The Last of Us

[Jehm Faulking]

So after playing for two days straight I finally finished The Last of Us. I must say that Naughty Dog has really outdone themselves with this one. I played through the Uncharted games and never truly felt a sense or urgency, that there was a chance that I was going to die in whatever section of the game I was in. The Last of Us had me on the edge of my seat in even the earliest encounters. The intensity of trying to sneak past a pack of clickers, or even attempting to outsmart a wave of bandits always felt like a challenge, and made me feel like one small mistake would result in some terrible consequences. The story of the game is much improved from Uncharted, as well. It seemed like a very nice mixture of The Walking Dead and The Happening (not one of my favorite movies but whatever). My favorite part of the story is that it doesn't center around one main antagonist or anything. It really is a tale of survival against everything, and the medium that it was told in only enhances the plot. It was a game experience that I won't soon forget, and any PS3 owner owes it to themselves to play it.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Jehm Faulking

[Brandon Strader]

Mine is on the way from huevo nuevo, and I'm looking forward to playing it. A friend on facebook said you've got to play it on hard difficulty. Do you recommend that for someone coming to it new? To be fair I played all the Uncharteds on hard and usually don't have a problem with hard difficulty in general, but with some games, it's just not good.

[Native Jovian]

I got it on Saturday, played quite a bit this weekend. I haven't beaten it yet, but to be honest, I'm kinda dissapointed with it. While the voice acting is good and the dialogue is solid -- the characters feel like actual people, reacting realistically to the situation they find themselves in -- the story itself is cliche as hell. None of the major plot points that have come up have been the least bit unexpected, which leads to a sort of "yeah yeah, get on with it" feeling despite the quality of the voice acting.

The gameplay itself is by turns tedious (wandering around looking for supplies and/or the area exit -- the level design has lots of twists and turns and nooks and crannies, but the UI has no "objective is in this direction" marker... until it decides that you've wandered too long and it brings up something that points you directly to it) and frustrating (long multi-part stealth sequences with no checkpoints! forcing you into gun battles where you're outnumbered, outgunned, and outflanked!). The immersion -- supremely important in this sort of game -- is pretty bad. The enemy AI will completely ignore your ally characters while you're sneaking -- even if they're literally getting stepped on -- and the game happily ignores its own mechanics in service to the plot. (Gotten in the habit of using the super-listen ability to check around corners and such before moving ahead? Too bad! If the plot calls for you to be ambushed, you will be.)

That said, it's not all bad. The crafting system is well done, forcing you to juggle limited resources in a way that doesn't feel arbitrary. Should you use the blade you found to make a shiv, for quick stealth kills? Or use it to improve your makeshift melee weapon, for a one-shot kill? The crafting menu plays out in real-time rather than pausing the action, too, so you might end up desperately trying to put together a medkit before the enemy you're hiding from finds you. The sound design is also amazing -- it really leverages my 5.1 system, and it's possible to locate enemies fairly accurately through sound alone, which is very nice.

All in all, I'd say the game is good, but not great. I don't regret the purchase, but if you're on the fence, I'd say wait until you can pick it up used or on sale or something.

[Brandon Strader]

Eh, the game isn't very good after all that hype. Pretty disappointing.

[Sixto]

just started this. sooooo good, and also really difficult, but i am playing on 'hard'