So here we are, yet another post apocalyptic based video game where zombies (or infected zombie like creatures) roam the Earth making life hell for the few survivors who dare to keep fighting a losing fight. Right? Well, the concept of this game has been done before but , never has it been done so well. This game has a great story and the two lead characters really get attached to you when in most other games of the genre are somewhat bland. I hear people complain that it has a "Uncharted" feel to it but come on, it's another Naughty Dog game, but in my opinion this game is even better than the highly regarded Uncharted series games.
Graphics and Presentation: Possibly the best the PS3 has to offer, the character models look great, the facial expressions are very realistic, the environments are very detailed. The plant life in this game is taking over what was once buildings and streets inhabited by people commuting to work and living their everyday lives. The environment in Last of Us is the most detailed and thought out post apocalyptic world I've witnessed in any of the many games of the genre I've played. Often times developers of these games just put a lot of trash on the ground, some messed up buildings here and there, fire and you get the general idea. Naughty Dog painted a perfect picture of what the land looks like once mankind has abandoned it. You truly get a sense of how bleak it is for these characters when you see the world they are forced to survive in. The character motion capture is done very well also, this game just feels so real at times, you wont see big jumps across large gaps, and no climbing huge buildings or any of the things we've seen from Nathan Drake. The dialogue is some of the best I've heard in video games, nothing seems too rehearsed or scripted, those little cliche survival lines never appear in the game and Joel and Ellie as well as all the other people they encounter talk like real normal people in our ordinary everyday life. This helps bring a realistic element to every character in the game. There's no wise cracking, not much sarcasm. Life is hell for these people, there's never time to stop and smell the roses. They do what they have to do. The dialogue helps drive that point home.
Gameplay: Sometimes this game does feel a lot like Uncharted. You don't climb and scale buildings and cliffs but you do move and take cover like Uncharted. The gunfights feel like Uncharted as well but in this game when you get shot you really feel like you've been shot. Joel will drop if he takes a clean shot and getting knocked back when I'm hit is something that I appreciate as apposed to the average game where the sense of how painful or strong a bullet really is, is pretty much non-existent.. The key to survival is to loot every area you come across. Sometimes in games I find scavenging for items tedious and boring, but in Last of Us I always went out of my way to check every room, to go the extra mile in hopes of getting more supplies to craft new weapons, med kits or even supplement pills to upgrade my character and tools to upgrade my weapons. Stealth is a big element to this game which is a huge plus for me. Ammo is limited so you have to be smart, sneak around enemies rather than take them on. When you're in a bind Ellie will even try to help you out. This may be from stabbing an enemy as he has you in a stranglehold, making a noise or even throwing a bottle at an enemy to cause a diversion for you to make a move or get to cover. There isn't any major puzzle solving in the game like Uncharted, more often than not there is an obstacle in the way and you have to get around it, whether it be finding a ladder, getting something that floats so that you can help Ellie, who can't swim, get across water etc. You can use the R2 button which triggers a hearing mode where you can get a sense of what is around you based on movement and sound, it's similar to Detective mode in the Batman Arkham series and nowadays it seems every game has some form of this anymore. The gunfights are fun, ammo is scarce and there are melee weapons to use as well. You can craft explosives, med kits, shanks (which are helpful with the dreaded clickers) and even holsters to hold more guns. Say you have 3 hand guns but only two holsters, the third gun will be in your bag and you will have to switch it in real time. I like this as well because sometimes it brings that frantic chaotic feel to the game when you're in trouble and you need to change a new gun but there are enemies closing in on you or you have to heal. The AI is intelligent for the most part. They flank you, they will react to hearing the click of a gun when you attempt to shoot it but realize it's empty. They throw moltovs at you and flush you out of cover as well. The infected all vary, you have the runners that essentially see you and attack, the clickers that are blind but have a very good sense of hearing which is pretty much sonar to them, and these big things, I forget what they are called but they shoot this poisonous gas at you. Seems Left 4 Dead really started something with these "zombie" games because every one of them now has their own take on "special infected". The game really sets up some tense moments, like staying still and hoping a clicker walks by while you have to make your way through a floor loaded with them, The moments when swarms of infected attack are very frantic, you have to make your shots count, finding time to reload is tough and getting caught up in melee killing one enemy will just set you up for disaster when more come to get you. This game nailed the "survival horror" aspect and props go to Naughty Dog for pulling this off when their signature in videos games come from Nathan Drake running and gunning through hundreds of enemies, cheating death and escaping explosions, trucks, a crashing plane and even busting a few wise cracks in the process,
Story: The story is Superb in this game. Without giving anything away the main objective is to get Ellie, who is somehow immune to the infection, to the Fireflies. The Fireflies are pretty much a survivalist group or militia. the hope is that if Joel can get Ellie to the Fireflies they can use her to make an anti-virus, thus saving mankind. Along the way you face many perils as you would expect. Now the story concept isn't that mind-blowing and chances are, it's been done in some other media like a book or movie. Ellie and Joel really make this game what it is. These characters are so real. Joel has lost his daughter when the outbreak happens, he had a falling out with his brother and his main driving point in this game at first is to survive, stay out of trouble and never go out of the way when it seems unnecessary or too dangerous. Ellie is the young girl you protect throughout this game I believe she is 16 years old or so and she is possibly mankind's only hope. She resembles the actress Ellen Page almost perfectly from the way she talks and looks. At first I sarcastically called her "Juno" I felt like the game would essentially be an escort mission. As time went on and I got deeper into the game these characters opened up. Moments when Ellie is reading a comic book, or admiring a movie poster on the street and asking Joel what coffee shops were like make before it all went to hell and getting excited when she sees an old arcade machine and wishing she could play it,you take for granted what you had in your childhood when a hard life of survival is all Ellie has ever known. She never got to play at the park, go to the movies, play video games or anything any normal kid has ever gotten to do. Joel eventually starts to open up as well, at first he doesn't like the idea of taking her all the way to the Fireflies and risking his life for some little girl he doesn't know and the "chance" that she might be the cure for this infection. They have their ups and downs and bumps along the way but this duo really attaches to you and you genuinely care about both of them.
Summary: This is what I've been waiting for in a modern video game. In this day and age all video games seem to be anymore is an interactive movie. More often than not the game is forgettable and the characters are cliche, bland or generic. sure the graphics are pretty but no game really gets to the heart of matters with me. I enjoy games these days but not many stick with me and leave me with an everlasting impression like Last of Us. I personally long for the old days when games were "fun" and complain that too many games require big chunks of time to play as apposed to the days when I could pick up any game and play it within seconds (ironically my favorite game series is Metal Gear Solid). The Last of Us is one of the few games along with the Metal Gear series that I don't mind investing a lot of time into. There were times when I wanted to stop playing Last of Us because it has been 3 hours straight but just couldn't. I felt compelled to keep going, to advance the story and these two characters kept me playing.
Replay Value: The story lasts around 15 hours give or take, there are collectibles to be found around the game, multiple difficulty levels and an Online mode which I haven't played yet. I personally wouldn't mind playing through this again and plan on attempting hard mode very soon. All in all this is a must own on the Playstation 3. It is in my opinion the best game the last generation (PS3, 360, Wii) had to offer. Sure there is Grand Theft Auto 5, or all the Assassin's Creeds, Call of Duty's, Halo's etc., but this game is one of the VERY few that I feel took advantage of the system's hardware and were innovative and forever memorable. When I look back on the last gen I will remember Batman Arkham City, Grand Theft Auto 5, Metal Gear Solid 4: guns of the Patriots and Last of Us as possibly the 4 best games the Playstation 3 had to offer.