Could The Last Guardian Disappoint?
A playable demo of The Last Guardian at TGS is being taken for a spin by reporters from the Net’s biggest gaming websites. This is the moment we’ve been waiting ten entire years for: what’s the game LIKE? Unfortunately, they’re all coming back with the same impression: The Last Guardian is frustrating.
Neatly all of the reporters mentioned the pain of getting Trico to respond. Polygon’s Philip Kolar said. “Like a real dog, Trico often does what it wants, refusing to listen to your commands until it’s good and ready. On the one hand, there’s a clever nod to real interactions with pets there that I appreciate. On the other, jamming on a button over and over to get Trico’s attention isn’t super compelling gameplay.”
Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku said “There were times when I would gesture, holler, and clap my hands to get Trico’s attention. Most of the time he’d respond, but not always. I grew frustrated, then reminded myself that Trico was just a bird-dog thing, so I needed to be patient.”
Polygon’s writer also expressed frustration with the controls. “The protagonist doesn’t walk so much as he lurches in whichever direction you’ve pushed the analog stick. Much of the demo focuses on platforming, but his jumps have a stickiness to them, a sense of inaccuracy that could be played up as realistic weightiness in the right game but just feels frustrating here.”
The Kotaku guy was a little more forgiving of the demo’s problems. “I’d have to wait for Trico to do what was necessary to complete the puzzle, because it would follow his own logic instead of instantly listening to my demands. I wasn’t playing The Last Guardian at my own pace, but at Trico’s. I don’t know if this makes for a good game, but it did make for an interesting experience.”
The controls could be fixed by manufacturing time, but I would bet good money Trico is staying the way he is. Despite that, the reporters generally agreed Last Guardian was frustrating, but not TERRIBLE. You can decide for yourself December 6.