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The Last Guardian began life as a PlayStation 3 game more than eight years ago. Today, it's a PS4 exclusive that you can pick up off the store shelf and play. The dream has become real. But six years in the kitchen is a long time, and not many games come back from that sort of delay and end up being any good.
Mind you, our own Last Guardian review says that it's a special game not to be missed (despite some technical stumbles), but are we the odd one out in our assessment? Let's take a stroll around the block and find out.
USGamer on Trico:
"There's never been a virtual creature like Trico, and the most impressive thing about this technical marvel is that you don't think of it as a technical marvel; you think of it as Trico, your incredible, mysterious, abused, hungry, loyal, protective, intelligent companion. Not quite a pet, not quite a person, but an unknowable creature that loves its tiny human friend and, in the end, will go to any length to express that loyalty."
IGN on Trico's stubborness:
"A little bit of this obstinance added to Trico’s charm, but it happened far too often, so most of the time it just bombarded me with frustration and made me lose any feeling that I existed in this world. If I try a solution to a puzzle for 10 minutes only to find that I was trying the wrong thing, that’s my fault; if I try a solution for 10 minutes only to find that it suddenly arbitrarily works because of a slight readjustment to Trico that was beyond my control, that’s just plain annoying."
Polygon on the controls:
"You're playing as an awkward kid, and the game goes out of its way to make it feel like it. He stumbles when he runs; he has trouble holding onto Trico's feathers with both hands. Good luck pushing a box in a straight line. And even though there's quite a bit of leaping from platform to platform in The Last Guardian, the main character's jumps are small, stiff and often difficult to judge."
Kotaku on the camera:
"Being a tiny human often riding atop a massive creature doesn’t do the game’s camera any favors, especially in tight confines. There were moments on our journey where attempting to locate the boy on Trico’s back using camera controls resulted in either a face full of feathers or a completely black screen."
GameSpot on the technical hiccups:
"Despite handling numerous impressive scenes without a hitch, there are a few scenes with obvious frame-rate issues. These occurrences by no means dominate the game--far from it--but they make you consider the technological lattice holding the world together when they appear. It also makes you consider the impossible task Ueda and company likely faced when The Last Guardian was in development for PlayStation 3."
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