VISUAL - 5 out of 5
CONTENT - 5 out of 5
AUDIO - 5 out of 5
CONTROL - 5 out of 5
Developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, The Last Of Us is a visceral, dark, human narrative on "life after death", so to speak.
We start in rural Texas. A simple man and single father of an auspicious and witty daughter enjoy an evening in. Only these two have no idea the chaos and insanity that has already started plaguing their town.....and the rest of the country for that matter. Waking up with anarchy on the rise and attempting to flee your home sounds like a good idea until fatal consequences befall you and yours.
20 yrs. have passed since that day and we open again with Joel. A man like many others just trying to survive in a world that has turned in on itself. Segregated colonies, factions and normal people are in a constant state of panic and general malaise. By way of unfortunate events and a little bit of back-stabbing, you are forced into taking on a mission in order to get back what's yours. Your mission is simple (or so it seems). Ellie. One boisterous and foul mouthed pre-teen needs to be escorted across the rot and ruin that is 2033 USA. Outside the safety of one of many secure compounds, you must brave humans that have been infected with the Cordyceps Fungus (essentially really badass zombies), looters, cannibals and every other psycho that has chosen to live outside the safe walls. Sounds simple enough. Right?
VISUAL
The Last of Us is one of the most stunningly gorgeous games I have played this console generation. Seems fitting it be so as we are on the break of the next generation. Its almost a love letter to gamers and a great send off for the PS3. Everywhere you look there is something to discover. The level of detail attached to this title from the visual standpoint cannot even really be compared to any other survival/horror game or most other games from this or many previous years. Cities have been overgrown with plant life. Cars and homes are abandoned. Even being a linear game, the hard work and detail given toward creating these environments, suspends your disbelief and allows you to enjoy the massive scale and overwhelming flood of emotions the developers wanted to portray. Its really a marvel what Naughty Dog was able to accomplish with only half their team in the mix. You really have to see for yourself.
CONTENT
This masterpiece plays out like a movie. Much as Playstations other exclusive titles in the Uncharted series. Although where Uncharted is a light hearted and playful excursion, The Last of Us is the polar opposite. The sense of dread that one encounters here is unparallelled. The scarcity of ammunition and supplies has been done before, but for me has never hit the mark as this game has. Not only is ammo in short supply, but the impact of using it on the characters really makes you feel the pain of taking a life. AI characters truly push every emotion you would expect in any given situation. An AI system Naughty Dog has dubbed "Balance of Power" allows your enemies to react accordingly to your every move. From taking one hostage at gunpoint and the others trying to talk you down to running out of ammo, them hearing that dreaded "click" and yelling "HE'S OUT!!!! GET HIM!!!" and following through.
The game makes Joel and Ellie vulnerable. Of course you can take a moderate amount of damage, but you aren't a super human. This is where crafting comes into play. Along your adventure you happen upon supplies such as lighter fluid, liquor bottles, cloth and other such items that can be used to make Molotov cocktails, medical wraps, bombs, etc. Also there are crafting tables strategically set through the world where you can modify your permanent weapons cache for larger clip sizes and reload times and those temporary items such as a bat, 2x4 or lead pipe can be modified. For example, nails for the end of your bat and other fun stuff.
The part about what they've slapped on the table that I love is real-time inventory. Not unlike in Dead Space, accessing your guns and supplies is done on the fly. You really have to make sure you are safe in order to heal or craft because you can be attacked while doing so. This adds so much to game play in that you almost always have to be looking over your shoulder. Another gem and probably my favourite is Ellie. So many games I've played with an almost incomprehensibly useless AI "side kick" are wiped from memory with her. Although not always, Ellie attempts to distract enemies and even attack them to help you out of a bind. Also done in a very human way, as Ellie acts and reacts as a girl her age would in these situations, but with a level of maturity and confidence as the game progresses.
AUDIO
The soundtrack, although tepid at times serves more to the ambiance of your surroundings. There really aren't big flamboyant scores that you would find in most titles, which actually serves the game very well. Its more of a compliment to the immense size of the world, allowing what you see to impact you. A larger score I believe would have taken a lot of the fear and uneasiness that is prevalent throughout. More emphasis was spent on the interactions between the characters and their relationships along with the world that encompasses them.
Naughty Dog has the right, and to me, the only formula for an immersive single player experience. Taking the time and effort to mokap the actors while they play out the scene is a lot of work, hence why others don't do it. Also hence why others aren't winning awards on every title released. (not to mention the sick bank they're pullin) The voice acting in Last of Us is excruciatingly professional and real and has me gripped to their every word. The writing and delivery with this development team and their actors is always on key and is relatable in almost every sense. Lets just say that I was drawn in and completely invested in The Last of Us before the title came up on the screen. That opening segment had me from the start.
CONTROL
The game play for those who have played the other Naughty Dog games is fairly similar to Uncharted, but tweaked and perfected. I never felt a loss of control over Joel and Ellie. The combat and cover system were highly intuitive and flows so well that it allows you to focus more on your objective and less on whether the enemy can see you or not. If I have one complaint, it would be with Ellie in cover. It's really just more of a nit pick, but in cover situations for the most part Ellie sticks right with you. Sometimes not. I had a few moments behind cover where she is around the cover in plain sight of the enemy. Luckily, the AI is focused on you so it doesn't matter if they see her. That was kind of a let down, but really didn't really negatively affect my experience too much. I actually thought it would have been sweet if AI stumbled upon Ellie and maybe held HER at gunpoint. Maybe making ME talk HIM down. A quick time event where she punches him in the nuts and I have a second to take him out or he kills her.
Overall, the controls were flawless and fun. I just really wish there was more. I think I'll have to play it again!
OVERALL RATING - ANOTHER 5 OUT OF 5
WAY TO GO NAUGHTY DOG!!!KEEP IT COMIN!!!
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