THE LAST GUARDIAN
After years of waiting, we’re finally let loose in PS4’s most enigmatic game
Finally! We’ve been let loose in the emotional adventure a decade in the making.
There’s a certain sense of irony in The Last Guardian’s opening credits. As a camera pans across pages of an illustrated bestiary, beginning with familiar animals before moving on to unicorns, griffins, dragons and, finally, the dog-cat-bird Trico, we can’t help but smile. Of course it should begin like this; given its protracted development time, the game itself feels every bit as mythical as these legendary creatures.
And then we’re in. Almost a full decade after work on the game began, and seven-and-a-bit years after its first announcement back on PS3, we’re exploring the follow-up to cult PS2 favourites Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus. Within seconds of our journey’s start it’s abundantly clear it shares DNA with those titles: soft, painterly visuals; loose movement mechanics; awe-inspiring environments; and the cute yells our small, defenceless boy belts out with a tap of u all combine to open the memory floodgates.
EYES ON THE PRIZE
Our first interactions with Trico are both stunning and somewhat awkward. As we begin to befriend the beast by removing a spear lodged in its flanks and then feeding it barrels of white gloop to help it recuperate, we find ourselves battling with the camera and the controls. It’s an uncomfortable dance
“OUR INTERACTIONS WITH TRICO ARE BOTH STUNNING AND AWKWARD.”
at first until we familiarise ourselves with the boy’s handling – it’s just like steering Ico back on PS2, which, it turns out, is a less refined system than we’re used to on PS4 – but once it clicks and we’ve rewired our brains we begin to feel the magic.
It’s Trico’s eyes that capture us. As we slowly win the hostile colossus over we feel ourselves genuinely starting to believe that we’re interacting with an animal, not a pile of computer code wrapped in fancy textures. Those giant pupils convey more emotion than we ever thought possible. We can feel its pain. Then its curiosity. When the saucers turn a pinkish purple colour at the sight of the totems that have been erected to keep Trico trapped in its prison, the sense of fear is palpable. And that’s just from the eyes. Trico’s realistic movements, not to mention its yelps and yowls (sounding remarkably like Jurassic Park’s velociraptor calls), have our hearts melting as if they’ve been carved out and stuck in a microwave.
TOWERING ABOVE
Fast-forwarding to a never-before-seen area, we see the pair after their uneasy alliance has grown into a friendship. We’re in a huge, naturally formed openair basin, with manmade towers stretching upwards and out of the hole. We’re also riding atop Trico’s head as it leaps between thin pillars… until another totem stops it in its tracks. Seemingly trapped on a finger of stone pointing upwards out of a deadly drop, it takes us a while to realise that carefully crawling over Trico’s back and down its tail (the controls are sensitive, and it’s worryingly easy to go wrong and fall to our doom) lets us hop off and use a tightrope to reach another tower.
A bit of clambering up some emerald green ivy later and we’re above the pesky totem, able to uncouple its moorings and push it into the maw. It’s a move that lets Trico jump off its perch and to the next ledge, directly below our position. Dropping back down and clinging onto its fur for dear life, our journey up the tower resumes.
GUARDIAN ANGEL
Though we can suggest where Trico should head by pressing u and pushing the left stick to point the way, in this area our steed has but one way to go: up the staircase that spirals around the tower. But huge gaps in the stonework means it’s a route we can’t explore on foot; we must cling to Trico’s back (an automatic action rather than the tense, grip meter-fuelled challenge in Shadow Of The Colossus’ boss-broncoing exercises) when it’s leaping upwards. This climb’s effectively an on-rails ride punctuated by the occasional need to hop off and clear the path ahead.
Our demo ends when we’ve scaled the tower, which begins to topple under Trico’s weight, prompting a cutscene where the beast leaps off and lands in the path of another Trico(!). It’s far from the only scripted scene. Cinematic snippets cut in a few times during our playtest: a snapping tightrope which the boy auto-grabs just in time, or a mistimed leap of faith over to Trico where our companion fails to catch us with its mouth but reacts by swinging out its rope-like tail to spare us from going splat. It points to a game where we aren’t always calling the shots, and that’s okay with us – one look into those kitty-birdie-puppy-dog-eyes and we’re total mush, willing to do whatever we’re told. With a smile.
“TRICO’S YELPS AND YOWLS SOUND REMARKABLY LIKE JURASSIC PARK’S VELOCIRAPTORS.”