If I had a shiny pound coin for every time I posted an article relating to a Team ICO game, I'd be rich. Rich I tells you! Moving past my dreams of sunning myself on Colossus-endorsed dosh on a beach in the Bahamas, this year’s Tokyo Game Show has been absolutely massive for fans of the Japanese developer. Not only have we been treated to a surprisingly upbeat new trailer for The Last Guardian, but Fumito Ueda even treated us to a quick video of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus on PS3.
First off, lets cast our peepers on some new Last Guardian-based loveliness…
Thoughts? Well, it’s all a bit surprisingly jovial and happy, ain’t it? Maybe it was the Miller’s Crossing music. Perhaps it was the fact we were convinced the colossally cuddly Trico was going to bite it come the end credits. But we were honestly expecting Guardian to follow in the melancholy size 200 footsteps left by Shadow of the Colossus. Not that we’re complaining, of course. A more upbeat adventure after Team ICO's fairly sober PS2 classics could well be a refreshing change. Even the hand-drawn Sony logo at the start of the video suggests the developer is taking itself a little less seriously this time out.
Above: D'awwwwwww, what ahandsome couple
At the TGS presentation, Fumito Ueda (the game’s director) also offered some damn tantalising nuggets of information. First off, he alluded to the dynamically changing environments, although he was understandably reluctant about giving too much away. Our take? Trico’s huge weight will most likely cause many structures in the environment to crumble and collapse (just look at the bridge near the end of the video). This will probably mean you’ll have to constantly look for new ways to traverse the environments with the boy, as the elephant in the room or… eh, huge griffin beastie, accidentally destroys potential paths.
Above: Honestly, you just can't take 50-foot long monsters anywhere these days
From the glimpses we’ve seen, it looks like the game might well be closer to ICO than Colossus in spirit. Trico may look like it has more in common with the latter’s towering beasts. But we suspect guiding it about will actually mean it’ll share more in common with ICO’s princess Yorda. At any rate, the game looks like it predominantly revolves around controlling your giant pal with food and other treats in return for it helping you to navigate the game world and also for protection against those creepy looking guards.
Above: Prepare for a twatting Mr. Guard
Also, is it us or does the creature’s size seem to alter throughout the trailer? We’ve watched it several times now and reckon you can definitely see it looking noticeably older and leaner at certain parts. This could well suggest Trico is a mere baby when the adventure begins, but quickly matures over the course of the game.
Ueda was keen to dismiss the theory that the game will end on a sad note, which probably explains the tonal shift from previous trailers. He said the relationship between the two will be uneasy at first (do we smell a buddy comedy on the cards?), but the pair would eventually form a bond. Fumito admitted there might be a link between Guardian and its PS2 predecessors. And no matter how hard we try to convince ourselves otherwise, we still think Trico and the boy could suffer a tragic fate and end up becoming Dormin/one of the first Colossi.
Above: We sense a puzzle in the offing
The animation was also given a special mention and the director seems to be dang proud of it, paying particular credit to the way characters’ eyes now convincingly convey emotion.
The bad news? Ueda admits his team is ‘aiming’ for a holiday 2011 release, which sounds horribly like an early 2012 date to us. Woah, there. Step back from that balcony. No need to do yourself in just yet, because the genius developer finally revealed a trailer for the PS3, HD remakes of ICO and Colossus…
Excitingly, he said that it wasn’t as simple as just porting the PS2 versions to PS3, which makes us think they’ve probably been buffing the textures up for our plasma tele boxes. What’s certain, though, is the frame-rate for Colossus will definitely be given a thorough work over. And Ueda is aiming to get the game running at a stable 30 fps. In other news, which is potentially so exciting you’ll suffer mild coronary failure, that, or you simply won’t give a shit; both games will support stereoscopic 3D. Yay?
Above: HD hand-holding. Surely what plama TVs were designed for?
For all those who don’t have shiny new mega TVs, just console yourself with the fact both titles will offer Trophy support, come in a single bundle and will be out in Spring 2011. Right, anyone got any ideas on how we can kill seven or eight months? Does someone have a deck of cards we can borrow?
Above: Oh God. Colossus 13 in HD. Colossus 13 in HD! Deep breaths now. Deep breaths
Hungry for some more stunning shots? Then why not visit our Last Guardian and ICO and Shadow of the Colossus: The Collection image galleries we've just handily hotlinked you towards.
Sep 16, 2010
