Let down by its weak story, poor structure, pandering writing, and trademark Naughtydog game design, The Last of Us 2 is a tragic sequel that will go the way of Alien 3 or Mass Effect Andromeda; forgotten, and possibly not considered canon.
It's a tragedy to see a masterpiece (which hasn't aged the best, but is still great) be followed up by such a lazy display of... well I'm not sure. The story often is at odds with itself, and the writer's hand can too often feel like they control the game and not the characters.
!Spoilers!
Abby is the main thing this game needed to get right, and it does not get her right at all. We have had amazing characters that we love to hate, hate to love, and root for despite their problems. Abby is none of those. She is a cynical plot device created to for a purpose that even the writers didn't seem sure of.
Was her purpose to be a Joel figure? An anti-hero? A super hero (who can single-handedly scale a massive skyscraper and defeat a massive monster in a one-on-one cartoon-ish fight)? A conflicted killer? An excited baby-killer ("good")? Who knows! The writers sure didn't.
I won't harp on her anymore. Most of the games flaws have been outlined in greater detail than one review can provide.
The fact next-to-no-one discusses the gameplay (in proportion to the story) is telling. It's not very good, but Naughtydog has been promoting a minimalist style of gameplay for years now. It's not my cup of tea, but if you liked the first game's gameplay, you will like this one more. It's punchier, more meaty, and has a lot more gore. What it lacks in substance, it makes up for in its impact. Just don't expect more than one playthrough for the sake of the gameplay-loop.
I wanted to keep this brief. I'm aware there's a lot of bad faith on both sides with this game, and I wanted to be fair and not waste time with this review. I'm writing for fun at the end of the day. So, if you think nihilistic, self-indulgent writing and half-baked action is fun, you might like this. If not, I would skip this one and consider the story finished at Ellie's "ok."
It's a tragedy to see a masterpiece (which hasn't aged the best, but is still great) be followed up by such a lazy display of... well I'm not sure. The story often is at odds with itself, and the writer's hand can too often feel like they control the game and not the characters.
!Spoilers!
Abby is the main thing this game needed to get right, and it does not get her right at all. We have had amazing characters that we love to hate, hate to love, and root for despite their problems. Abby is none of those. She is a cynical plot device created to for a purpose that even the writers didn't seem sure of.
Was her purpose to be a Joel figure? An anti-hero? A super hero (who can single-handedly scale a massive skyscraper and defeat a massive monster in a one-on-one cartoon-ish fight)? A conflicted killer? An excited baby-killer ("good")? Who knows! The writers sure didn't.
I won't harp on her anymore. Most of the games flaws have been outlined in greater detail than one review can provide.
The fact next-to-no-one discusses the gameplay (in proportion to the story) is telling. It's not very good, but Naughtydog has been promoting a minimalist style of gameplay for years now. It's not my cup of tea, but if you liked the first game's gameplay, you will like this one more. It's punchier, more meaty, and has a lot more gore. What it lacks in substance, it makes up for in its impact. Just don't expect more than one playthrough for the sake of the gameplay-loop.
I wanted to keep this brief. I'm aware there's a lot of bad faith on both sides with this game, and I wanted to be fair and not waste time with this review. I'm writing for fun at the end of the day. So, if you think nihilistic, self-indulgent writing and half-baked action is fun, you might like this. If not, I would skip this one and consider the story finished at Ellie's "ok."