The Last Guardian Reviews
The biggest question I keep coming back to in between moments of awe and terrible frustration is, 'Is The Last Guardian any fun to play?' Ultimately, I feel like it isn't. The gameplay is too purposefully obstructed, too deliberately designed to be rough around the edges.
'The Last Guardian' is rooted in the past, with design problems the game's beautiful aesthetic can't disguise.
A potentially beautiful game, crippled by an awful camera, archaic controls, and bizarre, frustrating gameplay.
A story about a boy, his dog hybrid and the camera that could never follow him!
An artistic delight but a technical shambles
There is artistry behind The Last Guardian's concept, but in stumbles in execution, creating a journey that is far less fascinating than the relationship that lies at its story's core.
While some parts of its narrative had me emotionally invested in the relationship between boy and beast, constantly fighting against the game's broken mechanics left me unimpressed. My frustrations with Trico often ignoring my commands made interacting with the world more difficult and time-consuming than I wanted it to be. There are moments in The Last Guardian with potential, but ultimately, it's more flawed than the authentic experience I was hoping for.
Figuring out The Last Guardian's puzzles—like the one in which a broken wheelbarrow must be used as a makeshift catapult—isn't nearly as difficult as getting Trico to cooperate.
The Last Guardian's story is moving and beautifully told, but the poor execution of its dated mechanics hold it back from the greatness of its predecessors.
The Last Guardian is a game about friendship that will test your patience with a wonky camera and controls.
More frustrating than it is fun, The Last Guardian wastes its original story and charming creature under clunky controls, questionable design, and poor technical performance.
Somewhere underneath the broken gameplay and terrible camera controls lies a lot of potential for a great game.
The Last Guardian is an interesting and frustrating game that can't decide if it wants to be modern or retro, and that constant argument brings the entire experience down a notch.
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.
The world is stunning, the bond between the boy and Trico is a beautiful example of love and friendship, and the story is gripping, it's just a shame there are so many technical issues holding it back.
Despite the myriad issues that crop up to mar the experience, when everything is going off without a hitch The Last Guardian is a breathtaking adventure that deserves to be played. It's just a shame the many beautiful moments found within this package are buried under some antiquated and ill-conceived mechanics that make much of this 12-hour journey feel more like work than play. Still, if you're willing to weather the storm in order to witness one of the more touching tales to ever grace the medium, The Last Guardian is worth adding to your collection.
While the story and emotional aspects of The Last Guardian are outstanding, they're regularly hampered by gameplay issues.
An amusing journey with beautiful moments in a mysterious world that keeps you wondering. But as you progress the story, things will start feeling tedious as you spend most of your time just climbing and walking around without a real challenge, especially since the same mechanics are used over and over. Compared to its predecessors, it has the elements that made them special, but the flaws that prevents it from being as good.
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I feel like the product was branded and shipped to market "as is" to try and get what they could off of a lost and dead project. It's still worth a play, but definitely wait until the price drops or just borrow it from a friend.