The Last of Us was easily one of the most anticipated game of this year by a lot of people. According to the gameplay demos, the game looked realistic, dark, challenging, and brutal. In terms of production values, it looked even better than Uncharted. Therefore, as a fan of Naughty Dog, buying this game was a no-brainer for me. The question is whether this game lived up to the hype. The answer is both yes and no. In terms of story, characters, atmosphere, music, and visuals, the game has pretty much no flaws. However, the gameplay has a few problems that could potentially hinder the experience for some gamers.
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Gameplay:
The gameplay is divided into three main portions: stealth, gunplay, and exploration. While the gunplay and exploration portions of the game are well executed, the stealth mechanics are very bare bones. You can either ignore the enemies and sneak by them, or walk up to them from behind, grab them by pressing triangle, and either strangle them or use a weapon called shiv to stab them in the neck. You also have two types of objects that you can throw in order to distract your enemies: bricks and bottles. The only other thing that really adds to the stealth mechanics of the game is the fact that you can craft a bomb that can be used as a trap, and it will blow your enemies to pieces once they step on it. That's pretty much it when it comes to the core mechanics of the stealth gameplay. Unfortunately, it's very limited, especially in a game that promotes realism in almost every single aspect. If you were able to have more interaction with your environment, craft a few more traps, or use different types of takedowns, the stealth portions of the game could have been a lot better.
Another issue is the inconsistent AI of the human enemies. There were times where a guard would be looking right at my AI partner without noticing her presence, or times where I would be crouching behind a bed and a guard would walk past me without seeing me. These AI problems take you out of the experience and make the game very easy at times. Thankfully, the same issue doesn't apply when you have to sneak by infected enemies. The infected enemies are smart, and they also react to sound. Therefore, you really have to be cautious and try not to make noises. These sections always add tension to the game.
There's nothing else to really add when it comes to the stealth elements of the game. As mentioned before, it's very simple and bare bones. However, the other two portions, the gunplay and exploration, are extremely fun.
The shooting mechanics are simple, yet satisfying. The satisfaction that comes with the shooting mechanics is a result of the variety of weapons that you find throughout the game (eight weapons I believe), and also the fact that you can upgrade the stats of your weapons, making them very powerful and fun to use.
The shooting controls are fairly standard: you hold the L1 button to aim, and press the R1 button to shoot. Nothing complex, but this type of control scheme always serves the purpose in third person shooters and action/adventure games.
Exploration is also an important aspect of the gameplay. The good thing is that you can enter almost every building in the game, and you will never face an empty room, and you will never find useless items. All the items you find such as parts and tools, supplements, and ingredients can be used for either upgrading your weapons and your character, or crafting items. Therefore, it's always satisfying and rewarding to explore. It also needs to be mentioned that you can find notes left behind by people if you search the optional areas in the game, and these notes can sometimes reveal little side stories about the people who got killed, or about how the infection started.
There are other gameplay elements that play an important role in the game, such as the crafting and the upgrading system. You can craft certain items by finding the required ingredients, and you can upgrade your character stats by finding supplements. These are all welcomed additions, and they do help to make the game more realistic. However, you will know how to craft every single item halfway through the game, and a few of the character stats are not that important. For example, you can upgrade the "crafting speed", and this upgrade exists only because in order to craft items, you need to hold down the X button. Once you hold it down, it takes a few seconds to craft the highlighted item, and by a few seconds, I mean less than five. My point is that if it only takes four seconds to craft an item (which is pretty fast), why would you want to upgrade that stat again? It seems pointless and it makes the game easy, removing the tension of crafting items in the middle of a fight.
This is pretty much all I have to say about the gameplay. There are a few other minor elements implemented such as riding horses, using a stationary sniper rifle to take down enemies and covering your AI partners, playing as a different character (Ellie), engaging in optional conversations, and a few easy and repetitive puzzles.
Conclusion (Gameplay):
Overall, the gameplay of The Last of Us can be very fun and satisfying, especially when you engage in gun fights and when you are exploring. However, the inconsistent human AI during the stealth portions of the game, a limited crafting and upgrade system, and very bare bones stealth mechanics with no innovation whatsoever, are detriments to the game. There was potential for more complexity and a more diverse experience in terms of gameplay, but to me, that potential was a wasted.
