Hey now everybody, hope you're all doing well, and welcome to my review and discussion of The Last Of Us! Recently I decided to play through this game again, not only to refresh my memory for the upcoming sequel, but also because it's just an amazing game to experience. Looking back through all the reviews I've posted I was shocked to find that I'd never done one for The Last Of Us. It's such an impressive game, with a story and characters that really resonated with me, and now that it's fresh in my mind I remembered why it's so special. Very rarely do I feel any sort of emotional attachment to characters in a game, but this one is so well done it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. There's so many dramatic moments, and each one is executed perfectly making you feel the impact of the situation. So settle in and join me if you will, as I tell you all about it.
The Last Of Us is an action-adventure game, with elements of survival horror, developed by Naughty Dog as a PlayStation exclusive. It was originally released at the tail end of the PS3 life cycle, but was quickly remastered and ported to the PS4. Most Naughty Dog games have a lighthearted tone to them, with a bright, colorful environment such as, Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, or the Uncharted series. This really makes The Last Of Us stand out from their previous work as they went for a darker, more serious atmosphere with this one. The stakes are high, and there are moments in the game that could definitely leave you breathless for a minute. Some people will be tearing up before the intro is over. It certainly helps that the performances by Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, and the rest of the cast are very well done, giving all the characters a sense of realism and relatability.
As the game begins you're introduced to Joel, the main protagonist, living in the state of Texas with his family, September of 2013. At this time an outbreak of a mutant fungus is spreading across the United States, transforming people into aggressive creatures called the Infected. When the outbreak reaches Joel's town total chaos ensues, causing him to flee from his home and try to find someplace safe. The military has locked down the town making it very difficult for anyone to escape. Joel eventually runs out of options, and something terrible ends up happening to him. Then we cut to twenty years later. Civilization has been wiped out by this infection, with what survivors are left living in sealed off quarantine zones. Joel now lives in Boston, Massachusetts, working as a smuggler with his friend Tess.
This is where the game really begins. You play as an older, more jaded version of Joel from what we saw in the intro scene. The last twenty years have been rough on him, causing him to have a much colder demeanor. You work with Tess sneaking outside of the quarantine zone to smuggle weapons. One night you have an encounter with a rebel group called the Fireflies, and they hire you to escort a young girl named, Ellie, to the Massachusetts State House. This involves going way outside the quarantine zone where you'll have to deal with hostile rebel groups, and the infected.
Along the way Joel learns that Ellie is someone very important, and needs to be safely delivered to a group out in Wyoming. He reluctantly agrees to do this, but he knows it won't be easy. Ultimately the two of them end up spending a long time with each other traveling across the country. Throughout their adventures Joel eventually steps into the role of Ellie's guardian, going to great lengths to protect her. But it becomes pretty clear that she can hold her own just fine, and she even helps you in combat situations.
Although the game is basically one big escort mission, it's done in such a way that you actually enjoy having the other person with you. Very similar to what the recent God Of War game did. Both characters are very well written and performed, making it easy for you to get attached to them. Not only are they relatable, but their situation is made believable because of the realistic way they act. The many different places you travel to also have a realistic depiction of what a post apocalyptic world might look like. Everything's boarded up and run down, streets are desolate, and vegetation is overtaking anything man made.
The game is played in a third person perspective, with the levels laid out in a linear fashion. So many games nowadays are open world it's actually really nice to play something narrative driven, and well structured. The pacing is also very good, always moving you on to somewhere new, never letting you get comfortable. As you make your way through the various towns, buildings, forests, and sewers, you'll be searching for supplies, figuring out puzzles, and fighting against enemies. Eventually you acquire a good variety of different guns and weapons. You can use melee weapons, guns, or your bare hands if you have to. The combat feels very responsive, it's easy to figure out, and they give you lots of options. You can also use stealth if you want by throwing bottles to distract enemies and sneaking up on them, or just getting around them.
As you explore the environments you'll be collecting all sorts of parts and materials that you can use to craft things on the fly, or upgrade your weapons. You can strengthen melee weapons, create molotovs, smoke bombs, shrapnel grenades, or you can beef up the stats of all your guns. You're going to need all this to deal with hostile human enemies, as well as the infected. Some infected are like mindless zombies, and will charge at you if you're seen, or make too much noise. There's another kind called, clickers, that have mutated further, and have strange looking heads. These ones are blind, but react to any kind of noise. To help you get around this you can use listen mode, an ability that lets you see vague outlines of enemies through walls, or in the dark.
This game has a lot going for it, great gameplay, amazing performances and characters, a really compelling story, all with excellent pacing and structure. It's easy to see why so many people consider it to be a masterpiece. After playing through it again I was impressed that this was originally a PS3 game. Naughty Dog did a fantastic job, clearly putting in a lot of effort into every aspect. Now I'm more hyped than ever to play the sequel, to see where they take the story from here, and to see if it has the same impact on me that this one did. This is definitely one of the best PlayStation exclusives, and I would highly recommend playing it if you haven't yet. I tried to keep things vague when I was describing the plot, so hopefully I didn't spoil anything just in case. I love this game, and I'm going to give The Last Of Us a grade of...........................
A +
Thank you for reading my review of The Last Of Us, I hope you enjoyed it!
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After your review, I want to play The Last Of Us! When I am home, i'll look for a discount on 1 of the online gaming platforms. I also read the second part will be released end of this year, we will need to wait!
This is one of my favorite games so I really hope you like it. You should be able to find it at a cheap price since it's so old now. Thank you for reading the review, I'm glad you enjoyed it!