The Last of Us
Review
Naughty Dog remains top dog
The Last of Us received a tremendous amount of hype after it was first announced at the VGA awards in 2011. After all it was to be developed by Naughty Dog, the acclaimed creators of Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter and the Uncharted series. Three console generations of quality games. It was surprising to see a new IP appear on the PS3 from them. One would have assumed that Naughty Dog's next masterpiece to be in development for the PS4, but knowing that the company now has two studios (one must be working on a PS4 title) it was certainly welcomed.
I'll admit that I was speculative about how good this game would be. I felt that the zombie apocalypse, survival horror genre had been overused recently, further added by my questioning of the gameplay. Was it simply going to be a slower, less action orientated version of Uncharted? Or something akin to Ninja Theory's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West with its almost co-operative nature with an NPC?
But of course this is Naughty Dog, they are the masters of their own craft, know what they are doing and yet again they have created probably one of the most immersive games that I have played on any console, not just this generation but of all time.
Story: 10/10
The tale is of a gruff man named Joel who has been trying to survive his best for the last 20 years after the spread of the Cordycep fungus which has infected near enough the whole population, transforming them into mutated fungal creatures.
On a mission to retrieve some of his stolen weapons with the help of his friend Tess, the two end up in a much grander scheme when they happen to encounter Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies, an anti-government group dedicated to finding a cure for this virus. After some persuasion, Joel and Tess are tasked to escort a young girl named Ellie to another group of Fireflies. And thus the adventure begins.
I won't go into further detail of what happens along the way, but it has to be noted the incredible interaction and behaviour between all the characters that are involved, particularly with Ellie and Joel.
Their attitudes are so incredibly grounded and realistic that you could consider them to be real people. Of course the motion capture performances has managed to portray all that emotion incredibly well, but even so, writer Neil Druckmann has knocked it on the head to perfection. Everything about the story felt genuine. There was raw fear, anger and heartbreak.
What impressed me most is that the story wasn't only conveyed perfectly simply through the cutscenes, the story fluidly moved throughout the gameplay as well, with conversations sparking up whilst they wandered through the deserted landscape. There was no disconnection at all. I am aware a lot of AAA games do this, even their previous Uncharted franchise. But somehow Naughty Dog finessed it even more.
This is a testament of what the gaming medium is becoming in terms of quality. It even trumps the top, Oscar winning films of today.
Gameplay: 9.7/10
We reach the point of which I was most hesitant about the game. Although some of the gameplay aspects were reminiscent of the Uncharted series, with its gunplay and some of its traversal such as lifting up people to drop down ladders, for the most part it was completely different.
As the game suggests it is a survival horror and thus you can choose whether be as stealthy as possible to avoid being being apprehended by both humans and the infected, or you can try and shoot and kill your way through the game. (The former is more advisable).
+ Stealth:
With regards the stealth it is incredibly well implemented. You can crouch by pressing the 'O' button and hide yourself among the numerous objects such as small walls, fences, desks, and concrete barriers. the moment you crouch towards these objects Joel instantly pushes himself up against it to remain more hidden and you can easily strafe along it. Additionally by pressing "R2" you can listen more intently, almost into sonar, to try and locate the positions of your enemies. Although a nice feature, it wasn't used that often.
The environments also have a lot of bottles and bricks lying around which you can pick up and throw in the opposite direction in order to create a distraction for the enemies. It works really well, It was really impressive when I would throw a brick only to find a guard see me throw it, raise the alarm and go after me. It showed that the AI was rather astute.
If you choose to be stealthy you can slowly creep up on enemies and either strangle or stab them. But it is at a major risk. strangling takes a fairly lengthy amount of time which may alert any oncoming enemies and even if you stab them with a shiv, it breaks afterwards and the enemies can still be alerted by the body later on.
But what is most interesting about the use of stealth within the game, except for one or two incidents, there is actually no need to kill any enemy. If you are skilled enough you can sneak past a batch of hunters or infected and carry on with the next segment of the game. After playing games for so long under the rule that you need to kill every enemy before you progress, it felt very strange at first to simply walk past. I felt obligated to remove all the enemies before going ahead, but it resulted in death most of the time.
