Last of Us is the most critically rewarded game EVER

The Last of Us

– 231

The Critics’ Picks – 181

The Readers’ Picks – 50

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

– 226

The Critics’ Picks – 163

The Readers’ Picks – 63

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/01/24/the-last-of-us-is-the-most-awarded-game-in-history-by-critics/

that is impressive!

This game makes me glad i'm not a reviewer. The way people argue over scores and such. I can't score this game. It's this incredibly memorable experience couched in some of the most infuriating game mechanics...it's a 10 and it's a 6 at the same time.

So it's an 8? :)

-Byshop

don't start :P, there is a reason people love it

I'd like to meet these so called Critics, pick their brains.... Literally

Such things don't impact how I feel about TLOU or any other game, but its cool that with all of these beloved, polished sequels to popular franchises hitting in 2013 that an original game managed to impress so many people (both gamers and journalists).

I loved the stealth gameplay and the fact that the overwhelming majority of the time (due to enemy strength and limited ammo) it made a lot more sense to sneak by something than to engage (read: kill) it.

Another thing I appreciated about TLOU is that it showed how stupid Capcom (Resident Evil) and Electronic Arts (Dead Space) were to turn their games from survival horror games to just gory action games (once they did that sales fell of a cliff).

I love it too. When people ask about "best survival horror games" I'm always reluctant to bust out with one of the most recently released titles, but in this case it's well justified.

-Byshop

Everybody knows Readers' picks > Critics’ picks.

Seriously though, I was surprised to see Skyrim in this thread.

Well, there's more game media outlets now than when Skyrim was released, so it has a potential to be rewarded more awards.

Thats all fine but on gamespot Zelda for 3DS was much better and this game was deemed unworthy :D

But TLOU is a good game but imo its highly overrated if we follow the hype, its almost like its the second coming when people talk about this game and its not, its a decent game but lacks severely in stealth, shooting mechanics, takedown and 10-20 other places.

And the ending was horrible, seriously and not to mention the hand holding in what is supposed to be your choice, but you can clearly feel the cold hand of the devs on your neck directing you in the direction they want the story to take.

As good a game as this was, it definitely had some serious flaws. Could have done without the illusion of choice and just be honest with the player. Many times i thought i'd be able to just sneak around confrontations only to find out that i had to kill too many or all of the people in the area just to progress the story. And Ellie really did seem useless throughout the majority of the story. By the end of the game, i hated Joel and wanted to shoot him in the face, but i'll give the developers credit for creating a controversial story.

But there is a reason for that

By that logic, games from last year should have beaten Skyrim, yet they didn't. People have vastly different opinions

@ CarnageHeart

No They didn't. In the case of President Evil, 4 and 5 lined Capcom's pockets quite handsomly, 6 didn't hurt either.

Also The Last Of Us is not a survival horror game. Plenty of Surviving but no horror. hell A Jump Scare wouldve been nice.

No way, it's an 8.654/10 :P

Well, yea......it's a narratively driven experience, what do you expect? Fallout?

And it has some of the best shooting mechanics out there.

@MirkoS77: it's also linear, so i don't really get that argument either tbh

I completely agree. I found many parts of this game frustrating to the point where I was no longer having fun. People are welcome to disagree, but a game that has so segments where my enjoyment is depleted isn't getting a perfect score from me.

Personally i would rate a game 10 even if it isn't "perfect" the 10 is there to be used and if a game is worthy and you think it's awesome, then i don't see a reason why you shouldn't

@The_Last_Ride: Which I agree with, but a game that stops being fun for me isn't going to get a perfect score on my scale, which is the only one that matters when I'm the one playing the game.

oh i agree, if you don't like it you shouldn't rate it top score. But i think there is a reason people love this game

It may of received all those awards, but does that change my mind on the game? absolutely not, reviews are peoples opinions. You say 231 people rated high? I could go out into the world and find 300 people to rate Bioshock infinite high, there checkmate. But these numbers mean nothing, the game is great but it certainly isn't my game of the year.

whoever thinks this game is better than Skyrim is either on some serious drugs, has the mentality of a gnat, or was simply paid a large sum for their false rating.

The Last of Us had a very good story but far as gameplay goes it was a mediocre 3rd person shooter at best, Hitman: Absolution was WAY better, like.. WAYYYY better, tbh even Max Payne 3 was slightly better, if you want a good story watch a movie.. "great story" doesn't automatically mean "great game"

You're quite right. Awards (or a lack of awards) don't change the mind of anyone who has played a game.

