TLOU2 Review Thread

[Phoenixmgs]

Here's a couple of reviews from Youtubers I like (no real spoilers IMO):



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Looks like the game is overlong and too big (which I kinda called when Neil Druckmann was going on about how it's Naughty Dog's biggest game). Reading in-between the lines of developers hyping up their own games can usually tell you a lot about the game. Both reviewers had rather significant problems with the overall story. Again, this isn't too surprising coming from Naughty Dog, the only games I've liked of theirs (PS3-PS4) from a story perspective have been Uncharted 2 and TLOU (and Lost Legacy was fine). Uncharted 3 was just brutally inept with regard to characters and story. I'm kinda wondering now if Bruce Straley was the main person keeping everything together as he was director on UC2 and TLOU. He was also on UC4 but I wonder if Neil Druckmann took over that project (wouldn't be out of the question with how UC4 development went along with the leaks of how Naughty Dog is run).

 

[Kwak]

In contrast to skillup's poor impression of the gameplay, this review is pretty much solely mechanics-based on hardest available difficulty, which seems to have changed his impression of the game's merit.

 

[stroopwafel]

Damn the game has an almost perfect metacritic score. Can't wait to play it.

 

[laggyteabag]

The game has a 96% on metacritic, with almost 4 dozen outlets giving it a perfect 100, and the lowest score is a 70, which still indicates that this is going to be a good time.

That is damn impressive.

So yeah, the game might have its flaws, but you are almost guaranteed to have a good time.

That being said, I was pretty wobbly on TLOU1. I watched SkillUp's TLOU1 retrospective that he released very recently, and I found myself agreeing with a lot. I really enjoyed the story, and the characters, and world - but I was often not too engaged with the combat, other than finding it tense.

Maybe I will have a similar opininon to him on the sequel, but im sure that I will at least enjoy it.

 

[BrawlMan]

Here is Easy Allies review.

 

[stroopwafel]

The game has a 96% on metacritic, with almost 4 dozen outlets giving it a perfect 100, and the lowest score is a 70, which still indicates that this is going to be a good time.

That is damn impressive.

So yeah, the game might have its flaws, but you are almost guaranteed to have a good time.

That being said, I was pretty wobbly on TLOU1. I watched SkillUp's TLOU1 retrospective that he released very recently, and I found myself agreeing with a lot. I really enjoyed the story, and the characters, and world - but I was often not too engaged with the combat, other than finding it tense.

Maybe I will have a similar opininon to him on the sequel, but im sure that I will at least enjoy it.

I like Skill up but he does have different tastes in gaming than I do. So that is also something to consider. Individual taste counts for a lot. Even with a 'perfect' game you might not like it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm kinda wondering now if Bruce Straley was the main person keeping everything together as he was director on UC2 and TLOU. He was also on UC4 but I wonder if Neil Druckmann took over that project (wouldn't be out of the question with how UC4 development went along with the leaks of how Naughty Dog is run).

I think by that point Bruce Straley was just running on fumes. He worked 2 years on Uncharted 2, then went into the 4-year developement of TLoU (which was also quite hectic and troubled), then the DLC, and then he was tasked to pretty much save Uncharted 4 from a seemingly stunted production. And seeing as he went on a hiatus which became a complete departure from Naughty Dog, I get the feeling he didn't much enjoy working on U4 or appreciate that he was semi-forced to take over production after having worked almost non stop for 6 to 7 years.

As for the reviews thus far, it does seem that the first game not lending itself well for a sequel at all is very apparent in TLoU2.

 

[Silvanus]

Looks like the game is overlong and too big (which I kinda called when Neil Druckmann was going on about how it's Naughty Dog's biggest game).

Really? The second guy there says it's about 25 hours long, which is a fair bit longer than a runthrough of TLOU 1, but certainly no more than I wanted from the sequel.

 

[Dreiko]

I will prolly just gamefly this sometime, not at all excited for it. I did the same with the first one too and that one didn't have all the negative baggage this one has and I also just didn't see what the big deal was with that one either.

I really just don't get why they'd make the protagonist a villain here though, the one good thing about the first game was being protective of the little girl and taking care of her through the harsh world around you. Is this some sort of indictment at ungrateful teenagers/millenials? Or maybe some kind of rebellion fantasy? Either way, it doesn't make sense from what the first game was depicting so I hope they at least have the protagonist do some bad thing and this isn't all just because he lied to the child to save her life lol.



Oh and as for the metacritic thing, that to me sounds more like a political statement against the people who were vocally against some of the game's components. I wouldn't base quality on those types of things.

 

[Catfood220]

I just came here to post this. I'm not surprised this game is getting almost perfect scores across the board, it is the sequel to the "best game ever" after all.

The Last Of Us Part 2 review - she who fights with monsters

GameCentral’s spoiler free review of Naughty Dog’s latest PS4 exclusive is a darkly disturbing journey of vengeance and redemption.

metro.co.uk

It sounds interesting, but I'm still going to wait until my friend lends it to me before I play it.

 

[BrawlMan]

I just came here to post this. I'm not surprised this game is getting almost perfect scores across the board, it is the sequel to the "best game ever" after all.

