The Last of Us
Gameplay - 10
Presentation - 10
Story/Creativity - 10
Lifespan - 10
10
The Last of Us serves as a fitting end of Naughty Dogs outstanding catalogue of the PlayStation 3 cycle. It is very different than any game they have made before, a more mature approach with a realistic feel which has come off as their best game yet. It intrigues me just what wonders they will do for the next generation console, the Playstation 4.
The Last of Us Community Page
The Last of Us is nothing short of sheer brilliance in quality and providing an unforgettable, intense experience that is fitting for the PS3’s closure to its generation.
Certainly The Last of Us has been right up there with the most anticipated games for 2013. I personally have been most eager to finally get my hands on Naughty Dog’s latest game and lets not forget new IP.
Not only is it pleasing to have a new IP but the Last of Us is vastly different to Naughty Dog’s previous titles. Where Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter and even Uncharted were quite light in their tones, here we have a very mature and serious approach which is unbelievably tense from start to end.
The Last of Us plot is not a unique one, but told exceptionally well. An infectious virus has broken out causing those infected to go insane and create mass killing sprees. You play as Joel, a pretty typical man and father who seems like a guy who could handle himself. The beginning plays out just before the outbreak occurs, and once it happens it is quite a rush.
I thought it was a great idea to begin the game before the pandemic happened. It starts off nice and innocent and then once it all breaks loose, it feels realistic like we are right there – a part of it all. It serves as a beginning to the nightmare we are going to endure.
I could elaborate on the story and mention where our secondary character Ellie comes in, but I would rather have you, the gamer, experience it all unspoiled. The Last of Us plays out like an incredible realistic adventure and does not rush out on all the details. It is a patient game and telling you any more than the basic plot would ruin it.
Suffice to say the storytelling and pacing is just as amazing as the Uncharted series. As I mentioned earlier though, the themes are very different, in all aspects. While Uncharted had plenty of humour to guide us the way, The Last of Us plays out very serious and intense with more survival horror than simple adventuring.
Shooting should be your last resort
Survival is nature in The Last of Us. There are few weapons at your disposal with very scarce ammo, however there is loot to found on your travels. Your best weapon here will be your brain and thinking how to tackle situations where you will need to decide on the best approach whether that be avoiding, using stealth, causing distractions or by using your rare ammo when it is absolutely needed.
Our main protagonist, Joel, is not the toughest hero we would like, he is very human and the game treats him like one. You have a health bar which does not regenerate and even though Joel is quite capable, handling multiple foes at once will be a problem. The Last of Us is very realistic in this way, you want to deal with one enemy at time, and ideally as quiet as possible not to alert anyone else.
Such weapons and tools you can find along the way are a handful of guns, although ammo is so scarce you will not feel too powerful, even with one. Bars and baseball bats can be used for melee combat although they only have limited use because of durability. Joel can use bottles and bricks to distract enemies to create a pathway. A ‘listen mode’ ability Joel has allows him to see enemies’ location through walls but only if they make noise, it is extremely helpful to say the least.
Stealth should be your first option
You will also pickup supplies which you can craft into items such as health kits or weapons, but choose wisely because they both have the same materials required. Joel will craft items in real time but will take several seconds to create so make sure you are in a safe area before starting.
All the game mechanics are built around survival. The idea is to use as less resources as possible while taking down or avoiding any foe in your path. The terrifying infected will kill Joel instantly if they manage to see and bite him. The Human enemies will try to flank you if they know your location so it is wise to stay in stealth for long as possible. It is all very satisfying because it fits the theme of The Last of Us; it is all about survival with the bare minimum.
You will be travelling across a war torn pandemic world which is a gritty and dark yet still fills with vibrant light and colour. The visuals are nothing short of spectacular, and no surprise really – it is a Naughty Dog game after all. What stood out to me was the effects such as the rain, splashing down on the windows, sun light beams when outside, particles and dust when indoors and more.
Another beautiful day awaits!
From character shadows on the walls, to every small detail around you – Naughty Dog just knows how to push the PlayStation 3 to its full potential. It all runs smooth and seamless too, it just makes the world feel realistic and believable. No doubt The Last of Us is up there as the finest looking game for this generation.
The sound design, not surprisingly, is outstanding. The characters voicework is amazing conveying with such a great deal of emotion and feeling, we are totally drawn in and the many tear-jerking moments during the game. The soundtrack is very dramatic with vibrant sound effects and infected screams are nothing short of terrifying and with the uncompressed 7.1 surround sound.
The Last of Us is quite a difficult game, so expect to die a lot. But fortunately a forgiving checkpoint will get you trying once again. It is a survival game not an action game, so the key to succeeding here is patience. The idea is to think and plan ahead and not resort to using your precious ammo unless you absolutely need to. I found this to be brilliant.
The single player campaign is amazing but The Last of Us comes with Multiplayer as well. While it is not overly extensive it is a nice added bonus to an already well exceedingly awesome game. Your have team based play with two factions and two modes: Supply Run and Survivor mode.
Survivor mode is the pretty typical run and gun mode whereas Supply Run is about collecting supplies for your team, where you can craft items. You can customise and of course there is the standard progression level table. It is pretty small but it serves as an offset from the survival in single player mode where you can run and gun around here in Multiplayer.
