I love this game, but it's a love that will gradually build over time. My biggest problem with this game comes from a first playthrough experience. The maps are huge and extremely well designed but many are a major challenge to solve that derive not from skill or intuition but of obtuse trial and error. You better be looking EVERYWHERE you can conceivably go and make sure to thoroughly hover over walls, cause you may need to find a wall safe with a destination that has zero elaboration within the mission. If it does, you better also make sure to retain the information from every unassuming tome you come across cause it may allude to where it lies while still being cryptic.

Sometimes things aren't that difficult to find or solve and the distinction that's made from those experiences is what separates a cohesive and amazing stealth experience and one of frustration and backtracking in massive labyrinthian stages. The halting of progress is a massive pain, but I won't deny it's one that makes for a unique aesthetic experience. You're not a highly paid spy provided with compensation and assistance by your employers. You're a thief and you have to make do with what you get your hands on. I just think the translation of the idea to the gameplay doesn't always work.

Which brings me to why I love this game despite that. Replaying the game, knowing what to do will be a whole new experience. The open stages that provide nonlinear approach to progress, all the various tools and obscure sequence breaking methods create a game that's so ridiculously rich it's mind blowing this came out when it did. The fact that there's a fanmade mode where people beat stages without attacking or even being HEARD is a testament to how brilliant this game can be. You can also suck like me and be discovered frequently past the first few stages and end up being forced to kill most enemies. Catching a glimpse of how expertly you can play this game really gives me hope to eventually reach that level someday though. I feel like the more combat I get into, the more I'm being held up by cryptic progression the less I'm getting out of the game. If you're seriously good at this game it seems so fucking addictingly good and I hope someday I can reach that level.

Isn't it weird how Wario became the face of experimental platforming in the Mario franchise? Really he's just evil Mario, yet he undeniably struck a chord so hard with some people that the indie hit Pizza Tower would eventually come to be.

There's something about this game's sense of progression that's so quaint and approachable yet respectably intricate. Any side scroller on an 8-bit handheld had to ultimately have smaller levels due to the small screen size. If you wanted big character models that was the necessary sacrifice. Wario Land 3 manages to do a great job at finding a middle ground. The camera movement, Wario's move speed and the overall level size is more than enough for you to always wonder "what's over there?" while still keeping your eyes on the goal.

What I love about Wario Land 3 that's different to other Metroidvanias is how much it highlights the acquisition of power ups. Every power up feel like natural improvements, like you're reacquiring the moves that you once should have had. At the same time it's not preventing you from having fun early on. While it may be somewhat disappointing to some people that ultimately the way forward is linear, it means level design is always balanced around what your moveset is at that point. Thus, you'll never feel that the game is either too easy or too hard due to the state of your moveset.

One of the big points of criticism here is something I actually never got. You get hit, you don't take damage and you'll never die. Instead the game's built around the idea of being "sent back," as in a puzzle or platforming segment to reach a treasure key or chest may have a hazard or jump that if met with will require you to repeat it again. I think this actually helps the game in multiple ways, some of which aren't immediately obvious.

This is what defines Wario Land 3's atmosphere. Have you ever died in a dream? Some may have "felt" that experience but unless you actually did (in which case you can't answer this rhetorical question anyway) you'll always wake up after it. This game takes place in what's essentially a dream world, and while the aesthetic isn't nearly as striking as a game that intentionally plays into it like Ico or Klonoa do it still remains one all the same. Being able to enter a level, deciding which treasure chest to go for, how many M Coins you want, or not even knowing if there's anything to get here leaves you with one resounding feeling - You can take it at any pace you like. You have the ability to just enjoy the music, the serene atmosphere of a night time stage's pleasant colour palette or the golf minigames if you're feeling burnt out by a difficult platforming section that keeps punishing you. The lack of dying doesn't hurt the game, if anything it's a memorable part of Wario's identity.

Is Wario Land 3 hard? Honestly I don't know, I played this game as a child so many times it's all hardwired in my brain now. But every time I play it I still have a lot of fun. Wario's just too much fun to control and it's why I've always been a little bitter on the Warioware games. I just want more of these, dammit. Forget 5, make Wario Land 10. I'll play 6 more of these for god's sake.

