It is never easy to get do a video game rveiew and keep it
non-spoiliery. Especially when the game is such a story based game like The
Last of Us. There will be a few, but mostly minor ones.
Here I go.
First of all, the game was gorgeous. I mean it really looked
great on the ps3. I can only imagine how good it will look on the ps4, but
there was so much detail put into it and it just paid off.
The Story I was
hooked from the get go. The “prologue” really sent the tone of the game and hit
you in the mouth from the get go. It is rare to have a game really surprise me
that early on. The writers deserve a lot of credit for how they handled it.
Still the game is about Joel and Ellie. It is a simple as
that.
An older Joel is rugged, paranoid, and more than a little
jaded. He spent twenty years finding a way to survive in a world that that
became increasingly hard to endure. Yet, he made due by being smart and
understanding the way the world was. You had to look out for you.
And then he met Ellie.
At first glance she was just a kid that annoyed him. A
complication in his life that he did not really ask for, or wanted. But the
interaction they had throughout the game was amazing. Little snippets of
conversation they had where they go to know each other.
Then much larger things that drew them together. There were
so many little moments in this. Just bit of conversation they started to have
with each other. You could see them slowly growing into a dynamic and I kept
wondering if one or both would die.
It was an amazingly well written story, and one that I kept
wanting them to push more and more and more. There is emotion, and shock, and
characters die. There is fear and sadness and a lot of other things. It may be
one of best written games I have ever seen.
I am not even touching on the ending here. No way.
The gameplay prior
to playing this, I beat Uncharted and Uncharted 2, along with Tomb Raider. With
those games you are swashbuckling heroes and you spend a majority of the games
just killing anyone that gets in your way. There is nothing wrong with this,
but this is NOT that kind of game. Even if it took me a moment to realize it.
Don’t get me wrong, you can play this game like that. Guns
blazing and all that. But you will die. A LOT. Hell at the beginning if the
clicker’s grab you…you are just dead. No fighting, just game over. Joel is NOT
Nathan Drake or Lara Croft. It isn’t
that he isn’t capable, but he is more of a survivor, than a fighter. Although
he can fight.
So, you sneak, and avoid if possible. And lord do you spend
time looking around everywhere for items that you can get to upgrade your
character, equipment, and ammo. There is something awesome about wandering
around with nothing but a flashlight and trying to sneak past/kill creatures that
just want you dead.
I died so many times, but it rarely felt frustrating. I do
wish the bow mechanic was better as I did not like the aiming component of it.
I spent so much time trying to sneak up on the creatures/soldiers and trying to
kill them quietly. This did not always work and I spent a lot of other time
running for my life.
You even played as Ellie for a bit and that part of the game
was much different as she is a 14 year old girl versus previously playing as a
40 year old man. It was a nice contrast as she could not do some of the same
things physically that Joel could do. But it was damn cool.
So, this happened. |
Overall. Where
does this rate in my favorite games of all time? Damn high. May have even been
higher if someone had not ruined the ending for me. I still loved the ending, but
it took a bit of the emotional aspect of it as I knew what would happen. Still,
it was a beautiful game with fun gameplay and a damn good story with two
characters you grow to care about. A few
twists, and a few deaths, make it an emotional journey as well.
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