The Last Guardian is finally here. After nearly a decade of waiting, it is here. Although most of us can't officially play it until tomorrow, we no longer have to worry about it being canceled or delayed!
For those unaware, The Last Guardian is a game many thought would never see the light of day. Originally announced for PlayStation 3, the game has been delayed numerous times and the developers even went dark for a while. Rumors suggest the game was actually on hiatus for a while until Team ICO returned at E3 in 2015 to re-reveal the game.
Now that it's finally here, the only question left on the mind of gamers is will it be good? Depends on how you feel about technical issues and controls! Some think the outdated PS2 feel holds the game back from being a "masterpiece" while some think the wait has been worth it and the technical issues are only a minor issue. No doubt some of these issues will be fixed later, but it is still something to take into account for a full priced game in 2016.
You can view a number of excerpts from scored reviews from a variety of publications (including GameZone) below. The game boasts a strong 83 on Metacritic with 7 perfect scores at the time of writing this article, but it could change as reviews are still coming in. The Last Guardian releases exclusively on PlayStation 4 tomorrow, December 6th.
"The Last Guardian is a perfectly adequate game. Technically speaking, it’s a far from perfect game. Camera glitches, wonky controls, and at times finicky behavior out of Trico can cause some frustration. That being said, none of the problems I encountered, save the poor framerate at the end, took away from the overall enjoyment I had playing The Last Guardian.
The emotional build up has been 10 years in the making, and from a story standpoint, The Last Guardian lives up to expectations."
In The Last Guardian, Fumito Ueda is showing us how to bang out another kind of tune that makes something else move, something perhaps higher. It feels momentous, a design breakthrough I wasn’t expecting, and an experience that seems more likely to stand the test of time than others we like to point to. It calls out some of what’s crass about this industry while showing us another way forward, the shape of things to come.;
"The Last Guardian is Team ICO’s magnum opus. Everything they learned from the prior games in this semi-series has been put to use here and allowed them to craft their greatest adventure yet. Trico’s tale is one of sadness and joy, and something that everyone who enjoyed the team’s prior work should partake in as soon as possible. Newcomers will want to come in with an open mind for exploration and puzzle-solving, but if they do, they will be rewarded with the finest gaming experience yet on the PlayStation 4. Its sense of scale is unmatched and it features the best graphics yet on the console. Minor flaws do exist, but they don’t detract from the overall experience enough to make it anything less than a masterpiece."
"Because I was so emotionally invested in the game, I started to lose time while I was playing it. I don’t think it’s an overly long game, but I do think that its length will be wholly dependent on how good you are at understanding its logic and puzzles. It wouldn’t matter if it was over in an hour, though. The game is deep, meaningful, and powerful. It’s reflective, different, and beautiful. It may well end up being more divisive than Ueda’s previous masterpieces, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a masterpiece, from one of the industry’s true auteurs. Play this game. Even if you hate it, it’s going to broaden your horizons around what games are truly capable of."
"When the book closes on their story, it's hard not to open it up again and begin anew. The trials you overcome endear you to both characters, but the emotions Trico elicits make you want to give it another chance–to be the patient, effective partner it truly deserves."
"Ultimately The Last Guardian isn’t about pulling switches or leaping over gaps. It’s about your smile when you see Trico doing something silly, your compassion when you watch it struggle, and your relief when the creature shows up at just the right time. That’s what you get here that you can’t find anywhere else, and it is enough to make The Last Guardian worth playing."
"The divide between the highs and lows of The Last Guardian is staggering. For every wonderful moment of absolute beauty and emotional attachment to its lifelike companion, there’s an equal and opposite baffling moment that ruins the mood with frustrating controls and camera angles. But I found myself willing to put up with all of these hiccups if it meant experiencing any of its multitude of incredibly-beautiful moments."
"I wish I could say I love the game, that its plagued by only minor setbacks, but I cannot honestly do that. I can’t look back at how much time was spent not enjoying myself, at how much time was spent actively wrestling with the game to wring anything worthwhile from it, and say I played the masterpiece many are going to say it is. Maybe, a long time ago, that’s something I’d have been able to say. Not today though. Not today."
