After the success of "The last of US Part 1", everyone was expecting a sequel and for the past 7 years no one was truly sure whether we would eventually get it. Moreover, there were rumors that "Naughty Dog" studios had some internal issues with employees quitting and inappropriate content being used to promote the game. During this commotion, the main cast which was working on the original game quit and moved on to other companies which is usually the first sign of failure to come. Regardless of what some people said about the game, its still a great game in terms of polish, voice-acting gameplay, combat and environment. The obvious flaws stem from how the company went ahead with the story and the implementation of its new lead female characters which leaves much to be desired.
Finally, in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic (which ironically is the best time to release a zombie game) the last of us Part II was released during the summer. Let's talk about the positive and the negative.
The gameplay and combat:
The game is essentially identical in terms of combat as the first part allowing to craft items, carry a few rifles and pistols and using stealth to take down enemies. A few crafting recipes, guns and upgrades were added creating an improved experience over the original one. The general idea behind the combat design is to use your ammo scarcely and come up with strategies in order to make it. Unfortunately I preferred the weapon upgrades from the first part and found the new upgrade system to be useless and uninteresting. Besides a few upgrades, the rest can mostly be skipped or forgotten. However, the greatest news is that the game is almost double the length compared to the first game. (Gameplay: 9/10)
The Ambiance:
In terms of zombie games, the last of us part II has done a great job in re-creating a post apocalyptic world filled with survivors and monsters alike. The general combat takes place in interesting locations, and it feels as real and identical as the original game with obvious graphical improvements worthy of the PS4. (Ambiance 9/10)
The Cutscenes and Voice Acting:
I generally hate when games have too many cutscenes, and this game is loaded with them. If you remove all the cutscenes you can probably shorten the game by a few hours. They are annoying and show up way too often. The voice acting is superb which can be seen in other Naught Dog titles such as uncharted. (Cutscenes and Voice Acting 6/10)
The story:
Oh boy... this game has one of the worst stories in gaming history. It's delivered poorly and is literally lesbian themed. It's like a bad soap opera. Not only is the game divided into two parts which are played with 2 different characters (the first one being Ellie and the second one being Abby) but it constantly throws cheesy scenes. Let me demonstrate one of the story lines.
In the story, one of the women who used to date an Asian guy, broke up with him and started a lesbian relationship with Ellie(the main female protagonist) only to find out that she was pregnant with his child. After a day or so, she becomes super pregnant and can no longer assist you in combat, so she ends up sleeping all day. Later on, Ellie kills a foe who turns out to be a pregnant lady as well for which she ends up feeling guilty.
In the second part of the game, the second main female protagonist Abby looks like a boy. She has muscles and a bowl cut. She almost looks like a transvestite. During the story there are various clues that she is not a lesbian but one can't ignore the strangeness of it all. It just feels as if she was included into the story as a way of representing trans people. Every time I saw a cutscene with her, my brain was trying to figure out whether she's male or female, a very uncomfortable feeling.
Why? Why would you take trash social justice culture and smear it all over a zombie game? Have they gone mad? I couldn't relate to any of the characters in the whole game. I found them boring, empty shells devoid of all personalities and the constant LGBT theme made it even worst. The story is boring and uninteresting. And worst of all, they killed the main character... which is like killing Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario and Luigi in their franchise. Joel was the reason people liked the game. He gave that scruffy cold-blooded tired hunter vibe whose heart melted for a girl who reminded him of his daughter. The relationship made you care... You could literally feel their connection. The last of us part II on the other hand is nothing more than a Mexican soap opera and a disgrace.
(Story 1/10)
Besides the story if you skip all the cutscenes and ignore the circus its still a pretty good game! Its just sad that they ruined it with modern cultural idiocy.