The Last Guardian gets more details and screenshots

The recently-named Fumito Ueda game, The Last Guardian received some more details and in-game screenshots today, courtesy of an interview with the developer in Japan’s foremost gaming magazine, Famitsu. You can click each image for the full view.

Speaking to Famitsu, Ueda revealed the Japanese name of the game as Hito Kui no Oowashi Toriko, which means Man-Eating Eagle Toriko. Toriko can mean prisoner, a baby bird or a pairing of bird (tori) and cat (neko). He also suggested that although the beast is already giant, it may only be a baby.

“It’s important that it be a strange creature,” explained Ueda. “We made sure and not make it too balanced.” He went on to say that if they had made it a real-world creature then it would be well-known enough for people to be able to pick it apart too easily.

In The Last Guardian, players control a boy who befriends this cateagle. The pair work together to solve puzzles and fend off intruders, combining their talents to patch over individual weaknesses. The boy cannot directly control the cateagle, but can entice the beast to do things by throwing food barrels – a bit like a real person would with a cat or dog. The boy can also climb, grab things and crawl.

As you can see from the screenshots, The Last Guardian will clearly be far more technically accomplished than ICO or Shadow of the Colossus, as it’s the first of the series to be powered by PlayStation 3. The new power has allowed a full physics system, and a revamp for the AI from ICO and collision detection from SOTC. The cateagle’s feathers will also individually ruffle with the direction of the wind.

The only clue to a possible storyline comes from a Sony press release:
“Trapped in a forbidding fortress, the pair must learn to trust each other in order to find their way to freedom. Prepare to live out a fairytale with The Last Guardian – a tale like no other.”

Still no word on when the game may released, but fans will wait as long as it takes..