The Last of Us Review - A New Apocalypse

[abdul]

Just a small fyi but this isn't Uncharted,I know it's a concept which seems to be hard to grasp (apparently) because it's from the same company,but this is a survival horror game,the genre which Resident Evil tries to emulate but fails miserably (I still liked the game as a shooter in coop with a friend but thats for another topic).
There's no regenerating health,rocketjumps or w/e,on the other hand there are 1 hit kills from certain enemies if you're not careful and you don't have much ammo to begin with.My point is if you're playing the game as a shooter,you'll die a lot.

No,I haven't played the game yet,but I've heard the opinions from those who have and the reviews seem to align with those opinions,I base my purchase on those and not "something I think the trailer looked like".
Jim Sterling is also apatethic to Uncharted and he loved this game,somehow I don't think his dashing looks was funded by Sony so his review might actually be his own opinion
http://www.destructoid.com/review-the-last-of-us-255287.phtml

Also,Uncharted painfully average? Yeah...no.
Some parts of the game might be average but the package as a whole? No way.It might not be the second coming of Christ like some people were led to believe but it's far from average.If you wanna experience an average game,play Fuse.

edit: fyi #2: apparently there are A LOT of asshats spoiling the story on E3 streams and with youtube video titles/comments so tread carefully for the next week

 

[Ophiuchus]

Hmm. My PS3 has been nothing but a DVD player for a long time but I might find a gaming-related use for it now. It's been ages since I last played a survival horror game and this is looking like the best of the bunch right now.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Finally a balanced review. I read the review on IGN and almost threw up at the way they fellated Naughty Dog and this game.
I'll definately have to borrow my bro's PS3 for this game because I can't justify buying the console at this stage in its lifecycle. However it certainly makes an even stronger case for me to jump ship to the PS4 for the next generation, I will say that!

 

[ResonanceSD]

having already played it, I can tell you there's a lot to not like. Awkward, fiddly controls, too many fucking quick time events, and the slowest "sprint" speed I've ever seen in a game.

Oh and busywork.

Fuck busywork.

 

[Jake the Snake]

Wow, I have anticipating this eagerly and it completely snuck up on me. Need it. Need it now.

 

[Roxas1359]

With how everyone is praising this game it makes me glad that I have a PS3. Definitely gonna pick this one up as it seems like I'd really like the environment and the atmosphere.
Oh Naughty Dog, how I've missed you. Now time for Insomniac to relearn that they should focus on single player games instead of multiplayer ones. I loved A Crack in Time, but the last two R&C games haven't been their best, and I hear that Fuse really falls short on the single player.
This game in contrast seems like it's perfect for me since I love good single player experiences.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

Exactly. It seems weird that they would release such a high profile console exclusive so late in the console cycle. I might have bought a PS4 to play this game, but there's no point in buying a PS3 at this point.

How is it weird to release a high profile console exclusive for a console with, what is it now, 60 million units out there? Especially when they're able to build on the knowledge they've developed over three previous games. I'm also not sure I see how there's no point in buying a PS3 now. It's cheaper than ever and has almost seven years worth of exclusives to catch up on for those who don't have one. If anything, there's never a better time to buy one.

I personally don't want to buy a $300 console that might not get any new games developed for it once the PS4 comes out, just for the sake of playing a few older exclusives. Though, I might have adopted the PS4 as my new gaming console if this was one of the first games to come out for it.

Sorry, but I don't understand this attitude. Even ignoring the fact that previous Playstation consoles were still supported for years after the release of the next gen system, you're basically saying that you'd rather buy an expensive new console for one title, with no guarantee anything else will come out that you'll really be interested in for, potentially, years, instead of buying a cheaper console which you can actually look at the library for it and quantify how many games you missed that you're interested in. And you wouldn't even have to get it now since the price will inevitably drop over the next year or two.

Now I'm not trying to say that you have to get a PS3, but it seems a bit strange to be willing to pay for an unproven new console for one title, rather than paying less for an older console with the same exact title and a proven back catalogue of good games that are cheap as hell now.

