With The Last of Us
Downloadable Content set to drop, I returned to the original game for the first
time since its release over 6 months ago. At the time, the Playstation 4 was on
the horizon and as the then-current generation approached its final curtain
call, Naughty Dog; already established as a leading Playstation-exclusive
developer through their Uncharted
series, delived an action packed and heart wrenching tale set in a
post-apocalyptic world.
The game feels as if it was lovingly built upon the success
of the Uncharted games through the
controls and movement of the characters, but slightly tweaked to suit the mood
and genre of The Last of Us.
Resources are at a minimum and the inhabitants of the world are on the verge of
losing their humanity in their attempts to survive.
Lead character Joel is not a million miles away from Nathan
Drake in that both characters are human and relatable. Drake is youthful but
slightly naive, there is much he wishes to see and is very aware of the life-threatening
situations he constantly finds himself in. Joel meanwhile is world weary and is
struggling to find a reason to survive.
The opening ten minutes of The Last of Us are amongst the most moving moments in video game
history and immediately you know that the roughly 15-hour story is going to be
a tour de force of emotions. It also serves as an explanation as to why Joel is
so reserved and moody throughout the game. Instantly the player is sympathetic
with him and despite the fact that he is not as exuberant and witty as Nathan
Drake, Joel is equally as likable.
Sharing the starring role is Ellie; a young girl with whom
Joel is tasked to deliver to the Fireflies; a rebel group who are opposing the
militaristic nature of what remains of organised government. However, unlike
Joel, Ellie is an oxymoronic character who seems to fluctuate between two
opposites. On one hand she is seen as a child who has witnessed tragedies, has
been forced to grow up too quickly and would like to recapture some of her
youth; charmingly shown in her attempts to learn how to whistle and her
questions regarding life before the infection. However on the other hand, her
likeability and innocence is constantly removed by her foul mouth and
aggressive nature. If she’s not cursing at every living thing, she’s cursing
approximately four times every minute because Joel’s caved an infected's head
in or because there are dead bodies around the place. It detracts from the mood
of the game, the gritty action and shows Ellie up as a rather nasty piece of
work; to the point where in a scene where Joel verbally gives her what for,
it’s hard to side with her at all, even though in reality Joel is being very
harsh. Despite this, around three quarters of the way through the story,
Ellie’s character does begin to turn around and we see more of the positive
sides of her personality and while this works well for the ending of the game,
overall it’s too little too late.
The action is well paced, featuring heavy emphasis on collecting
resources which are crafted to create tools key to surviving. Scrounging
through draws and cupboards for scissor blades and reels of tape builds up to
the next combat scene in which the resources are again depleted really hits
home the bleakness of the dystopia depicted in The Last of Us. The characters are forced to work as hard as
possible scrape together enough to survive, only to have it all taken away
shortly after in order to live another day. It’s a cruel cycle that really draws
the player into the situation.
The combat is gritty and ruthless and so brutal that it’s
almost unpleasant to kill the human enemies, which forces the player to have a
conscience and attempt to sneak instead of revelling in the gunplay; something
which very few games achieve and is a testament to the immersion of the game.
However once again it's all slightly spoilt by Ellie’s incessant cursing and
furthermore in combat situations the friendly AI is downright moronic. When
stealth is crucial and Joel is slowly edging past a horde of infected, it
really gets the heart racing… until Ellie runs full pelt down the hallway for
no apparent reason. The friendly AI cannot alert enemies but it’s a real mood
breaker and a huge shame that The Last of
Us’ only real flaw is such a silly little blemish and is the only thing
stopping it from obtaining a perfect score.
Separate from the single player campaign is ‘Factions’; a
separate multiplayer experience based which involves small team based gamemodes
but with the added quirk that supplies earned are taken back to an imaginary
community of survivors. The community is largely cosmetic but it gives a
plotline to the otherwise random multiplayer events. Similarly the ability to
import Facebook friends’ names as members of the community is a nice touch and
adds a bit of personalised humour or horror to the decision of who should go
without food and risk starvation when supplies are low.
Overall The Last of Us
plays out like an interactive movie of extraordinary quality. Naughty Dog has
without a doubt created a piece of art in The
Last of Us which will resonate through the video game community for years
to come. The character development and raw emotion is second to none, the game
looks and sounds beautiful, topped off by a fantastic score composed by the two
time Academy Award for Best Original Score winner Gustavo Santaolalla. This is
a game which is without a doubt a must-play and is one of, if not the best
Playstation 3 game. Despite this, however, the sometimes silly AI holds it back
from being one of the best games of all time, which is a great shame.
Simon Jenkins
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