The Last of Us Review
A
Journalistic Review by DefiantParrot
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
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| (1) Plus I love Naughty Dog |
05/18/2017
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 3
Genre: Action-Adventure, Survival Horror
Release: June 14, 2013
During
the seventh generation of consoles, I was unfortunate enough to completely miss
the PlayStation 3. While my Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii brought me many fond
memories and I love many games from them. There were several Sony exclusives I
missed out on, thankfully with this as my new… hobby? I have an excuse to go
back and give some of these a shot. The topic of today’s discussion is probably
the last great exclusive for the Playstation 3, The Last of Us.
I remember when this game was released, everyone was talking
about it and it won many awards. This was a game many of my Sony friends
pointed to when they wanted to prove Sony’s dominance over Microsoft. While I
am no longer a mindless fanboy this is a game I’ve always wanted to try and
with the announcement of The Last of Us Part II I feel the timing couldn’t be
better. So here we go, these are my thoughts on The Last of Us.
The Last of Us is a survival horror action game set in a
world that has been torn apart. Humanity has been infected with a disease that
turns them into horrifying monsters and the military presence remaining is as
much a threat as the very monsters they protect you from.
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| (2) I relate to this man so much |
You play as Joel a man who has lost everything and has
learned to do whatever he has to do to survive no matter the cost. The opening
to this game is absolutely heartbreaking and as a father myself I wept. One day
Joel finds himself having to protect a 14 year old girl named Ellie who may be
the key to saving humanity. The story of The Last of Us depicts Joel and Ellie’s
relationship as they both endure and grow in their dangerous and grueling
journey.
First off I must say this game is absolutely gorgeous.
I’d heard this game was beautiful but my jaw dropped a few times in this game
and I asked aloud, “How did this run on the PS3?” Especially the Giraffes, this
game is awesome on that alone.
The Last of Us pushes the Playstation 3 hardware like
nothing I’ve seen before. The characters facial expressions say more than any
dialogue could, the environments can be beautiful and also dreary and
depressing.
The world of The Last of Us is a world of hardship and
horror. Everybody has lost people they loved and everything in this game
reminds you of the agonizing situation the world and everyone in it is in.
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| (3) Combat is frantic and desperate |
The Last of Us is rated Mature for a reason, this is a
very violent game in a way I haven’t really felt in a while. Everyone is brutal
and vicious in this world due to necessity. With the world gone to hell
everyone does what they have to in order to survive. And the combat in this
game accentuates that with every punch. The sound of a fist slamming into your
opponents jaw or beating their face in with a brick, my favorite part of this
game is easily the melee combat. It feels so frantic and it feels like the
characters are in absolute danger.
Staying hidden is a great way to get through these
sections and the stealth works very well. However enemies are not stupid, the
enemy AI in this game be it for human or monsters were always cunning and
deadly. The Last of Us reminds you constantly that you are in danger and you are
never safe.
All this praise goes to the gunplay as well save for a
small complaint. To level up in this game you must find basically points to use
to upgrade yourself and certain stats. One of those things you can upgrade is
weapon sway and while I may just suck, the weapon sway Joel faces at the
beginning of the game is absolutely nauseating. Joel’s gun was all over the
place to where I could barely shoot anything. Now mind you I understand Joel’s
a tired man and not a soldier in this game, but it was still frustrating until
I upgraded it.
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| (4) Clickers are the most terrifying monster in this game |
Crafting is also a big part of this game, Joel can craft
several items from parts and scrap he can collect either making a medkit or
attaching a blade to his melee weapon. The thing here is crafting and switching
weapons is all done in real time. The game does not pause to let you make a
shiv to get around that horrifying monster further promoting that feeling of
danger.
Crafting tables can be found at certain times as well to
create new holsters for guns or upgrade your firearms themselves, to make these
upgrades you must explore your surroundings and search every nook and cranny to
get what you need for these, so you are rewarded for exploring this dangerous
world.
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| (5) There are several weapons to upgrade |
Before I continue on to other aspects of this game I
enjoy, I feel I must talk about my negatives first.
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| (6) I did not care for Listen Mode |
First of all is Listen Mode. This reminded me a lot of
Batman’s Detective Mode from the Arkham series. It allows Joel and later Ellie
to listen closely and determine where enemies are located at. Now the game does
give you the option to turn this off and I played without it, on normal mode
for almost all of the game. I felt that it took away some of that nail-biting
suspense and sense of danger that I loved about this game. However it is almost
needed for a boss fight at one point in the game, and I can’t help but feel
that it was included just to use in that boss fight. It’s a small complaint I’m
aware but one I wanted to mention.
