dbarry_22's Game Review of The Last of Us

A Fantastic PS3 Exclusive
dbarry_22 - wrote on 09/17/13

The Last of Us is stunningly beautiful game with a infatuating story that keeps you going. This PS3 exclusive is one of the best games on the console and is a must play for those who enjoy zombie apocalypse adventures.

The best part of this game is the story. I won't go into too much detail to spoil anything. At the beginning of the game you get to experience the initial outbreak of the zombie virus that takes down civilization. After this intense opening sequence, you are sent forward 20 years and you play as a man named Joel. Joel is pretty much alone and in total survival mode, caring only about himself. After he has his weapons stolen, he must make a deal with the fireflies, a mysterious group of people that you don't know whether you should like or hate them, to get them back. The agreement is to escort a girl named Ellie which soon expands to a cross-country adventure. On the way you learn more and more about mankind's descent into chaos through letters, notes, and journals you find but the true story is about Joel and Ellie.

The graphics in The Last of Us are truly top notch. Character faces, animations, city and nature environments are all well done. There's overgrown weeds everywhere and all the buildings and its contents are all weathered and aged. Naughty Dog did a really good job of creating a post-apocalyptic environment to explore.

Early on you figure out that pretty much everyone, human and zombie, is your enemy. Not only do you have to protect yourself from hoards of zombies, but also looters and other bad people who would gladly kill you and Ellie for your supplies. In fact, for the most part, the more difficult parts of the game are not when your facing zombies, but people with guns. There are a few different types of zombies that you face. There are runners who are your basic zombies that run at you and try to eat your face. There are clickers, a much more dangerous and difficult zombie to take down but their weakness is that they can no longer see. And, there are bloaters who are big, slow, but very difficult to take down. The lack of variety on this part of the game is a bit disappointing but understandable.

Gameplay is solid. There are a variety of weapons at your disposal. You have your basic pistols, rifle, and shotgun. There's also a bow and arrow and flame thrower. You can pick up baseball bats, chunks of 2x4, and crowbars to use for melee weapons. You can also craft shivs to help you take down enemies quickly and silently. Not only that, but you can craft Molotov cocktails, smoke bombs, and grenades. In general, you really want to be as stealthy as possible because ammo is limited and it's pretty easy to die from a clicker or a few bullets. You also have a hearing ability which pretty much copies the Batman Arkham games, which allows you to detect enemies before they can actually see you. You can also upgrade your weapons and physical skills by finding spare parts and supplements. None of it really makes a huge difference on how you battle in the game, though.

You don't always play as Joel, as you get closer towards the end of the game you play as Ellie at times. In fact, probably the best battle in the game takes place when you're Ellie so don't get ticked off when you take over as her.

I do have a couple problems with the game. There is a point when you ride a horse. I felt like it was unnecessary to put into the game and that Naughty Dog only put it in because they had already done it in a previous game and it was easy to do. I feel like there's nothing special about combat. There's nothing new, I've done all of it before in other games. If Naughty Dog truly wanted to make this one of the best games of all time they should have tried to innovate the combat. I understand why they didn't, they probably didn't want to take an unnecessary risk on a great game like this. But, I do hold it against them in the sense I'm not giving this game a perfect score like many websites out there did.

In general, I had a very good time playing this game for the 20 or so hours through single-player mode. Everything about this game is exceptional except for the combat. This is a game worth playing.

4.5/5