The Last of Us is Developed by Naughty Dogs exclusively for Sony PlayStation 3. Not to forget, Naughty Dogs first developed Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted 1,2,3 and Jak Series.
The First impressions of this game are absolutely phenomenal. The details of the game are phenomenal. Even after a few stumbles, this still one of the best games I have ever played, and the reason to buy a PlayStation 3. The outset of the game shows how all hell broke loose to cause a world spanning apocalypse, and basically drops you right into this hell as it happens and it breaks, Hard!
After this, the game fast forwards about twenty years into a world under military martial law due to the infection’s wide reaching death toll, and you find yourself dodging a terrorist attack on a military checkpoint, then a few moments later rummaging through a dellopated Boston. The environments of this post-calamity America are downright captivating, just thirty minutes into the game, and I almost forgot that I was playing a game I meant to review, and had to go back and write this.
When encounter your first enemies, the victims of the Cordycep virus, you are shown the two ways to approach combat: stealth and the run of the mill gun play of a third person shooter. Now, don’t get me wrong, the mechanics of both are fantastic, and they made shooting an actual challenge with little to no auto aim, and that is hell of challenge.
And, the game’s more dangerous adversaries, like most post apocalypse games, are other people. The combat system still holds over fairly well when the AI changes it’s tactics, and the human enemies actually flank and use cover as effectively as you in most situations.
However, it was at this point I noticed that our companion, Tess, has very poor combat AI. Consistently, she served more as an annoying meat shield than any helpful part of my strategy of bashing every single guy I could find with a brick. Moreover, she’s impassible for your character, yet she can pass through you to get to cover, which in my opinion breaks the immersion of combat.
Despite that technicality, however, the characters I encountered in my time with the Last of Us were unprecedentedly good. Tess Is probably one of the most bad ass female characters I’ve seen in a game. As awful as her AI is, she absolutely dominates every cut scene she’s in, and has the highest kill count per cut scene ratio I’ve seen in the first hour of a game. And Joel’s back story brings a dark look to an even darker world. However, in my opinion, the weakest character of the experience would have to be Ellie, whom is rather downright annoying out of cut scenes. how she constantly cursed about everything, and outside of combat complimenting every one of my kills with “Sh**, sh**, oh FU**.” and this stayed consistent all the way to the game’s finale.
Then, I hit the road block most first day players hit while playing the game, a glitch that prevented many players from auto saving, manually saving, and quitting the game. So, after an hour and fifty minutes of very, very good game play, I had to restart. Glitches are understandable for any new release, but for the people that didn’t realize this game erasing accident on Naughty Dog’s part, it’s huge. For these people, I’m sorry. However, when I restarted the game, everything worked fine again.
And the second obstacle I ran into was an invincibility glitch. In one level, you must escape from the city and are encountered by a new type of infected called a Clicker. While I was moving an obstacle, the clicker attacked me. Naturally, I shit my pants and ran for my life, only to find that every avenue of escape was blocked. So, the clicker attacked me. And attacked. And attacked. Over and over again, reload after reload I was invincible, I couldn’t figure out how, or why, but I was. So, I had to reload back away from the entire encounter.
From that point on, however, the game ran phenomenally. the story only broke pace a few times, and it was only due to the jarring difference between the cut scenes and the gameplay. At points, I found myself just trying to sprint to the next cut scenes, and dropping my controller in frustration at the challenge of enemy AI. when the gameplay feels good, its great, one of the best, but I will be one of the first to stay that I felt this game got stale in that department nearer to the end. I will be one of the many to say, however, that the story kept me there till the end.
Verdict | Rating
Quote “Great, But Not Perfect”
The Last of Us is the game we thought it would be. It’s an interpretation of what life after the death of man would be like, and it breaths new life (no pun intended) into the average fight against the undead. It is a story of survival, paternal struggle, death, and redemption. Moreover, it is a damn great game. I recommend you at the least look at it online, form your own opinions, and maybe buy it. above all, this game is..So, it’s now down to my highest points of The Last of Us:
–Phenomenal story writing. Some of the best pacing in a game.
-Outstanding visuals and environmental design
-interesting concepts and new mechanics (the way the girl moves int the car in the beginning especially)
-Well balanced action to fit most styles of play
-Great sound design and soundtrack
-Fantastically crafted multiplayer that takes the good of single player, but with friends.
-Dedicated team to fix any community problems
And the not so shinning moments:
-Glitchy out of the starting gate
-Poor allied AI
-Too high of difficulty curve at times
-A wee bit too gory at times, if you aren’t into that sorta thing
-Gameplay can get stale after prolonged play, but picks up once you return.
