I have returned! After nearly biting the figurative bullet I decided to revamp my original approach to this game. The original draft of the review, as well as the revised one, are below. Enjoy this little critical journey. Also, leave your thoughts on the game itself below, I love discussion.
* means that I have added a note to the original draft
* means that I have added a note to the original draft
(pretentious voice)
The last of us?the citizen kane of gaming is here?this game will change your life?One of the greatest experiences in gaming history...this is the game of the year!
(record scratch)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahhh
No
Now before you all get on your feet and start pelting me with the various discarded spunk napkins every one's been tossing this game's way, I'll have you know that, objectively speaking, The Last Of Us is a good game, it may even be a great game. Is it the pinnacle of our console generation though? In an eight year span that produced one of the greatest trilogies in any medium (Mass Effect), several overwhelming sensory experiences (journey, dear esther), one of the harshest critiques of the violence inherent to games to ever see the light of day(Spec Ops The Line) and some games that are the purest fun to ever stream from our televisions (tomb raider, portal, modern warfare 2), is a game purely about two people surviving a mere zombie apocalypse really the one we ought to be touting?
Underneath all of the ludicrously predictable, unbelievably frustrating, gameplay, is there really a life changing experience lurking here? let's dive into The Last Of Us.
STORY
Yeah it's alright. Nothing new, but damn if it isn't effective. I'd mostly put this down to some unusually good writing and two amazing performances from the lead actors more than any real emotional depth. Through the many lavishly produced cutscenes and some oddly touching scripted moments we learn that the entire world, suspiciously lacking in nuclear weaponry and military forces, went to shit due to some unstoppable virus. Whoop-de do. We play as Troy Bak-I mean Joel, who lost his daughter in the opening sequence and will now spend the entire game effectively vertigoing a new one. Tasked with sneaking a precocious teenager across the country, he and Ellie will undergo absolutely no changes in their fundamental personalities as they learn to rely on each other for help.
* note-was this snarkiness towards the character growth (much stronger in retrospect) a result of the gameplay frustrations? Or was it something I should have expanded on more but couldn't quite find what I needed to say?
If I sound a bit more snarky than usual it's because I never really felt involved in the story, nor did I become interested in the moral dilemmas many of the characters face. My apprehension was not helped by the fact that the main characters eventually emerge as irredeemable, one more so than the other. Thankfully the previously mentioned cutscenes and scripted moments do their best to charm their way into my heart valves, it's just a shame that nothing really comes out of all of this besides some vague commentary on the lengths people can go to to get what they want.
Let me ask a question, what exactly did we learn from this story? That we occasionally do some terrible things to each other? That fundamentally we are nothing more than a collection of animal instincts. Heck, we figured that out around the eighth awkward boner in high school.
If it does nothing new then, what does it do well? Well, despite the walking tower of creepiness that Joel eventually becomes, the characters are mostly well rounded enough that the cliches start to fade into background noise. The supporting cast, including two travellers you meet along the way, deserve the major accolades here. Even the crazy pervert who slings nail bombs all around at least comes off as something recognizably human. A terribly written, well acted ,story at least has some appeal, kind of like most superhero movies, but the depth needed to be a truly great classic is missing. Thus The writing and performances are what make the game's emotional moments hit home, at least before the shallowness of the game's message and the gameplay rear their ugly heads.
*Sidetrack *Spoilers
Umm, before we move on towards the festering mass of the gameplay, let me point out one thing that nagged at me. So the plot of the game involved getting Ellie across the country to a Firefly medical lab in colorado. Fair enough, after grinding through the game I finally reach it. AAAAANNNND the fucking fireflies aren't there, they're arbitrarily in a different location hundreds of miles away. Meaning that the plot thread was entirely pointless. I almost shut the game off right there and gave up on it, as I was tired of its bullshit by this point and the prospect of playing through even more of the game appealed to me about as much as a shit sandwich. Speaking of gameplay...
GAMEPLAY
Instakill montage
Hmmm, some chest high walls, I WONDER IF I'LL BE FIGHTING MY WAY BACK THROUGH HERE SOON!
Hmmm, I wonder if I activate this generator, to power up a keycard lock that's obviously already fucking working, if i'll die a horrible, horrible death a quintillion fucking times. But not too horrible, it's going to fade to black before the game shows any semblance of balls.
Yep, those were some giraffes, now for some entirely pointless violence!
Hmmm, a ledge, A LADDER IS REQUIRED! A Catwalk? DUMPSTER DIVING!
Oh come on. THAT DIDN'T BREAK STEALTH BEFORE! I CAN SEE YOU SPAWNING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!
Hmmm, a poignant emotional mome-OOOHH SHINY THINGS!
Alright, a calm exploration moment-WHAT THE FUCK?
Okie dokie that bad guy is over there, time to take care of this g-WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU COME FROM.
Whooo, snuck past this monster, now time to push this door--OH COME ON NO NO NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Hey didn't people say that because Tomb Raider had a young woman firing guns half decently that the game was utter shite because of ludo-narrative dissonance? I wonder what they think of shit like this? (show ellie effortlessly mowing down baddies)
Come on, come on, I want to be done this already! MORE POINTLESS ACTION SCENES AND PUZZLES.
