There's something about hype, when The Last of Us was announced the gaming community was hyped beyond belief mostly because it was Naughty Dog doing a post-apocalyptic survival horror game. I was also very excited but I was also hesitant, because I know the feeling when you are looking forward to something, but are left utterly disappointed (yes I'm talking about you Assassins Creed 3). Through all the hype and marketing I was extremely glad that The Last of Us not only delivered but exceeded my expectations.
You take on the role of Joel a man living in this post-apocalyptic world set 20 years after 2013, and alongside you during your survival is a girl named Ellie. There is more depth to the reasons why they are bound together in this tale, but for the sake of spoilers I'll just say they are trying to survive together. There are a couple of different types of enemies in the game that the player will encounter, on being the clickers, which most people have seen through marketing or promotional art, they are the ones that have the fungus looking heads.
Then there are the infected/runners who can charge at you, and finally there are rebels, which are regular people you will meet that add a smarter approach to combat. Speaking of combat The Last of Us requires you to play smart in order to play, you really cant go in guns blazing because you will be dead in two seconds. Through the game you will find items scattered throughout the world, finding those items allows you to craft certain items to make into makeshift bombs, craft health, or make shivs. There are also certain items that you can pick up that will help improve your weapons as well.
You really have to decide on how you want to use your items because supplies are scarce, especially on harder difficulties. There are also supplements you can take that improve Joel's abilities. Now the enemies behave differently, clickers hear by noise you make so you cant move fast or else its game over if they get near you, runners will find you if they see or if they hear you, and the rebels just like humans and add a little more of a challenge when confronting them. The main focus in The Last of Us is truly the story there are various moments in the game that I was either choking up watching these scenes unfold or I found myself really leaning towards the t.v. screen because I was so drawn in. If I could describe The Last of Us in one way is that its truly like a movie rather than a game. The combat and action feels realistic and the cutscenes are so detailed and put together that I kept thinking that this has to be the game of the year. Even Joel and Ellie interactions are so genuine its like they are real.
There are two different sides to this post apocalyptic tale, one being that Joel has lived before the outbreak began so he has seen life the normal way, and then there's Ellie who was born a couple of years after the outbreak happened. Though Joel is mature and has seen plenty the world has to offer, Ellie is mature for her age, even though she doesn't know what Joel references from time to time because she hasn't seen the world as it was. Through these interactions it goes to show that there is true story-telling here and that the developers know what they are doing. The Last of Us also has a multiplayer mode called Factions, you play as either the Fireflies or the Hunters and your goal is to get a population of survivors through twelve weeks, each game you play counts as a day. Though one might think that this is a tact-on multiplayer, its highly addicting and extremely fun.