@the_big_doggg But that doesn't excuse the police for conducting a shoddy investigation, nor the rest of the legal system for giving someone 8 YEARS in prison for a stupid joke. As the family put it in their petition letter: "Justin Carter was arrested on February 14, 2013 for a statement that he made on Facebook. He was not questioned by the police until March 13th, 2013. His home was not searched until a week after his questioning. The only item seized from his home was his personal computer. No weapons of any kind were seized. If he had posed a real terroristic threat, shouldn't the police have questioned and searched his home sooner than a month after an arrest?"
@Sunuva22 I think you're right that this kid shouldn't have said what he said, because obviously there's heightened sensitivity to that sort of thing right now and really one shouldn't make threats even if being sarcastic. That said, 8 years? You can commit murder and get less time than that in the U.S.
@Max_160 And that's the real tragedy of this story. America continues to imprison minor offenders, in many cases like this one without even performing a proper investigation and acting with total disregard for habeas corpus - and the end result? A hardened criminal who has a bone to pick with the establishment.
@leviathanwing @G24S Right, which makes the whole thing even more absurd. Since when does American law enforcement take its cues from foreigners? Not to discredit Canadians (as I am one), but it seems that the police didn't do their due diligence under the circumstances.
@bloody_roar_fan Kids get mad playing League of Legends, start arguing. Kid A says Kid B is crazy. Kid B makes sarcastic remark. Actually crazy lady reads facebook post, fails to understand sarcasm. Kid faces 8 years of hard time as a result. All before he can legally drink alcohol!
While the settings of the Assassin's Creed games were indeed historical, they were still about an Assassin - by definition, one who murders for a living. The first game's backdrop was the Middle East, but it wasn't "about" Islam. The Ezio games were set in Italy, but they weren't "about" the Renaissance. Yeah, I'm all for a "revolution in subject matter," that sounds swell, but it's a bit premature for this guy to say he's done that.
Oh yeah and I couldn't care less about this digital future stuff. PC games are mostly digital and it's been really good for consumers, yeah opening a game box is kinda fun but that's about it.
Saw the feedbackula for this review and had to watch it. I've already finished The Last of Us at this point and to be perfectly honest I haven't enjoyed a game so much for a really long time. I think the only game in recent memory that comes close would be Metal Gear Solid 4, and that was a fantastic game but The Last of Us was an even better experience for me. I know it wasn't entirely flawless, but it would be dishonest for me to give it anything less than a 10.
So yeah, you're entitled to your opinion Tom, and I can totally see where you're coming from with most of the immersion-breaking things. Allies being immune to detection is unfortunately really obvious, but on the other hand (as others have pointed out), do you really want to have your perfect stealth playthrough ruined because Ellie can't stay on the right side of the cover? And I have to say I was impressed at how good the AI was in that regard, considering that their movements aren't scripted in those sections. And yes, they talk, but for the most part they whisper and I feel that their comments add more to the experience than they take away.
I personally never encountered that problem of going through a door while zombies ignored me. I guess I was just very thorough in clearing them out in each area. Again it's a question of realism/immersion over playability: chances are you're running away because fighting would be suicide. If those infected did chase you through the door, especially in some sections where being stealthy is intentionally made impossible, that could indefinitely postpone your continuing through the game. Would that really be worth it?
As for the guards, my experience was completely different to what you describe - I have to wonder if the copy sent to reviewers was just slightly less polished than the one that hit store shelves, or if the 1.01 update over the PSN solved this issue. In my playthrough the guards were very much alert to the corpses of their comrades, and I was caught this way plenty of times.
Finally, "Though Ellie is a stand-out, the rest of the characters lack heart." You have got to be kidding me! Did you play the same game as me? Did the other actors email in their completed performances to the devs, who then added them into the game in a day 1 patch that you somehow missed? All of the acting and writing in this game was absolutely top-notch, even for the proverbial redshirts whose only audible lines were their grunts as Joel strangles them. If they lacked heart, it's because the apocalypse sucked it out of them along with their hope and their morality. Do you just have a problem with the grim darkness of the setting?
At the end of the day, I couldn't care less about the 8/10. The fact that an 8 puts The Last of Us on the same footing as Cadoodle Bloople Duple, Rage, Bulletstorm, MAG... the list goes on, and those are just the PS3 shooters. That's not your fault, that's just the sad result of this arbitrary number rating system that reviewers subscribe to. But you got awful nitpicky with this game, Tom. In your written review you said it was difficult to empathize with Joel, and I guess that's the root of the problem. Where you managed to stay detached from the journey, those of us who enjoyed it got sucked in and lived the whole experience from start to finish, and that's the mark of a truly great game.
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