+ Gunplay:
The way that Joel shoots is more or less a carbon copy from Uncharted, but with a few changes. In this case, Joel is not the sharp shooter like most third or first person shooters. Instead he sways a tremendous amount, making the shots you take less accurate. Furthermore, as it is a survival game, there is a lack of ammunition available, so every shot counts. It is a horrible feeling when missing a shot on your last bullet. Even if you do manage to kill the human enemies more often than not they don't leave you with a ton of ammo to take off them and stock up on. If you're lucky you may be able to pick up 2 or 3 shells.
+Diverse Enemy Types/ Smart AI:
With the human enemies, if they catch you they are incredibly brutal. Their shots are far more accurate than Joels and if shot your character staggers backwards making it far easier to be hit again. Combine that with the clever AI who try to flank you at any point and throw molotov cocktails to steer you out of hiding and you realise it is deadly to attempt to attack.
It is somewhat worse with the infected. There are three types: Runners, Clickers and Bloaters. The Runners are the recently infected. They can still see you and if caught out they yell out a scream alerting fellow Runners and other types. They are really fast and smart enough to flank you just like the humans, but fortunately they are easier to kill, particularly as they don't have guns.
As for the Clickers, they are more far gone and have lost the ability to see, but they have super sensitive hearing. If heard, they too charge at you, but if grappled it is instant death (unless you've upgraded a particular ability in which you may have a small chance to survive).
lastly the Bloaters are even more lethal versions of Clickers. They are large and it takes a ridiculous amount of gunfire and bombs to kill them. It does not help that they throw their own projectiles which depletes a major chunk of your health and makes you stagger. It is advisable to try and leave these bad boys alone if at all possible.
+ The Backpack:
Another way in which an obstacle has been used to create a more tense, threatening game is the use of Joel's backpack. In this pack he holds his weapons, health kits (Yes there is no regenerative health, Old School!) and makeshift bombs. But how does it make it more threatening? If you wish to change weapon you have use the left or right on the D-pad and press "X" whereby Joel slowly opens his bag to select his next weapon. In the heat of battle it can be detrimental and cause an unsatisfactory death. You can also press up and then "R1" to use a heath kit which again is rather slow, keeping you in angst as enemies move in.
With the backpack you don't just use the equipment available to you but also to craft weaponry and medi-kits using the materials you have picked up along the way. Again resources are scarce so you need to choose wisely if you wish to use the them and what to create. For example the materials used to create a shiv can also make an attachment for your crowbar for more durability and deal deadly blows.
+ Exploration/ Scavenging:
I have mentioned picking up materials and that is because The Last of Us, for the majority, is simply exploring the desolate areas in which they are travelling through, scavenging for as many resources and items as possible. Now that may seem a little bit boring to be walking through lots of buildings purely for this case but it is absolutely necessary. It is also rather satisfying finding the right materials in order to make more than one health kit and enough shivs knowing that it may be easier to get past a few Clickers. It really puts you into the mindset of maintaining your survival. plus there are a few nice Easter eggs in some of the harder to locate rooms.
+ Upgrading:
Lastly Joel can upgrade some of his attributes, including his health and speed of which to craft items. This can be done by finding enhancing pills alongside all the other resources which are in essence XP points as such. Additional upgrades can also be made to your weaponry within these abandoned locales. If Joel finds a workbench he can upgrade the usual clip rate, recoil, reload speed etc. It was rather reminiscent of Tomb Raider's weapon upgrading system. It wasn't incredibly deep but good enough to improve your weaponry as the game got progressively tougher.
- Odd AI choices
Onto the minor gripes. Although for the majority of the game the AI was terrifyingly smart, one choice which I found to be a mistake was that the enemies would only notice you, but not the NPC's such as Ellie and Tess who accompany you. There were instances whereby I was hidden yet Ellie was standing in plain sight of a hunter and he would simply walk right past her rather than attack and raise the alarm. Although I was quite glad that she wasn't caught out, it ruined the sense of immersion and realism of this bedraggled world.
