Over the past five years or so, the gaming landscape has been inundated by post-apocalyptic and/or zombie themed games. More often than not, these games range from mediocre- a la ZombieU -to downright awful, like this year's Walking Dead Survival Instinct. But occasionally, the industry strikes gold with brilliant experiences like Fallout 3 or Metro 2033. These games tap into what can make the genre really special; a sense of survival and desperation in truly hopeless situations. This year, developer Naughty Dog released The Last of Us, a game quite unlike anything they've ever done before. While some were apprehensive at the prospect of the studio that brought us Crash and Jak tackling such heavy subject matter, in the end they delivered more than anyone expected them to. The Last of Us is a prime example of the post-apocalypse genre done not only right, but masterfully.
The story of The Last of Us is a simple one; a smuggler named Joel must transport a girl named Ellie cross-country to a mysterious organization, get paid, and get out. For any readers sake, I refuse to elaborate on the story any more. Ruining the story of The Last of Us even a little bit would be doing it a great injustice, and this is really a game best experienced without foreknowledge. What I CAN say, is that The Last of Us delivers a heartfelt story that is all at once emotionally engaging, unpredictable, and wonderfully simple. None of the situations that Joel and Ellie encounter ever feel contrived. Each scene and chapter has an organic flow that makes the story consistently believable, even if their plight is extraordinary.
The excellent story of The Last of Us is only heightened by excellent performances across the board. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson deliver incredible performances as Joel and Ellie respectively. Joel's no-nonsense, badass manner is never the focus of his character as it would be in other games, and Ellie is a strong female lead in a game full of them. The characterization and writing of every character focuses on deeper, more human aspects rather than skin deep, at-a-glance features. Whether it's a hesitant pause before a reply or an unintentional brush of a watch, every performance compliments the character's writing in a way that makes each character believable, likable and almost tangible.
The Last of Us may be an amazing storytelling experience, but a game is nothing without it's gameplay. More often than not in post-apocalyptic games, the action clashes with the tone of the situations at hand dramatically. Whether it's zapping zombies with electric machetes in Dead Island or whacking them with an indestructible Cricket bat in ZombieU, the players agency within the gameplay never really feels like it matches the dire circumstances presented in the story. The Last of Us bucks this common issue by mirroring the desperate struggle of Joel and Ellie in the story with equally desperate feeling mechanics. Between the game's scavenging and crafting mechanic, it's difficult over the shoulder shooting and the brutal melee combat, everything fits the tone and feel of the game impeccably. Occasionally, Joel may get attacked by a horde of clickers (the games excellently modeled zombie-substitutes)and have to make a mad dash just to survive. These moments, while intense, can pose a problem for the games framerate. While mostly steady, it an drop into the low 20s when situations get to hectic. This isn't a massive issue and doesn't do anything to hurt the overall experience, but it is worth mentioning nonetheless.
Naughty Dog has always delivered impressive visuals with the Jak and Uncharted series, and The Last of Us is no different. Whereas in most post-apocalyptic games, there may be a smattering of boring brown or gray buildings occasionally covered with the red blood of zombies, here there is a beautiful array of colors and aesthetically pleasing art design. Every location Joel and Ellie visit has a unique flavor and feels like it could really exist outside of the game. Character designs are also gorgeous and incredibly animated, always reflecting the characters mood or situation with appropriate animations. Lighting is one of the most impressive aspects of the visuals however, as shadows are cast along the wall or the sun beats down through some trees in the woods. Every piece of the visuals eventually come together to form a wonderful looking game that is always pleasing to look at.
The general consensus when The Last of Us multiplayer was unveiled was that it was unneeded. Naughty Dog was trying to craft an incredible story driven experience that would set it apart from any other game, and multiplayer had finally reared it's ugly head to ruin the day. Even I was skeptical when first booting up a match. I am glad to say, then, that The Last of Us' multiplayer mode not only does what it sets out to do well, but actually compliments the incredible single player mode. Naughty Dog could have gone the Call of Duty route, turning every match into a massive bullet storm and ruining what made the singleplayer campaign so special. Instead, they took what set the singleplayer experience apart from other games- a sense of desperate survival, of scavenging for already limited supplies and engaging in struggles with opposing factions just to continue living- and transferred it over to the multiplayer. Ammo is always limited, supplies are easily used up, and the crafting system still lives on. Traps are deployable, stealth is advisable and death is inevitable. Although it can suffer from typcial multiplayer issues (poor sportsmanship, cheating, etc), it doesn't feel like a separate mode from the singleplayer, but rather an extension if the universe established there.
Naughty Dog has crafted the ultimate post-apocalyptic game, one I had always dreamed of and now have. Is is an incredible feat of storytelling, engineering and character performance. No amount of superlatives heaped on it could ever do it justice, so do yourself a favor and go experience The Last of Us.
