(spoilers ahead)
Full disclosure, I wasn't a fan of the first game and really only became interested here because the leaks and shitstorm showed this one was at least gonna be actually daring and interesting. Most of the sentimental drama beats still comes off broad and manufactured to me (though nothing here is worse than the opening of the first game in that regard imo), but it's also much less of an issue since it feels like there's much more to the story than that. The first Last of Us was a kind of paint by numbers drama, but Part II feels much more like archetypal exploration, almost feels like it should be set to a folk song. A parable of generational trauma reverberating and spreading through vengeance and violence. Characters again do unbelievably awful things in the name of love, but it's even hollower this time around. Instead of at least a desire to save or heal, it's a misguided rampage to preserve memory and legacy of people who never would've wanted this in the first place. The gameplay is almost certainly Naughty Dog’s best, maybe just behind Crash Team Racing. The wide open spaces allow for much more choice and freedom in its stealth sections, and the weapon progression feels genuinely varied and valuable. There’s even an actual genuinely horror vibe boss fight. But the dissonance between player and character builds as the game progresses, an increasing alienation from Ellie’s actions in a way that far outstrips anything the first game did with its medium. The way the final act comes together to give you some form of moral high ground by having you fight inhumane slavers made my eyes roll, seeming in the moment a cheap unearned redemption moment. But even though the universe hands her on a silver platter a justification for her journey out west and a noble purpose to letting her bloodlust dissipate, in the end, she just can’t help but reopen the wound again, not even really sure why she’s doing so anymore.
The narrative isn’t without a pretty sizable amount of issues though. The targeting toward capital G Gamers renders this with too much excess and redundancy in getting its point across to you (and it’s not like it’s enough to make them get it anyway). The degree to which Abby is propped up by the game’s second leg to get you to like her is almost comical, and shaving the edges off the (poorly done, but still present) ambiguity in Joel’s decision at the end of the first game is perplexing. People’s reverence of Joel can’t fully be attributed to their desires to live out noble anti-hero fantasies, it was also a product of the first game doing the bare minimum to prod into his past actions and disturbed morality, as well as making any opposition to him in a way that invites or even encourages cop outs and justifications to his actions. Even though I agree with Part II’s assessment of him, it feels less like justified metanarrative comeuppance of his fans and more like a backhanded slap to someone looking at something you invited them to look at. The sheer brutality never feels like the game is revelling in bloody exploitation, but it does feel like it doesn’t justify its purpose past a certain point, becoming excessive more than anything else. Ellie's bloodlust leads to as many compelling emotional and narrative beats as it does to overwritten worked through backwards contrived bits of character parallels and torture porn. This isn’t a story that requires a subtle hand, but it is one that could have benefitted from being less broad with its uses of characters and big dramatic beats.
So it’s pretty good. But just watch Spider-Man 3 and you’ll get a better work about the cycles and self destructive forces of revenge and forgiveness.
Full disclosure, I wasn't a fan of the first game and really only became interested here because the leaks and shitstorm showed this one was at least gonna be actually daring and interesting. Most of the sentimental drama beats still comes off broad and manufactured to me (though nothing here is worse than the opening of the first game in that regard imo), but it's also much less of an issue since it feels like there's much more to the story than that. The first Last of Us was a kind of paint by numbers drama, but Part II feels much more like archetypal exploration, almost feels like it should be set to a folk song. A parable of generational trauma reverberating and spreading through vengeance and violence. Characters again do unbelievably awful things in the name of love, but it's even hollower this time around. Instead of at least a desire to save or heal, it's a misguided rampage to preserve memory and legacy of people who never would've wanted this in the first place. The gameplay is almost certainly Naughty Dog’s best, maybe just behind Crash Team Racing. The wide open spaces allow for much more choice and freedom in its stealth sections, and the weapon progression feels genuinely varied and valuable. There’s even an actual genuinely horror vibe boss fight. But the dissonance between player and character builds as the game progresses, an increasing alienation from Ellie’s actions in a way that far outstrips anything the first game did with its medium. The way the final act comes together to give you some form of moral high ground by having you fight inhumane slavers made my eyes roll, seeming in the moment a cheap unearned redemption moment. But even though the universe hands her on a silver platter a justification for her journey out west and a noble purpose to letting her bloodlust dissipate, in the end, she just can’t help but reopen the wound again, not even really sure why she’s doing so anymore.
The narrative isn’t without a pretty sizable amount of issues though. The targeting toward capital G Gamers renders this with too much excess and redundancy in getting its point across to you (and it’s not like it’s enough to make them get it anyway). The degree to which Abby is propped up by the game’s second leg to get you to like her is almost comical, and shaving the edges off the (poorly done, but still present) ambiguity in Joel’s decision at the end of the first game is perplexing. People’s reverence of Joel can’t fully be attributed to their desires to live out noble anti-hero fantasies, it was also a product of the first game doing the bare minimum to prod into his past actions and disturbed morality, as well as making any opposition to him in a way that invites or even encourages cop outs and justifications to his actions. Even though I agree with Part II’s assessment of him, it feels less like justified metanarrative comeuppance of his fans and more like a backhanded slap to someone looking at something you invited them to look at. The sheer brutality never feels like the game is revelling in bloody exploitation, but it does feel like it doesn’t justify its purpose past a certain point, becoming excessive more than anything else. Ellie's bloodlust leads to as many compelling emotional and narrative beats as it does to overwritten worked through backwards contrived bits of character parallels and torture porn. This isn’t a story that requires a subtle hand, but it is one that could have benefitted from being less broad with its uses of characters and big dramatic beats.
So it’s pretty good. But just watch Spider-Man 3 and you’ll get a better work about the cycles and self destructive forces of revenge and forgiveness.
Giggles
2 years ago