With Shadow of the Colossus and ICO, Fumito Ueda has risen to the rank of the great gentlemen of video games by offering an approach that is singularly different from other games on the market. True invitations to travel, these works have established themselves as true video game masterpieces. A bet that Ueda-san and his teams are once again trying to meet with The Last Guardian, Sony Interactive Entertainment's biggest Arlesian, after Final Fantasy XV of course. An unbearable wait that many hope will be rewarded with an adventure that will mark them for the rest of their life as a player. Good news, the first seconds of The Last Guardian plunge us directly into the heart of the matter, and the notes that reach our ears promise a dreamlike atmosphere from start to finish. The journey begins when the young boy wakes up in a cave and discovers Trico for the first time. This meeting really marks the beginning of our story and illustrates, in a few seconds, the complexity of the relationship to come between the two characters. Indeed, after waking up, you discover the beast wounded and completely frightened by your presence, like a dog discovering an unknown person for the first time. The tension is palpable and the feeling of having to tame the beast that seems to be dying comes quickly. As with any animal, the best solution is therefore to find food in order to gain its trust. A harmless action but which perfectly illustrates the rest of the adventure where the complicity between man and animal will be the main engine of your progress. Once the beast has been fed, you can finally handle it and climb on it to remove the few stakes planted in its skin. Once this operation is complete and the creature is freed, your adventure really begins. After leaving the cave, you discover the ruins of a very old temple which seems totally uninhabited.
The Last Guardian. The game offers an unforgettable journey marked by this endearing and strong relationship between the hero and Trico.
This is basically the starting point that does not currently reveal any clue as to the reason for your presence in the temple, or even the origin of Trico. Like our hero, the player also discovers the surroundings without the slightest hint, and then it becomes necessary to stop regularly to scan the scenery and find a path that will allow us to continue our exploration. Indeed, the game relies above all on discovery and frees itself from complex gameplay to offer itself in its simplest device, by only offering us control of the young boy. So don't expect to be able to perform a thousand and one actions, since the player can only jump, cling, pick up objects or activate mechanisms. If for some games it is important to have deep and subtle mechanics, The Last Guardian is betting on minimalism in order to put some pressure on the player who finds himself as "fragile" as the young boy. But in addition to amplifying this feeling of weakness, the game system manages to perfectly serve the exploration side of the title where each obstacle crossing gives the player a feeling of joy as certain passages can be complicated. The Last Guardian is undeniably one of those titles where you have to be patient, and players who love excessive action scenes will undoubtedly be confused during their first game. Indeed, the character controls invite you to move sparingly in order to avoid jumping a few centimeters next to a ledge or a rope. At first glance, the controls seem really clumsy, but yet, after a few misfires and smashed controllers against the wall, we quickly realize that this is all part of Fumito Ueda's plan to amplify this vulnerability. Each action must be considered and the player must constantly analyze the situation before taking a risk that could be fatal. Fortunately, we can also count on Trico and its agility to allow us to reach places that are theoretically accessible. From then on, The Last Guardian takes a completely different turn, and this time, the player must deal with a living creature whose actions do not depend on him.
TRICO, MAN'S BEST FRIEND
Gigantic, the beast proves to be a valuable ally capable of telling you where to go when you are lost. But failing to act as a tourist guide, Trico is also a removable decorative element that allows you to reach certain areas by climbing on its back. Of course, it is an animal, and like any wild being, you will have to deal with the behavior of the beast. To do this, you can give him orders by pressing R1 + Cross, Square, Circle and Triangle. Each key allows you to order Trico not to move, to attack, or even to jump. As with your character, the control of the beast remains very approximate since it is a question here of taming a living being endowed with its own will. Once again, the player will have to be patient to achieve his ends, and you will often find yourself cursing at Trico, the latter having decided to do as he pleases. But here too, what might seem like a technical flaw is in fact only a means of emphasizing the importance of the relationship between the young boy and the beast. As with a dog, Trico is a living being that requires patience and calm to listen. The relationship between our two protagonists then becomes the central engine of the adventure and very quickly, we find ourselves looking behind us to check that our companion is following us. A reassuring presence, especially when we find ourselves faced with armor possessed by a strange force and which seem to protect the temple in which we are lost. Indeed, our hero is unable to fight and only Trico will be able to overcome the enemies who are in their way. Very quickly, our dependence on the creature is felt, and we almost want to stay comfortably installed on its back. However, systematically calling on its services will not always be the solution.