To go further, I doubt such awards change the minds of many people that haven't played a given game. If a person doesn't care for say, fighting games, a fighting game getting a bunch of GOTY awards (which hasn't happened in a long time IIRC) won't make him or her run out and buy it.

@ ShangTsung7

Actually the two can't be compared, ones a linear Survival Game the other is a Big, Barren, Buggy, Repititive Sand Box RPG.

Claiming one is better than the other is purely subjective, the only areas the two overlap are graphics and Audio, which TLOU is Better at executing.

RE6 was the first and according to Capcom last mainline RE not aimed at survival horror fans.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/capcom-resident-evil-6-felt-bloated-resident-evil-7-will-return-to-survival-horror-roots/0120229

Capcom had hoped to appeal to a wide audience with last October's game by including three different stories that targeted different parts of the Resident Evil fanbase including those that liked creepy survival horror and those that preferred action gameplay.

But it proved disappointing to fans and critics, and although it went on to sell 5m units worldwide, that was 2m below the company's original sales projections.

--------------

"A lot is said about the saturation of this zombie, post-apocalyptic survival horror. But it is still alive and well. The Last of Us shows a good direction of what the consumers want. Tomb Raider as well, we spoke to R&D and they looked at that and they enjoyed that experience. I think that proves there is still a strong market for that sort of content."

Many people key on RE4 as a turning point in the series, but the series has been pretty action focused since RE2 and RE3 was at least as action focused as RE4. RE4's most radical change/biggest contribution to RE was that it finally fixed the often useless but cinematic camera, which was for a long time the deadliest enemy in the series.

I'm don't attach much importance to GOTY awards but your link is interesting reading.

it wasn't suppose to be a third person shooter mate. It was suppose to be a survival horror third person action game

Skyrim is the kind game I always dreamed would exist, and when I played it, it surpassed all my expectations.

Every other game gives me a feeling that I'm just playing a video game. Skyrim transports me to another world where I lose myself.

you are so 100% right on this, couldn't have put it better myself.

Skyrim is the type of game that is so epic it almost doesn't even feel like a video game.

Skyrim would have to radically improve to work its way up to the level of bug infested shit.

Sadly, the fact that so many of Bethesda's fans are willing to eat whatever Bethesda excretes and ask for seconds has translated into their games running worse and worse as the generation progressed.

I'm sure EA wishes that Battlefield and SimCity had fans as accepting as those of Bethesda.

it was still full of bugs and the ps3 version has been pretty much unplayable and hasn't had the DLC come out on time

Hey, at least the bugs were highly entertaining.

The parts where the game actually worked properly were the worst, since it was definitely Bethesda's most generic and least ambitious RPG to date, full of dull quests and weak design decisions.

If the game wasn't so hilariously broken/rushed to meet its 11/11/11 release date, I probably would have given up on it long before its anticlimactic finale. The "bug infested shit"ness of it all made it quite memorable, overall.

Anyway, uh, what is Skyrim doing in a list of most critically acclaimed games? And how is that supposed to be a good sign for The Last of Us?

Typical GS post. "Anyone who disagrees with my opinion is either stupid or corrupt". If forum posts were evidence of bribery, every video game reviewer on the internet would have been arrested a hundred times over because so many people assume that their opinion is the only valid one.

Skyrim and TLoU are (obviously) two wildly different kinds of games. I have logged hundreds of hours in Skyrim between the main game and all of the official DLC, and I've tried out more gameplay and graphics mods than I can even remember, and while the game world is huge and immersive there are tons of bugs and design weakpoints that can also kill the experience. The ton of bugs (already mentioned), the lackluster story and characters, the realistic world with individual NPC AI is unfortunately populated by robot mannequins who all have the same 10 voice actors and who stare directly through you all glassy eyed during conversations, etc.

While I love a good open world game, there's always room for a linear shooter provided is has decent gameplay and a compelling narrative like TLoU and Spec Ops: The Line.

-Byshop

meh.. you're right, that was a bit harsh and i apologize, hence why i haven't commented further on this thread till now as i kinda dug my own grave with this one.. i was really just trying to state that i have no idea how anyone could come to such a conclusion but to each their own, again sorry.

@ ShangTsung7

I'm shocked and impressed at the same time.

The gameplay wasn't phenomenal or even fun. Actually the enemy scanner was in both Siren and Batman Arkham games. It's all about the cinematics now...

Got to agree, Skyrim is an open world RPG, while Last of Us is a linear, story driven, survival horror game with third persona action sequences. It's the general consensus. They aren't taking anything away from Last of Us. Nobody is saying Skyrim sucks. People in general just like Last of Us more. It's not a big deal, if you think Skyrim is the best ever since sliced bread, that is totally fine. Just don't disrespect something a developer worked hard on and it is getting recognized

@ gamingqueen

On the Plus side they added Stun Animations for when the PC gets hurt, its so much fairer now.