This is a game that's, in my opinion, a would-be masterpiece hurt by minor problems that are turned major by being so vital to the experience.

I get that there's something to be said about the loss of subtlety with narration compared to Ico and SotC. At first it threw me off a little too, but really it's not nearly as bad as it initially leads you to believe. There's a lot of narration early on to help ease the player into its environment based puzzle platforming, something that shouldn't be new for an Ico or SotC player but will take some time getting used to for a first timer. These games might follow a template that games like Uncharted began to use in the 2010's but the difference is how it's based less on momentum and more on intuition. The Last Guardian isn't going to lay out a pathway that's plainly apparent to follow. Much like in Ico, it uses simplicity as a strength rather than a crutch for lazy design.

When it comes down to it, level design is very basic but you have to pay attention to your environment to find anything that appears off. And this isn't finding the colour coded ledge or rock to climb, though sometimes it may be. That's actually what makes this game so clever. Very infrequently that will be the way forward and it'll condition you to think about the environment like that, and it's not always the wrong approach. You're truly rummaging through dinghy remains of a kingdom of titanic proportions, attempting to find anything that will help you or Trico forward.

Which brings me to the complaint everyone has, that is Trico himself. I hate to agree with the majority here, cause the visual storytelling of Trico and the boy is truly something special. And it's why I have to criticise the volatile AI and control of Trico. While I do think it's not quite as bad as people say most of the time, it's bad enough in some areas that it can make the game miserable to play. Trying to get this bastard to swim underwater unironically took me 15 minutes. Just think about that for a second. This game is pretty slow paced and a heavily atmospheric reliant experience, but imagine playing any other game where you reach an underwater gate you have to swim through to progress and it takes you 15 fucking minutes whether because the mechanics are so cripplingly problematic or because someone takes the controller out of your hand and counts every tedious second in your face.

Thing is, I get not everyone will have the same trouble with swimming that I did. But if it's not the swimming sections then it's trying to get Trico to find a platform to jump onto, or making his tail come towards you so you can climb it, or Trico just jumping all over the place just cause he feels like it. One time he actually got lost and I didn't even know where he went, it took me like 5 minutes to find him.

It sounds almost funny and akin to something like having a pet of your own, and to an extent I can understand why some people even defend this when I look at it like that. It is true that Trico becomes more responsive as the game goes on and it's true that when he cooperates with you this game is really awesome. I'm more of an Ico guy than SotC so I love the increased focus on platforming and level design. It's just that I can't ignore that the moment Trico's being an asshole and making the process take WAY longer than it needs to I'm taken out of the experience. In that sense it's like a real pet being obnoxious and you're trying to get its attention or calm it down. I love him so much and I love the bond you create over this journey but god he frustrated me to no end sometimes.

A more generic criticism I have which would be easily fixable with a good port (or emulation) is this game runs like ass. It barely meets the stable 30fps cut most of the time. And yeah, I get Ico and SotC aren't immune to this either, but it doesn't matter nearly as much in those. Maybe I'm being a purist here, but Ico's dated albeit charming visuals don't need that improved framerate. It'd be a whole lot better sure, but none of the platforming or combat demands enough of you for it to affect your skill expression. SotC I can contest that this criticism is equally relevant, though even so it still hits 60fps pretty often. The distinction here is that The Last Guardian dips below 30fps often. VERY often. There's a few sections in the last third of the game that probably dip down to 10fps and one of them requires you to jump platform to platform to avoid an instant death. It's not hard, but it feels like hell to play in that moment.

Anyway I'm not gonna go too much further into this, I just wanted to get this off my chest. I really did like this game and I'm super happy to have completed the Team ICO trilogy. It's just sad that this game should be fucking amazing. The things that hold it back aren't the level design, the combat or the soundtrack. It's things that could've even been patched. That's why this game needs a port so badly. Give it an unlimited framerate treatment and let the fans fix the AI with a mod. Make that happen and this may be my favourite Team ICO game.