally ruins some moments where the relationship between Trico and the boy is very obviously shown to be improving, like one moment when I fell from a great height, only for Trico to appear far below me, crane his neck out in anticipation as I fell through the air, and our eyes met as he proceeded to...give me puppy dog eyes as I tumbled to my death.
Hilarious as it was on reflection, it was significantly less amusing at the time when the game then made me do that entire platforming section over again.
But I've ranted about the godawful AI enough, so now I'm going to rant about the game design instead. There was rarely a moment when I felt challenged by a puzzle in this game, and believe me, I'm dumb. Really dumb. I don't have an easy time with puzzle games, but there were maybe three moments throughout the entirety of this one where I got stuck for a little while, so I feel more than qualified to say that it's far too easy. Nearly everywhere you go in the game looks identical to the last area you were in, anytime you are caught by the enemies roaming around you never feel threatened, because even if Trico isn't around to smash them all up, all it takes to escape them is mashing the buttons for a while and then you can proceed, and the controls are so stodgy when you're trying to climb anything or move the camera about.
I didn't think the soundtrack was very good either, when it certainly wants to have a big presence in certain moments, but just fails to deliver.
I've been really negative for a while, so please believe me when I say that there are good aspects to this game. It's well directed for the most part, the graphics are beautiful, even if the lighting can hurt my eyes on occasion, it doesn't drag itself out, which I find is rare for a lot of triple A games, there's a pretty nice twist at the end, and perhaps most impressively, the animation on Trico is absolutely fantastic. In fact, it almost feels like most of the game's budget went towards making Trico act and move like a real animal, and while it did pay off with flying colors, it also would have been nice if some of that money went to...you know, the gameplay?
I can't tell you whether or not this game is worth playing, because it's a very subjective experience. If you're drawn in by the relationship between Trico and the boy, and can forgive the horrendous AI, then you'll likely love it, but if spending ten minutes waiting for Trico to jump up to a ledge or something is a dealbreaker to you, then please don't bother, because I haven't had as miserable of a time playing a game in quite a while.
Extremely frustrating
briancham199417 May 2021
Team Ico seemed to have read the reviews for Shadow of the Colossus and made everything more extreme. The design and architecture was made much bigger than before! But the animal companion was made much more important and uncooperative than before! Whatever they were aiming for, it didn't work. Not worth the wait nor the frustration.
A PS2 game that disguised itself as a PS3 game release on PS4
MomeAlsadi22 August 2022
I am a huge fan of the The Shadow Of The Colossus and consider it as one of the best games ever so my hopes were really high for this game considering it was released by the same developer but what I played was a technically bankrupt game with the worst AI I have ever seen, the game is so dated that it actually put a lot of PS2 games to shame, the only positive thing is the lore but that is not enough to make a good video game, this game should have been a movie when I can sit back and enjoy the rather interesting story not a video game with most lacking and frustrating GAMEPLAY I have ever witnessed.5/10.
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