I'm tired and didn't expect to finish this tonight so I'm going to stay terse. naughty dog is obsessed with filmic avenues for games as art. game design is entirely secondary and liberally cribbed from contemporaries. consider literally any jak game (standard collectathon for first game, same engine grafted to eyebrow-raising drab GTA world for second game) or uncharted (bog-standard cover shooter + ico-lite platforming + half-hearted turn towards horror in the back quarter). naughty dog only believes in conglomerates of design. interwoven webs of market-proven mechanics where the connective tissue is the graphical fidelity and storytelling.
this is not what I like in games. I like games that create internal logics that interact with each other in novel ways. this doesn't have to be complex. arcade-style games form tiny cores of necessary mechanics and grow their universes from exploring the facets of each element in further and further detail. surprisingly, the last of us is naughty dog's attempt at making such a game. it is meant to be a rich tapestry of survival, horror, grounded shooter, et cetera. its individual elements are evidently meant to pulsate and reprise in waves across the experience. approaches to encounters are meant to run the gamut of stealth, guns blazing, trap-oriented, and any combination of these you can conceive.
naughty dog is not a studio that has the design chops to make such a game though. instead, the end product is The third-person shooter. the third-person shooter monolith if you will. a pastiche of nearly a decade of design patterns evolving shoved into a single casserole. when in tightly constrained areas, cover is conspicuously placed for you to camp behind while you clear the room. other areas feature hidden routes to quietly crouch-walk through under the auspicious of "tense" play. others feature onslaughts of infected waves meant to be gunned down. these are discrete and easy to recognize. what makes it interconnected is that the options are bare enough to make transitioning styles required. getting caught during stealth just makes the game a cover shooter. running away from clickers far enough transitions back into stealth. remaining in cover long enough will eventually force the enemies to push and let you react aggressively. no one system ever has enough juice to invigorate the experience on its own. walking up behind someone to shiv them rarely changes outcomes over just shooting them with an arrow or walking past. shotguns sometimes barely stagger opponents so what pleasure do I attain from experimenting with the weapon when a point-blank headshot doesn't even cause them to explode into gibs. I could just use any of the multiple other weapons that have the same effect.
all you're doing at the end of the day is eliminating individual enemies with one of the options off of the a la carte weapons menu. no need to manipulate their search AI or clump them into groups or anything beyond just rotating weapons and picking off every enemy one by one. only thing that changes is if you're supposed to be playing gears-style cover tactics or far cry-style "clear the base by pressing the takedown button behind everyone" or resident evil-style horde extermination. which is potentially enough to satisfy anyone who wanted a third-person shooter buffet. none of the styles are really entertaining enough on their own to justify the whole. the universe the game design resides in is disjointed.
the rest is pushed forward by walking forward through pretty corridors pressing triangle whenever the game asks you to. none of the aforementioned mechanics lend themselves to puzzle-solving, so virtually every instance of one in the world is just moving a ladder or letting ellie float on a wood pallet. in keeping with the crash bandicoot crate methodology ie provide minute interaction between the actual tests of competancy, the game litters materials all throughout the world for you to mindlessly pick up. any semblence of creating fragments of life in these environments is shattered by this. joel and ellie's banter is mumbled as backdrop for me rumaging through lockers and piles of trash for extra bandages or ammo. representations of life pre-apocalypse decaying are bastardized as I sift through drawers looking for those telltale item symbols to pop up for me to view. this is not an insignificant portion of the game mind you. some of these segments of nothingness reach the 15-20 minute range. if they were so concerned with letting me appreciate the views, maybe they wouldn't have felt the need to breadcrumb trail me around, pointing my camera at the ground constantly in the process. which does not even begin to highlight the inauthenticity of every supposed residential area with conviently placed rubble or cars or such to create cover-based combat arenas.
with this said, its adaptability is its greatest strength as much as it is its downfall. the general workbench design and locked doors are lifted from dead space and rendered more enjoyable here thanks to a streamlined tech tree and relatively-common shivs being used as keys rather than expensive power nodes. the actual gunplay is medicore since it never matches one modality, but at the same time it is at least a better murder sim than uncharted and its sanitized pg-13 firefights. enemy AI is not exactly robust and is easy to exploit thanks to the overeemphasived distraction item mechanic (bricks and bottles are yet another endlessly available item to collect), but it is complex enough to surprise the player and force more reactive play.
there's a particular moment I really liked. in the basement of the hotel there's waterlogged storage rooms with an elevator to reach the main floors that is disabled. enabling this requires turning on a generator located on the opposite side of the area, which will attract many waves of infected along with a dangerous bloater enemy. there are many approaches to this section, including simply beelining to the exit with the keycard for the elevator, setting traps in places where the spawns become most congested, or simply fighting it out amongst the onslaught of opponents. this is identical to the style-switching I discussed earlier. however, this particular encounter is totally open-ended in a way where a particular approach isn't necessarily prescribed. in my first attempt I played cat and mouse with the bloater before I knew the keycard location because I had unwittingly turned the generator on upon seeing it. my second attempt I tried to fight back more proactively, and on my third attempt I laid down traps and planned an escape route beforehand. none of these were intended strategies to the extent that the developers felt pressed to include copious hints towards one style or another (blatant cover, passageways to crouch-walk through, etc.). the area is relatively large as well, and thus the actual tactical evaluation feels less limiting. if only more encounters in the game had attempted something higher-level like this instead of pulling from canned ideas.
all of this is in service of delivering the story. I would call it a children of men rip-off if I had ever actually watched that movie. I appreciate that joel is the anti-nathan drake. the deluge of quips is replaced by generic gruff guy behavior (not to mention ellie handles most quip duties when appropriate), but at the very least the game does a better job presenting him as a total psychopath and justifies the insane bodycount he racks up. the ending in particular I enjoyed; the "actually he did all this terrible shit because he's a terrible person!" throughline is not novel nor was it in 2013, but I rarely see a game attempt such a purposeful lack of closure. the rest is marginal. various character sketches dedicated in each chapter with predictably dour results for each. the repeated "people do terrible things under pressure" motif is wrung far too dry. makes each character's arc slight since the outcome is always known in advance. perhaps this is why I liked the ending: did not necessarily expect it given most games' predilection for riding off into a sunset.
the latter section is sort of damning because I actually played the majority of this game while dogsitting for my girlfriend months ago, and finally finished today to add another game to the halloween roster. I frankly don't remember much about the story other than the broad strokes. I at least remember more than a dozen or so particular enemy encounters, which is pretty great for a game that runs about 15 hours. what's less reassuring is how scattered my responses to said encounters were: I often remember routes I took but what guns or tactics I favored are completely absent from my memory.
a smorgasbord of opportunites for you to throw a brick somewhere and make everyone around you go "huh? what was that" and allow you to walk behind them. speaking of which: the clickers. the perfect synthesis of "scary enemy that actually is so trivial to circumvent that it's not scary" and "scary enemy that awkwardly OHKOs you and becomes more frustrating than scary". having your primary horror encounters be based around an enemy that cannot see you renders virtually every situation with them one that rewards just walking really slowly. that is when you don't have a brick, which you nearly always will because they're generously located near all clickers. finally building up the firepower to kill them more efficiently would be great if not for the OHKO, and so just walking around them still feels like the dominant strategy up through the final area. other than using the flamethrower that is, which I frankly underused outside of the final areas. also this review is more terse than my usual shit which thankfully meant I knocked it out in about an hour but still is way too long. oh well. better than my original draft from when I was more actively playing it that tried to wade into the lukewarm "games as art" discourse.
this is not what I like in games. I like games that create internal logics that interact with each other in novel ways. this doesn't have to be complex. arcade-style games form tiny cores of necessary mechanics and grow their universes from exploring the facets of each element in further and further detail. surprisingly, the last of us is naughty dog's attempt at making such a game. it is meant to be a rich tapestry of survival, horror, grounded shooter, et cetera. its individual elements are evidently meant to pulsate and reprise in waves across the experience. approaches to encounters are meant to run the gamut of stealth, guns blazing, trap-oriented, and any combination of these you can conceive.
naughty dog is not a studio that has the design chops to make such a game though. instead, the end product is The third-person shooter. the third-person shooter monolith if you will. a pastiche of nearly a decade of design patterns evolving shoved into a single casserole. when in tightly constrained areas, cover is conspicuously placed for you to camp behind while you clear the room. other areas feature hidden routes to quietly crouch-walk through under the auspicious of "tense" play. others feature onslaughts of infected waves meant to be gunned down. these are discrete and easy to recognize. what makes it interconnected is that the options are bare enough to make transitioning styles required. getting caught during stealth just makes the game a cover shooter. running away from clickers far enough transitions back into stealth. remaining in cover long enough will eventually force the enemies to push and let you react aggressively. no one system ever has enough juice to invigorate the experience on its own. walking up behind someone to shiv them rarely changes outcomes over just shooting them with an arrow or walking past. shotguns sometimes barely stagger opponents so what pleasure do I attain from experimenting with the weapon when a point-blank headshot doesn't even cause them to explode into gibs. I could just use any of the multiple other weapons that have the same effect.
all you're doing at the end of the day is eliminating individual enemies with one of the options off of the a la carte weapons menu. no need to manipulate their search AI or clump them into groups or anything beyond just rotating weapons and picking off every enemy one by one. only thing that changes is if you're supposed to be playing gears-style cover tactics or far cry-style "clear the base by pressing the takedown button behind everyone" or resident evil-style horde extermination. which is potentially enough to satisfy anyone who wanted a third-person shooter buffet. none of the styles are really entertaining enough on their own to justify the whole. the universe the game design resides in is disjointed.
