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Trico's size and agility allow it to reach areas that the boy cannot reach alone, and fight off guards who attempt to capture the boy. The boy can climb on structures, carry objects such as barrels, and operate mechanisms such as levers. The name of the creature, Trico ( トリコ, Toriko), can be taken to mean "prisoner" ( 虜, toriko), "baby bird" ( 鳥の子, tori no ko), or a portmanteau of "bird" ( 鳥, tori ) and "cat" ( 猫, neko). The player controls an unnamed boy who must cooperate with a half-bird-half-mammal creature to solve puzzles and explore areas. Like its predecessors Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005), The Last Guardian is a third-person game that combines action-adventure and puzzle elements. Upon release, it received praise for its art direction, story, and depiction of Trico, though some criticized the gameplay. The Last Guardian was reintroduced at E3 2015.
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Ueda and GenDesign remained as creative consultants, with Ueda as director and Sony's Japan Studio handling technical development. It suffered numerous delays Ueda and other Team Ico members departed Sony, forming the studio GenDesign, and hardware difficulties moved the game to the PlayStation 4 in 2012, drawing speculation that the game would not see release. Sony announced The Last Guardian at E3 2009 with a planned release in 2011 for the PlayStation 3. He employed the "design through subtraction" approach he had used for his previous games, removing elements that did not contribute to the core theme of the connection between the boy and Trico.
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It was designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, and shares stylistic, thematic, and gameplay elements with his previous games, Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005). Team Ico began developing The Last Guardian in 2007. Players control a boy who befriends a giant half-bird, half-mammal creature, Trico.
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The Last Guardian is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and GenDesign and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4.
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