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Story:
In first glance, the idea behind the story seems very generic, and to be honest, it is to a certain extent. However, there is one thing that separates the story of Last of Us from other games/movies that attempt to tackle the same idea: in The Last of Us, rather than focusing on the cause of the infection, the focus is on the relationship between the characters and the hardships they go through in order to survive. This makes the game more emotional, and the gamers will become instantly attached to the characters.
Another factor that contributes to the story is how realistic the dialogue is. You can see yourself having conversations like the ones the characters are having in the game if you were in their position. By engaging in the optional conversations, you realize how much attention the game developers paid to details, and how much effort they put into making the characters believable. For example, you can engage in a conversation about ice cream trucks with Ellie, or you can watch her play darts with a friend of hers. These are all optional conversations/events, but they inject a significant amount of human emotion and realism into the story.
The main plot, as mentioned before, isn't anything revolutionary. The game puts you in the shoes of Joel, played by Troy Baker (voice actor of Booker DeWitt from Bioshock: Infinite). After the powerful intro, you are thrown into a post-apocalyptic world, and in the beginning of the game you are introduced to the Fireflies (the rebel group I believe), the quarantine zones, and the infection (throughout the game, you can learn more about these story elements by exploring and finding notes).
Without spoiling anything I will try to sum up the story: Joel decides to run an errand for a certain character from the Fireflies, and in return, that character promises to give him weapons. As a result of accepting this deal, he runs into the best character in the game, Ellie. The whole game is about the journey that Joel and Ellie go through, and the main objective never changes. This allows the writers to focus on the relationship between Ellie and Joel, and gives them space to make this post-apocalyptic world come to life.
The only minor issue I had with the story was the ending. It felt a little bit abrupt, but I guess that was the point. Or maybe I'm spoiled by the fantastic ending of Bioshock: Infinite. All in all, the ending wasn't bad by any means, it was just a little bit underwhelming.
Conclusion (Story):
The simple premise in the beginning of the game turns into an emotional, dark, brutal, honest, and heart-wrenching journey. It gives you goosebumps, makes you tear up, smile, cheer, and scream. It is a tale about human beings, and a realistic take on how they would react if they had to live in a world where something as simple as having a BBQ party was a rarity, and it shows us that we shouldn't take things for granted, for one day, all the things that we have but are too blind to see, can be taken away from us in the blink of an eye.
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Visuals/atmosphere:
This is, without a doubt, the strongest aspect of the game. Everything about the graphics, from the face animations to the environmental design, is flawless. The attention to detail is also mindblowing. There's not one room in the game where the developers failed to pay attention to. All the rooms are filled with objects with high quality textures. The buildings look detailed and realistic, all the visual effects are spot on, and the game is simply gorgeous to look at. It's one of those games where you just want to stand in one spot, pan the camera around, and look at your surroundings.
All this attention to details adds to the realism of the game in general, and makes the atmosphere even more engrossing. It's ironic that in a game with a dark and brutal story, there are still times where you can look around and enjoy the true beauty of nature. Maybe that was intentional; maybe the game developers chose the green color scheme instead of grey when designing the outside world to show the gamers that even in the harshest situations, there can still be hope, and there's still time to appreciate beautiful things, no matter how small and insignificant.
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Sound and music:
Not much to say here, other than the fact that all the sound effects are pitch perfect, the voice acting is absolutely amazing (it's one of the main reasons that the characters are so likable and realistic), and the music, while relaxing and mellow for the most parts, is eerie and effective, picks up at the right time, and perfectly matches what's going on in the game.
The developers did a fantastic job in this department.
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Conclusion:
The Last of Us is an exceptional experience from beginning to end; however, it is hindered by a few gameplay setbacks. Inconsistent AI in the stealth portions of the game, the simplistic stealth mechanics, limited crafting system, and pointless stats upgrades prevent the game from getting a higher score. That doesn't mean the game isn't worth playing. In fact, it is a game that every PS3 owner should have in their collection. Is it a perfect game? Absolutely not. Nevertheless, it is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise tired genre; it tells an emotional tale about love, loss, survival, the brutality of the world, and the darkest sides of human nature. But it also tells us that even in a world like that, there can still be hope and happiness, and that human beings are still capable of doing good deeds, even on the verge of insanity.
Overall score:
8.0/10