the rest is pushed forward by walking forward through pretty corridors pressing triangle whenever the game asks you to. none of the aforementioned mechanics lend themselves to puzzle-solving, so virtually every instance of one in the world is just moving a ladder or letting ellie float on a wood pallet. in keeping with the crash bandicoot crate methodology ie provide minute interaction between the actual tests of competancy, the game litters materials all throughout the world for you to mindlessly pick up. any semblence of creating fragments of life in these environments is shattered by this. joel and ellie's banter is mumbled as backdrop for me rumaging through lockers and piles of trash for extra bandages or ammo. representations of life pre-apocalypse decaying are bastardized as I sift through drawers looking for those telltale item symbols to pop up for me to view. this is not an insignificant portion of the game mind you. some of these segments of nothingness reach the 15-20 minute range. if they were so concerned with letting me appreciate the views, maybe they wouldn't have felt the need to breadcrumb trail me around, pointing my camera at the ground constantly in the process. which does not even begin to highlight the inauthenticity of every supposed residential area with conviently placed rubble or cars or such to create cover-based combat arenas.
with this said, its adaptability is its greatest strength as much as it is its downfall. the general workbench design and locked doors are lifted from dead space and rendered more enjoyable here thanks to a streamlined tech tree and relatively-common shivs being used as keys rather than expensive power nodes. the actual gunplay is medicore since it never matches one modality, but at the same time it is at least a better murder sim than uncharted and its sanitized pg-13 firefights. enemy AI is not exactly robust and is easy to exploit thanks to the overeemphasived distraction item mechanic (bricks and bottles are yet another endlessly available item to collect), but it is complex enough to surprise the player and force more reactive play.
there's a particular moment I really liked. in the basement of the hotel there's waterlogged storage rooms with an elevator to reach the main floors that is disabled. enabling this requires turning on a generator located on the opposite side of the area, which will attract many waves of infected along with a dangerous bloater enemy. there are many approaches to this section, including simply beelining to the exit with the keycard for the elevator, setting traps in places where the spawns become most congested, or simply fighting it out amongst the onslaught of opponents. this is identical to the style-switching I discussed earlier. however, this particular encounter is totally open-ended in a way where a particular approach isn't necessarily prescribed. in my first attempt I played cat and mouse with the bloater before I knew the keycard location because I had unwittingly turned the generator on upon seeing it. my second attempt I tried to fight back more proactively, and on my third attempt I laid down traps and planned an escape route beforehand. none of these were intended strategies to the extent that the developers felt pressed to include copious hints towards one style or another (blatant cover, passageways to crouch-walk through, etc.). the area is relatively large as well, and thus the actual tactical evaluation feels less limiting. if only more encounters in the game had attempted something higher-level like this instead of pulling from canned ideas.
all of this is in service of delivering the story. I would call it a children of men rip-off if I had ever actually watched that movie. I appreciate that joel is the anti-nathan drake. the deluge of quips is replaced by generic gruff guy behavior (not to mention ellie handles most quip duties when appropriate), but at the very least the game does a better job presenting him as a total psychopath and justifies the insane bodycount he racks up. the ending in particular I enjoyed; the "actually he did all this terrible shit because he's a terrible person!" throughline is not novel nor was it in 2013, but I rarely see a game attempt such a purposeful lack of closure. the rest is marginal. various character sketches dedicated in each chapter with predictably dour results for each. the repeated "people do terrible things under pressure" motif is wrung far too dry. makes each character's arc slight since the outcome is always known in advance. perhaps this is why I liked the ending: did not necessarily expect it given most games' predilection for riding off into a sunset.
the latter section is sort of damning because I actually played the majority of this game while dogsitting for my girlfriend months ago, and finally finished today to add another game to the halloween roster. I frankly don't remember much about the story other than the broad strokes. I at least remember more than a dozen or so particular enemy encounters, which is pretty great for a game that runs about 15 hours. what's less reassuring is how scattered my responses to said encounters were: I often remember routes I took but what guns or tactics I favored are completely absent from my memory.
a smorgasbord of opportunites for you to throw a brick somewhere and make everyone around you go "huh? what was that" and allow you to walk behind them. speaking of which: the clickers. the perfect synthesis of "scary enemy that actually is so trivial to circumvent that it's not scary" and "scary enemy that awkwardly OHKOs you and becomes more frustrating than scary". having your primary horror encounters be based around an enemy that cannot see you renders virtually every situation with them one that rewards just walking really slowly. that is when you don't have a brick, which you nearly always will because they're generously located near all clickers. finally building up the firepower to kill them more efficiently would be great if not for the OHKO, and so just walking around them still feels like the dominant strategy up through the final area. other than using the flamethrower that is, which I frankly underused outside of the final areas. also this review is more terse than my usual shit which thankfully meant I knocked it out in about an hour but still is way too long. oh well. better than my original draft from when I was more actively playing it that tried to wade into the lukewarm "games as art" discourse.
Mushroom zombies is the dumbest idea ever. Why ruin the best monster with a mushroom? I can’t take it seriously at all. Mushroom monsters are reserved for Mario. I can’t be scared of a pizza topping. Not only that, but their face looks like pepperoni. OK I guess theyre going with a pizza zombie theme. But then out of nowhere they start making dolphin sounds. OK buddy... I get you're trying to be different from every other zombie thing but the appeal of zombie things is that they could all happen in the same world.
Like oh im passing thru this house and maybe umm idk Ben from night of the living dead was here. Whatever. The spore thing is stupid too and serves no purpose. I dont like "clickers" and the fact that its impossible to melee fight them more than one at a time. I dont like the puzzles all being ladder or plank or wood pallet and i dont like how close the camera is to your character wtf i cant see anything.
and the camera zooms in dramatically every time you do a melee hit and you get less and less situational awareness and it sucks because these mushroom bitches can one shot you if they approach you but i cant see you because im punching this zombie and i can see about 4 milimeters of my 900 inch 4k tv screen not being taken up by joel, the man with the shoulders of me on steroids.
In fact im gonna go on record as to saying I think this may not even be fixed if it was playable with a keyboard and mouse. I'm sorry to everyone who stockholmed themselves into thinking that videogames are playable on controllers but I feel about 60% in control of my character at any given moment.
I couldve pulled off some badass shit if i was allowed to aim and do an input without pressing up left quarter circle l2 at the same time to switch my gun. Even then the melee system still somehow doesnt understand that we figured out targeting with devil may cry 3 and hell probably before that who gives a shit.
Now im using my last melee charge on this baby normal zombie who cant one shot me and oh look the one shot pizza zombies coming here time to do the whole encounter again. FUCK limited melee weapons i hate them with all my heart let me have a knife or something i swear to you i can smash a baseball bat into someone full force and it'd break on the first hit but that's because i'm extremely strong. if someone like joel were to hit a baseball bat into someone you know it would last for a very long time because it's made of strong wood sometimes aluminum or something not plywood.
Seriously i dont get the obsession with having charged up/limited melee attacks in these arkham knockoff stealth games like this and deus ex HR. What a god damn shit show for real. But yeah now for the good parts. This game is really good, i love the story and the graphics, the writing is nice, i insulted the combat a bit earlier but when it works and you're smashing zombie heads into the wall and punching them into pieces it feels amazing.
I love exploring neighborhoods and stuff and looting its very relaxing and nice. I would love to live in a zombie apocalypse IRL i think it'd be very relaxing just like that.
Yeah so... now for the elephant in the room. Yes I know I had this game at one star before. Why did I give it another try?
well aside from not being able to think about anything but walking dead for the past 6 months, I've been curious as to why so many love this game and think its the best ever made.
And yeah I totally get it now. I'm a man, I'm man enough to admit when I was wrong. I've sinned a lot in my life and I've made plenty of mistakes. I shot my brother, I rated encore higher than to pimp a butterfly, I watched Jane die, but nothing.. nothing will compare to the 9 years I have spent thinking and telling others that this game was bad.
And for that ... I apologize. But I'm thinking... does this make me a normie? am I a normie now? am I gonna line up for the next god of war reboot game? oh pls no. I need to play something patrician and niche to fix my reputation. Shit i think its time i pull out god hand.
Like oh im passing thru this house and maybe umm idk Ben from night of the living dead was here. Whatever. The spore thing is stupid too and serves no purpose. I dont like "clickers" and the fact that its impossible to melee fight them more than one at a time. I dont like the puzzles all being ladder or plank or wood pallet and i dont like how close the camera is to your character wtf i cant see anything.
and the camera zooms in dramatically every time you do a melee hit and you get less and less situational awareness and it sucks because these mushroom bitches can one shot you if they approach you but i cant see you because im punching this zombie and i can see about 4 milimeters of my 900 inch 4k tv screen not being taken up by joel, the man with the shoulders of me on steroids.
In fact im gonna go on record as to saying I think this may not even be fixed if it was playable with a keyboard and mouse. I'm sorry to everyone who stockholmed themselves into thinking that videogames are playable on controllers but I feel about 60% in control of my character at any given moment.
I couldve pulled off some badass shit if i was allowed to aim and do an input without pressing up left quarter circle l2 at the same time to switch my gun. Even then the melee system still somehow doesnt understand that we figured out targeting with devil may cry 3 and hell probably before that who gives a shit.
Now im using my last melee charge on this baby normal zombie who cant one shot me and oh look the one shot pizza zombies coming here time to do the whole encounter again. FUCK limited melee weapons i hate them with all my heart let me have a knife or something i swear to you i can smash a baseball bat into someone full force and it'd break on the first hit but that's because i'm extremely strong. if someone like joel were to hit a baseball bat into someone you know it would last for a very long time because it's made of strong wood sometimes aluminum or something not plywood.
Seriously i dont get the obsession with having charged up/limited melee attacks in these arkham knockoff stealth games like this and deus ex HR. What a god damn shit show for real. But yeah now for the good parts. This game is really good, i love the story and the graphics, the writing is nice, i insulted the combat a bit earlier but when it works and you're smashing zombie heads into the wall and punching them into pieces it feels amazing.