Wait, after all of the gunshot wounds he's sustained it's a metal rod that becomes the serious problem? And it looks suspiciously familiar too. Come on, walk it off you pussy.
After fighting through the mountain of bullshit, the inconsistencies and pointless delays, the gameplay finally starts to gel into a cohesive experience?after 9 fucking hours of a game that I just wanted to fucking finish. Fuck.
* Deep Breaths
Alright, the gameplay is functional, it does its job. By copying the gameplay mechanics of the developers pet Uncharted series, the game can proudly boast some pretty effective set piece moments, some half decent gunplay and stealth and the epic quest for ladders that infects the gameplay like, well, an infection.
Joel can craft items, upgrade them and occasionally shoot something, though doing so makes every enemy in the area swarm you. I never had a problem with the fact that the game doesn't pause when you are sorting through your inventory, as it adds a nice dose of tension to some of the more hectic stealth moments, but I can see where some would have issues. Joel also has access to "super hearing", which allows him to see through walls but curiously doesn't warn you of an enemy approaching right behind you unless you are staring at them, Some nasty surprises and frustrations followed from this. Nonetheless, It's a nice little element added in to make the game less of a chore, and I became thankful for it.
* note- the following paragraph was written, in retrospect, as a response to the cheapness of the infected, it has been left intact for you to dissect however you like
But it cannot be denied that the gameplay, despite working as intended, is still plagued by the fact that you control a man who often handles like a horse with 3 legs broken. He's clunky is what i'm saying, and it's not until you've upgraded absolutely every skill that he becomes half decent at surviving anything more dangerous than a pillow fight. It's like the final realization that if Lara Croft controlled like this, then Tomb Raider would be un fucking playable. I realize that the controls are meant to half simulate tension, but when the tension evaporates as you upgrade your skills, that kind of becomes moot when joel picks up a revolver that can one shot armoured enemies across the map.
That's not even taking into account the problems that it shares with the years other qoute unqoute masterpiece Bioshock Infinite (though it must be said that Bioshock Infinite is a superior game to this dreck), namely that the game requires you to explore every nook and cranny, acquiring supplies and ruining the pacing, in order to gain a sense of the shattered world and gain some incremental supplies. Thankfully, the game tells its story well enough that exploration is not required to understand the finer details, but it can undermine some of the intended drama.
The story is fine on its own merits, there's nothing offensive about it, it is well acted and well presented. The gameplay makes it an intolerable mess though, I just wanted the game to end by the time the big emotional moments hit near the end. Shut up, I know what you're thinking: That's like you're opinion man, I had a great time with it. So? I had a glorious time with Lollipop Chainsaw does that mean that it's the greatest game evar? NO. The Last Of Us commits many cardinal sins and if this game even sniffs year end game of the year awards then i'll have lost faith in a lot of gaming websites. A GOOD STORY DOES NOT EXCUSE BAD GAMEPLAY.
ART DESIGN
Now for some niceties, if only to give some kind of reward to someone who got past the story section of this review. The art design in the Last Of Us is gorgeous, especially the lighting effects. Joel and Ellie's journey through the apocalypse scarred United States is certainly filled with impressive spectacles, but often times it's the smaller details in the environments that carry this one through. One trip through an abandoned storm drain is especially memorable for the atmosphere it generates. It's not a grand achievement in imaginative art design like Bioshock Infinite or Tomb Raider, but it definitely is no slouch.
MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN
The original score, by Gustavo santolalla, is a near masterpiece of controlled tension and sonic depth. Using mostly guitars and strings, he manages to craft an atmospheric experience worthy of the lofty ambitions of the story. The individual tracks of note are All Gone, The Choice, Vanishing Grace (Childhood), The Way It Was and All Gone (Aftermath) . Whatever flaws exist in the gameplay, there exist none in the music department.
Sound design is top notch as well, with the ambiences of the environments impressing the most. The combat soundscapes amp up the tension to thrilling degrees. whether you are stealthing your way past hordes of clickers,battling your way through an army of henchmen, or exploring the remnants of civilization, you are guaranteed to never be short on sonic thrills in The Last Of Us.
CONCLUSION
The Last Of Us, like Bioshock Infinite, is notable perhaps more for its flaws than for any actual achievements in creating a compelling experience. Unlike Bioshock Infinite however, which was an indictment of the effects of violence, The Last Of Us exists in an island of cliches and gameplay suffocation. Whatever impact its story might have had is completely diluted by the huge mistakes made in its gameplay design. From the pointless action and puzzle sequences, to the failure to re-enforce any of the themes or morals it's attempting to force on us , It's really hard to justify calling this game the greatest of its generation, let alone of this year. I wanted to love the game, I went in fully hoping that i would be carried away by the hype train everyone else experienced. As it stands, something good did come out of this mess, when I traded it in to help get Beyond Two Souls. Speaking Of?
Rating 3.5/5
The last of us?the citizen kane of gaming is here?this game will change your life?One of the greatest experiences in gaming history...this is the game of the year!
