IrrationalPassions: The Last of Us Review

Quote:
"The Last of Us is Naughty Dog’s best game. Not only that, but in my opinion, it is the best game on PS3, the best story told in gaming (so far) and a literal achievement in games as far as maturity, storytelling, gameplay and graphics. It is, by no stretch of the imagination, a masterpiece, and stands as a game that could very well define this generation as it closes out."

[cyguration]

I'll probably get flamed for this, but I would score it 9/10 only because of the AI issues. Otherwise, Spot on.

[Dunpeal]

why flamed? 9/10 is fair even if the majority say 10/10

and what AI issues?

[frelyler]

Not flamed. The ai issue is ellie will walk or stand right infringement of an enemy and the ai doesn't react. See my comment below for a better explanation. Granted maybe when I beat the game ill feel different, but as it stands for me personally its a big issue only because with naughty dog they set the bar so high I expect them to at least meet it.

[frelyler]

I love the game, but for it to be built around a stealth mechanic it has to follow certain rules for the immersion not to be broken. A lot of times, at least ten my partner is literally standing right in front of an enemy, yet it's as if they don't exist. I don't understand how based on naughty dogs past games and their level of polish they let something so glaringly wrong happen. Not enough reviews are saying anything about how badly it kills the tension. I mean the game is so phenomenal on every level and it puts you so on edge that when something so silly and bad happens regarding the ai it really shows. I love naughty dog games, but I think way too many reviews are giving them a pass on such a noticeable issue. Seriously, everything else is perfect, why not fix that?

[Dunpeal]

oh THAT!!! i've already heard that one

i disagree and like PSjesus says below AI is not meant to be "human intelligence"

I imagine they tinkered with the notion of making your companion trigger enemies, but couldn't come up with a way for your companion to follow you so quickly and dynamically while also knowing to stay out of an enemy's way. i mean you can literally move and then do a 180 and turn back so quickly. how is the AI supposed to keep up with that when it is told to look for cover as well

perhaps a better solution would have been to have been able to implement a call command so you could call ellie when the coast was clear

i think it's more silly that you can knock over chairs and stuff and close by enemies don't notice THAT.

[PSjesus]

Yes AI isn't perfect because it is NOT Human intelligence
And the AI is best in games espicially interaction between charecters in a way never seen before

[frelyler]

Artificial intelligence is just that, artificial and I never said I expected human level intelligence. What I do expect is if they are trying to simulate stealth and line of site they figure out a way for the ai partner to have the same rules applied. Nothing anywhere near human intelligence is needed for something to realize there is movement and then react.

[badz149]

the game is mainly an escort mission and stealth is the name of the game. most of the time, you have limited space to hide yourself let alone 2 or 3 thus Ellie and Thes have to move over to another place to hide and if ND let every single time the enemy react to your friends' movement, the game will be extremely hard knowing that stealth is the key for survival especially on HARD and SURVIVAL!

the point is to have you focus on your OWN action rather than being distracted by your friends' actions which in itself is already a challenge. plus, how many times have reviewers and gamers alike condemned other games with retarded friendly AI that alert the enemy while you're perfectly in stealth already? EVERY FREAKIN TIME!! I'm glad TLoU didn't go the same route! and trust me, we're still far away from having human-like AI in games.

whether it's intentional or not, I like the way ND made TLoU not 'punishing' you for the 'mistake' of your friendly AI which you don't have the 'privilege' controlling on your own!

unless if you can exactly tell your friendly AI to go where you want them to like in SOCOM or GRAW, then dumb enemy AI is unacceptable but that's not the case with TLoU.

[cyguration]

Well, some games do AI better than others.

Hitman: Blood Money had a really good AI system especially with the amount that were on the screen. Granted, you never had an ally follow you around and do stealth.

For most interactions, though, I think they responded quite realistically on the harder settings.

In Hitman if you did knock something over or bump into someone repeatedly like a retard they would react to that.

I did find it a little irksome that you might walk behind a dude, and do a stealth takedown on TLoU and a guy standing DIRECTLY in front of him doesn't flinch.

But yeah, other than a few minor AI quips I thought the game was perfect. I wasn't expecting human like AI, but there have been games with some advancements in the way the AI reacts that's slightly more natural. Though I imagine they were already hitting the memory limits given the graphics, gunfights, environments, etc,. etc.

Also, I think the vegetable zombies had some of the best zombie AI in games. They were very impressive.

[toshan]

10/10

[Williamson]

I give it a 10/10. Not perfect (what game is) but it does so many things really well such as story,gameplay,graphics, good music, great characters, and lastly the experience. I was in quite a few heart beating moments in this game.

[A_Gamer]

This game is not perfect but it does a lot of things right. It does not matter to me what scores reviewers give it, in my opinion it's one of the best games I've ever played.