I love exploring neighborhoods and stuff and looting its very relaxing and nice. I would love to live in a zombie apocalypse IRL i think it'd be very relaxing just like that.
Yeah so... now for the elephant in the room. Yes I know I had this game at one star before. Why did I give it another try?
well aside from not being able to think about anything but walking dead for the past 6 months, I've been curious as to why so many love this game and think its the best ever made.
And yeah I totally get it now. I'm a man, I'm man enough to admit when I was wrong. I've sinned a lot in my life and I've made plenty of mistakes. I shot my brother, I rated encore higher than to pimp a butterfly, I watched Jane die, but nothing.. nothing will compare to the 9 years I have spent thinking and telling others that this game was bad.
And for that ... I apologize. But I'm thinking... does this make me a normie? am I a normie now? am I gonna line up for the next god of war reboot game? oh pls no. I need to play something patrician and niche to fix my reputation. Shit i think its time i pull out god hand.
Probably the greatest gaming experience i've ever had in my life
Um dos melhores jogos que já joguei na minha vida! Tudo nesse game é incrível, os gráficos são lindos, a gameplay e as mecânicas maravilhosas, porém oque mais se destaca nesse jogo com certeza é sua história impecável, que te faz sentir a dor dos personagens. E nesse Remastered eles conseguiram melhorar ainda mais o que já era bom. Isso meus amigos, não é só um simples jogo é uma das 7 maravilhas do mundo!
decent enough game for the most part, but as someone who watches a lot of movies, I don't understand how making half of the game a movie makes someone like me want to play it and not using the median's strength's to make a unique storytelling experience that only a video game can do.
The Last of Us is a game that'll have me thinking for years to come thanks to its great story, themes, and moral dilemas. The gameplay as well is fairly solid and can be an adrenaline rush at its high points such as with the 2 "bosses"(if you can really call them that). The graphics as well have held up really well despite this game being 8 years old in spite of occasional visual bugs such as Joel grabbing an invisible part of a ladder when picking one up. However, my main complaint has to do with pacing. Many points in this game feel overly long(looking at you Pittsburgh) and get really tedious after a while. Overall, a great story driven game with some unfortunate quirks
This review contains spoilers
The following longpost is more or less a detailed summary of a collection of my thoughts written up immediately after finishing the Last Of Us Remastered one evening and internalizing my thoughts in the breaks inbetween playing it. These are just my own thoughts and experiences regarding the game, and it's perfectly okay if you don't agree with me!
The Last of Us has been a game which has been acclaimed and hyped as this revolutionary groundbreaking title that not only won GOTY award after award, but is also considered one of the greatest video games of all time by many publications. And I've had a couple of friends tell me it's an experience worth having. Needless to say, the expectations were definitely raised quite high for years, and I didn't get to experience The Last of Us until recently, when I picked up a PS5. Unfortunately, this was one of those rare occasions where I felt a bit let down and the overall game and experience did not fully resonate and click with me.
I suppose the main breaking factor for me was the combat. I understand that the combat in The Last Of Us is meant to feel punishing, shaky, and in a sense "feel bad," and I respect that decision. But the game's AI and mechanics turn this punishing combat into a bit of a finicky and contradicting mess; essentially, I feel that the combat lacks a bit of focus. Because combat is meant to be this grueling and costly exercise, you're encouraged to stealth past enemies whenever possible. But personally, I found stealth to be somewhat unreliable, because enemy AI often have randomized patrol patterns (I confirmed this through other hubs on the internet as well to ensure I wasn't the only one going through this) and because enemies are surprisingly quite good at spotting you from a distance or have much larger peripheral vision than you'd expect. There were also several occasions where I was tailing enemies for a stealth take down only for the enemy to suddenly turn around or be alerted, which left me short out of luck. Needless to say, I tried the stealth approach whenever possible, but due to the above reasons, I often got caught one way or another. So because I was trying to play optimally and conserve ammo for the big fights/required fights in the game (such as the bloater in the gymnasium, some zombie fights in tight hallways or some of the bandit encounters), a lot of these fights either ended up turning into situations where I was mashing the X button (to punch zombies to death) and the square button (to escape being grabbed), with the occasional use of triangle when I got grabbed by a clicker (or being forced to use my weapons if I saw the clicker early enough). As such, most of the early combat was me reloading sequences over and over because stealth was not working out and I didn't have the resources to comfortably fight off the mobs, and this is extremely punishing in the early game when you don't have the shiv upgrade (or enough shivs to begin with) to fight off clickers that will end your run. This definitely becomes less of a problem once you get better weapons and equipment upgrades as the game progresses, but regardless, this unreliability of stealth was a giant deterrent playing through the game and especially soured my experience playing through the early game. Again, I understand that this is intentional game design, but to me it turned this part of the game that was supposed to be difficult into a part of the game that became tedious, and as a result, interfered with my ability to progress the narrative and enjoy the game as a whole.
Regarding the story, I think it's fine. Not exceptional mind you, it does play out like a lot of post apocalyptic zombie narratives I've read/viewed before, but it's engaging enough to keep you going to see what happens next. So the narrative itself is not what I take issue with. What I take issue with (and this is where I admit I may be expecting too much) is how the story is often told. I'll admit that I'm looking for an immersive "show not tell" method of story telling in my video games, sort of similar to how games like Journey or Shadow of the Colossus manage to marry storytelling with game mechanics and gameplay. (If I sound like TotalBiscuit and Josef Fares here, let's just say that I do appreciate their commentary regarding gameplay and storytelling and often look to them for the path forward.) And the Last of Us both does that and doesn't do that. I feel the Last of Us uses cutscenes too much. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think the Last of Us's most powerful moments are when it tries not to be a game and just lets you savor the moment as Joel. Some of those moments include every peaceful interlude where Joel and Ellie are just chatting, the opening of The Last of Us, Joel hanging from the ceiling desperately tearing down zombies while Ellie frantically hacks at the rope (thank god you don't have to worry about your ammo there as per the UI, Naughty Dog made the right decision there), and running while holding Ellie escaping the hospital. More of that would have done the Last of Us justice, but unfortunately the majority of the most important storytelling takes place via cutscenes where you aren't in control of Joel, and that really cuts through my immersion when The Last of Us has proven it knows how to make you feel like you're actually Joel. So I'll repeat that I understand this sounds very nitpicky, but when I think about The Last of Us's storytelling, I just see lost potential. I think on this frontier, it was so close but ultimately tried too hard to be a movie instead of a video game, and it suffers and left me a little disappointed for this.
Now I realize I've been somewhat critical of The Last of Us but still gave it 2.5 stars, so I'll go into the things I actually like. As mentioned above, when the Last of Us focuses on instilling meaning and emotion in its sequences rather than focusing on combat gameplay mechanics (see the paragraph above for some of the moments that I found to be quite powerful), it gets the point across very well and does indeed evoke a wide range of emotions. Playing as Ellie struggling to crawl to the knife as David watches and taunts you; playing as Joel limping to the university doors while his vision blurs and a raider charges at him so he's forced to scramble and pull the trigger; even some of those moment interspersed with quicktime events such as Joel getting stuck in the drowning bus and grasping desperately for the handles after repeatedly trying to bust open the compartment. These are all experiences that focus less on gameplay mechanics and more on making the player savor the moment, and Naughty Dog pulls it off well. It's also worth mentioning that this game has fantastic atmosphere thanks to the sound design (you absolutely can feel the tension when you hear footsteps and barking orders all around you) and the graphics as a whole. The Last of Us is definitely one of the prettiest looking games out there, and it manages to both capture beauty in the tranquil abandoned levels and danger in the sinister basements and stuffy buildings that zombies and raiders alike have holed up in. And of course, the soundtrack is quite good, sounding lush and melancholic when there a moment of peace and frenetic and menacing when you get caught in combat or need to escape your foes.
So is the Last of Us overrated? I think in the sense that I felt the Last of Us did not live up to the nearly universal praise and groundbreaking game design that publications have heaped upon it (in my eyes at least), yes, I could see that The Last of Us is overrated. Mind you, I don't think The Last of Us is inherently a bad game because I can see its potential and it does in fact do many things quite well. Ellie and Joel are very believable and dynamic characters, and watching their personalities evolve over the course of the story through their changing interactions is definitely one of the big draws of the game. That said, I think the Last of Us could have been so much more. It definitely doesn't help that many big name games look at the Last of Us as this pinnacle of game design and storytelling and proceeded to do both so much worse. But it's not The Last of Us's fault that it's stuck as the poster child for big budget Hollywood esque titles as it is its derivations. I gave this game an honest shot and maybe it is just a difference of game taste and opinion at the end of the day; who am I to tell you what not to like and like? After all, I can see why people would like The Last of Us. It just wasn't the title for me and definitely wasn't the experience that made me remember why I play video games.
The Last of Us has been a game which has been acclaimed and hyped as this revolutionary groundbreaking title that not only won GOTY award after award, but is also considered one of the greatest video games of all time by many publications. And I've had a couple of friends tell me it's an experience worth having. Needless to say, the expectations were definitely raised quite high for years, and I didn't get to experience The Last of Us until recently, when I picked up a PS5. Unfortunately, this was one of those rare occasions where I felt a bit let down and the overall game and experience did not fully resonate and click with me.
