Last month, SIE Japan Studio unveiled their long (and I mean
really long) awaited follow-up to the 2006 PS2 classic Shadow of the Colossus – spiritual successor The Last Guardian for the PS4. For those unfamiliar with
videogames, this might mean nothing, but the fact is that this game was in
development for almost a decade. Like Ico
and SotC, The Last Guardian convincingly draws you into a mythical realm with
its own individualistic tone, setting and ambience. Naturally, due to the
game’s production hell, the game itself had ironically become something of a
myth itself; it almost seemed as though its release was never going to arrive,
and the moment it did, it was obvious that it would arouse disappointment, no
matter how finely tuned the final product was. It was initially planned for
release on the PS3 in 2011, but hardware issues caused it to be delayed until
technological advancements allowed for the game’s creative scope. Of course,
it’s an ambitious game, as with Team Ico’s previous releases, but with ambition
comes flaws, and it was unfortunately the flaws that people tended to focus on,
which is somewhat understandable considering the time it took to get this game
out on the shopfloor.
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| The Last Guardian, SIE Japan Studio, 2016 |
But I get the feeling a lot of people are missing the point.
Sure, the controls can be frustrating, and perhaps not as ‘fluid’ as many
people were expecting; but in a sense I think that is part of the appeal. I
felt the same way about SotC. This
game has an interesting story to it, as well as an intriguing set-up. The game
sees you slay colossi – giant creatures roaming an otherwise barren wasteland –
in order to revive a dead girl at a temple altar. You’re told nothing else, and
the mystery surrounding the plot gradually unfolds as you progress – even by
the conclusion you’re not *entirely* certain what the hell just happened. But
still, despite its critical acclaim, gamers nonetheless expressed
dissatisfaction with the game’s controls and the lack of any interesting
gameplay between the boss battles. In my mind, however, these people seem to be
missing the point. Sure, it’s not for everybody, and yes, you need a lot of
patience for it, but I get the impression that it’s *supposed* to be frustrating.
Without frustration, there’s no sense of cathartic release, and no sense of
moral upset come the finish line. The game achieves two things – it manages to
be both ambitious in scope, but also fairly minimalist. This sounds
contradictory, but once you actually play it for yourself, you’ll see what I’m
talking about. The fact that there’s no other tasks to complete might seem
tedious to some, but it adds to the ambience, and it therefore does not risk
distracting you from the game’s primary objective.
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| Shadow of the Colossus, Team Ico, 2006 |
Now, I’m not going to praise this game any more than this.
It is a great game, truly, but there’s not much else to say besides what’s
already been said over the course of the last decade. But artistically, it’s
not my absolute favourite. I think that title has to go to Clover Studio’s Okami (2006). This game was perhaps the
first game I played that I felt bore some merit for its artistic nuances and
idiosyncratic visuals. Being a PS2 game, it risked being restrained by the
console’s limitations, but the developers instead used this to their advantage
and based the game’s graphics on Japanese ink wash paintings, enabling them to
increase the game’s scope and length. This is also appropriate considering the
main appeal of the game is the utilisation of a ‘Celestial Brush’, which innovatively
permits the drawing (and conjuring) of certain items and elements; for example,
painting a circle in the sky makes the sun appear, making it daytime, while two
vertical lines make it rain. The game is also based on Japanese mythology, and
a great deal of research has gone into capturing the look and feel of authentic,
traditional Japanese culture. It is truly an epic of a game – perhaps *too*
epic for some, though I actually like a lengthy, open-world game in which I can
become fully invested. Is it perfect? No. But then, what is? The voices – which
are essentially comprised of digitised garbled gibberish – take some getting
used to, but they’re not overly annoying, and some argue that the game is a tad
derivative, bearing some similarity to the Zelda
series. Personally, I think this is a bit of an unfair criticism
considering the game’s innovation outside of its structural resemblance – and besides,
let’s face it, a good many videogames are going to seem similar in structure
because, as with any media, there’s now a procedural layout by which we judge
each new product. Even SotC abides by
a strictly linear narrative, no matter how conceptually innovative it is. Though
Okami is often cited as *one of* the
greatest PS2 videogames, it is seldom regarded as the very best, with SotC usually taking the lead. I might be
of a dissenting opinion, but the fact is, Okami
is the only videogame I have ever become emotionally invested in – and this
is nothing to do with graphical capabilities, but story.
Even after all these years, despite these games and the
acclaim they have subsequently garnered, the gaming universe is seldom seen to
bear artistic value – which is particularly strange since a great deal of
videogames play out like an interactive, cinematic feature film. One of the
many aspects that is worth noting in The
Last Guardian is its attention to detail, its realistic movements and
atmosphere – something the original SotC can
no longer compete with due to a frankly erratic framerate. As much as I like
it, SotC is perhaps the most dated of
these three games, not because it’s in any way a ‘lesser’ game, but because the
PS2 cannot possibly convey something as impressively as a PS4. But Okami contrarily stands the test of time
– it’s certainly no less engaging than it was ten years ago. Will The Last Guardian maintain the same kind
of lasting appeal? Only time will tell.
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| Okami HD, Capcom, 2012 |
Image Sources:
The Last Guardian - E3 2015 Trailer|PS4 (PlayStation) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXLZvsSmBIs
Shadow of the Colossus PlayStation 2 Review - Video Review (IGN) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT-5pSTzRY4
Okami (2006) - Clover Studio, Capcom.
Okami HD reveal trailer (Capcom Unity) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRYEFzAY8w
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