Summary [9.5 out of 10]

A stark departure from the Uncharted series, Naughty Dog brings its gorgeous graphics, tight controls, engaging story, versatile gameplay and cinematic presentation to a brutal survival horror game with most of the emphasis on survival while the characters get under your skin in a way that is almost unprecedented in gaming.

Following a gun runner who is charged with escorting and delivering a special teenage girl to a band of resistance fighters in a post apocalyptic world, The Last of Us shows us a well worn premise told with savage twists and turns that shock and disturb in ways players aren’t prepared for. The story is tight and well paced while being absolutely punishing with very little quarter given by way of light hearted moments. They exist but much like ammo and supplies they are few and far between. The gameplay fits with this model enormously well and puts the screws to players by presenting a reasonably normal guy who is a survivor but isn’t a marksman or martial artist. This aspect, as well as the exceedingly bleak outlook of the story provides something of a barrier to entry for players. It is not at all for everyone. The learning curve is steep and the whole of it eschews ‘fun’ for ‘accomplishment.’ This is something to survive and if you are looking for a light hearted 3rd person shooter with adventure elements then you really need to look elsewhere. If, on the other hand you are looking for a mature survival game that will work you over just as much emotionally as it will physically then you have come to the right place.

What It’s Like:

Silent Hill 2: This is only kind of tangentially similar as the limited resources and amount that the deck is stacked against the deck is similar. The horror elements of the Last of Us are usually derived more from the desperation of being in a situation where you will die without at least three more bullets and baseball bat and you have only two bullets rather than from shadowy horrors in the dark but still both games share some measure of both of those things. You can never feel comfortable because you are never completely prepared and that is scary as hell.

Telltale’s the Walking Dead: There are some obvious post-apocalyptic reasons for this but mostly it is the emphasis on strong characters and storytelling. Telltale’s effort was an amazing game with hard moral choices and characters who were faced with impossible decisions. The Last of Us does not branch at all in terms of character choice but the narrative puts the characters in impossible positions constantly and the player is left with the aftermath.

The Great:

Story: The Last of Us has an absolutely incredible story with complex characters that pull you in to a ridiculous degree. The actual story being told is a simple one and not especially unique especially in a post-Walking Dead world but the actual turns the story takes, the drama and surprises, make the Last of Us something special and it never feels derivative of other familiar works. The main reason for this is the complexity of the two lead characters both in terms of back-story and in terms of their relationship. Joel is not the nicest guy in the world but you understand him and understand why. The story is also punishingly intense emotionally offering up a sequence before the title of the game appears that made me tear up. Games are not usually bold enough to really put you through the ringer emotionally in this way and even among the ones that do, The Last of Us is one of best.

Characters: Mentioned above in the story, the characters, from the two main characters to the enemies and allies, are well drawn and complex. Regardless of whether you love them or hate them you will FEEL something for them. There are no throw away characters here (well aside from the hunting marauders that come after you) and all of them have motivation and point of view and the game allows them to breathe  enough to share that. You might not agree with why a character does what he or she does but you are never at a loss for why they are doing it and often you can kind of see their point. This moral ambiguity is very rare in games and it makes the impact of decisions made all the more severe. Ellie and Joel are obviously the emotional centerpiece on the whole experience and through their relationship you become invested and involved. When the credits roll you care about what you’ve just seen and done because you care so much about you have seen and done it with.

Voice Acting: It is difficult to say enough about the voice acting here. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker ground the entire game with their performances. Lesser talent would have made this feel like low grade melodrama but with these two the characters come alive and feel complete. The rest of the cast is terrific as well as there is not a sour note among them. W Earl Brown and Nolan North are definite stand outs but all of the voice actors here are terrific.

Game Play: The game play is fairly typical of a third person shooter at first blush but the collection of things you have to maintain and the fact that Joel is not a superhero makes this challenging in a gratifying way. Targeting is purposefully janky as Joel, particularly early on, is not the best shot ever. You can collect the equivalent of XP to raise your skills but even a maxed out character is going to have an uphill battle. This system really goes a long way toward making you feel like you are really progressing and getting better the more you do things and the arsenal available by way of crafting and upgrading gives you a lot of options when you are in a pinch. This also allows for multiple approaches and strategies to whatever situation you find yourself in and if you are struggling to pass a certain sequence, you can figure out a new strategy that will often get you through. Even if they are limited, the game gives you options. Add in a liberal helping of exploring and resource gathering and you have a very complete gameplay experience.

Graphics: I am not going to mince words here. The graphics in the Last of Us really make me wonder why we need a next gen in the first place (yeah, I know, processing power, shhh). This game is absolutely breathtaking with lush and gorgeous environments as well as enormously detailed characters and assets. The design is terrific as well making the place feel very lived in and reclaimed all at once. It is difficult to describe in words or even show in still pictures just how beautiful this game is. You really just need to see for yourself.

Marquee Moments: The Last of Us doesn’t just offer standard game play moments like running, jumping, swimming and shooting. There are some intense and creative moments in the game that change the mechanics and perspective to a severe degree and when they do it is really something to see. I won’t spoil any of them here but there are some really cool sequences that go above and beyond standard quick time events.

The Good:

Controls: The games controls are very good but some of the button mapping is a bit annoying. Some of this is done to make things more difficult when it comes to crafting and weapons storage and retrieval which is fine but far too often I tried to do one thing and got another. Even still, those moments are pretty few and far between. In a general sense the controls work well and give you the feeling of frantic panic in crisis situations which make the player step up his or her game in order to make it through. The controls are part of the learning curve and are integrated into the challenge of the game so it is hard to complain too loudly about them but they are still not perfect even with the stated pre-installed deficits and handicaps.

The Bad:

Glitches: With a game this polished and gorgeous it is a real shame that it is hampered by glitches but there were some super frustrating moments, especially late in the game, where there would be nasty tears, screen jumps and full on freezes requiring a reboot. Nothing is more frustrating than finally finding yourself doing well and then having to restart because of a screen freeze. With a game like this there is really no excuse for this sort of issue and it does some damage to an otherwise perfect experience.

Poor Saving: There is weirdness with the autosave in which even when you go to load a past save the game autosaves which, if it was sharing the file with autosave will end up saving over what you are trying to load while you are trying to load it. Manual saving is unreliable as well as I found myself having to replay 15 minutes worth of gameplay to get to one place where I kept dying only to die again and start it over again. This is really irritating and if you don’t want to allow the game to save at the player’s discretion then you shouldn’t give the manual save option in the first place.

Conclusion [9.5 out of 10]

The Last of Us is an incredible game in pretty much every aspect. It isn’t perfect and it isn’t for everyone but for those who plug into it there is no doubt that it is an experience unlike just about anything else available. There is a lot of year left but this one is definitely a game of the year contender. It is not necessarily an easy game to get through but it is definitely worth the time spent just so long as you are prepared to be challenged emotionally as well as physically. If this is what Naughty Dog can squeeze out of this generation’s hardware I can’t wait to see what they do in the next one.