(record scratch)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahhh
No
Now before you all get on your feet and start pelting me with the various discarded spunk napkins every one's been tossing this game's way, I'll have you know that, objectively speaking, The Last Of Us is a good game, it may even be a great game. Is it the pinnacle of our console generation though? In an eight year span that produced one of the greatest trilogies in any medium (Mass Effect), several overwhelming sensory experiences (journey, dear esther), one of the harshest critiques of the violence inherent to games to ever see the light of day(Spec Ops The Line) and some games that are the purest fun to ever stream from our televisions (tomb raider, portal, modern warfare 2), is a game purely about two people surviving a mere zombie apocalypse really the one we ought to be touting?
Underneath all of the ludicrously predictable, unbelievably frustrating, gameplay, is there really a life changing experience lurking here? let's dive into The Last Of Us.
STORY
Yeah it's alright. Nothing new, but damn if it isn't effective. I'd mostly put this down to some unusually good writing and two amazing performances from the lead actors more than any real emotional depth. Through the many lavishly produced cutscenes and some oddly touching scripted moments we learn that the entire world, suspiciously lacking in nuclear weaponry and military forces, went to shit due to some unstoppable virus. Whoop-de do. We play as Troy Bak-I mean Joel, who lost his daughter in the opening sequence and will now spend the entire game effectively vertigoing a new one. Tasked with sneaking a precocious teenager across the country, he and Ellie will undergo absolutely no changes in their fundamental personalities as they learn to rely on each other for help.
* note-was this snarkiness towards the character growth (much stronger in retrospect) a result of the gameplay frustrations? Or was it something I should have expanded on more but couldn't quite find what I needed to say?
If I sound a bit more snarky than usual it's because I never really felt involved in the story, nor did I become interested in the moral dilemmas many of the characters face. My apprehension was not helped by the fact that the main characters eventually emerge as irredeemable, one more so than the other. Thankfully the previously mentioned cutscenes and scripted moments do their best to charm their way into my heart valves, it's just a shame that nothing really comes out of all of this besides some vague commentary on the lengths people can go to to get what they want.
Let me ask a question, what exactly did we learn from this story? That we occasionally do some terrible things to each other? That fundamentally we are nothing more than a collection of animal instincts. Heck, we figured that out around the eighth awkward boner in high school.
If it does nothing new then, what does it do well? Well, despite the walking tower of creepiness that Joel eventually becomes, the characters are mostly well rounded enough that the cliches start to fade into background noise. The supporting cast, including two travellers you meet along the way, deserve the major accolades here. Even the crazy pervert who slings nail bombs all around at least comes off as something recognizably human. A terribly written, well acted ,story at least has some appeal, kind of like most superhero movies, but the depth needed to be a truly great classic is missing. Thus The writing and performances are what make the game's emotional moments hit home, at least before the shallowness of the game's message and the gameplay rear their ugly heads.
*Sidetrack *Spoilers
Umm, before we move on towards the festering mass of the gameplay, let me point out one thing that nagged at me. So the plot of the game involved getting Ellie across the country to a Firefly medical lab in colorado. Fair enough, after grinding through the game I finally reach it. AAAAANNNND the fucking fireflies aren't there, they're arbitrarily in a different location hundreds of miles away. Meaning that the plot thread was entirely pointless. I almost shut the game off right there and gave up on it, as I was tired of its bullshit by this point and the prospect of playing through even more of the game appealed to me about as much as a shit sandwich. Speaking of gameplay...
GAMEPLAY
Instakill montage
Hmmm, some chest high walls, I WONDER IF I'LL BE FIGHTING MY WAY BACK THROUGH HERE SOON!
Hmmm, I wonder if I activate this generator, to power up a keycard lock that's obviously already fucking working, if i'll die a horrible, horrible death a quintillion fucking times. But not too horrible, it's going to fade to black before the game shows any semblance of balls.
Yep, those were some giraffes, now for some entirely pointless violence!
Hmmm, a ledge, A LADDER IS REQUIRED! A Catwalk? DUMPSTER DIVING!
Oh come on. THAT DIDN'T BREAK STEALTH BEFORE! I CAN SEE YOU SPAWNING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!
Hmmm, a poignant emotional mome-OOOHH SHINY THINGS!
Alright, a calm exploration moment-WHAT THE FUCK?
Okie dokie that bad guy is over there, time to take care of this g-WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU COME FROM.
Whooo, snuck past this monster, now time to push this door--OH COME ON NO NO NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Hey didn't people say that because Tomb Raider had a young woman firing guns half decently that the game was utter shite because of ludo-narrative dissonance? I wonder what they think of shit like this? (show ellie effortlessly mowing down baddies)
Come on, come on, I want to be done this already! MORE POINTLESS ACTION SCENES AND PUZZLES.
Wait, after all of the gunshot wounds he's sustained it's a metal rod that becomes the serious problem? And it looks suspiciously familiar too. Come on, walk it off you pussy.
After fighting through the mountain of bullshit, the inconsistencies and pointless delays, the gameplay finally starts to gel into a cohesive experience?after 9 fucking hours of a game that I just wanted to fucking finish. Fuck.
