Naughty Dog's highly-anticipated zombie drama is not only technically brilliant but also well produced. It is also filled with emotions, live people, shades and a story that grabs and then never let go.
The Last of Us begins with the protagonist Joel's closest neighbors break in through his balcony door while the living room-the TV notifies you that some kind of virus escaped loose and provoked chaos in the country. The neighbors are infected. They throw themselves against Joel and before you know it has fired the starting gun for what is undoubtedly one of the best games I had the pleasure of rate during the current console generation.
The United States is paralyzed by an epidemic more serious and deadly than what anyone in their wildest dreams could have imagined. Nature has had enough of all the pollution, plants and trees have started to drop off an infection in the form of an airborne mold and the purchase will mutated humans, murder, death, violence and a reality not far from it in the best of post-apocalyptic zombie movies.
The studio behind the Uncharted games blends and borrows freely from inspirations like Dawn of the Dead, The Road, The Walking Dead and I Am Legend. The result is a surface rather ordinary adventure about a group of survivors intends traveling from Boston to Salt Lake City. That's the way this story is told, and the means used that makes it so incredibly moving, so awfully entertaining.
After a fantastic start, as without being too long or protracted connect a hard brutal stranglehold on me, we jump 20 years into the future. United States has not recovered, the military has barricaded selected neighborhoods in major cities where those who survived the disaster now guarded like prisoners incarcerated. Joel's life in the "zone" is reminiscent of a concentration camp. Here is a curfew, ID checks, oppression and an overbearing police state that executes those who defy the rules instituted by the fungal virus paralyzed the entire modern world. It smells Children of Men before Naughty Dog jumps on and borrows a little from I Am Legend, again. All is done with incredible dexterity and The Last of Us is really chock full of originality.
The first mission in the game revolves around a lawless looters named Robert who not only seized on Joel's arms but also angered Joel's girlfriend Tess, who quickly proves to be a grater of seldom seen. After walking through a few neighborhoods crammed with wonderful details, life, dynamism and movement lulled you into adventure's first real chapter that works a bit like a tutorial. We will not be flashing messages of how the game controller works and that more than the clarity that many of today's game productions spotted down with.
The journey takes a few unexpected twists and before you know it, Joel and Tess worn with the rebel forces' violent plans and messed up so they can not return to his apartment in the "zone". You have time to just catch your breath and recharge the gun before the game world opens up, and before The Last of Us really rattling started. After that you have to concentrate on slick survival. The Last Of Us is more challenging, demanding and merciless designed than all three Uncharted games, and it fits the tone perfectly.
Here is joy, sorrow, regret, warmth and compassion. Meanwhile the world that Joel and companion Ellie lives in brutal, uncompromising, dark and violent. The contrast between the beautiful outdoor Quarter, stuffed by lush ivy elegantly winds along the shattered house fronts, and the infected sewer parties countless zombies, is part of the fascination with The Last of Us. Another is how stylishly Naughty Dog has taken the best lessons learned from the Uncharted games, both game mechanics and narrative themes, and ultimately completed a product whose brilliance cements them as one of history's foremost game creator.
Unlike Uncharted, Joel is no acrobatic hopping that with a huge sneers easily jump between ledges and ledges. No, The Last of Us is serious (unlike Nathan Drake glossy matinee adventure), and several times during the adventure, I felt genuinely bad about the amount of violence and above all the moral difficulties that the main characters face. Over time, they get used to the idea that having to kill to survive, and with having to rely on each other and follow each other to reach their goals. At the same rate as the player builds up a resistance to the broken game world framework and rules Joel and Ellie grow into their roles as lawless, desperate, hungry and crippled.
The relationship between the two characters are believable, well-written, incredibly well played and with the interaction between Booker and Elizabeth in BioShock Infinite the best I have experienced in years. I felt an almost intrusive big responsibility for Ellie prosperous during the 13 hours that The Last of Us lasted. And unlike other games with stealth elements, I was more focused and careful than ever when the atmosphere, the elaborate and human characters, and the insanely efficient atmosphere constantly motivated me.
I crept through more than half the game without so much as picking at the passers guards, hunters, police, brigands, zombies or mutants. This is because both Joel and Ellie are much more delicate and fragile human than most protagonists in most games. It is enough to disclose their own position at one point where two to three guards patrolling to quickly and ruthlessly to be forced to start from the last save point. Precisely because, thanks to the vivid, believable characters, built up a mood. An atmosphere that got me to experience the worst sweating of hands and armpits since I was playing Condemned, and that created a desperation where I repeatedly screamed straight out of excited dread-stress, when Joel attacked from behind by a seemingly invisible enemy.
There has been talk surprisingly little about the ingredients in this game before its premiere, with surprises and amazement as a result. I have been surprised by what the game is basically about, been shocked at how incredibly well made some game-related news has been, things that were not part of the Uncharted games. Although The Last of Us live entirely on its own merits labeled it that said that the same developer and the same graphics technology is the basis for both adventures.
The enemies are smarter than any one of Naughty Dog's previous game and actually cleverer than many pure stealth games like The Last of Us compete. If patrolling looters feel inferior Joel and Ellie, it is not uncommon for them to run away from the player, rather than against, in order to fetch reinforcements and to inform their companions about the threat from the player. The enemies are communicating intelligently, they respond logically and humanly at Joel's behavior and they are all shameless aggressive.