Yeah its a big deal, Trust me. Plus you can take Meat shields, Gears Of War style !

Sadly the infected ruined most of the fun in those features.

Ya the game is linear but what i meant was that it has a element where it gives the illusion that you have some freedom to choose, which you dont.

Did i write i wanted complete freedom? no what i said was that when a game gives a element of choice that it should be left up to the player to choose and not be forced into thinking like the dev´s want you to.

Also welcome to gaming first game ever TLOU? because no where in the world does it have great shooting mechanics,

No worries, it's all about whether a game resonates for you. Most people on this forum would continue to argue why one opinion is better than another until they were blue in the face. :)

I think a game like TLoU is amazing, even if the stealth gameplay got a bit tedious, because the sum of the parts really resonated with me. The characters, story, and ending stayed with me long after I played it. It's hard to compare a game like Skyrim versus TLoU because they are so different in what they are trying to do. Skyrim is a fascinating and giant world that even with my many, many, hours I'm sure there is still plenty to find. However, it's like the difference between a TV show and a movie. A TV show will always have more content than a movie, but that doesn't make it inherently better. Both satisfy different needs, so I try to evaluate each based on what I think they are trying to do.

Personally, I love a game with a strong narrative. Games like Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Spec Ops, TLoU, etc have their flaws, but they fill a different need than games like Skyrim which I also enjoy but for different reasons. I would personally rate a game like TLoU a bit higher than Skyrim because as a narrative heavy 3rd person stealth game, I thought that the number of ways they could have improved on the formula are few. The story and characters were spot on, the environments gorgeous and believable, and the stealth gameplay (while tedius at times) complimented the story nicely. Skyrim, on the other hand, is a formula that I think has a lot more room for improvement. The combat could use some work, the characters are generally not memorable and the story almost an afterthough, etc. AI characters are impressive, but the technology hasn't gotten to the point where an AI controled character -feels- as real as a mocapped, more heavily scripted character like those found in even older games like Half Life 2. When TES series catches up on these points, I think that will be something amazing.

But that's just my opinion and others will disagree. There will always be people who prefer diverse gameplay to a good story, and that's fine. Fortunately there are many different types of games out there. The best comedy in the world is lost on someone who doesn't like comedies. In my case, I like both but I am happier to see a good, strong narrative driven survival horror game because these days they are far less common.

-Byshop

i can respect that.. still i must admit, i played through The Last of Us one time, tried to replay it, couldn't get back into it, the spark hit once and never returned after i saw credits.. by the same standard i've played through Hitman: Absolution "which had somewhat simular gameplay mechanics aside from the costume changes" at least a few dozen times and STILL play the hell out of that game to this day! see where i'm going with this? just sayin..

If demanding that a game not ship buggy and broken is insane, guilty as charged.

Hell, even Bethesda knew Skyrim was a POS. That is why they shipped the PS3 version (whose performance degrades as time passes) to reviewers right before the review embargo was lifted (so they wouldn't have time to see how bad the game got). I confess that their deception fooled me. Those lazy, lying pieces of crap won't see my money again.

Its a shame some gamers not only accept but defend such practices.

You and I clearly have different definitions of amazing.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-vs-ps3-skyrim-lag

As you can see on the 65 hour side, the effect is impossible to miss and given its severity, the outcry that has followed on forums is very much justified. These prolonged bouts of stuttering render the game almost completely unplayable, even during non-intensive walks down pathways, with some freezes lasting long enough to drag the frame-rate down to zero in places - the first time we've seen this in years of performance analysis here at Digital Foundry.

Yeah, I can see that. While I loved the game I had very little incentive to replay it. If you consider "bang for your buck", then since both games are $60 Skyrim wins for sure. I get that was one of your original points, which is why I made the TV show versus movie analogy. It's all about what you get out of it, and to me number of raw hours is only part of the equation. The Battlestar Galactica revival series was awesome, but so was the movie Requiem for a Dream. The BSG series has something like 80-90 hours of total content and it's a series that every once in a while I'll dust off and rewatch because it's awesome. Requiem, however, I loved but I'll probably never watch again because that's a rough movie. Is the TV show inherently better than the movie because it's longer? I've seen 80 minute movies that left me stunned and haunted at the end and that made me think far more than any tv show.

That's all I was trying to say. I get that TLoU probably wasn't like that for you, but that's not to say that another somewhat short and linear game won't.

-Byshop