* Deep Breaths
Alright, the gameplay is functional, it does its job. By copying the gameplay mechanics of the developers pet Uncharted series, the game can proudly boast some pretty effective set piece moments, some half decent gunplay and stealth and the epic quest for ladders that infects the gameplay like, well, an infection.
Joel can craft items, upgrade them and occasionally shoot something, though doing so makes every enemy in the area swarm you. I never had a problem with the fact that the game doesn't pause when you are sorting through your inventory, as it adds a nice dose of tension to some of the more hectic stealth moments, but I can see where some would have issues. Joel also has access to "super hearing", which allows him to see through walls but curiously doesn't warn you of an enemy approaching right behind you unless you are staring at them, Some nasty surprises and frustrations followed from this. Nonetheless, It's a nice little element added in to make the game less of a chore, and I became thankful for it.
* note- the following paragraph was written, in retrospect, as a response to the cheapness of the infected, it has been left intact for you to dissect however you like
But it cannot be denied that the gameplay, despite working as intended, is still plagued by the fact that you control a man who often handles like a horse with 3 legs broken. He's clunky is what i'm saying, and it's not until you've upgraded absolutely every skill that he becomes half decent at surviving anything more dangerous than a pillow fight. It's like the final realization that if Lara Croft controlled like this, then Tomb Raider would be un fucking playable. I realize that the controls are meant to half simulate tension, but when the tension evaporates as you upgrade your skills, that kind of becomes moot when joel picks up a revolver that can one shot armoured enemies across the map.
That's not even taking into account the problems that it shares with the years other qoute unqoute masterpiece Bioshock Infinite (though it must be said that Bioshock Infinite is a superior game to this dreck), namely that the game requires you to explore every nook and cranny, acquiring supplies and ruining the pacing, in order to gain a sense of the shattered world and gain some incremental supplies. Thankfully, the game tells its story well enough that exploration is not required to understand the finer details, but it can undermine some of the intended drama.
The story is fine on its own merits, there's nothing offensive about it, it is well acted and well presented. The gameplay makes it an intolerable mess though, I just wanted the game to end by the time the big emotional moments hit near the end. Shut up, I know what you're thinking: That's like you're opinion man, I had a great time with it. So? I had a glorious time with Lollipop Chainsaw does that mean that it's the greatest game evar? NO. The Last Of Us commits many cardinal sins and if this game even sniffs year end game of the year awards then i'll have lost faith in a lot of gaming websites. A GOOD STORY DOES NOT EXCUSE BAD GAMEPLAY.
ART DESIGN
Now for some niceties, if only to give some kind of reward to someone who got past the story section of this review. The art design in the Last Of Us is gorgeous, especially the lighting effects. Joel and Ellie's journey through the apocalypse scarred United States is certainly filled with impressive spectacles, but often times it's the smaller details in the environments that carry this one through. One trip through an abandoned storm drain is especially memorable for the atmosphere it generates. It's not a grand achievement in imaginative art design like Bioshock Infinite or Tomb Raider, but it definitely is no slouch.
MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN
The original score, by Gustavo santolalla, is a near masterpiece of controlled tension and sonic depth. Using mostly guitars and strings, he manages to craft an atmospheric experience worthy of the lofty ambitions of the story. The individual tracks of note are All Gone, The Choice, Vanishing Grace (Childhood), The Way It Was and All Gone (Aftermath) . Whatever flaws exist in the gameplay, there exist none in the music department.
Sound design is top notch as well, with the ambiences of the environments impressing the most. The combat soundscapes amp up the tension to thrilling degrees. whether you are stealthing your way past hordes of clickers,battling your way through an army of henchmen, or exploring the remnants of civilization, you are guaranteed to never be short on sonic thrills in The Last Of Us.
CONCLUSION
The Last Of Us, like Bioshock Infinite, is notable perhaps more for its flaws than for any actual achievements in creating a compelling experience. Unlike Bioshock Infinite however, which was an indictment of the effects of violence, The Last Of Us exists in an island of cliches and gameplay suffocation. Whatever impact its story might have had is completely diluted by the huge mistakes made in its gameplay design. From the pointless action and puzzle sequences, to the failure to re-enforce any of the themes or morals it's attempting to force on us , It's really hard to justify calling this game the greatest of its generation, let alone of this year. I wanted to love the game, I went in fully hoping that i would be carried away by the hype train everyone else experienced. As it stands, something good did come out of this mess, when I traded it in to help get Beyond Two Souls. Speaking Of?
Rating 3.5/5
Warning: The following video contains spoilers, the game's been out for awhile now folks, get over it.
Writing the script for this video has been a long and intellectually stimulating process. The first draft was written over a year ago, then life happened and the project was shelved. Subsequent journey's through vastly differing game experiences and the discussions surrounding them started nagging at my critical instincts towards this game?this thing?this obsession, that represents everything I hate and love about modern video games.
Why Haven't I Played The Last Of Us?
(Opening montage)
The Last Of Us is one of those games that begs to be examined, a low hanging fruit of Triple AAA Gaming. Massively marketed and excessively praised, it has gained traction among gaming's elite thinkers and the general public. It is now widely thought of as a masterpiece, one of the defining titles of its era.