"The Game Music Foundation are today very proud and pleased to announce an additional concert, circling back to the roots of Game Muisic Festival in Poland. On April 28th, 2024, the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw will once again become a place to celebrate the art of video game music, featuring scores from The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II." - The Game Music Foundation.
Najam from eXputer writes "It's time fore a new installment in the series, not another pointless remaster."
They are working on something new. Not to be rude but it is impossibility stupid to think ND next major announcement is going to be a remaster or their next Last of Us entry is going to be another remaster.
I think this is in response to them releasing a remaster for the sequel, a game that didn't need a remaster.
Basically a "why did you put out a remaster no one asked for when you have all there options available"
They remaster is to put out something quick while they are deving new stuff. I don't get how people can be so static.
That was a Remake. I guess they could do that to 2, but man…. They should wait a couple generations so it can look like a major upgrade.
Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Part 2 over 3 years ago, and since then, the only good thing we have received is a TV series.
not complaing tbh, i love the last of us but for me the story is done, i dont need more it. they couldve left it at 1 and i wouldve been happy with it.
i have no interest in playing as abby what so ever or anyone else not named joel or ellie for that matter.
give us a new IP naughty dog, its bloody time, insomniac has snatched your throne as sonys best studio, remind us again how talented you are!!
I'm with you on that. People might not have noticed yet, but Naughty Dog has worked on basically only Uncharted and The Last of Us for almost two decades now. It's pretty much 3/4 of their entire history under Sony, dedicated to those two franchises.
This series should have been put to rest since the first one.. tlou2 was absolutely not needed because the first one was perfect.
Now i how ND wake up and give us something to be excited for
Honestly even if Joel was was still in it, I'm still fine with just not having another game period. Like even after the first game, I was fine with the option of just leaving things as they were, and I feel the same about TLOU2. yeah they're great games but the story would be fine left as it is imo, just takes if a messed up situation in a messed up world
insomniac is only big because they are working on Spider Man. Give that ip to any good studio and they will succeed. So i don't feel that is fair to say for that reason. i would like a part 3 with ellie only, where she is old 40 years old or more and end the story there somehow but there were some rumors of multiple playable characters which makes me not so interested. A new ip is a hard sell, i trust them but at the same time not sure about current ND talent to deliver on that front.
Yea let's just ignore 4 games in 5 years and ratchet and clank.
All absolutely quality quality games, theybdeserve the kudos!!
It did! It’s called The Last of Us Part II and it currently holds the record of the most awarded game of all-time! Highly recommend it!
And yet I could give you a dozen games which didn’t get as many awards but are better.
Even 2020…Ghost of Tsushima gave us not just one great revenge tale but two.
Well that's on you Fox. Most people seems to like it wich the awards are a proof of.
Honestly, TLOU2's story came off as more of a comedy of errors masquerading as a 'serious' game.
Not to mention, despite having all of these awards much of which only existed once, TLOU2, a sequel to a critically acclaimed game, took as much time as Horizon: Zero Dawn, a new IP and a huge gamble for Guerrilla at the time, to hit 10 million sales. Heck, Ghost of Tsushima nearly hit 10 million sales by the 2 year mark and that one was also a new IP.
@CombatEmu
"Heck, Ghost of Tsushima nearly hit 10 million sales by the 2 year mark and that one was also a new IP"
Exactly
And they were only behind TLOU2 by like a million
Put it into perspective
A brand new IP which could have gone either way vs a massive 7 years in the making sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed games in the last 10 years.
Yet they only managed a million more...
People are still mad about TLOU2. 😂😂
Great game and I’m prepping for another playthrough. Might have to wait until they release the PS5 version and see how that is
The rumors say it's development wasn't up to par with internal expectations, so it's on ice for a while, but there's been nothing official saying what's happening with it for a while.
We should have gotten some new information once the remake of Part 1 was done.
ND has to have something new to announce, they've been quiet for a while now.
Meanwhile half their dev's are now unemployed... I wouldn't count on anything for quite awhile.
@JackBNimble: The studio had over 400 Staff back in July, about 25 staff have been made redundant, this could very easily be because a game has had a large part of it's development finished and ND are the biggest they've ever been.
Scaling back to focus more and cut the fat isn't a bad thing.
The studio could easily still have close to 400 staff, it's also been 3 years since their last release, it's very likely that they're gearing up to announce their next game and release it within the next year or so.
You were born to be a writer, great review.
I'm surprised you gave a good reveiw to a non pokemon game.
Nice review, the music in particular was a highlight for me. The main theme and the ending theme...soooo good.
Also, I like this line "Traps are deployable, stealth is advisable and death is inevitable." :)
Score should had been higher...
graphics are FAR from a 10
more like a 6
jaggies everywhere, sub hd textures, artifacting shadows
gameplay is sluggish, controls are spotty
7.5/10
story is very good 9/10
voice acting and sound design is top notch 10/10
overall 8/10