After the release of Final Fantasy XV last week, another game people have been waiting for for a very long time is about to become available. It took 7 years for The Last Guardian to be completed, and it was obviously a cause for concern, especially after some of the previews came out a little while ago. Now is the time to see if the game was worth the wait.
update: 2 FPS analysis videos added, this time on base PS4.
Verdict
While the experience may be flawed, The Last Guardian remains a must-play for anyone searching for something different and impactful. A game similar to previous works by Fumito Ueda, though perhaps closer to ICO than Shadow of the Colossus, this third game certainly took its time. By the time the credits roll and the final cinematic plays out, all doubt is erased, the long wait for The Last Guardian was not in vain. That such a unique and beautiful world may never have been released at all is certainly difficult to consider. To paraphrase Descartes on the subject of mankind, The Last Guadian is an imperfect thing that incessantly tends towards something greater than itself.
- On the plus side
- The hypnotic universe created by Ueda and team
- The poetry which pulls you in from beginning to end
- A discreet narration in serve of a lovely story
- Incredible animation work
- Trico, more real than nature
- The soundtrack, expertly used
- Great sound design
- A plethora of memorable moments throughout
- Smooth 1080p experience on PS4 Pro
- On the downside
- The camera system, tricky to control...
- The camera can go a tad crazy at times
- The controller prompts indicating button presses
- One or two potentially frustrating sections
- Graphically dated, in terms of textures and lighting effects mostly
- Some slowdowns on base PS4 and PS4 Pro when running at 4k
- The occasional bugs
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All comments (35)
Commented on 2016-12-05 16:14:57EuroGame even gave it an "Essential" badge (link below).
EuroGamer Review - Does the successor to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus live up to its lineage? It does so much more:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-12-05-the-l...
NeoGAF - The Last Guardian: Review Thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13223...
Commented on 2016-12-05 16:51:08
Commented on 2016-12-05 16:53:48
Commented on 2016-12-05 16:57:57 In reply to AndreasZ94The menu is pretty empty, on-screen prompts cannot even be deactivated...
Commented on 2016-12-05 17:05:24 In reply to Driftwood
Commented on 2016-12-05 17:12:38
Commented on 2016-12-05 18:16:28Maybe some day they'll make Shadow of Colossus 2
Commented on 2016-12-05 18:28:16
Commented on 2016-12-05 19:18:52 In reply to Wheat_ThinsThe camera system was obvious from the last trailer. It made me think of Knack when I saw it.
even sony aren't that forgiving with long dev cycles.
Commented on 2016-12-05 22:44:59I've been reading reviews on the game, and I allways skip the 100 scores because those are as reliable as Trump.
So, in almost every review that doesn't praise the game as a true masterpiece, gameplay mechanics and camera issues are mentioned and seem to be a pain in the ass. It's also often mentioned that your pet doesn't allways react to commands which make it frustrating to get timed puzzles done.
And then there are the framerate issues with dated graphics.
So, I'm not buying this game at full price.
They had loads of time to address obvious issues. The fact that they didn't, shows a certain lack of respect.
I mean, do you feel the same about dishonored 2 by any chance?. Did you strip away all the possitive reviews for that game and say to yourself. "Oh, it's got 2 7's and a 5...must be shit". That game also had a plethora of bugs, glitches and a shit framerate. Or are your standards of the double variety? I think the latter.
...And your duke nukem example is fucking dumb too, and you know it.
Commented on 2016-12-06 00:12:30
Commented on 2016-12-06 00:26:52 In reply to sulei"From a performance perspective, the bottom line is this. The only option available to PlayStation gamers in getting a regularly smooth 30fps is to use PlayStation 4 Pro, running at 1080p. If you're on a regular PS4 you're in for a very variable experience; lurching between 20-30fps just by running around empty areas, and with stutters to over 110ms. All playthroughs have full v-sync, and there are thankfully no frame-pacing issues at 30fps, but sadly playing The Last Guardian on a standard PS4 easily gives the worst performance of all three options."
From Digital foundry.
Commented on 2016-12-06 11:11:56The visuals are beautiful. There some ps3 era stuff but the art direction, lighting and especially trico are gorgeous
The camera is different to other games and can be a little hard to control sometimes but its not major issue for me. I recommend turning up camera speed option in the menus.
The controls are responsive and the animations are incredible for both the boy and trico. There is occasionally some clumsiness to the controls but i was never frustrated or felt the controls suck.
Also hearing so many people complain its annoying that trico doesn't respond immediately, so far i completely disagree. At first Trico doesn't trust you so of course its trickier but again i was never frustrated at all and now that i ve earned trust Trico is surprisingly very obedient to me. You can give him or her ( not sure which actually) specific commands by holding R1 and pressing the face buttons, left stick.
Overall i think anyone who enjoyed team icos previous games and likes animals they are gonna love this game
Commented on 2016-12-06 16:37:42 In reply to Megido
Commented on 2016-12-06 16:59:34It is pretty funny that the same issues that plagued those past games are still here.
Typically a dev learns from their mistakes, why do they keep repeating them?
Just because they always have these issues, doesn't make it OKAY korn.
Commented on 2016-12-06 19:09:56 In reply to TinksIt is pretty funny that the same issues that plagued those past games are still here.
Typically a dev learns from their mistakes, why do they keep repeating them?
Just because they always have these issues, doesn't make it OKAY korn.
Commented on 2016-12-06 19:15:47 In reply to KORNdog
Commented on 2016-12-06 19:18:52 In reply to TinksI will say though, while framerate issues aren't ideal. They also didn't effect my enjoyment of both ico or shadow of the colossus on PS2. So *shrugs*
Commented on 2016-12-06 22:25:24Yes, ideally - or to put in another way, in a perfect world - all games should have from none to almost no technical problems and be great at gameplay, visuals, art, direction, story, characters, lore and everything else.
But since we don't live in a perfect world where everything is - obviously - perfect, in our real world we must choose what is most important to each of us. Is it the substance or the package?
And before anyone answers it, please consider the 2 cases below:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has a lot of technical issues and hundreds of bugs even to this day, and was far, far worse at launch with many game-breaking bugs. Yet, it's the game with the most number of Game of The Year awards to date, and the general consensus is that it's an excellent game that everyone should play.
The Order: 1886 has gorgeous visuals and a rock-solid framerate that rarely goes below 30fps, and when it does, most of the occurrences happen on cuts, making them totally unnoticeable - it was in this state at launch, before any patches, now it might just be almost perfect technically-wise. But how many Game of The Year awards has it won? And the overall consensus is that the game is average at best, one that not many people would recommend.
So which is it? Substance or package.
PS. There's no wrong answer. What matters to you might not matter to others, and vice-versa.
Commented on 2016-12-07 01:33:46 In reply to KORNdog