The Last of Us (2013)

As a videogame which has become one of the most widely lauded by mainstream outlets and personalities who I have never spoken with and never will, I knew it would be wise to take all of the praise for The Last of Us with a truckload of salt. This decision turned out to be dead on the mark.

When it comes to the gameplay —something many would argue to be the single most important aspect of a game, because, after all, if it's not enjoyable to play, why make it a game in the first place?— it tries a few different things, but the thought that persistently kept coming back to me while playing was that just about every one of them could have been done better. It's not bad, but there are plenty of games that came out long before this one that have better stealth, better gunplay and better environmental navigation (and sometimes, these come with the same style of character dynamics as well— ever heard of Ico or Enslaved: Odyssey to the West?). One of the big things this game encourages you to do is explore as much as you can of each map so that you can scavenge as many precious resources as you can find, which will be necessary for giving your melee weapons a limited-uses OHK buff, as well as crafting health kits and some extra weapons which I'm pretty sure I used less times during the game than I've got fingers on one hand (molotovs saw maybe one or two uses, nail and smoke bombs saw zero). You can also craft shivs, which are probably the most useful item in the game, as they can be used for quick takedowns, counterattacks against stronger monsters, and prying open caches of goodies— but the dynamism of this somewhat cool item is thrown out the window for the parts of the game where you play as Ellie, who has an unbreakable pocket knife which is functionally a shiv with infinite uses, something that turns the stealth portions of the game on their head as she is incapable of stealth killing regular humans without alerting everyone in the vicinity, but is perfectly able to ninja shank infected while staying quiet as a mouse, which is more or less the exact opposite of how it works with the character you play as for 80% of the game. This dynamic shift is one of the various aspects which make the Left Behind DLC campaign feel so bizarre and pointless, but more on that in a minute.

The plot itself is a very gossamer-paced and deeply flawed beast, especially at the beginning. I dare say that the several hour long span between the end of the prologue scene and when you leave Bill's town feels like a really sloppily presented narrative slog that I'm surprised I haven't seen more people complain about, and this is a problem that's hard to ignore, because when it comes down to it, the plot —an aspect that, for as long as I can remember, I have valued as the single most important part of any conventional narrative, easily trumping characterization— is really rather basic and underwhelming, and can be summed up as "get from point A to point B, running into all manner of trouble at each stop along the way."

And let's talk for a bit about those stops. As a non-US resident, I am generally very unfamiliar with US geography, landscapes, &c., something I probably would not have mentioned here had I the game not left me with the impression that a lot of its setpieces were meant to appeal to a sense of familiarity or impact that simply did not exist within me, but I also found myself unable to simply brush it off because of how prominently this aspect is presented. Throughout, I found myself entertaining thoughts such as: Are you telling me Pittsburgh isn't supposed to look like that? Am I expected to know whether this university is a real place or not? Or this snowy foresty town? For all I know this is that "Valley Forge" place where Washington spent one of his winters— a tidbit I am only aware of because it was presented as a running gag in Day of the Tentacle. You get the picture.

One other aspect that stuck out to me by the end was the very, very sparse and barebones worldbuilding surrounding the infected; you never get any in-game explanation of how cordyceps functions in real life, which makes its inclusion as a slightly-more-plausible-than-usual origin for a zombie plague feel almost pointless in the long run. Something else that felt like a huge missed opportunity was developing a few more details on just what happened in the leadup to the events of the prologue, which in retrospect really felt like it moved too quickly and didn't necessarily serve as a plausible setup for the rest of the game (the military were clearly on top of what was happening from the beginning, so why didn't they just Raccoon City that shit? For that matter, why was that one soldier off on his own, when that would never happen in real life? And if we're supposed to assume that the same thing was happening all over the country all at once, can we at least get some kind of indication for how that could have been possible? Was the whole nation covered in spooky mushroom spores that were all compelled to turn evil at the same time? Are we playing The Last of Us or Parasite Eve?

The biggest plot blunders though were no doubt the ones that led to the entire premise for the last leg of the game— why did the fireflies grasp the idiot ball with such steely-fingered firmness and immediately rush to cut into Ellie's brains without even waiting for her or Joel to regain consciousness? Why didn't they run literal hundreds of blood tests on her first to gather as much information as they could and determine beyond a shadow of a doubt whether there was anything else that could be done? And if they were really, truly convinced that there was no other option, why didn't they at the very least consider that pissing off the Rambo parallel who had dropped literal hundreds of motherfuckers to get to where he was, collapsing entire makeshift societies in the process, all for the sake of his predilect girlie, was a terrible idea? They really couldn't wait a few more hours for both of them to wake up so that they could at least get her to consent to that procedure and let him know face to face that she was definitely okay with it happening? Was there ever a second draft for this part of the story? Was everyone else involved in production too much of a suckup to let Druckmann know about any of these problems? The villains of Dishonored, which came out a year earlier (and as a spiritual successor to Thief, had stealth mechanics that were leaps and bounds better), found themselves in that very kind of situation, but they were at least savvy enough to recognize that antagonizing someone like that was tantamount to eating their guns. It's the sort of thing that makes me feel perfectly justified in ignoring any part of this franchise that came out after this— something I wish I had done for Left Behind, which unfortunately we will have to get to soon.

