There might be spoilers ahead* if you have any interest about this game, GO PLAY IT!
We all know that Yahtzee DOES THIS, ripping games apart for the sake of entertainment, it's true.
But you know what I respect, that he generally has the intelligence and intecrity to recognize what is good, he may be reluctant but he doesn't fail to praise Spec Ops, Silent Hill 2, Portal, or Shadow of the Colossus. Even when he finds a profoundly unexpected positive in an otherwise rather generic game, he makes it note, as he borderline praised the first Modern Warfare, and found positives even in the somewhat obscured Resistance 3.
And that is why this is such a disappointment coming from someone I have come to respect over the years. No, I don't take him too seriously... but I thought more of him. The Last of Us has issues, bigger issues than the petty complaints he found considerable enough to mention. For example, the inclusion of collectibles that completely rip the immersion out of the otherwise extremely conscientious and engaging exploration. Making us realize again that: hey, it's a game after all. Or the few sections where it scriptedly forces you into killing a number of enemies even when you have made great efforts to use stealth. Even how the Encounters are secluded and limited to certain areas that almost feel like monster closets contrasting with the very organic feel of the world.
Granted, there are smaller gameplay complaints, like the inclusion of weapons that are more or less usable to different playstyles (I actually did use smoke bombs efectively a couple of times), Or that the companion AI isn't always perfect (quite honestly it is much better than most other AI companions, and even had certain personality traits evolving with the story). But those are only minor problems that are present in almost any game that has weapons or AI companions.
(about that, every time a game comes up with AI companions, everyone destroys them, so I wonder: Have they EVER been any good? or are they one of those things that is only good in theory? to me TLOU is probably it's best implementation, but it still seems to get quite some hate)
About society, I find it a bit silly to complain about it's lack of care for human life. The truth is that there is A LOT of care, there even is PARANOIA, and the situation presented in the game is precisely so special because it pushes these characters into breaking the new social conventions that are much more strict and careful than they used to be.
Several times in the game npcs comment on how terrifying it would be to get an infected inside one of these enclosed human havens... but the thing is that the relative stability has been accomplished by force. Crisis does test the limits of society, and particularly throughout the game(With the subtle comments that David's followers make, or the survivor logs in different refuges) we learn that stability is only acquired through sacrifice.
About the unlikeability of characters, I think it says enough that we can speak about their intentions and motivations for so long. They are superbly realized, and even in his cynicism Yahtzee should see that. Their interactions make spec ops (and most other -spoken narrative- games up to date) seem blunt, coarse and hamfisted. Sure, I knew how the general plot would play up from the get go, but it is the grayness in the themes that really surprised me, there are no real villains and the heroes are the first to die. A character as Dark, pathetic but intensely relatable as Joel I think I had only seen fleshed out this well in literature.
Hollywood would definitely avoid this much moral conflict like the plague, and most games only give "evil" options as a possibility to fill up a red fiery bar. And still most of us managed to understand how hard the decisions were.
In this line, as people said before, the ending is not at all a "happily ever after" it is both of them knowing that it is all a based on a lie. It is slow burning anguish, faced upon the imperative to survive.
So what the hell was this, Yahtzee?
Is it your new found hatred for all things console? Is it your contempt for exclusives? Is it that you are so caught up in your dislike for the developer that you can't see what a special thing they've done? Or maybe it really is that you couldn't find anything worth your time in the game... in which case.. I'm starting to think that maybe you should change your line of work to... foreign north Korean political correspondent? Sour stamp licker? something where you may be able to enjoy the real good things in life...
