4/5 ★ – jake84's review of The Last Guardian.

Waaaaaaaay better than the initial critical reaction indicated. And of course, if it receives 82 percent on Metacritic, then binary gamers of course write it off as “WORST game ever!” No, it’s not on par with flat-out masterpieces ICO or Shadow of The Colossus, but I wasn’t expecting that. But truthfully, it’s not that far from it. And it’s the organic progression and spiritual successor to those aforementioned games - a natural sequel, containing elements of both titles, feeling like a hybrid of ICO and Colossus. It’s the team work/ puzzle aspect and environments of ICO combined with one of the colossi from, well, Colossus. This colossi, luckily, you don’t have to kill. I like how intuitive the controls are and just how slow the responses are. Sure, it’s testing my patience at times, but in a good way; it makes the creature, Trico, feel even more like a living thing as the bond develops. Of course the creature wouldn’t just respond automatically and swiftly, just as training your dog is slow process (and in the case of cats, an impossible one). Trico has to trust The Unnamed One; it’s a relationship that evolves, it’s character development. It’s the very point and essense of the game. And I think most people missed this point. I like games that demand patience. I can’t remember the last time I felt such attachment to a sidekick. Fuck it, I’m not getting a corgi. I’m getting Trico or whatever that thing is called. It’s one of the most “real” characters I’ve seen in a game. The animations are stellar and add to the feel of the characters being alive and real - it’s like watching a great animated film most of the time. Fumito Ueda is like the Miyazaki of video games. The music by Furukawa is effective, the visual side and environments are breathtaking, and some of the traversal made me audibly gasp, because it’s so intense and a single miscalculation can send you plunging into the abyss. The puzzles here are sometimes a little underexplained, but throughout the entire game I only think they went overboard with the difficulty three or four times. But the action setpieces more than make up for it. They are really spectacular, and emotionally enganging. I can understand why people think the controls are unresponsive and that the camera is clunky. But I think they are missing out on a piece of art. That’s three for three from Ueda. Can’t wait to see what he does next. And be sure to stick around after the credits on the title menu for a few minutes...