The Last of Us is one of my favorite video game stories.
Joel and Ellie's story is thrilling, beautiful, sad and depressing.
The story, the narrative, the dialogue, the characters, the voice acting are easily 11/10. This game defined a new standard for cinematic storytelling in gaming in 2013.
So, why 4 stars then? Well, it's the gameplay.
I always see people calling The Last of Us the best video game ever and I always have to disagree with that because of the gameplay.
It's not very interesting, and it's arguably the most dated aspect of the game. Throughout the 10-12 hour long campaign you're gonna spend most of your time walking around in empty buildings, and big empty open areas, collecting screws, rags, duct tapes, etc. Occasionally, every 20 minutes, the game throws 4-5 enemies at you.
All the interesting stuff happens in the cutscenes. And there are LOTS of them.
This game suffers from the same problem that many other, highly cinematic modern games have. It wants to be a movie really, really badly. The gameplay is only secondary. It's basically an interactive movie.
There's also lots of artificial lengthening in the game. Every now and then you run into deep water and you have to find a pallet for Ellie, because she can't swim. Or, you have to look for a ladder. These are the only 'puzzles' in the game, and they become boring very soon.
Nonetheless, I still love the Last of Us, but it's because of the story, which I will never forget.
Joel and Ellie's story is thrilling, beautiful, sad and depressing.
The story, the narrative, the dialogue, the characters, the voice acting are easily 11/10. This game defined a new standard for cinematic storytelling in gaming in 2013.
So, why 4 stars then? Well, it's the gameplay.
I always see people calling The Last of Us the best video game ever and I always have to disagree with that because of the gameplay.
It's not very interesting, and it's arguably the most dated aspect of the game. Throughout the 10-12 hour long campaign you're gonna spend most of your time walking around in empty buildings, and big empty open areas, collecting screws, rags, duct tapes, etc. Occasionally, every 20 minutes, the game throws 4-5 enemies at you.
All the interesting stuff happens in the cutscenes. And there are LOTS of them.
This game suffers from the same problem that many other, highly cinematic modern games have. It wants to be a movie really, really badly. The gameplay is only secondary. It's basically an interactive movie.
There's also lots of artificial lengthening in the game. Every now and then you run into deep water and you have to find a pallet for Ellie, because she can't swim. Or, you have to look for a ladder. These are the only 'puzzles' in the game, and they become boring very soon.
Nonetheless, I still love the Last of Us, but it's because of the story, which I will never forget.