Finally, The Last Guardian is out after being so long in development. Sony Studio Japan have portrayed a brilliant story which is emotionally engaging.

The Last Guardian tells a story of a boy and his companion beast. Trico and the boy wake up in a cave with no recollection of how they got there. It is immediately apparent that our bird-dog-cat beast is not that friendly.

 

Trico is bound in chains and is aggressive towards the tattoo covered boy. Soon the boy finds food to feed the beast in shinning barrels due to which Trico eases his stance towards the boy. The connection between the boy and Trico is really important as both will rely on each other to complete this journey.

 

Gameplay wise the game is quite similar to PS2 era efforts of the developer. Just like in Shadow of Colossus where you can climb giant monsters here the boy can climb the beast, while the connection and teamwork is similar to ICO. The boy must explore, jump and climb to pull levers and unlock puzzles to traverse through the world.

 

The game thoroughly revolves around the communication between the boy and Trico. Both gesture towards each other and hope that the point goes across. Soon after you will be able to direct Trico with all the actions boy can do, move here, push that, climb here, all basic stuff but sometimes Trico behaves like a real animal and would not listen to you, this provides authenticity but also adds to the frustration.

 

The logic behind this is that Trico is learning as much as the boy but at a slower pace so naturally it will take some time to realize what’s going on.

 

The frustration comes in when you know how to solve a puzzle but Trico won’t cooperate. Sometimes you will ask Trico to go through an area but it won’t but as soon as you restart the game it will go through in an instant.

Controls are not up to the current generation standard and are very clumsy. There is lack of pinpoint accuracy and moving the boy is so janky. The camera does not help either as it gets stuck into scenery. But when all this is not causing problem and you see the bond between the boy and the beast growing, The Last Guardian is truly mesmerizing.

 

The game takes its time to build relationship between Trico and the boy. The player will also grow attached to the boy and Trico as the game progresses. Initially Trico acted only as a tool to get the boy from one area to another but as the game progressed I became equally concerned for boy and Trico. The Last Guardian does and exceptional job of making you care, you will start petting Trico often even though there is no real benefit in doing that.

As the game progresses Trico becomes more and more adorable. Trico’s eyes tell what actually it wants, like initially with boy they are white or purple which means Trico is in either attack mode or is hungry. Trico is basically a scared creature who grew attached to the boy.

 

The game hooked me more as I progressed through the game. It is a beautiful story which is expertly told with minimal verbal interaction between the two main characters.

 

 

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Conclusion
9
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review-last-guardian-ps4-ps4-proThe Last Guardian is the game to experience even with its fiddly controls. Studio Japan are experts in story telling with minimal conversation. Everything apart from the controls of The Last Guardian is perfect. The Last Guardian story even though is simple but the bond it shows will move you. Hardcore Gamers Unified recommends The Last Guardian as it is worth the wait.

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