the last guardian

I never owned a dog or a cat but I’ve spent enough time with them to recognize that The Last Guardian asks for the same mentality that pet ownership requires. I gave into the idea of Trico, the giant bird-cat-dog creature, being a living breathing artificial intelligence that required repetition and patience to command. To expect an obedient animal to follow my every whim with both speed and accuracy would be a mistake. Trico can be frustratingly unresponsive or annoyingly imprecise with his actions. The fact that the game required environmental puzzle solving coupled with Trico’s finicky behaviour could have lead to situations where I was either doubting myself, Trico’s abilities or the game’s design. Thankfully, my gut instincts and years of recognizing video game design cues helped me maintain a steady pace throughout.  
 
But first, let me address the game’s technical issues on standard PlayStation 4 consoles; I wouldn’t have played The Last Guardian if I didn’t own a PlayStation 4 Pro. It’s incredibly silly that PlayStation 4 Pro is required to play the game at 1080p and 30 FPS but if you want to avoid dips down to the 20 FPS or lower, you have no choice.  
 
Not having to fight technological shortcomings was a godsend but the controls left me with the perpetual feeling of teetering on the edge. My actions landed more often than not and there were safeguards preventing me from simply running off a cliff but I wasn’t sure if all of it was intentional. Having the player flop about and react to different momentum shifts in a realistic manner was very obviously intentional but could the same be said about having controls be slightly imprecise? I never died because of the controls but I was never entirely comfortable with them either.  
 
Outside of early voiceovers laying out the capabilities and interactions between the boy and Trico, there was little in the way of highlighting what to do next. Trico would eventually position himself and hint towards the right direction and often that was enough to get the gears in my mind moving. Unfortunately, it took a bit of time to reach those points and thus, whenever I was stuck, I was wandering aimlessly for 5-10 minutes trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do next.
 
Once I did figure out correct path to take, Trico’s stubbornness (or slow reaction to my commands, if you’re cynical) required me to repeat commands a handful of times to get him moving accordingly. Thankfully there was usually a single correct path to go down and I wasn’t accidentally sending Trico toward our doom. I’ve had a couple of situations where I sent Trico harmlessly backwards though.
 
The game’s frequent checkpoints and fast loading minimized the impact of unfortunate deaths. I’ve misjudged jumps but I’ve also met my demise due to Trico inadvertently knocking me off a platform. I found the latter humorous and was glad it was possible. I was happy to know that I had to account for the giant creature’s presence to ensure my own safety.  
 
I grew to care for Trico. I spent time pulling out spears and wiping off the blood from his feathers. I don’t believe there was built-in incentive to do either but I just wanted my giant cat-bird-dog thing looking its best. I needed to pet him in order to calm him down after battles but I wanted to groom and tend to his wounds. There were several occasions where I needed to find barrels of food to feed him but I wanted to find extras so his horns would be restored to glory. Eventually, I picked up on many of Trico’s nuances and tendencies. Through story beats, I learned he was afraid of giant eyes. While over time, I organically learned he actually slumped into a distracted state when left alone which required cajoling to get him moving again.  
 
Everyone feared a sad ending for The Last Guardian when they first laid eyes on Trico with many predicting the giant beast’s death in the end. Little did we know that the most trying ordeal we would be facing was the possibility of the game being cancelled and not seeing the light of day. The Last Guardian has and it asks a lot from the player including buying hardware to get an acceptable level of performance to patiently repeating orders to an A.I. But if you enjoyed Ico and The Shadow of the Colossus and approach this game with a high degree of patience, I think you will love Fumito Ueda’s third instalment. I enjoyed my time with it and loved every triumphant moment the beast and I overcame. 

Verdict:
I love it

Ratings Guide