I suppose the main breaking factor for me was the combat. I understand that the combat in The Last Of Us is meant to feel punishing, shaky, and in a sense "feel bad," and I respect that decision. But the game's AI and mechanics turn this punishing combat into a bit of a finicky and contradicting mess; essentially, I feel that the combat lacks a bit of focus. Because combat is meant to be this grueling and costly exercise, you're encouraged to stealth past enemies whenever possible. But personally, I found stealth to be somewhat unreliable, because enemy AI often have randomized patrol patterns (I confirmed this through other hubs on the internet as well to ensure I wasn't the only one going through this) and because enemies are surprisingly quite good at spotting you from a distance or have much larger peripheral vision than you'd expect. There were also several occasions where I was tailing enemies for a stealth take down only for the enemy to suddenly turn around or be alerted, which left me short out of luck. Needless to say, I tried the stealth approach whenever possible, but due to the above reasons, I often got caught one way or another. So because I was trying to play optimally and conserve ammo for the big fights/required fights in the game (such as the bloater in the gymnasium, some zombie fights in tight hallways or some of the bandit encounters), a lot of these fights either ended up turning into situations where I was mashing the X button (to punch zombies to death) and the square button (to escape being grabbed), with the occasional use of triangle when I got grabbed by a clicker (or being forced to use my weapons if I saw the clicker early enough). As such, most of the early combat was me reloading sequences over and over because stealth was not working out and I didn't have the resources to comfortably fight off the mobs, and this is extremely punishing in the early game when you don't have the shiv upgrade (or enough shivs to begin with) to fight off clickers that will end your run. This definitely becomes less of a problem once you get better weapons and equipment upgrades as the game progresses, but regardless, this unreliability of stealth was a giant deterrent playing through the game and especially soured my experience playing through the early game. Again, I understand that this is intentional game design, but to me it turned this part of the game that was supposed to be difficult into a part of the game that became tedious, and as a result, interfered with my ability to progress the narrative and enjoy the game as a whole.
Regarding the story, I think it's fine. Not exceptional mind you, it does play out like a lot of post apocalyptic zombie narratives I've read/viewed before, but it's engaging enough to keep you going to see what happens next. So the narrative itself is not what I take issue with. What I take issue with (and this is where I admit I may be expecting too much) is how the story is often told. I'll admit that I'm looking for an immersive "show not tell" method of story telling in my video games, sort of similar to how games like Journey or Shadow of the Colossus manage to marry storytelling with game mechanics and gameplay. (If I sound like TotalBiscuit and Josef Fares here, let's just say that I do appreciate their commentary regarding gameplay and storytelling and often look to them for the path forward.) And the Last of Us both does that and doesn't do that. I feel the Last of Us uses cutscenes too much. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think the Last of Us's most powerful moments are when it tries not to be a game and just lets you savor the moment as Joel. Some of those moments include every peaceful interlude where Joel and Ellie are just chatting, the opening of The Last of Us, Joel hanging from the ceiling desperately tearing down zombies while Ellie frantically hacks at the rope (thank god you don't have to worry about your ammo there as per the UI, Naughty Dog made the right decision there), and running while holding Ellie escaping the hospital. More of that would have done the Last of Us justice, but unfortunately the majority of the most important storytelling takes place via cutscenes where you aren't in control of Joel, and that really cuts through my immersion when The Last of Us has proven it knows how to make you feel like you're actually Joel. So I'll repeat that I understand this sounds very nitpicky, but when I think about The Last of Us's storytelling, I just see lost potential. I think on this frontier, it was so close but ultimately tried too hard to be a movie instead of a video game, and it suffers and left me a little disappointed for this.
Now I realize I've been somewhat critical of The Last of Us but still gave it 2.5 stars, so I'll go into the things I actually like. As mentioned above, when the Last of Us focuses on instilling meaning and emotion in its sequences rather than focusing on combat gameplay mechanics (see the paragraph above for some of the moments that I found to be quite powerful), it gets the point across very well and does indeed evoke a wide range of emotions. Playing as Ellie struggling to crawl to the knife as David watches and taunts you; playing as Joel limping to the university doors while his vision blurs and a raider charges at him so he's forced to scramble and pull the trigger; even some of those moment interspersed with quicktime events such as Joel getting stuck in the drowning bus and grasping desperately for the handles after repeatedly trying to bust open the compartment. These are all experiences that focus less on gameplay mechanics and more on making the player savor the moment, and Naughty Dog pulls it off well. It's also worth mentioning that this game has fantastic atmosphere thanks to the sound design (you absolutely can feel the tension when you hear footsteps and barking orders all around you) and the graphics as a whole. The Last of Us is definitely one of the prettiest looking games out there, and it manages to both capture beauty in the tranquil abandoned levels and danger in the sinister basements and stuffy buildings that zombies and raiders alike have holed up in. And of course, the soundtrack is quite good, sounding lush and melancholic when there a moment of peace and frenetic and menacing when you get caught in combat or need to escape your foes.
So is the Last of Us overrated? I think in the sense that I felt the Last of Us did not live up to the nearly universal praise and groundbreaking game design that publications have heaped upon it (in my eyes at least), yes, I could see that The Last of Us is overrated. Mind you, I don't think The Last of Us is inherently a bad game because I can see its potential and it does in fact do many things quite well. Ellie and Joel are very believable and dynamic characters, and watching their personalities evolve over the course of the story through their changing interactions is definitely one of the big draws of the game. That said, I think the Last of Us could have been so much more. It definitely doesn't help that many big name games look at the Last of Us as this pinnacle of game design and storytelling and proceeded to do both so much worse. But it's not The Last of Us's fault that it's stuck as the poster child for big budget Hollywood esque titles as it is its derivations. I gave this game an honest shot and maybe it is just a difference of game taste and opinion at the end of the day; who am I to tell you what not to like and like? After all, I can see why people would like The Last of Us. It just wasn't the title for me and definitely wasn't the experience that made me remember why I play video games.
This game doesn't do anything revolutionary with its gameplay and story premise, but it takes existing formulas and perfects them.
The story is a pretty generic zombie tale, but the characters are what made me fall in love with this. The writing is phenomenal, and the atmosphere of the world is so well done. It still holds up, 7 years later.
The story is a pretty generic zombie tale, but the characters are what made me fall in love with this. The writing is phenomenal, and the atmosphere of the world is so well done. It still holds up, 7 years later.
The Last of my Brain Cells
All the bad stuff I’ve said about this game in the past year
I take it all back
I take it all back
Love is a fucked up little thing, how about that
Replayed this once again since my mum wanted to see it. She enjoyed it and I surprisingly enjoyed it more than any other previous playthrough.
The Last Of Us may not be terribly original regarding its narrative. Nowadays, the whole “sad angry typically badass dad and his plucky more emotionally resonant child navigate through life while the larger status quo is in shambles” premise is a dime a dozen across media. You have the original trendsetter, Lone Wolf and Cub, Berserk, basically countless Batman stories featuring Robin, Terminator 2, Telltale’s The Walking Dead, True Grit, Sweet Tooth, Logan, Stranger Things, The Bad Batch, Rebels, Mandalorian, Kenobi, etc. Even the setting, which as far as post-apocalyptic scenarios caused by some zombie virus go, is super paper thin and derivative from any modern realistic post-apocalyptic world you’d see in something like The Walking Dead or A Quiet Place. But that’s not exactly what TLOU needs to care about in telling a remarkable character-driven narrative that executes this tired premise most effectively. You don’t care enough to know the dark secret behind this fungus virus or what’s going on in the world because it’s all about Joel and Ellie’s relationship in how they both navigate through humanity falling apart and the lengths people will go through to cling onto what’s worth preserving. For what should be the most cookie-cutter, formulaic zombie survival story ever generated by an AI, it’s elevated through the mature yet intimate way this is presented. I have to give props because despite you never really having much player input, the story still leaves you with great emotional stimuli over how engrossing it became that it almost didn’t matter. Combined with the still exceptional performances by the voice actors who added a genuine sense of depth to these well-written characters, I can understand how this garnered its groundbreaking status as one of the best (narrative) video games of all time.
As much as I admire and enjoy what Naughty Dog presented with TLOU, it reminds me of something that makes it difficult for me to completely buy into the hype here. It’s a powerful cinematic experience, sure, but how is it trying to break the mold of the medium other than demonstrating you can put a prestige HBO drama into a video game? See, when I think about the age-old discussion of whether video-games can be considered art, I believe the criteria that should be underlined is how the artist uses every tool that’s available to them. TLOU actually does some of this right. Nailing certain aspects like the fully realized environmental scenery to feel as though you’re in it, the clever usage of sound design to create tension and ambience, or the high-quality animations to make it feel like you're taking part of a film. However, for the rest? Like the actual gameplay? Feels more like an afterthought than an opportunity to make every piece count for the bigger experience to behold.
The shooting is good. It has the right weight to it, the damage you or enemies take feel realistic like something straight out of Deus Ex, there’s no bullet-sponge enemies besides maybe one. Unfortunately, I can’t really commend this much to other parts of the gameplay; like the resource management, which is a cool way to thematically tie into the survivalist theme but feels as depthless as almost any other modern AAA video game, stealth has potential but in practice is pretty bland and is ruined by how flawed the NPC AI can be, the “puzzles” you need to do with Ellie and Joel to get to the next area are pretty repetitive that even the characters acknowledges later on, and item/ammo scarcity is maybe a bit too forgiving on the player. The gameplay is perfectly serviceable, which I guess is fine since that’s not the real takeaway, but it shouldn’t be just serviceable. It should feel like the developers put as much time and effort into it as much as they did with the narrative. It should feel like you’re constantly going through the wringer in combat, trying to be smart with ammo to make every shot count, and completely immerse the player, through Joel, that surviving in this world is just as dreadful as the characters make it out to be. TLOU still has some pretty wonderful moments of light interactivity given to the player to help enhance the narrative. This is the only game I can think of that perfected the walk-and-talk sequences you’d see commonplace everywhere. It’s not meandering fluff or pointless exposition done to delude you into thinking the game actually has more character than it does. I can’t imagine the prologue working as brilliantly as it does if it was just some long cutscene and not an interactive sequence where you feel immersed into these characters. The more Joel and Ellie’s relationship grows, the more your relationship between Joel and Ellie grows as well. Making the ending even more conflicting and gut punching once you realize the true nature of their relationship, and where it can spiral from here on out.