The Last Of Us Part 2 review - she who fights with monsters

GameCentral’s spoiler free review of Naughty Dog’s latest PS4 exclusive is a darkly disturbing journey of vengeance and redemption.

metro.co.uk

It sounds interesting, but I'm still going to wait until my friend lends it to me before I play it.

this is why I rarely ever trust professional reviewers anymore. I know the game won't be bad, but they have a habit of overhyping or over-inflating a games narrative story or characters. The same applies if they react negatively to a game too.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Why does stuff with hopeful attitudes get called ''hope-punk" while others with despair themes get given "misery-porn"? A noticeable bias in naming there methinks! Punk is suggestive of rebellious musical passion, while porn is suggestive of sleazy sweaty lonely men on their mother's laptop trying to figure out the anti-virus software so they can delete the raunchy shortcuts they accidentally locked onto the desktop. I suggest we swap them to something like Sad-punk and Glee-porn for a short while just to see how responses in attitude change.

Anyway, can't wait to get off on this bit of despair-punk when it's finally within these desperate lonely horny paws.

 

[CriticalGaming]

It's no surprise that the big outlets, (IGN, Gamespot, etc) are giving the game 10/10's. They're reviews have been pandering jokes for a long time.

It's gonna be the youtubers, and the customers that are going to give you the real deal on whether the game is good or not.

And to be perfectly fair. I think the gameplay itself will be FANTASTIC, just like the first game. It'll be clean, it'll be atmospheric. It will be the story that is going to divide this game among fans.

It's funny because I read IGN's review and in their summary they say the Ellie carries this game and truly makes the experience in playing her story amazing. But they fail to mention that you play as a completely different character for HALF THE FUCKING GAME! They are purposefully skirting that fact the whole review as if they are trying to hide the fact that a big section of the game isn't focused on the characters that the players expect and like.


EDIT: Looking at more reviews, I find it interesting that despite being able to review the game......none of the review outlets can talking about the story in any real detail. which I find frankly fucked up. It's like they know the story is shit and they are trying to cover it up by any means necessary. Yet the big outlets of course throw perfect scores around, but the more you look at these reviews the fishier they start to read.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's funny because I read IGN's review and in their summary they say the Ellie carries this game and truly makes the experience in playing her story amazing. But they fail to mention that you play as a completely different character for HALF THE FUCKING GAME! They are purposefully skirting that fact the whole review as if they are trying to hide the fact that a big section of the game isn't focused on the characters that the players expect and like.

They're not hiding it, everyone who was given a review code is apparently under embargo to not mention this. It's not just IGN, no review thus far has discussed this, even the ones that are very critical like Skill Up. I heard this embargo lifts on Thursday.

 

[CriticalGaming]

They're not hiding it, everyone who was given a review code is apparently under embargo to not mention this. It's not just IGN, no review thus far has discussed this, even the ones that are very critical like Skill Up. I heard this embargo lifts on Thursday.

Yeah I actually just edited my post with more information I found.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

They're not hiding it, everyone who was given a review code is apparently under embargo to not mention this. It's not just IGN, no review thus far has discussed this, even the ones that are very critical like Skill Up. I heard this embargo lifts on Thursday.

That's still hiding it, and I would expect more people to view this as a horrible business practice and talk about it more here.

 

[Casual Shinji]

EDIT: Looking at more reviews, I find it interesting that despite being able to review the game......none of the review outlets can talking about the story in any real detail. which I find frankly fucked up. It's like they know the story is shit and they are trying to cover it up by any means necessary. Yet the big outlets of course throw perfect scores around, but the more you look at these reviews the fishier they start to read.

Considering the names this guy has in his featured channels (Nerdrotic, Geeks + Gamers) I don't trust this dude any further than I could throw him. I'm assuming most if not all of these channels that see "SJW's" under their bed at night will be making videos detailing how TLoU2 is actually hated by everyone and that anyone who claims to legitemately like is just bending to the will of wokeness.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Considering the names this guy has in his featured channels (Nerdrotic, Geeks + Gamers) I don't trust this dude any further than I could throw him. I'm assuming most if not all of these channels that see "SJW's" under their bed at night will be making videos detailing how TLoU2 is actually hated by everyone and that anyone who claims to legitemately like is just bending to the will of wokeness.

I don't think that is a fair assumption to make.

People like things that are terrible all the time, I assume that's how Justin Bieber has fans after all, so I don't have a problem with it and i don't think HeelvsBabyface does either.

However there is certain some merit in criticizing the culture that has surrounded "SJW"-opinions and media pandering. what he points out here is really rather fair and clear.

I mean Kotaku's review, KOTAKU of all websites is a site that should LOVE the shit out of this game...doesn't. Polygon is another site that should be singing the praises from the rooftop doesn't like it. Admittedly their problems with the game are the sheer misery of it, rather than specific plot elements but that also could be because nobody is allowed to get specific with plot details.

I find it all really fishy honestly. And let's be honest. This game hasn't had a good look for a while now. Even before the leaks when devs were quitting and having breakdowns from the crunch of it. Then it gets leaked, and Naughty Dog goes DMCA panicking all over the place. Then they start to plead with people to just give the game a chance. To now finally letting reviews come out that are so incredible limited in what can be discussed that it looks like a gaming cover up. I mean christ it is a video game not a JFK assassination document.

 

[Casual Shinji]

That's still hiding it, and I would expect more people to view this as a horrible business practice and talk about it more here.

Sure, but it's not their call to make. They're not "lying" because they want to withhold information that might bring down the review score.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I don't see why an embargo on the other playable character would somehow change a reviewer's opinion on a game. Sure, they can't get into specifics about it, but surely even a mediocre reviewer would express their thoughts about the other character without directly mentioning them.

Is the embargo weird? Definitely. All this leak business really has got Naughty Dog in a panic.