Does it live up to those lofty expectations?
Let's find out?
2.
The Last Of Us is a third person cinematic action-adventure game. Cinematic is the key keyword there. The gameplay, cutscenes, acting and music all come together into a unified whole, which evokes the film landscape that the game aspires to.
This is nothing new of course, games like Max Payne 3, Tomb Raider and the Resident Evil series have betrayed the game industry's debt to its cinematic counterpart. But the Last of Us may be the first time that the cutscenes in a game have proven the equal to film and television. That may be one of the reasons why everyone gushed over this game upon release, and you know what? They have a point.
Other games, like the previously mentioned Max Payne and Tomb Raider, had attempted to scale that mountain, but nagging issues prevented them from reaching the desired level. Whether it was the graphical fidelity not being high enough to overcome the uncanny valley, or frankly bizarre decisions by the game directors, something always got in the way.
Now, in addition to some truly top notch performances from the lead actors and industry leading sound design, we finally have a game that, production wise, doesn't wilt under the dramatic microscopes like so many before it. I mean it when I say that The Last Of Us has some of the most beautifully moving scripted scenes in videogame history.
So how does the rest of the game come across?
3.
In earlier drafts of the script (show video footage of early drafts of script) I expressed annoyance and frustration about the core gameplay. It's contradictions, contrivances and collisions with its own narrative functions. I could comprehend no other approach but anger when covering this game, which immediately put me at odds with the gaming community at large.
A year can change things. If not opinions, but angles of discussion. I shall attack The Last Of Us at its core, the very fibre of its being.
One of the defining theories of film is Mise En Scene. It espouses that everything within a scene has a place in defining and symbolizing the narrative. From the setting and lighting to details like the choice of film stock or placement of props, it is a theory that emphasizes the unity of film as a cohesive whole. Since The Last Of Us aspires to be compared to great films, why not apply this theory to the game as a whole and see what we come up with.
4.
Before I dive into attacking the game, let me start by listing some of the things that it does right.
1. There is a solid core of action gameplay here, with smooth movement controls and an intuitive, almost fully organic, HUD design. The Smoothness of controlling Joel and Ellie as they slowly make their way past a group of bandits or Infected helps alleviate some of the frustrations otherwise encountered.
2.The game world is gorgeously rendered, with stunning lighting effects and and enough small details to make this a believable post-apocalyptic world. From the starkness of the many abandoned homes you scavenge, to the crumbling urban sprawls, from the fungus overtaking the infected to the high quality animations, there's so much graphical beauty to take in here that it almost overtakes any possible criticisms.
3.The soundscapes that surround you as you make your way through the levels is on another level as well. With Gustavo's Santaollala's Guitar based score weaving its way through the headspace while the subtle snarls of the infected, and the rasp of Joel's clothing keep you alert. No game even came close to matching the aural achievements on display in 2013. The Last Of Us was fittingly awarded best soundtrack by twodashstash.com, but weirdly ignored by almost every other mainstream awards organization. Whatever the case, the sound design and score of this game add another gold star to the the heap.
Now we can attack it.
5.
The Last Of Us is a game of exhausting contradictions and overly predictable cliches'. This is a game that attempts thematic unity, but stumbles out of the gate immediately by leaving one huge question up in the air: What exactly is the purpose of the Infected? Symbolically? Thematically? If they did fulfill basic thematic criteria, how does said criteria slot them into the gameplay itself?
I've heard people say to me that the infected are supposed to represent constant danger, or variations on the theme of paranoia. True, the characters are all paranoid that the infected will attack at any time, and they do serve to drive the plot forward (by virtue of Ellie being the supposed cure for it), but paranoia about the infected does not mean that they represent paranoia in and of itself.
Going back to early zombie films like George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead, and even some Sci Fi Flicks like Invasion Of The Body-Snatchers, the living dead represented something. By using subtle lines of dialog and tricks of cinematography and staging, the films presented a fear of communism that was palpable and persistent throughout their entirety.
Going through the Last Of Us, I can't help but notice that The Infected are only presented as an obstacle to be overcome. Sure there is panic among the population at the very mention of infected, but nothing otherwise pops out as indicative of their thematic purpose as an agent of fear.
6.
In fact, as one goes through the game, one could easily suggest that the role of the infected could just as easily have been filled by just regular human opponents, with a dose of craziness to account for the populace's fear of them. The destruction of the world could very easily have been accomplished by nuclear weaponry with hordes of rampaging bandits and mercenaries wreaking just as much havoc as the Infected, and in the sequences where you do encounter human opponents, they seem to have just as much destructive potential as the supposed main threat. Imagine the sewer sequence but with human enemies as the cause of the death and destruction witnessed there. The pathos would have been overwhelming, and relevant thematically, not to mention possibly striking a chord within our own global climate.
The infected don't even turn out to be the main moral threat in the end. The human resistance is. They present the final gameplay and story challenges for the player and Joel to overcome, brushing aside the infected as merely the catalyst for the plot and actions of the characters. Joel and Ellie could easily have just been delivering an important package or a cure for radiation sickness for all the good the infected are to the plot.