I can’t imagine it being easy for Naughty Dog to juggle scripted narratives with the more minimalist gameplay approach for a game like TLOU. I can respect the ambition of even trying to compromise for something everybody with a PS3 will enjoy while also justifying itself for being what it is. And they tiptoe the line pretty okay, if not, very uneasy in its implications. But this might be the case where the whole is just greater than the sum of its parts.
As much as I admire and enjoy what Naughty Dog presented with TLOU, it reminds me of something that makes it difficult for me to completely buy into the hype here. It’s a powerful cinematic experience, sure, but how is it trying to break the mold of the medium other than demonstrating you can put a prestige HBO drama into a video game? See, when I think about the age-old discussion of whether video-games can be considered art, I believe the criteria that should be underlined is how the artist uses every tool that’s available to them. TLOU actually does some of this right. Nailing certain aspects like the fully realized environmental scenery to feel as though you’re in it, the clever usage of sound design to create tension and ambience, or the high-quality animations to make it feel like you're taking part of a film. However, for the rest? Like the actual gameplay? Feels more like an afterthought than an opportunity to make every piece count for the bigger experience to behold.
The shooting is good. It has the right weight to it, the damage you or enemies take feel realistic like something straight out of Deus Ex, there’s no bullet-sponge enemies besides maybe one. Unfortunately, I can’t really commend this much to other parts of the gameplay; like the resource management, which is a cool way to thematically tie into the survivalist theme but feels as depthless as almost any other modern AAA video game, stealth has potential but in practice is pretty bland and is ruined by how flawed the NPC AI can be, the “puzzles” you need to do with Ellie and Joel to get to the next area are pretty repetitive that even the characters acknowledges later on, and item/ammo scarcity is maybe a bit too forgiving on the player. The gameplay is perfectly serviceable, which I guess is fine since that’s not the real takeaway, but it shouldn’t be just serviceable. It should feel like the developers put as much time and effort into it as much as they did with the narrative. It should feel like you’re constantly going through the wringer in combat, trying to be smart with ammo to make every shot count, and completely immerse the player, through Joel, that surviving in this world is just as dreadful as the characters make it out to be. TLOU still has some pretty wonderful moments of light interactivity given to the player to help enhance the narrative. This is the only game I can think of that perfected the walk-and-talk sequences you’d see commonplace everywhere. It’s not meandering fluff or pointless exposition done to delude you into thinking the game actually has more character than it does. I can’t imagine the prologue working as brilliantly as it does if it was just some long cutscene and not an interactive sequence where you feel immersed into these characters. The more Joel and Ellie’s relationship grows, the more your relationship between Joel and Ellie grows as well. Making the ending even more conflicting and gut punching once you realize the true nature of their relationship, and where it can spiral from here on out.
I can’t imagine it being easy for Naughty Dog to juggle scripted narratives with the more minimalist gameplay approach for a game like TLOU. I can respect the ambition of even trying to compromise for something everybody with a PS3 will enjoy while also justifying itself for being what it is. And they tiptoe the line pretty okay, if not, very uneasy in its implications. But this might be the case where the whole is just greater than the sum of its parts.
As close to a masterpiece that the PS3/Xbox 360 era has come, though of course I did play it on the PS4. It excels in all areas. The story is of course the highlight, and the characters are fantastic. There may never be another duo with as compelling a relationship as Joel and Ellie. Major props to Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, they stole the show, and completely made me forget I was controlling them. As someone who has trouble with even mild horror games, this game took some time and adjustment to get through, but it was well worth it. The combat is interesting and engaging, though occasionally it can feel a bit dated in AI or level design. The soundtrack, and score by Gustavo Santaollala are amazing, and enthrall you in the world. A harsh world with complex characters that hooked in even me, who never really plays games of this genre. Well done. I am 9 years too late, but now I've experienced it. Beautiful.
A game I've been meaning to get around to since I bought my ps3 in 2019, finally got around to beating it on my PS5. I understand the appeal, the characters are endearing and super well acted. The artistic vision of this game still holds up 8 years later, as does the music; so its pretty sound on a technical level. Beyond that you have a pretty standard zombie story though paired with pretty dull gameplay most the time. Melee combat feels like it only works about half the time making most encounters really frustrating when the point of the game is to use as little resources as possible per encounter! The A.I. is not good, enemies feel like the switch targets for no reason other than to screw over the player and companion A.I. makes stealth sections feel completely fake. Glad I played, glad to see it getting adapted into a format that should improve it next year.
This review contains spoilers
There have been a lot of critically acclaimed games over the years. Like every single year definitely has one very well liked game from reviewers from all around the world. However, some don’t always stand the test of time. Games like bioshock infinite, the original legend of Zelda, and even some original RPGs don’t get the acclaim they once did. I find it almost admirable if a game can somehow stand the test of time and still be respected even now. One of these games, that I believe aged very well and stood the test of time, was the last of us. Released in 2013 as the ps3 era was slowly coming to an end, naughty dog wanted to expand on the ideas they had pushed in the uncharted games. An all round more serious adventure with some dark themes. Even if the uncharted games scraped on these themes they never fully dived into them, but the last of us was where that changed. They went full in with a darker and more horrific world. A world with almost no hope left. So why do people find this game to be overrated?
The last of us:
You play as Joel. A standard guy who, after losing his only daughter, has been forced into a rough and violent world full of zombies. Your job is to take care of Ellie, who you find out to be immune to the virus that infected so many people and created the zombies. But this isn’t just some cakewalk, oh no, we all know how teenagers act when they want to be controlled, and as one I should know. Your journey takes you throughout America as you try to find a group called the fireflies who will hopefully create a cure using Ellie’s immunity. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here. We haven’t even talked about the gameplay!
Compared to something like uncharted where you’re basically handed guns whenever you need them, the last of us takes a very different approach. You have the ability to craft items such as shivs, Molotov cocktails (make as many as you can), nail bombs, smoke bombs, and even melee weapons. These all require certain crafting items, and they don’t come up all the time. Weapon ammo is also not as wildly available as it is in the uncharted games. You feel as though every shot counts and believe me, it does. Stealth gameplay is encouraged but not necessary as you could shoot your way through fights but risk having barely any ammo left for the next fight. It makes you take consideration of what you should do with everything you have. The whole idea is that ‘this is a lot more hardcore than uncharted’ and it works. Unlike something like bioshock infinite where you’re killing really innocent people and get no reparations for it, the last of us definitely paints it more as you’re killing people who are just as bad as you are.
It’s a dog eat dog world.
Back to the story, as I was saying about the story, you will meet a cool cast of characters. Tess, Bill (the best one), Tommy, Henry and his younger brother Sam. You’ll also find some villains like David and Marlene. The characters are all excellently written and almost show how the world is affecting other people. For example Bill has become almost rude to others that meddle with his stuff because he hasn’t had much interaction with others in a long time and there’s an almost quiet sadness that’s he’s desperate to be with people. Henry and Sam are two characters that were dealt a very bad hand and in the end they ended up both succumbing to the world they were forced into. Even David is written excellently well. Someone who is painted to be quite friendly ends up becoming a very dark and evil person who tries to manipulate Ellie into getting what he wants.
Eventually, the pair finally arrive at Salt Lake City. After so much, they’ve finally arrived to find the fireflies. However, it isn’t as great as Joel first thought. To get the vaccine they need to kill Ellie.
The whole story has been you going along the journey of these unlikely strangers who were brought together. They seemed to hate each other but eventually they became extremely close. At the start of the game Ellie was the one talking a lot about her life and her passion for certain things, but nearing the end, joel was able to open up about his life. It’s a beautiful journey of how, if you can move on from your past and truly find the light, you’ll be able to enjoy life to the fullest. Joel ends up saving Ellie, not because it’s being selfish as such, but because he felt like Ellie had almost become his daughter. But it does make you think…
…Can you really blame him?
Left behind:
A year later, a dlc known as ‘left behind’ would release. The story is set during the part where Joel gets fatally hurt and is forced to rest. However, just before this, Ellie was forced to find some medicine for Joel so he could survive, so she came to an abandoned shopping centre (I’m not calling it a mall because I’m British and I think mall is kind of weird for a word). As she wanders through, she remembers a friend of hers named Riley.
Gameplay is pretty much the same as it was in the base game, only this time you’re playing as Ellie instead of Joel. For the shopping centre sections, it plays almost like the base game, though you do have the new funky feature of getting hunters and infected to fight each other so uhh…that’s cool. You’ve also got to work with Ellie’s lack of that much manoeuvrability unlike Joel. The Riley sections are pretty much linear lines with optional fun things to do. For a dlc it’s not the most mind blowing but to be honest I wasn’t expecting it to be.
The story ends with Ellie and Riley kissing each other and then getting chased by a horde of infected. They both get bit and the tragedy is that they promise to stay with each other until they turn…but we all know Ellie is immune. It’s kind of heartbreaking when you think about it and it only makes more sense why Ellie still, even in the main game, talks about her and cares about her. Back to Joel, Ellie finds something to treat Joel’s injury and then that ends the dlc!
There can’t possibly be anything else…oh wait…THIS GAME HAS ONLINE MULTIPLAYER???
Factions:
Out of every single multiplayer game I’ve played, how the fuck is this one the most addicting and fun?
‘Factions mp’ is the multiplayer mode in the last of us and believe me, it’s excellent. You have the job of surviving 12 weeks either as the fireflies or the hunters. You go into matches to get supplies so you can keep your clan healthy and even get more members. There are even some nice boosters you can get if you do well and complete some challenges.