My second complaint which I will not defend, are the
water sections. Yes copying games like Ocarina of Time, The Last of Us has
several water sections in this game which are repetitive, boring, and only
serve to break up the pace of the game for me. They usually involve the same
thing, separating from Ellie, finding a conveniently placed pallet, bringing it
back to Ellie since she can’t swim and maneuvering her to an area so she can
activate something so you can both pass through.
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| (7) I hate these so damn much! |
At one point upon approaching a new flooded area with
Ellie she said aloud “Oh this thing again?” absolutely mirroring how I felt at
that moment. These were too numerous and too frustrating to find any enjoyment
from. God I hope she’s taken swimming lessons between this game and Part II.
Now as I’ve said several times Joel and Ellie travel
together and Ellie will almost always be by your side, and while I initially
groaned at this because escort missions are pretty much the pits. The Last of
Us much like BioShock: Infinite breaks that trend by making Ellie actually
useful. She never got in the way or got me killed for one. She always stayed
hidden until it was time for shit to hit the fan and she always pulled her
part. Shooting, and shanking enemies where she could or distracting and
retreating when needed.
And the acting oh man the acting particularly, Troy Baker
as Joel and definitely Ashley Johnson as Ellie.
Joel is a broken man, and Baker absolutely nails this
performance. Every word Joel speaks is full of anger as well as pain. We’ve
seen what Joel has lost so we understand his fury. However as I’ve said I’m a
father myself and I absolutely fell in love with Ellie. Much like Baker,
Johnson is absolutely phenomenal in her performance. Ellie is a kid who has
never known a world of peace and has grown up knowing that any day could be her
last. And yet she is still just a kid so you feel horrible at what she has to
experience, and again much like Infinite I feel if the female protagonist in
this case Ellie had failed, the entire game would have suffered. Thankfully
Johnson is remarkable and Ellie is a character I absolutely adored.
And this is shown nowhere better than in Winter where you
play as Ellie. In case you have somehow avoided hearing about this I’ll just
say it is brilliant and moving, the best section of the game bar none.
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| (8) Winter is Coming |
The Last of Us also has multiplayer as well. However much
like the remake of Tomb Raider released earlier in 2013 I must ask why?
Now it’s definitely not bad, I’ve seen many people that
love it.
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| This is for taking the last donut! |
The gameplay is much the same as single player and I
played a few hours of it to see what it was about. And as I said it’s not bad,
it works just fine. It’s functional and does what it is supposed to do and as
I’ve said there are many who enjoy it. Personally I felt the multiplayer was an
unnecessary addition and would have preferred the time put into the multiplayer
taken and used to create a more substantial ending to the single player.
I love the ending
and the twisted decision that Joel makes, that I myself would make in a
heartbeat. But a little more would’ve been nice. Far from a deal breaker I just
wanted more.
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| (10) Yeah Fuck These Things |
The biggest problem with multiplayer is the Online Pass
still attached to it. Thankfully these went the way of the dinosaurs a while
ago, but paying extra for multiplayer just because I didn’t purchase this game
new is completely asinine.
So all in all is The Last of Us a ground breaking game?
In some ways yes absolutely, is it perfect? No definitely not, great yes but
not perfect. To me it is definitely a quintessential game for any Sony owner.
It was remastered and rereleased on the PS4 in July of 2014 which included the
DLC for the game Left Behind which I will be covering at a later date. This is
a game I can definitely recommend to anyone looking for a deep story and good
gameplay.
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| For when you are my second favorite Naughty Dog game |
The Last of Us receives my...Silver Seal of Recommendation.
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/whowouldwin/comments/3l5um5/joel_the_last_of_us_vs_lee_the_walking_dead/ (2017)
3. http://www.gamersbook.com/News/Article/ID/1261/The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Launch-Trailer
4. https://kambyero.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/review-the-last-of-us/
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9wVxjCvGU
6. http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/File:The-last-of-us-listen-mode.jpg
7. http://guides.gamepressure.com/thelastofus/guide.asp?ID=20586 (2000-2017)
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rW-XmA3uUI
9. https://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/06/04/the-last-of-us-multiplayer-video-and-screenshots/ (2017)
10. https://www.listia.com/auction/10553610-the-last-of-us-online-pass-ps3 (2017)
11. http://www.qualitycoast.info/?page_id=902 (2015)
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