This failure to establish the supposed main enemy of the game as its main thematic thread spreads to the gameplay itself. Where the Infected resort to cheap tricks to mask their naked emptiness. The AI in this game is not especially bright, what with human enemies and allies constantly acting like dogs with their tails on fire. They'll run into and out of cover, charge straight at a shotgun wielding Joel, or stand in place for ages, waiting to be shot.
As a result, the Infected, having barely any weapons to speak of, must resort to charging and overwhelming you with numbers instead of providing any challenge through tactics or intelligence. Instead, to overcome the AI deficiencies, the game simply gives a lot of the infected unblockable Insta-kill attacks if they get too close. Thanks naughty Dog, roll montage
7.
(montage, with screaming from original script)
One could argue that such cheap tactics present credible gameplay challenges, but let's not kid ourselves. With just a few AI polishes, the game's human enemies could have been monstrously powerful foes, enough to probably even match Halo: Combat Evolved's legendary AI. Then the game could have been filled with actual challenges instead of controller smashing insta-kills. As such, fighting the infected became such an interminable slog, that I flat-out gave up on the game after learning that the story would be extended after the university, and that I would have to fight more of these things eventually. No matter how good the rest of the game's story was, and believe me, I found a lot to love, it couldn't stand up under the colossal weight of the infected grind.
That's a major problem when an enemy makes you want to never pick the game up again.
Alas, I resumed playing after a month long-break and found the game getting progressively unbalanced by one-hit kill revolvers and my growing awareness of the AI quirks. I cruised through the last half of the game, but it was a joyless cruise, made infinitely more joyless whenever more infected appeared. It's also where the human opponents finally started throwing their weight around in the story.
To The Game's detriment unfortunately.
8.
See, the problem with presenting as vast a threat as the infected means that arguably the focus should have remained on them. Instead, Joel and Ellie are thrust into several situations where the humans that remain are the main catalyst for the relationship growth between the two. Since that relationship is key to the game's dramatic flow, the infected become even bigger afterthoughts, as they only exist to bring them together and nothing more. They aren't developed sufficiently to be interesting, nor do they justify their presence beyond simply adding gameplay challenge. They are deadweights on the main attraction, halting the flow whenever they appear.
Are you starting to see my point?
Now that we've tackled the single largest narrative point of contention. Let's start nitpicking the gameplay. Having already established the existence of the infected as utterly useless and frustrating elements added to the game, we can safely bypass them in the rest of the discussion.
9.
How about them ladder/plank sections?
Yeah, they're useless symbolically and thematically as well. The worst kind of padding really, masquerading as gameplay depth. Since they take up around, oh, 20% of gameplay time, it would be foolish not to mention them.
I find it really weird how the game eventually balances out. In the course of the gameplay, Joel will eventually upgrade his weapons into uber-powerful game-changers, completely sucking the challenge out of the game after the halfway mark, since, again, the AI isn't getting any better. Joel eventually becomes capable of wiping the floor with the armoured human opponents, and can even start laughing in the face of the infected once his shotgun becomes fully levelled. This eventual downgrading of the threats in the game also serves to undermine the dramatic tension in the plot. Even Ellie starts off able to mow down heaps of enemies, only becoming threatened whenever I seriously screw up or when going up against, you guessed it, an insta-kill boss.
I'm not even mentioning the various AI screwups that completely break the game's immersion levels. nor the obvious scripted triggers that I anticipated with loud moans of disappointment.
10.
There's enough going on though, that the game can still have truly rewarding stealth and action segments. One memorable section escaping from pursuing security forces and another scripted sequence in a hospital stand out memorably. The solid design of the controls and HUD elements, the combination of the excellent sound design and stealth mechanics and the meaty feel of the guns and meelee combat, all make this, objectively, a good game.
Sections where you simply explore the ruins of america, with nothing but the ambiences of nature and the company of Ellie to break the silence, can be utterly engrossing in their own right. The sheer graphical beauty and overall art design on display, especially when you consider the limitations of the PS3. simply defy expectations.
11.
However, This supposed "Greatest Game Of The Era" simply doesn't stand up to any scrutiny that would justify that lofty title. It wants to be about something but can't quite define what that something is. Moral complexity? The inherent animal instincts of humanity? The love that can grow between two people? Every time the game throws an issue into the air, it gets blown away by the heavy winds of contradictions that are the infected.
I wanted to love this game, desperately so. But I couldn't ignore the dramatic holes, the constant frustrations and slogs. In the end, I can only call this a good game, for it is nowhere near the greatness it aspires to. Who knows, maybe in time others will see it my way, maybe this game will remain on top of the pedestal created for it. In any case, after I finished the game, I had had enough of it and traded it in
For Beyond: Two Souls.
Rating: 3.5/5
Speaking Of?
Writing the script for this video has been a long and intellectually stimulating process. The first draft was written over a year ago, then life happened and the project was shelved. Subsequent journey's through vastly differing game experiences and the discussions surrounding them started nagging at my critical instincts towards this game?this thing?this obsession, that represents everything I hate and love about modern video games.