You have three modes: supply raid, survivors (you will likely not win in this mode), and interrogation (the best one). Supply raid is just a standard game where you have 4 on each team. If you die then you’ll be revived as long as you have a respawn. Each team gets 20 and they can run out very fast if you’re really shit. Survivors is basically like supply raid but you get no respawns but get better rewards. And finally there’s interrogation, if you get a player from the opposing team in a ‘downed’ state then you can interrogate them. If you interrogate 5 then you’ll be able to gain access to their lockbox. But be warned. The opposing team will set traps around it and guard it with their lives.
The mechanics also carry over from the base game with you even being able to spend ‘parts’ on things like armour and upgrades to your guns and even ammo. There are even some abilities that you can have which help you out in certain places during the matches.
Conclusion:
The last of us definitely isn’t for everyone. And I can see why some people have begun to not like it as much as they once did. There are definitely many other games that people can have fun times with but that’s not what the last of us is asking you to do, unless you play the multiplayer. The last of us isn’t about the payoff, it’s more about the journey. You either like it or you don’t, there’s no in between. But I think we should all respect how excellently written the game is and even now, it has aged a lot better than some games during its time…looking at you bioshock infinite.
Masterpiece, excellent music, great gameplay, really really good story, well written story and characters, decent dlc, multiplayer is excellent, I miss Bill so much
The last of us:
You play as Joel. A standard guy who, after losing his only daughter, has been forced into a rough and violent world full of zombies. Your job is to take care of Ellie, who you find out to be immune to the virus that infected so many people and created the zombies. But this isn’t just some cakewalk, oh no, we all know how teenagers act when they want to be controlled, and as one I should know. Your journey takes you throughout America as you try to find a group called the fireflies who will hopefully create a cure using Ellie’s immunity. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here. We haven’t even talked about the gameplay!
Compared to something like uncharted where you’re basically handed guns whenever you need them, the last of us takes a very different approach. You have the ability to craft items such as shivs, Molotov cocktails (make as many as you can), nail bombs, smoke bombs, and even melee weapons. These all require certain crafting items, and they don’t come up all the time. Weapon ammo is also not as wildly available as it is in the uncharted games. You feel as though every shot counts and believe me, it does. Stealth gameplay is encouraged but not necessary as you could shoot your way through fights but risk having barely any ammo left for the next fight. It makes you take consideration of what you should do with everything you have. The whole idea is that ‘this is a lot more hardcore than uncharted’ and it works. Unlike something like bioshock infinite where you’re killing really innocent people and get no reparations for it, the last of us definitely paints it more as you’re killing people who are just as bad as you are.
It’s a dog eat dog world.
Back to the story, as I was saying about the story, you will meet a cool cast of characters. Tess, Bill (the best one), Tommy, Henry and his younger brother Sam. You’ll also find some villains like David and Marlene. The characters are all excellently written and almost show how the world is affecting other people. For example Bill has become almost rude to others that meddle with his stuff because he hasn’t had much interaction with others in a long time and there’s an almost quiet sadness that’s he’s desperate to be with people. Henry and Sam are two characters that were dealt a very bad hand and in the end they ended up both succumbing to the world they were forced into. Even David is written excellently well. Someone who is painted to be quite friendly ends up becoming a very dark and evil person who tries to manipulate Ellie into getting what he wants.
Eventually, the pair finally arrive at Salt Lake City. After so much, they’ve finally arrived to find the fireflies. However, it isn’t as great as Joel first thought. To get the vaccine they need to kill Ellie.
The whole story has been you going along the journey of these unlikely strangers who were brought together. They seemed to hate each other but eventually they became extremely close. At the start of the game Ellie was the one talking a lot about her life and her passion for certain things, but nearing the end, joel was able to open up about his life. It’s a beautiful journey of how, if you can move on from your past and truly find the light, you’ll be able to enjoy life to the fullest. Joel ends up saving Ellie, not because it’s being selfish as such, but because he felt like Ellie had almost become his daughter. But it does make you think…
…Can you really blame him?
Left behind:
A year later, a dlc known as ‘left behind’ would release. The story is set during the part where Joel gets fatally hurt and is forced to rest. However, just before this, Ellie was forced to find some medicine for Joel so he could survive, so she came to an abandoned shopping centre (I’m not calling it a mall because I’m British and I think mall is kind of weird for a word). As she wanders through, she remembers a friend of hers named Riley.
Gameplay is pretty much the same as it was in the base game, only this time you’re playing as Ellie instead of Joel. For the shopping centre sections, it plays almost like the base game, though you do have the new funky feature of getting hunters and infected to fight each other so uhh…that’s cool. You’ve also got to work with Ellie’s lack of that much manoeuvrability unlike Joel. The Riley sections are pretty much linear lines with optional fun things to do. For a dlc it’s not the most mind blowing but to be honest I wasn’t expecting it to be.
The story ends with Ellie and Riley kissing each other and then getting chased by a horde of infected. They both get bit and the tragedy is that they promise to stay with each other until they turn…but we all know Ellie is immune. It’s kind of heartbreaking when you think about it and it only makes more sense why Ellie still, even in the main game, talks about her and cares about her. Back to Joel, Ellie finds something to treat Joel’s injury and then that ends the dlc!
There can’t possibly be anything else…oh wait…THIS GAME HAS ONLINE MULTIPLAYER???
Factions:
Out of every single multiplayer game I’ve played, how the fuck is this one the most addicting and fun?
‘Factions mp’ is the multiplayer mode in the last of us and believe me, it’s excellent. You have the job of surviving 12 weeks either as the fireflies or the hunters. You go into matches to get supplies so you can keep your clan healthy and even get more members. There are even some nice boosters you can get if you do well and complete some challenges.
You have three modes: supply raid, survivors (you will likely not win in this mode), and interrogation (the best one). Supply raid is just a standard game where you have 4 on each team. If you die then you’ll be revived as long as you have a respawn. Each team gets 20 and they can run out very fast if you’re really shit. Survivors is basically like supply raid but you get no respawns but get better rewards. And finally there’s interrogation, if you get a player from the opposing team in a ‘downed’ state then you can interrogate them. If you interrogate 5 then you’ll be able to gain access to their lockbox. But be warned. The opposing team will set traps around it and guard it with their lives.
The mechanics also carry over from the base game with you even being able to spend ‘parts’ on things like armour and upgrades to your guns and even ammo. There are even some abilities that you can have which help you out in certain places during the matches.
Conclusion:
The last of us definitely isn’t for everyone. And I can see why some people have begun to not like it as much as they once did. There are definitely many other games that people can have fun times with but that’s not what the last of us is asking you to do, unless you play the multiplayer. The last of us isn’t about the payoff, it’s more about the journey. You either like it or you don’t, there’s no in between. But I think we should all respect how excellently written the game is and even now, it has aged a lot better than some games during its time…looking at you bioshock infinite.
Masterpiece, excellent music, great gameplay, really really good story, well written story and characters, decent dlc, multiplayer is excellent, I miss Bill so much
Can't think of a single flaw with this
the "are video games art" debate and its disastrous effect on western game development
⌚ Time to finish - 10 hours 30 minutes
🤬Difficulty - easy
🔊 Soundtrack - Great sound track and fitting. Nothing that stood out especially.
🌄Graphics – Remastered was great but not really much to gawk at in a post apocalyptical world. Nothing really creative here. Just what you would expect, broken buildings, destroyed cars.
🌦 Atmosphere – Excellent atmosphere. Tense at times. I really felt part of the world.
📚 Main Story / Characters – Story telling, narration, and the cast of characters is the strength. The story itself is not that creative and predictable. If it weren't for the characters and how the story is told this game would have been a major flop.
🤺 Combat – Fair. Combat is not the strength of this game. Combat seems pretty half baked but gets better as the game goes on. Fights vs humans is just stealth and choke. Fights vs infected gets interesting but still easy. However it wasn't boring. Because bullets are scarce you don't really use any weapons you get. I think 90% of my kills were stealth.
🤖 AI: AI is pretty dumb. Sometimes they don't even see you crouched next to you. Clear their focus was story and not combat.
🧭 Side Activities / Exploration – None apart from collectibles etc. Did I even find any?
🚗 Movement/Physics – fine. Some parts of traversing the game like finding ladders and moving them, floaty devices, opening gates, was slow and completely unnecessary.
📣 Voice acting – Excellent.
📝 Review:
Definitely coming to it later than everyone. I came into it very hyped as one of the greatest games ever made. For such title I expect everything to be perfect and have depth. I felt the story telling was great, touching, on par with Drake 2 and some of the best in any game. But pretty much every other aspect was mediocre. Combat with humans was simple stealth take downs, tension was created fighting infected clickers but once you know how to use Molotov bottles they aren’t hard.
The crafting system was bleh. Story itself was standard though the characters and how the story was told was great . I certainly enjoyed the game , atmosphere , emotional connection and will play LOU 2. But certainly not one of the best games ever made.
Certain aspects of the game are a chore. Gate openings finding ladders and moving them. Looking for floaty stuff since Elle can’t swim. Really unnecessary and pointless. I think it added 30 minutes to game without any real value.
Because of how powerful stealth is and how overwhelmed you get if you make noise… most of the time I never used any guns expect when it was like 1 or 2 left and I wanted to use guns I been collecting lol so they don’t get wasted.
💡Final Thoughts:
Definitely play it but don't go in expecting best game ever. Expect one of the best examples of story telling and know there are some mundane things thrown in between. Just get past it. The characters grow, you get attached to them, and you also see the connection between them all. Definitely an emotional tale, which is what kept me going past all the ladder sequences :)
🤬Difficulty - easy
🔊 Soundtrack - Great sound track and fitting. Nothing that stood out especially.
🌄Graphics – Remastered was great but not really much to gawk at in a post apocalyptical world. Nothing really creative here. Just what you would expect, broken buildings, destroyed cars.