The Last Guardian doesn't boast the most impressive achievement. In fact, the game still bears the scars of its passage on PS3, and we really expected something much more beautiful visually.
Indeed, Trico will count on us when it comes to sneaking through spaces too narrow for him, or when it comes to feeding him. In addition, although he is able to defeat his enemies with a single claw, stained glass with an eye in the center act as a real foil for the beast which refuses to advance too close to them. It is therefore up to you to manage to reach these stained glass windows and destroy them in order to reassure him and make him want to continue moving forward. Some passages will even give players cold sweats who will let themselves be totally carried away by the endearing relationship of the two characters, since it happens that we have to abandon Trico while the latter finds himself unable to move against the enemy. Regarding the clashes, although our hero cannot attack, you can still count on a small shield to project a light telling Trico to shoot energy balls with his tail. The player must therefore be just as active as his partner to help him when certain guards begin to surround him. In addition, you will not always have to rely on Trico to help you, since some enemies will fall on you while you are alone. If they are infrequent, these moments turn out to be very tense, we do not hide it from you. Luckily the guards aren't butchers either and are just out to catch you; you can still struggle through the buttons on the controller to free yourself from their grip.
THE TEMPLE GUARDIAN
On paper, all the elements mentioned above could seem basic for much more nervous games in terms of action. However, the real difficulty of the title lies in your ability to manage. The Last Guardian frees itself from lengthy tutorials to simply show you the few actions that your character can perform. The design of the levels pushes us to explore the world around us as if it were completely lost. Some will no doubt be hermetic to this approach, while others will get caught up in the game. And when you get hooked, you have to admit that it's hard to stop. The relationship between Trico and our hero quickly takes us to the guts and each separation creates a void but also a tension due to the extreme weakness of our hero. On the other hand, if our progress will allow us to learn more about the origins of the beast and the reason for our meeting, you should not expect to discover all the mysteries of the abandoned city; and as a simple lost traveler, you won't learn anything more than what your character will see. Finally, the place remains full of mystery and the simple discovery of new environments is enough to amaze us and make us want to reach the end of the story. The Last Guardian manages to transport us throughout the adventure thanks to its poetry and its emotionally charged universe while developing a very special relationship between Trico and our hero. The only small regret could come from our excessive dependence on our companion, the game occasionally asking the player to let go of his controller to let Trico act on its own. A defect amplified by the lack of clues to access certain places, which explains why we often rely on the creature so that it finds the solution. Apart from these small flaws, The Last Guardian manages to offer us an exciting story, where images are always stronger than words.
Finally, the biggest flaw of The Last Guardian remains its camera which turns out to be very capricious.
After having required ten years of development, The Last Guardian does not display the most impressive achievement. In fact, the game still bears the scars of its passage on PS3, and we really expected something much more beautiful visually. Because on the side of the artistic direction, Fumito Ueda and the Team ICO deliver here a recital of which they have the secret. The decorations hit the mark every time and the feeling of grandeur of the temple quickly makes us forget these technical shortcomings. The game is clearly not eyeing the side of photorealism, but it nevertheless manages to transpose us into its universe in an instant thanks to magnificent visuals, but also thanks to a breathtaking soundtrack. It fits perfectly with our adventure and demonstrates an exemplary balance; neither too much nor too little. If The Last Guardian suffers from a few framerate drops on classic PS4, it runs without any problem on PS4 Pro with even many additional particle effects which contribute to the magic of the show. Finally, the biggest flaw of The Last Guardian remains its camera which turns out to be very capricious. It is all the more frustrating that except for this tendency that it has to lodge against the wall to better distort the controls, it offers splendid panoramas as well as plans which invite poetry.
