Hitokui no ôwashi toriko

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.