I already have a 360, so I have been able to play most console games. The only things I would need a PS3 for are the exclusives, and I have lost interest in plying most of them by this point. Eventually I will forget about The Last of Us and lose interest in it too, and Sony will have lost a sale. Though the PS4 in unproven, if I want to play console games in the future I will eventually need to pick one or the other. The 360 and PS3 will not be supported forever. It just seems to my The Last of Us could have been a good system seller.

(For this specific situation, I think it was on PS3 because it was delayed during development so it seems closer to PS4)

ah, the crossroads of the latest games vs. the great games you haven't played yet.

I have missed many games this generation, multi-platform and exclusives. Provided my Xbox 360 doesn't die, I intend on going back and picking up the titles I missed. I've already picked up Dark Souls, Dragon Age:Awakening, Lost Planet, and Bioshock 2. Honestly, Dark Souls is the only one standing out right now as Lost Planet multiplayer is dead.

Even though the games are highly rated, just the fact that they are pretty old kinda takes the motivation out of playing them, and this truth for me is kinda sad.
Even so, I intend to continue this trend with Far Cry 3, Dishonored, Spec Ops: The Line, Fallout:New Vegas GOTY Edition and maybe even Dragons' Dogma.


But on the question of exclusivity, I'd like to say I'm actually considering getting a PS3 as my next console if I don't get tech savvy for a computer and if the next generation doesn't have a must-have. I don't have a blue-ray player yet and I believe PS3s are somewhat backwards compatible. I still need to play some PS2 games (I don't have mine anymore).

 

[purf]

For me, I don't buy into the whole notion that "done-to-death" is by default bad because any given setting can still be done better. And for post-apocalyptic somethingzombieorother setting there should be a lot of better to be had - No one has ever actually nailed the genre in a way I'd like to see. So, given my experience with The Walking Dead (which tremendously surprised me, for good), this really looks like something I'd like to play.

But I also will not lose any sleep about the fact that I can't.

 

[abdul]

Does it have regenerating health? (watches video) Hmmmm seems so. Sad I would have bought one and borrowed my brother's PS3 to play it. But with that cancer of a game mechanic in it making it another piss easy shooter to complete I see no point in getting it. Sad I prefer a challenge in my shooters and can not get it with this in the game. Shame it has been such a long time since a good shooter was released I was hoping this would be one but sadly it is not. You have disappointed me Naughty Dog, and Sony.

All the reviews I've read mentioned that you do not have regenerating health.Also found a few from google:

"People in The Last of Us are not gifted with superheroic athleticism or regenerating health..." - Gamespot review
"Health does not regenerate in The Last of Us, and one must craft or collect new medical packs that are slowly applied in real-time" - Giantbomb review
"The Last of Us does not have a regenerating health system. Should you get hurt, you need to open your backup and craft a med-kit." - JAGS review

 

[MammothBlade]

Hmm, fairy fair, sounds like a solid game at the very least. I'd have liked more assessment of the value for money. How long is the gameplay, how much content do you get in relation to the price?

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

Just started playing and i love it so far. The beginning is fucking intense, it`s nothing new and everything is expected but holy shit the way they did it is awesome.

having already played it, I can tell you there's a lot to not like. Awkward, fiddly controls, too many fucking quick time events, and the slowest "sprint" speed I've ever seen in a game.

Oh and busywork.

Fuck busywork.

Fiddly controls? Quicktime events? I`m two hours into the game, when does this actually start? Or did you mean the button prompts with quicktime events?

 

[Dominic Crossman]

Jesus beginning of the game just... jesus

 

[Steve Waltz]

I pray to GOD that there will be a patch that allows me to switch the X and Triangle buttons.

Every time I try to pick up an item or open a door I go for the X button because that's traditional and it's also the confirm button for the UI, but Naughty Dog decided to make Triangle the main button for interaction and X is the rarely-ever-used button for vaulting over cover -- and that's practically it (outside of the UI). That's like making a bike that needs to be pedaled counter-clockwise. After YEARS of using X as the "Pick up stuff" button, it's a little hard to unlearn that.