Why Haven't I Played The Last Of Us?
(Opening montage)
The Last Of Us is one of those games that begs to be examined, a low hanging fruit of Triple AAA Gaming. Massively marketed and excessively praised, it has gained traction among gaming's elite thinkers and the general public. It is now widely thought of as a masterpiece, one of the defining titles of its era.
Does it live up to those lofty expectations?
Let's find out?
2.
The Last Of Us is a third person cinematic action-adventure game. Cinematic is the key keyword there. The gameplay, cutscenes, acting and music all come together into a unified whole, which evokes the film landscape that the game aspires to.
This is nothing new of course, games like Max Payne 3, Tomb Raider and the Resident Evil series have betrayed the game industry's debt to its cinematic counterpart. But the Last of Us may be the first time that the cutscenes in a game have proven the equal to film and television. That may be one of the reasons why everyone gushed over this game upon release, and you know what? They have a point.
Other games, like the previously mentioned Max Payne and Tomb Raider, had attempted to scale that mountain, but nagging issues prevented them from reaching the desired level. Whether it was the graphical fidelity not being high enough to overcome the uncanny valley, or frankly bizarre decisions by the game directors, something always got in the way.
Now, in addition to some truly top notch performances from the lead actors and industry leading sound design, we finally have a game that, production wise, doesn't wilt under the dramatic microscopes like so many before it. I mean it when I say that The Last Of Us has some of the most beautifully moving scripted scenes in videogame history.
So how does the rest of the game come across?
3.
In earlier drafts of the script (show video footage of early drafts of script) I expressed annoyance and frustration about the core gameplay. It's contradictions, contrivances and collisions with its own narrative functions. I could comprehend no other approach but anger when covering this game, which immediately put me at odds with the gaming community at large.
A year can change things. If not opinions, but angles of discussion. I shall attack The Last Of Us at its core, the very fibre of its being.
One of the defining theories of film is Mise En Scene. It espouses that everything within a scene has a place in defining and symbolizing the narrative. From the setting and lighting to details like the choice of film stock or placement of props, it is a theory that emphasizes the unity of film as a cohesive whole. Since The Last Of Us aspires to be compared to great films, why not apply this theory to the game as a whole and see what we come up with.
4.
Before I dive into attacking the game, let me start by listing some of the things that it does right.
1. There is a solid core of action gameplay here, with smooth movement controls and an intuitive, almost fully organic, HUD design. The Smoothness of controlling Joel and Ellie as they slowly make their way past a group of bandits or Infected helps alleviate some of the frustrations otherwise encountered.
2.The game world is gorgeously rendered, with stunning lighting effects and and enough small details to make this a believable post-apocalyptic world. From the starkness of the many abandoned homes you scavenge, to the crumbling urban sprawls, from the fungus overtaking the infected to the high quality animations, there's so much graphical beauty to take in here that it almost overtakes any possible criticisms.
3.The soundscapes that surround you as you make your way through the levels is on another level as well. With Gustavo's Santaollala's Guitar based score weaving its way through the headspace while the subtle snarls of the infected, and the rasp of Joel's clothing keep you alert. No game even came close to matching the aural achievements on display in 2013. The Last Of Us was fittingly awarded best soundtrack by twodashstash.com, but weirdly ignored by almost every other mainstream awards organization. Whatever the case, the sound design and score of this game add another gold star to the the heap.
Now we can attack it.
5.
The Last Of Us is a game of exhausting contradictions and overly predictable cliches'. This is a game that attempts thematic unity, but stumbles out of the gate immediately by leaving one huge question up in the air: What exactly is the purpose of the Infected? Symbolically? Thematically? If they did fulfill basic thematic criteria, how does said criteria slot them into the gameplay itself?
I've heard people say to me that the infected are supposed to represent constant danger, or variations on the theme of paranoia. True, the characters are all paranoid that the infected will attack at any time, and they do serve to drive the plot forward (by virtue of Ellie being the supposed cure for it), but paranoia about the infected does not mean that they represent paranoia in and of itself.
Going back to early zombie films like George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead, and even some Sci Fi Flicks like Invasion Of The Body-Snatchers, the living dead represented something. By using subtle lines of dialog and tricks of cinematography and staging, the films presented a fear of communism that was palpable and persistent throughout their entirety.
Going through the Last Of Us, I can't help but notice that The Infected are only presented as an obstacle to be overcome. Sure there is panic among the population at the very mention of infected, but nothing otherwise pops out as indicative of their thematic purpose as an agent of fear.
6.
In fact, as one goes through the game, one could easily suggest that the role of the infected could just as easily have been filled by just regular human opponents, with a dose of craziness to account for the populace's fear of them. The destruction of the world could very easily have been accomplished by nuclear weaponry with hordes of rampaging bandits and mercenaries wreaking just as much havoc as the Infected, and in the sequences where you do encounter human opponents, they seem to have just as much destructive potential as the supposed main threat. Imagine the sewer sequence but with human enemies as the cause of the death and destruction witnessed there. The pathos would have been overwhelming, and relevant thematically, not to mention possibly striking a chord within our own global climate.