- Repetitious minor gameplay elements
Additionally the game was somewhat repetitious in places, but thankfully only for the minor parts of the game during puzzle solving and exploration. These included the constant use of using a wooden pallet to drag Ellie across water and the need to lift her onto ledges and ladders for her to knock down.
- Slow
this may seem a little silly for those who have played The Last of Us but accounting for every gamer some may feel that the game is little bit too slow and boring for their taste. There is a lot of time simply walking through areas whilst the characters chit chat to one another which I thoroughly enjoyed. But for some who may just simply want a crazy action packed game with constant gunfire and mayhem and no need to get too involved in the story, this may be a turn off.
Graphics: 10/10
I didn't think it could be done but somehow Naughty Dog has topped their own visually high standards. This game has without a doubt the best graphics I have seen on the PS3. The character models are perfectly proportioned and the environments are at the top of their class. Walking through the cities, you can feel the sheer scale of the entire area and its buildings, now all covered in greenery. The countryside locales too are incredibly detailed. Walking through a small forest near Lincoln, with the sun setting juxtaposed a great irony of the beauty of the world riddled with such horror and destruction.
There were some aspects of the game in which I felt that I was playing a next generation game. A particular moment within a snowy environment made me almost certain of this. The attention to detail of each snowflake on the ground was sharp and the lighting surrounding the area gave an impression of the immensely cold, fresh air.
Not only were the graphics amazing but the animation around it was also done to perfection. It was fluid and the characters moved as if they were real people. Joel had a great amount of weight to him which made him a far more plausible character. Ellie too would also wonder around with a skip to her step like a typical young teenager would do and her constant looking back towards Joel almost for his reassurance added to the sense of realism.
There was only one hiccup with the graphics, whereby the entire environment disappeared and then one by one the buildings reemerged, but other than that tiny issue there is nothing to complain about.
Sound: 10/10
Much like the graphics, the sound within The Last of Us is astounding. The lead voice acting by Troy Baker (Joel) and Ashley Johnson (Ellie) together was mesmerizing. The chemistry between the two in the cutscenes were fantastic but it was through their random conversations whilst in game that sold me on the developing relationship between the two. It is safe to say that these actors spared no expense in reinforcing some truly believable emotions with all the main protagonists varying from outright rage, yelling at one another to resignation and solace. The definition of voice actors in video games has certainly changed for the better. Their prestige reaching new heights.
The music composed by Academy Award winning Gustavo Santaolalla, melds perfectly with the overall tone of the game with its subtle acoustic melodies. it's not intrusive, nor forgettable. The music seems to seep into your emotions, tugging on your heartstrings rather than providing an overzealous action epic soundtrack.
As for the general sound effects they too were perfect, particularly with a surround sound setup. Although it is fairly quite for the most part, when the eerie sounds do intrude it becomes rather tense and horrific, especially when you can quietly hear the Clickers ahead.
Some fantastic moments even included complete silence whilst the action was occurring, with just Gustavo's composition playing. I have never really seen this done before in video games, but I would love to see it again. It really did provide a more cinematic feel to the situation at hand.
Longevity: 10/10
The game is fairly lengthy by today's standards with the game taking approximately 14 hours to complete on normal. There is the chance to play the game on the other difficulty settings such as Hard and Survivor, plus the option to play select chapters either to try and collect all the little extras such as Firefly pendants and comic books or simply for the fun of it.
There is also a multiplayer mode, which unfortunately I haven't had the chance to test out. But I am aware that it brings over the crafting component from the single player into the multiplayer which adds a bit of depth in choices of weaponry. Furthermore the game modes work in teams of four. All together it is a substantial package
Conclusion:
The Last of Us is an incredible game and can definitely be considered to be one of the best in video gaming history. The gameplay is great but it is the story that takes ahold of you completely. You really won't want to put the controller down. By the end of it I had felt like I had gone on an epic cross country journey alongside Joel and Ellie. The ending too will linger with you for quite a while. It is not exactly conventional and I myself am still trying to get a grip on it. But as quite a lot of professional reviewers have stated, this game surprisingly teaches you more about your own morals based on the choices made by these protagonists. The ability to reach that amount of emotional depth in a video game is in itself astounding.
Perfect 10
