A playable version of Sony's The Last Guardian still hasn't emerged, but the game did make an unusual appearance at the Tokyo Game Show...
NewsThe on-again, off-again history of The Last Guardian barely needs repeating. It's enough to say that fans of designer Fumito Ueda's earlier games, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, have been waiting a long time for his latest title - eight years and counting, to be precise.
But just when things looked particularly black for The Last Guardian, good news emerged. Sony revealed in June that the fantasy action puzzler was back in the works again, and that it's due for release in 2016.
It was widely hoped that The Last Guardian would make a prominent appearance at the Tokyo Game Show, which is currently underway, and that - finally - a public, playable demo would emerge. Instead, Sony's presented visitors to the expo with something far more unusual: in essence, a projector screen approximately 12 feet tall.
At first glance, it all seems a bit disappointing. Instead of a proper demonstration of the game itself, we get a full-frontal shot of Trico, the towering, gryphon-like creature that is The Last Guardian's focus. But then you realize that Trico's responding to the visitor in the foreground. As she picks up a red beach ball, Trico acts first with confusion, then curiosity.
It's a demonstration of the detail and effort that has gone into the creature's character animation. The Last Guardian's a hybrid of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, in that it's a platform game with a giant creature in it. But this time, that creature is your ally, just like Yorda, the ghostly girl in Ico, or Agro, your horse in Colossus. The aim, clearly, is to make Trico feel like a living, breathing animal that you'll come to both respect and care for.
Looking at the video below, it looks as though they've managed it. If anything horrible happens to Trico in the finished game, we'll be quietly weeping into our hats.
More news on The Last Guardian as it comes in.