🌦 Atmosphere – Excellent atmosphere. Tense at times. I really felt part of the world.
📚 Main Story / Characters – Story telling, narration, and the cast of characters is the strength. The story itself is not that creative and predictable. If it weren't for the characters and how the story is told this game would have been a major flop.
🤺 Combat – Fair. Combat is not the strength of this game. Combat seems pretty half baked but gets better as the game goes on. Fights vs humans is just stealth and choke. Fights vs infected gets interesting but still easy. However it wasn't boring. Because bullets are scarce you don't really use any weapons you get. I think 90% of my kills were stealth.
🤖 AI: AI is pretty dumb. Sometimes they don't even see you crouched next to you. Clear their focus was story and not combat.
🧭 Side Activities / Exploration – None apart from collectibles etc. Did I even find any?
🚗 Movement/Physics – fine. Some parts of traversing the game like finding ladders and moving them, floaty devices, opening gates, was slow and completely unnecessary.
📣 Voice acting – Excellent.
📝 Review:
Definitely coming to it later than everyone. I came into it very hyped as one of the greatest games ever made. For such title I expect everything to be perfect and have depth. I felt the story telling was great, touching, on par with Drake 2 and some of the best in any game. But pretty much every other aspect was mediocre. Combat with humans was simple stealth take downs, tension was created fighting infected clickers but once you know how to use Molotov bottles they aren’t hard.
The crafting system was bleh. Story itself was standard though the characters and how the story was told was great . I certainly enjoyed the game , atmosphere , emotional connection and will play LOU 2. But certainly not one of the best games ever made.
Certain aspects of the game are a chore. Gate openings finding ladders and moving them. Looking for floaty stuff since Elle can’t swim. Really unnecessary and pointless. I think it added 30 minutes to game without any real value.
Because of how powerful stealth is and how overwhelmed you get if you make noise… most of the time I never used any guns expect when it was like 1 or 2 left and I wanted to use guns I been collecting lol so they don’t get wasted.
💡Final Thoughts:
Definitely play it but don't go in expecting best game ever. Expect one of the best examples of story telling and know there are some mundane things thrown in between. Just get past it. The characters grow, you get attached to them, and you also see the connection between them all. Definitely an emotional tale, which is what kept me going past all the ladder sequences :)
The combat and gameplay of this game is good and the music is alright story is the worst part of it hence why im giving it 3 stars but I’ll say that this game is better than part 2 in just the characters backstory
Naughty Dog’s best creation.
While this game’s gameplay structure remained formulaic as always, the entire writing blew me away. It’s a well-paced story with beautifully written characters played by very experienced actors. The voice acting is phenomenally authentic.
The soundtrack of The Last of Us is nothing but an absolute master class of musical proficiency that accompanies beautiful visuals in cutscenes and gameplay and the melancholic main theme is one of the most recognizable video game themes, it’s purely iconic.
While this game’s gameplay structure remained formulaic as always, the entire writing blew me away. It’s a well-paced story with beautifully written characters played by very experienced actors. The voice acting is phenomenally authentic.
The soundtrack of The Last of Us is nothing but an absolute master class of musical proficiency that accompanies beautiful visuals in cutscenes and gameplay and the melancholic main theme is one of the most recognizable video game themes, it’s purely iconic.
A pretty important game for me. While it's definitely fallen off for me personally, it'll probably (unfortunately) always have a special place in my heart. Love the characters a lot, gameplay is a LITTLE crusty, but I enjoy it and it's got a lot of heart. Fuck this game and anyone who likes it.
Some of the best storytelling in the medium. The premise itself is fairly standard genre fare but the character work here is by far the most impressive I've ever seen in a video game. Very light on exposition, and much of the character dynamics are revealed through subtle body language in the animation, the main themes left unsaid and bubbling under the surface. The vocal performances are incredible and bring these characters to life more than anything I’ve seen in the medium. There’s more subtlety and grace in the narrative here than even a lot of movies and television, honestly. It allows players to connect the dots themselves, instead using the lengthy cutscenes to communicate emotional tensions. The characters can rarely find the right words to express themselves, so the player must read them as they must read each other.
Still looks great 7 years later, especially running in HDR at 1800p on the Pro. The framerate dips a little here and there, but it’s still pretty consistently around 50fps at the worst of times, and there’s of course still the option to run it at 1080p 60fps if you’d prefer. The only thing that’s really aged much is the character models, but even those are better than a lot of early PS4 games.
The gameplay is really solid, much better than the Uncharted games I find. The stealth is a little barebones and confusing but otherwise it’s a really solid action-horror tinged cover shooter, playing like a toned-down version of Resident Evil 4, complete with quick turn, limited ammo offset by enemies who drop more the less you have, incremental weapon and character upgrades, and inventory management. I really like the crafting here, it forces you to plan ahead to some extent and doesn’t allow you to hoard resources too much, so you need some foresight into what you’re gonna need. It’s not perfect but I really enjoy it, and it makes for some really tense gameplay in the 4v4 multiplayer matches as well. The Last of Us is not a perfect game, but it is a landmark title for the medium that pushes linear AAA shooter campaigns to new levels of nuance in storytelling, and plays way better than you’d expect.
Still looks great 7 years later, especially running in HDR at 1800p on the Pro. The framerate dips a little here and there, but it’s still pretty consistently around 50fps at the worst of times, and there’s of course still the option to run it at 1080p 60fps if you’d prefer. The only thing that’s really aged much is the character models, but even those are better than a lot of early PS4 games.
The gameplay is really solid, much better than the Uncharted games I find. The stealth is a little barebones and confusing but otherwise it’s a really solid action-horror tinged cover shooter, playing like a toned-down version of Resident Evil 4, complete with quick turn, limited ammo offset by enemies who drop more the less you have, incremental weapon and character upgrades, and inventory management. I really like the crafting here, it forces you to plan ahead to some extent and doesn’t allow you to hoard resources too much, so you need some foresight into what you’re gonna need. It’s not perfect but I really enjoy it, and it makes for some really tense gameplay in the 4v4 multiplayer matches as well. The Last of Us is not a perfect game, but it is a landmark title for the medium that pushes linear AAA shooter campaigns to new levels of nuance in storytelling, and plays way better than you’d expect.
I don’t get why people see this as this amazing one of a kind game when really its just an average post apocalypse sad dad story. Still decent but massively overhyped. Fun gameplay. Also maybe its me but this game has lots of bugs and crashes a lot
The Last of Us is a narrative masterclass. Never before have I been so invested in a games story and characters. It does an incredible job at establishing the tone from the outset and reinforcing it throughout by littering the game with world building details in the environments, dialogue and collectible items. One moment you can be trudging through a dark, infested sewer, the next you can be gazing at gorgeous sunset vistas. Such contrasts give glimpses of hope for a better future in the bleak post-apocalyptic world. The dialogue itself is very well written and the voice acting is top notch, with there being strong performances across the board. This, along with the outstanding cutscenes, helps create that emotional connection with the narrative which makes it that bit more impactful.
Unfortunately, The Last of Us’ gameplay doesn’t reach the highs of its storytelling. It is by no means bad, but it just doesn’t quite have the same level of quality and polish. Stealth and combat encounters are both engaging, but they are quite simplistic with stealth primarily involving throwing bottles, shooting arrows and choking enemies while combat is a cover-based shooter with pretty average gunplay. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the gameplay, but it hasn’t aged as gracefully as its story with glitches, constantly bumping into your partner and enemies ignoring your partner who clearly dashed in front of them often breaking the immersion. However, the game is well paced, mixing up infected and human encounters with exploration and light puzzling to ensure the experience does not get repetitive. What’s more the online multiplayer is fantastic, with the tense, high stakes matches resulting in a really immersive, tactical experience.
Upon this, my second playthrough, of the Last of Us, I adored the story just as much as the first time and even though this time around the gameplay’s shortcomings were more prevalent, I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with this unforgettable experience.
2013 Ranked
Unfortunately, The Last of Us’ gameplay doesn’t reach the highs of its storytelling. It is by no means bad, but it just doesn’t quite have the same level of quality and polish. Stealth and combat encounters are both engaging, but they are quite simplistic with stealth primarily involving throwing bottles, shooting arrows and choking enemies while combat is a cover-based shooter with pretty average gunplay. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the gameplay, but it hasn’t aged as gracefully as its story with glitches, constantly bumping into your partner and enemies ignoring your partner who clearly dashed in front of them often breaking the immersion. However, the game is well paced, mixing up infected and human encounters with exploration and light puzzling to ensure the experience does not get repetitive. What’s more the online multiplayer is fantastic, with the tense, high stakes matches resulting in a really immersive, tactical experience.
Upon this, my second playthrough, of the Last of Us, I adored the story just as much as the first time and even though this time around the gameplay’s shortcomings were more prevalent, I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with this unforgettable experience.
2013 Ranked
It's remarkable how Naughty Dog tweaked the Uncharted formula ever so slightly to create something so radically different in tone.
The game asks deep, thought-provoking philosophical questions, questions to which there are no easy answers.
Questions like: bottle or brick?
(btw the answer is brick, every time. Brick gang represent.)
The game asks deep, thought-provoking philosophical questions, questions to which there are no easy answers.
Questions like: bottle or brick?
(btw the answer is brick, every time. Brick gang represent.)
Jogar algo cultuado, tido por muitas pessoas como o "jogo da vida" e outros derivados de grandeza, depois de todos, num momento diferente da indústria e do mundo, é sempre complicado. É muito difícil algo que ganha uma aura quase mística corresponder as expectativas daqueles que só ouviram falar sobre por tantos anos e ai finalmente vão ter contato.
Queria subverter o parágrafo acima e dizer que Last of Us conseguiu ultrapassar essa barreira, mas infelizmente, também foi o meu caso dessa vez. Eu esperava ser arrebatada pelo jogo, surpreendida, me emocionar absurdamente e... não rolou.