In order to survive unscathed through several of the game's larger environments you have to wait the enemies, look at their patrol patterns and how they move. Everywhere are the stones, bottles and other debris that Joel can use to confuse enemies. To throw a bottle in one direction and then, while the enemy soldier / zombie examines the resulting sound, is hardly unique to this game. Said to be that it works better here than in a huge number of other games with stealth focus.
Naughty dog mixes exciting stealth with pure fright more efficiently and awfully than in all of the last five Resident Evil games are. They combine unpleasant panic and concentrated with Smart executed, challenging and demanding action games and exploration, ingenious puzzles, and a large amount of endangerment. The Last of Us is in other words a very impressive genremix and a story with simplicity outshines everything else I tested in years, and most likely all I played in 2012.
The most memorable chapter in the whole adventure is for me a passage through an abandoned, old treatment plant just outside the city limits. Joel and Ellie sneak up in the grimy basement corridors and subterranean corridors, distant roar from drifting mutants and zombies scared me more than all the enemies together in Resident Evil 5 and 6 and the puzzles that I forced to figure out in order to get the plant's power to finally be able to climb out through a broken door on the other side of the building stands out as the year without a doubt the best chapter, regardless of game, and regardless of platform.
Enemy monsters called Clickers is zombies been infected by the virus mold for a longer time. They can no longer see their faces since mutated into the tear, spongy flesh wound and thus rely solely on their hearing. They walk around like spastic ghosts and use a loud, guttural clicking sound to sense the environment and communicate with each other. Each time you put on these deadly monsters applies it to Joel and Ellie sneak in a very slow pace. The gravel crunching under Joel's shoe soles may be sufficient for up to five Clickers while going to rip the two main characters in chunks, making these horror elements to some of the scariest I have experienced, ever.
In a specific chapter sneaks one through a burned-down subway station lousy with Clickers and while clicking the mutants through seeking every nook for human flesh, making Joel and Ellie of course his utmost to try to be as silent as possible.
When it comes to the technical part, there is nothing to complain about. Nada, zip, zero, Zulch. Here it remains only a juicy pile of towering tributes to the wizards at Naughty Dog. The Last of Us is namely the undoubtedly best looking console game of all times. It is technically more impressive than titles like Uncharted 3, Gears of War 3, Killzone 3 and God of War 3rd It is a masterpiece with great clarity across cements spot PlayStation 3 has that the current generation undisputed graphics king. There is no game to the nearest competitor the Xbox 360 that is even close to equally alluring from a technical perspective as this.
Leaving aside the insanely detailed and vibrant surroundings as stylishly builds up the illusion of actually traveling through a ruined, abandoned the United States, is the ingredients that dynamic lighting, shadows, particle effects and different types of mapping techniques that shout loudest in this game. Along with great design formed a whole that not only outshines the Uncharted games but also many of the past year's PC-exclusive boasting titles.
The sound stage is unlike in Uncharted games exactly as impressive as the graphical part. The acoustics are of Crysis 2 -class and it's amazing how well the pan and surround mix of The Last of Us is working. The voice cast is also consistently superb and the weapon sounds and guitar-focused soundtrack leaves something to be desired course hardly makes things worse. In fact, Troy Baker (who does the voice of Joel and voiced Booker in Bioshock Infinite) with simplicity sailed up to the top on my personal top ten list of voice actor favorites.
A part of the game that we really did not know anything about before review version arrived was multiplayer component. I had pre-tipped on something like deathmatch in Uncharted and it's almost exactly what is on offer. The best is the game mode "Survivor" which is very reminiscent of "Elimination" in Uncharted 2, a game mode that I really had fun with. Even "Supply Raid" feels successful with good level design, brilliant graphics, and decent balance.
To try to summarize this text, I would of course advise you to pick up a copy of what I consider to be the year so far by far the best game. I loved Bioshock Infinite , but The Last of Us peaks Irrationals hyped shooter on virtually every point. Joel and Ellie's journey is one that I will never forget and it is of course fantastic to see that the game can actually be much, much more than all these perfunctory sequel that rained upon us in recent years.
Opinions about The Last of Us : Remastered (PlayStation 4)
To see again Joel, Tess, Tommy and Ellie in the Playstation 4 graphically enhanced version of last year's by far the best game has been a very pleasant experience. Naughty Dog has hardly worked hurdles by themselves but this conversion, then the visual differences are not very big, but a brilliant game just got even better thanks to several times higher native resolution, polished textures without compression, better lighting, proper ant aliasing; higher screen refresh and more dynamic and powerful surround mix. Remastered version also offers a photo mode, the downloadable expansion "Left Behind" and a multiplayer component. Same game, same wonderful story of humanity, regret, loyalty and love - new console. Small details like that it clicks into the DualShock 4 when I light the torch Joel makes his course.
If you already own this game for the PlayStation 3 and have played the DLC chapter Left Behind - then you absolutely need not purchase the PlayStation 4 release. However, if you waited to enjoy this timeless masterpiece is obviously remastered edition of The Last of Us that you should purchase. For this is the best version of the best game since Half-Life 2 .
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