The infected don't even turn out to be the main moral threat in the end. The human resistance is. They present the final gameplay and story challenges for the player and Joel to overcome, brushing aside the infected as merely the catalyst for the plot and actions of the characters. Joel and Ellie could easily have just been delivering an important package or a cure for radiation sickness for all the good the infected are to the plot.
This failure to establish the supposed main enemy of the game as its main thematic thread spreads to the gameplay itself. Where the Infected resort to cheap tricks to mask their naked emptiness. The AI in this game is not especially bright, what with human enemies and allies constantly acting like dogs with their tails on fire. They'll run into and out of cover, charge straight at a shotgun wielding Joel, or stand in place for ages, waiting to be shot.
As a result, the Infected, having barely any weapons to speak of, must resort to charging and overwhelming you with numbers instead of providing any challenge through tactics or intelligence. Instead, to overcome the AI deficiencies, the game simply gives a lot of the infected unblockable Insta-kill attacks if they get too close. Thanks naughty Dog, roll montage
7.
(montage, with screaming from original script)
One could argue that such cheap tactics present credible gameplay challenges, but let's not kid ourselves. With just a few AI polishes, the game's human enemies could have been monstrously powerful foes, enough to probably even match Halo: Combat Evolved's legendary AI. Then the game could have been filled with actual challenges instead of controller smashing insta-kills. As such, fighting the infected became such an interminable slog, that I flat-out gave up on the game after learning that the story would be extended after the university, and that I would have to fight more of these things eventually. No matter how good the rest of the game's story was, and believe me, I found a lot to love, it couldn't stand up under the colossal weight of the infected grind.
That's a major problem when an enemy makes you want to never pick the game up again.
Alas, I resumed playing after a month long-break and found the game getting progressively unbalanced by one-hit kill revolvers and my growing awareness of the AI quirks. I cruised through the last half of the game, but it was a joyless cruise, made infinitely more joyless whenever more infected appeared. It's also where the human opponents finally started throwing their weight around in the story.
To The Game's detriment unfortunately.
8.
See, the problem with presenting as vast a threat as the infected means that arguably the focus should have remained on them. Instead, Joel and Ellie are thrust into several situations where the humans that remain are the main catalyst for the relationship growth between the two. Since that relationship is key to the game's dramatic flow, the infected become even bigger afterthoughts, as they only exist to bring them together and nothing more. They aren't developed sufficiently to be interesting, nor do they justify their presence beyond simply adding gameplay challenge. They are deadweights on the main attraction, halting the flow whenever they appear.
Are you starting to see my point?
Now that we've tackled the single largest narrative point of contention. Let's start nitpicking the gameplay. Having already established the existence of the infected as utterly useless and frustrating elements added to the game, we can safely bypass them in the rest of the discussion.
9.
How about them ladder/plank sections?
Yeah, they're useless symbolically and thematically as well. The worst kind of padding really, masquerading as gameplay depth. Since they take up around, oh, 20% of gameplay time, it would be foolish not to mention them.
I find it really weird how the game eventually balances out. In the course of the gameplay, Joel will eventually upgrade his weapons into uber-powerful game-changers, completely sucking the challenge out of the game after the halfway mark, since, again, the AI isn't getting any better. Joel eventually becomes capable of wiping the floor with the armoured human opponents, and can even start laughing in the face of the infected once his shotgun becomes fully levelled. This eventual downgrading of the threats in the game also serves to undermine the dramatic tension in the plot. Even Ellie starts off able to mow down heaps of enemies, only becoming threatened whenever I seriously screw up or when going up against, you guessed it, an insta-kill boss.
I'm not even mentioning the various AI screwups that completely break the game's immersion levels. nor the obvious scripted triggers that I anticipated with loud moans of disappointment.
10.
There's enough going on though, that the game can still have truly rewarding stealth and action segments. One memorable section escaping from pursuing security forces and another scripted sequence in a hospital stand out memorably. The solid design of the controls and HUD elements, the combination of the excellent sound design and stealth mechanics and the meaty feel of the guns and meelee combat, all make this, objectively, a good game.
Sections where you simply explore the ruins of america, with nothing but the ambiences of nature and the company of Ellie to break the silence, can be utterly engrossing in their own right. The sheer graphical beauty and overall art design on display, especially when you consider the limitations of the PS3. simply defy expectations.
11.
However, This supposed "Greatest Game Of The Era" simply doesn't stand up to any scrutiny that would justify that lofty title. It wants to be about something but can't quite define what that something is. Moral complexity? The inherent animal instincts of humanity? The love that can grow between two people? Every time the game throws an issue into the air, it gets blown away by the heavy winds of contradictions that are the infected.
I wanted to love this game, desperately so. But I couldn't ignore the dramatic holes, the constant frustrations and slogs. In the end, I can only call this a good game, for it is nowhere near the greatness it aspires to. Who knows, maybe in time others will see it my way, maybe this game will remain on top of the pedestal created for it. In any case, after I finished the game, I had had enough of it and traded it in
For Beyond: Two Souls.
Rating: 3.5/5
Speaking Of?
