One of the best PS3 games yet - Apart from the AI
Now Let's talk about the good things about this game. It's amazing, the story is deep and interesting, the characters are captivating, the way you Interact with the world is just perfect. It's definitely one of the best games of this generation, if not the best, specially the graphics which are beautiful. The sound effects and the voices are something that should be awarded too. They really focused on making the voices fit the characters and expresions (another thing that is just perfect in this game).
Time for specific topics.
Gameplay:
- If you're used to Uncharted franchise you'll do just fine in the last of us. It's basically the same thing. What makes it diferente from other games is how it interacts with the ambiente around you. For example, the way you execute an enemy during a fight changes completely if you're next to a table, or a wall, or the open hole of a window. It interacts with anything but it's not inovating, I mean, it kinda is, but it's not. I've seen this in other games like sleeping dogs, though it's way more intense in the last of us. it actually makes you cringe during a hand-to-hand fight.
Your character also interacts with the scene in any random moments that you're not used to see in games. For example, if you're crawling next to a wall your hands will touch it and follow it's shape, same happens to cover áreas, couches etc. Beautiful details that are not needed in games but when included do the difference.
AI:
- I've reviewed this part in the beginning of the review but I wanted to be fair with this topic. The AI, like I said, is 70% good which means it's good, not bad, it just has that major flaw, but it also has something that covers a flaw that most sneaking games, like the last Metro Last Light have. The Cone of sight of the character. In other games if you crouche behind a couch and an enemy crosses it he'll not see you even if you're literally by his side because the engine recognizes it as you're hidden. he'd have to turn around and have you in front of him to notice you. In the last of us that doesn't happen, the enemies are constantly turning their head and they see you the moment they cross that lace you're hiding if part of you is showing, and that's amazing!!!
Soundtrack:
- 1 word - AWESOME. The kind of songs they decided to use in this game is just perfect for the theme. It's the kind of song that both matches the country where the game is hosted but also a melancholy, makes you feel lonely and sad, I mean, this game is not about making you have fun, it's about making you feel tense, and the OST helps it alot
Voicing and Sound Effects:
- Both voices and SFX are really good in this game, specially the voices. Boy it has been a long time since the last time i've seen a game with voices that match 100% the characters. Joe's and Ellie's voices are acted so perfectlly that it really feels like that 3D model is speaking (with a big help of the lip-sync and the facial expressions which are superb, great job).
Now I won't lie, i've been expecting this game to come out since the first trailer came out and I actually thought that Ellie was Ellen Page, like many other people, but honestly, I don't think she would have done a better job than Ashley Johnson, the actual voice actress.
The sound effects are just right, can't complain but can't really say it was awesome, its just really good like I said before. They get you into the game but that's it, tho in the end that's what it's about.
Graphics:
- 10/10, that's the rate I give the last of us's graphics. I's perfect, and in my opinion the best of this generation so far. Both the characters and enviroments are highly detailed. You can differ each hair on joe's hair and beard, you can see his and her skin spots, everything was highly detailed. The lights do an amazing job, it really gives you notion of reality, specially the sunlight and how it reflects on the surfaces (specially on the character's hairs)
I'd talk more about this topic but as a 3D designer I'd write pages and more pages so I decided to restrain myself to the basics
Multiplayer:
- It's good but not the best ever like they called it (the devs), i mean, it's really good, but it lacks of diversity. It's a 100% PVP MP and it has 2 game modes which are basically the same, the only difference is that in one of them you respawn a few seconds after dying and the other you respawn after one of the teams is wiped for another round. It would be nice if it wasn't the same exact kind of mission. It's not like capture the flag and deathmatch, it's exactly the same thing, kill and gather stuff to build things.
Another bad side of the multiplayer is the fact that you can't choose your appearence, I mean, if it gave me the option to choose the sex of my character but it gave me a random appearance it would be grate, but it doesn't. It randomly chooses your sex and appearance. The only thing you can choose are the facial accessories and your emblem.
And to finish my review and this topic, it lacks of a co-op team based PVE against infected which are the background of the whole story of the game.
Thank you for rading all my review and feel free to rate it good or bad and sorry about my english