E assim, eu gostei. De novo, em caps pra ficar claro: EU GOSTEI DE LAST OF US. Só não alcançou a expectativa enorme que eu tinha. Isso é culpa do hype, de spoilers pequenos tomados durante esses anos que me roubaram alguns momentos de maravilhamento. Mas também de bagagem de vida e de estar jogando isso agora, e não em 2013. Já faz 10 anos e nesse meio tempo eu tive contato com muitos outros jogos, com diversas outras narrativas que me marcaram e tocaram mais. Mas certamente a Mirella de 2013 teria ficado MALUCA com esse jogo.
A história foi exatamente pra onde eu achei que ela iria, o que não é um demérito por si só, mas matou qualquer surpresa ou choque que eu pudesse ter. E eu gosto que ela levanta muitas discussões interessantes e filosóficas sobre toda a situação. Mas eu também acho que nunca desenvolve elas e nunca as leva pra lugar nenhum. Precisava? Provavelmente não, mas eu senti falta.
Os melhores momentos do jogo pra mim, de longe, são os calmos de interação do Joel e da Ellie. A conexão sendo criada entre os dois, as histórias compartilhadas, a relação paternal de ensinar e compartilhar ensinamentos e descobertas. Os raros momentos que o Joel consegue se abrir emocionalmente.
É um soco emocional muito grande e efetivo quando no começo, vocês saem da cidade e a Ellie tem contato com diversas coisas pela primeira vez: natureza, gnomos de jardim, máquinas quebradas de arcade; e você tem a compreensão que aquela adolescente cresceu sem nada disso, sem saber como era o mundo, num universo muito pequeno, duro, triste e limitado, ouvindo ecos do passado. O jogo consegue passar muito contexto e significado com pouco. É lindo, pra mim é onde Last of Us brilha.
Só que... tem tão pouco em comparação com o resto. Eu estava faminta por mais, e o jogo nunca me satisfez completamente nesse quesito. Acho que alguns momentos a mais assim e o jogo teria ganhado totalmente meu coração. Porque todas as partes de história, ou de interação entre os dois me cativaram demais.
Eu sofri muito com o gameplay no começo. Muito. Foi difícil demais pra mim e eu acho que o jogo não fez um bom trabalho em me ensinar e ir deixando eu me acostumar com tudo devagar. Ou talvez o começo só seja difícil mesmo. Depois que eu peguei o jeito deslanchou e ficou menos frustrante (mas nunca deixou de ser totalmente, odeio os clickers).
O clima do jogo e como ele faz tudo parecer opressor e te deixa tensa em basicamente todas as interações com inimigos, ou ao explorar uma nova área, é realmente incrível e bem feito demais. O design de nunca deixar faltar recursos de fato, mas mantê-los escassos, sempre te fazendo sentir que você está com pouco tudo, munição, itens de cura, bombas, é uma decisão acertada e adiciona ao tema e a ambientação.
O problema é que tudo isso é algo que conta a favor do jogo, mas também me trouxe um revés ao jogar. É um jogo que me deixava tensa e nervosa, que não foi exatamente divertido, no sentido puro da palavra, por muitas vezes. Eu ficava cansada com frequência e exigia muito de mim. Não conseguia jogar por muito tempo na maioria das sessões, o que me fez demorar bastante pra terminar ele.
É isso, foi uma jornada cheia de elementos que eu adorei, cheia de frustração, cheia de emoção com momentos que eu me vi resmungando pra tv em tons de desespero ou nervoso.
É um jogo que eu gostei, mas fico triste por não ter AMADO INTENSAMENTE, como muitas pessoas que eu conheço.
Queria subverter o parágrafo acima e dizer que Last of Us conseguiu ultrapassar essa barreira, mas infelizmente, também foi o meu caso dessa vez. Eu esperava ser arrebatada pelo jogo, surpreendida, me emocionar absurdamente e... não rolou.
E assim, eu gostei. De novo, em caps pra ficar claro: EU GOSTEI DE LAST OF US. Só não alcançou a expectativa enorme que eu tinha. Isso é culpa do hype, de spoilers pequenos tomados durante esses anos que me roubaram alguns momentos de maravilhamento. Mas também de bagagem de vida e de estar jogando isso agora, e não em 2013. Já faz 10 anos e nesse meio tempo eu tive contato com muitos outros jogos, com diversas outras narrativas que me marcaram e tocaram mais. Mas certamente a Mirella de 2013 teria ficado MALUCA com esse jogo.
A história foi exatamente pra onde eu achei que ela iria, o que não é um demérito por si só, mas matou qualquer surpresa ou choque que eu pudesse ter. E eu gosto que ela levanta muitas discussões interessantes e filosóficas sobre toda a situação. Mas eu também acho que nunca desenvolve elas e nunca as leva pra lugar nenhum. Precisava? Provavelmente não, mas eu senti falta.
Os melhores momentos do jogo pra mim, de longe, são os calmos de interação do Joel e da Ellie. A conexão sendo criada entre os dois, as histórias compartilhadas, a relação paternal de ensinar e compartilhar ensinamentos e descobertas. Os raros momentos que o Joel consegue se abrir emocionalmente.
É um soco emocional muito grande e efetivo quando no começo, vocês saem da cidade e a Ellie tem contato com diversas coisas pela primeira vez: natureza, gnomos de jardim, máquinas quebradas de arcade; e você tem a compreensão que aquela adolescente cresceu sem nada disso, sem saber como era o mundo, num universo muito pequeno, duro, triste e limitado, ouvindo ecos do passado. O jogo consegue passar muito contexto e significado com pouco. É lindo, pra mim é onde Last of Us brilha.
Só que... tem tão pouco em comparação com o resto. Eu estava faminta por mais, e o jogo nunca me satisfez completamente nesse quesito. Acho que alguns momentos a mais assim e o jogo teria ganhado totalmente meu coração. Porque todas as partes de história, ou de interação entre os dois me cativaram demais.
Eu sofri muito com o gameplay no começo. Muito. Foi difícil demais pra mim e eu acho que o jogo não fez um bom trabalho em me ensinar e ir deixando eu me acostumar com tudo devagar. Ou talvez o começo só seja difícil mesmo. Depois que eu peguei o jeito deslanchou e ficou menos frustrante (mas nunca deixou de ser totalmente, odeio os clickers).
O clima do jogo e como ele faz tudo parecer opressor e te deixa tensa em basicamente todas as interações com inimigos, ou ao explorar uma nova área, é realmente incrível e bem feito demais. O design de nunca deixar faltar recursos de fato, mas mantê-los escassos, sempre te fazendo sentir que você está com pouco tudo, munição, itens de cura, bombas, é uma decisão acertada e adiciona ao tema e a ambientação.
O problema é que tudo isso é algo que conta a favor do jogo, mas também me trouxe um revés ao jogar. É um jogo que me deixava tensa e nervosa, que não foi exatamente divertido, no sentido puro da palavra, por muitas vezes. Eu ficava cansada com frequência e exigia muito de mim. Não conseguia jogar por muito tempo na maioria das sessões, o que me fez demorar bastante pra terminar ele.
É isso, foi uma jornada cheia de elementos que eu adorei, cheia de frustração, cheia de emoção com momentos que eu me vi resmungando pra tv em tons de desespero ou nervoso.
É um jogo que eu gostei, mas fico triste por não ter AMADO INTENSAMENTE, como muitas pessoas que eu conheço.
In between being railroaded from predetermined point A to predetermined point B to experience the most excruciatingly emotionally manipulative drama scenes this side of a Key visual novel, you'll spend your time engaging in the kind of mediocre cover-based shooting that plagued this era of gaming, abusing the hilariously broken attempt at "stealth" mechanics, or setting up a conveniently placed ladder for the 800th time. All of this within the terminally boring and overdone setting of a post-apocalyptic zombie world. Truly incredible.
The fact that garbage like this that has no respect for player freedom or creativity gets lauded says a lot about the current state of the industry and the people who engage with it as a whole.
The fact that garbage like this that has no respect for player freedom or creativity gets lauded says a lot about the current state of the industry and the people who engage with it as a whole.
I’m man enough to admit I’ve cried 5 times while playing video games and 2 of those 5 times where during The Last of Us. The story is a masterpiece. If you don’t feel sadness during this game then frankly I’m not sure you’re capable of feeling sadness.
I've basically known the plot of this game for years, so I knew the general way things would go in this game and I KNOW people have been sucking this game's dick so much to the point where I feel its a bit overhyped (I suppose its fair to say I like this game, not the attitude people have towards it) but all I wanted out of this game was gruff video game dad and his daughter bonding time while exploring abandoned and overgrown buildings enjoying the melancholy of the world and some good zombie noises- and that's what I got.
What I DIDN'T expect was 100% of the PoC to die which WAS a bit distasteful- like cmon I know some white people die too but not ALL of them do- meanwhile every black person we meet dies which is :/
My Naughty Dog experience is mostly Uncharted games, which I love a lot- so seeing how they tweaked the gameplay style to feel more survival horror was fun- along with having quality presentation.
I enjoyed playing the game, I enjoyed hearing the characters banter and following their story, I liked the locations we went through and I liked how it was shown to me. Maybe just don't kill every non-white character off next time.
What I DIDN'T expect was 100% of the PoC to die which WAS a bit distasteful- like cmon I know some white people die too but not ALL of them do- meanwhile every black person we meet dies which is :/
My Naughty Dog experience is mostly Uncharted games, which I love a lot- so seeing how they tweaked the gameplay style to feel more survival horror was fun- along with having quality presentation.
I enjoyed playing the game, I enjoyed hearing the characters banter and following their story, I liked the locations we went through and I liked how it was shown to me. Maybe just don't kill every non-white character off next time.