And EVERY TIME I push the wrong button I get pulled out of the game so immersion is broken easily, and a survival horror game without immersion is just a survival game. I have yet to be scared because I am constantly pulled out of the game by pushing the wrong buttons.

 

[Jarlaxl]

So I've been watching my roommate play this game (he just finished it), and I'd just like to say: it is really, really good.

TLoU definitely doesn't reinvent the wheel, and there were certainly technical hiccups every once in a while, but that's okay - even as an outside observer, I could tell that (1) they got the post-apocalypse right, and (2) they made it clear why this is a post-apocalypse *game* and not a book or movie.

As for getting the post-apocalypse right: what makes a post-apocalypse interesting is never the apocalypse itself, but the response of the people to it. In fiction, sci-fi and fantasy are at their best when they change fewer things and just explore how humans react to these new settings. Strangely, these are genres where things are made fantastic solely to explore humanity. Same logic applies to the post-apocalypse - strip away society's trappings and explore how humans get along. Yes, the story is not precisely revolutionary, but it provides the vehicle for Joel and Ellie (and their relationship) to develop. (By the way, the payoff at the end of the game is great.)

As for this being a game and not another medium: every game play decision felt brutal and desperate. Every interaction felt like it would end your life. Every bullet expended was a choice where you wondered if you'd be needing it later, and if you really needed to use it now. Every decision to engage an opponent in melee or sneak around a group of enemies felt chock-full of unknowns that would turn you into Swiss cheese. Like they said in the review, crafting felt like a functional thing a survivor would be doing. These are not feelings and experiences you can capture in the same way in film or books - by putting the player at the helm, you're forcing the player to make these decisions and experience the consequences of failure. The question of what is gaming is constantly explored and fairly important, and no one answer fits universally, but, in my mind, mechanics, character, and setting are all working in tandem so well in TLoU that it provides one important answer.

I find this pervasive "so what" attitude here interesting. This is a good game. Good things don't have to be new things; sometimes, doing something tried-and-true differently or well is good, and TLoU definitely did that.

 

[Alfador_VII]

I pray to GOD that there will be a patch that allows me to switch the X and Triangle buttons.

Every time I try to pick up an item or open a door I go for the X button because that's traditional and it's also the confirm button for the UI, but Naughty Dog decided to make Triangle the main button for interaction and X is the rarely-ever-used button for vaulting over cover -- and that's practically it (outside of the UI). That's like making a bike that needs to be pedaled counter-clockwise. After YEARS of using X as the "Pick up stuff" button, it's a little hard to unlearn that.

And EVERY TIME I push the wrong button I get pulled out of the game so immersion is broken easily, and a survival horror game without immersion is just a survival game. I have yet to be scared because I am constantly pulled out of the game by pushing the wrong buttons.

I do know what you mean, as some of the button assignments didn't come naturally. I got used to it pretty quickly though, except when I hilariously pushed the sprint button instead of the listen carefully one

I don't know why console games so rarely have re-bindable controls, it's not hard to implement.

 

[Two-A]

Very balanced review.
I hope I'll be able to finish it, but I'm just so very tired of post-apoc zombie games/movies/stories and bland action-adventure-shooters.

I'm really wondering how a game that combines the single most tired genre of gameplay with the single most tired genre of story is able to get such positive hype. Not trying to trollbait, really.
Just really... curious.

Well nothing is really original. There's always a good story to be told, even in genres that have been done to death. The plot may be cliched, but the characters really sell it. And the gameplay, while typical, it's good enough to not stick out like a sore thumb (looking at you, Spec Ops).

Hmm, fairy fair, sounds like a solid game at the very least. I'd have liked more assessment of the value for money. How long is the gameplay, how much content do you get in relation to the price?

It supposedly lasts around 11 or 12 hours. Doesn't seem to have much replay value though.

 

[Fangface74]

Guys, this game is so damn polished, don't read any (more) reviews! go in cold and savour it.

You'll be glad you did.