It has been five months since I first completed The Last of Us. I have been meaning to write a review of The Last of Us ever since I finished the game, but I could never find the inspiration and the drive to do so. I just wanted to keep playing The Last of Us. Since Sony is bundling The Last of Us and Batman: Arkham Origins with a 250 GB PlayStation 3, I thought today would be the best time to write a review for the game.
The Last of Us takes a much darker scene than previous Naughty Dog games. Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted are among my favorite PlayStation games. Without fail, Naughty Dog somehow manages improve upon the last game. Their latest game, The Last of Us, does just that and then some.
From the very start, I knew that The Last of Us was going to be special. From the stunning graphics to the amazing story, The Last of Us had me hooked from start to finish. It also had me longing for more. The story is by far one of the most captivating stories I have ever experienced in a video game, and there have been a number of games that have had great stories thus far in 2013, but The Last of Us was able to capture more than any of the other games I had played thus far.
With great story telling, comes great voice acting. Naughty Dog has been using motion capture technology since Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and it really has come a long way since then. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson aren't the only actors in the game that do a great job, but it is easy to see why they were picked to take the lead roles of the game. If you have ever played a game that has Troy Baker voice acting in it, you will recognize that it doesn't sound like him at all. Trust me. Try listening to Snow, Booker, and then Joel and tell me that Snow and Booker sound anything like Joel.
When Naughty Dog first unveiled The Last of Us, we were introduced to Joel and Ellie. Not much was known about their past, how they knew each other, or why they were going across the United States. They did a great job of keeping everything under wraps. I don't intend to spoil anything from the story for those of you who haven't beaten the game or haven't bought it yet.
The Last of Us takes place 20 years after an infection breaks out all over the world. The world is in a state of decay, and it is very noticeable in every city you enter in The Last of Us. Nature seems to be taking back what was built upon it, as vegetation begins to grow and buildings begin to crumble. As terrible as the world may appear in The Last of Us, it is by far the prettiest looking game I have ever played on the PlayStation 3.
As you may have guessed, players take the role of Joel, a man with a past that continues to trouble him. Even with his troubled past, Joel continues to fight for survival in a world that has given up on being human. Joel takes on odd jobs to be able to acquire food and clothing, as well as weapons and other necessities to keep oneself alive. Whereas Nathan Drake seems to live a happy-go-lucky kind of life, players will quickly recognize that Joel's luck had run dry a long time ago.
The Last of Us is played in the third-person perspective, much like Naughty Dog's Uncharted series. Joel can take out enemies with his fists, as well as a number of weapons that he comes across on his trek through the United States. Not only does Joel find himself fighting for his life, he also must keep Ellie alive. Even though it is an escort mission, Ellie is no pushover. She finds ways to be of assistance.
The weapons that Joel and Ellie acquire on their journey range from long range weapons to close range weapons. All the weapons that are found in The Last of Us can be upgraded, making it very important to scavenge each location. There are supplies that can be found as well, which can be crafted to make useful tools to take down enemies, such as Molotov cocktails and smoke bombs. Not only can weapons and items be upgraded, Joel has a couple of abilities that can be upgraded as well, such as how fast he can craft things.
There are different kinds of enemies that Joel and Ellie encounter in The Last of Us. To put it simply, there are Hunters and the Infected. Hunters are people who have broke off from the world completely and seek to do whatever is necessary to keep themselves alive. The Infected are those who have come in contact with a mutated strain of a fungus known as Cordyceps. Hunters have weapons of their own to fight against anyone who isn't a part of their group. Infected are like zombies. I don't think I have to say anything else about them.
Action is no stranger in this game, but there are plenty of times when exploration takes over. I found those moments of the game to be the best. During these parts of the game, Joel and other characters will talk to each other to help you further understand what is going on. There are also notes left by people to help you comprehend what is going on in the world. Exploration is an important part of The Last of Us, as it helps the player know that the world really is falling apart. Other objects can be found, such as Firefly pendants, posters, and maps.
The Last of Us also offers quite a bit of replay value. Whether you decide to take on the world in New Game Plus, or play the game in a harder difficulty setting, The Last of Us never gets old. It took me about 15 hours to beat The Last of Us the first time. Once I finished the game, I found out that there was a lot of things I missed. I played it a second time through New Game Plus, keeping all my upgrades and going through each level trying to find every collectible I could.
If you want to give the single-player a break, multiplayer is also an option. The multiplayer is a lot of fun in The Last of Us. It strays away from the typical multiplayer and makes individual gain more of an importance than party gain. The multiplayer goes by the name Factions and has you play as a Hunter or a Firefly. Players have twelve weeks to keep their clan alive. The multiplayer is a lot of fun and I found myself playing it more and more when I figured out the mechanics of the mulitplayer.
The Last of Us has one of the very best single-player stories I have ever experienced. It far surpasses the stories that were told in the Uncharted series. I've played a lot of great games this year, such as Tomb Raider, BioShock Infinite, and The Walking Dead: The Game, but The Last of Us manages to connect exploration, game play, and story together without any issues. With downloadable content already coming out, and with more on the way, it isn't too late to pick up a copy of The Last of Us.
OVERALL SCORE:
10/10