But if you've made it this far into the review without being halfway through typing up an angry reply, then rejoice, because the next thing I want to talk about is the part of the game that definitely constituted the highlight for me —and, I must assume, for everyone else—: the character dynamics. The ones that eventually start coming into play, that is, because they take a good few hours to get going in the first place thanks to the aforementioned slow-as-molasses beginning. And though by necessity the flaws in the plot do inevitably have repercussions in this very characterization, once you get out of Bill's town like I said, the relationship between Joel and Ellie comes to the forefront and remains firmly there as the heart of the narrative. It's a slow burn, but a good one, culminating in the talk in the ranch house at the end of the horseback chase where the unspoken question of how much Joel sees her as a surrogate for his own daughter who he failed to protect in the prologue finally takes center stage. Arguably, the suspense in the shifting dynamics with the secondary characters that are introduced in the Winter part of the game is also pretty gripping, but if you read the spoiler paragraph above you already know my thoughts regarding what happens at the end.

Let's not forget about Left Behind, though, which I must force myself to knock out a quick mention of here because I really don't want to write a separate review for it. Its best quality is that it serves as a perfect example of what happens when you excise the aforementioned relationship from the narrative: It leads one to the realization that not only is it the highlight of the experience— it's the sole highlight. The story for Left Behind is an interquel/prequel focusing on Ellie that alternates between the transition between fall and winter, when Joel is badly knackered after having a piece of rebar go through his abdomen in the main story, and a point in the past before the two ever met, focusing on her relationship with a different character. The story merely goes over some parts of the timeline which the main game had already alluded to, without adding any meaningful details, and instead has most of its "substance" come from distractingly tryhard "are you feeling feelings yet, audience?" dialogue scenes. The gameplay serves to highlight the weird discrepancy between Joel and Ellie's stealth mechanics as mentioned previously. The amount of stupid puns that were written and/or plagiarized for a certain bit is just baffling, with the sheer length you can push it to evaporating any appeal that aspect of Ellie's character may have had whenever it came up in the main story (I don't feel bad for saying that the "I bet she would get a kick out of Gary Larson books" joke I made while playing the main game in response to her "I don't get it, but it seems funny" stance towards humor was funnier than any part of this segment in the DLC). The finale is a forced mass confrontation where you are barred from taking the smart approach thanks to the aforementioned stealth mechanics discrepancy, so it just ends up feeling like a chore. The parts where you're able to sic the infected on the jerks that are hunting you near the end are kinda fun I guess, but that's about it for positives.

As usual, I will mention my "I don't regret playing it" disclaimer (at least for the main game), but while its massive mainstream appeal forced me to temper my expectations and kept the game from being as big a disappointment as, say, Outer Wilds, a big part of the experience nonetheless amounted to confirmation that no, the experience was far from worthy of every award in existence. TL:DR: Cool game, but Not It™. Not even close. Play it if you're interested, but get it secondhand.

Although maybe a little over-hyped, this game is still worth a playthrough (with any one of the 600 releases or ports of the game). It tells a very cinematic story that covers a lot of interesting and deep topics about survival and what it means to thrive in a world where good morals might get you killed.

Gameplay is pretty barebones, but it gets the job done at least and I never found that it really got in the way of the story being told.

4 / 5 Stars

Repetitive, boring gameplay mixed with a paper-thin, predictable plot. This was a slog to get through and one of the few games in recent memory I considered not finishing (let alone 100% completing). The dialog is natural and convincing, but the script is uninteresting. This may have been exciting and revolutionary in 2013 during the peak of the Walking Dead craze, but playing it now just feels tired. That being said, it scores major points for presentation (e.g., concept, art direction, level design, directing, acting); easily the best thing going for it.

Also, why do the infected just drop out of the plot by the end of the game? I expected them to build and evolve as a threat as the game progressed (in both story and gameplay), but anything new ended about midway through.

If it was a movie, it would be an Oscar nominee. It does not surprise that the first TRUE good videogame adaptation to the big screen (or small screen, as it’s a tv series) is based on it.

The story captivate you like no other ever before. You role play as Joel as no other RPG or open world game could ever do. You make the decisions that he would — as the finale shows — with no remorse and with deep love for a character you felt like it was just a mission, just a cargo. It transforms a GTA Mission throughout the country into a letter of parenthood and love.

Regarding the graphics, the best on PS3. And then on PS4. And now on PS5. Regarding the gameplay, also a masterpiece: it is never repetitive, as humans and infected requires a totally different approach from a gameplay (and planning) standpoint.

Before playing LOU, my favorite game was Resident Evil 4. From a gameplay and story point of view, this one is an evolution. This says it all.

The Last of Us is one of the best games I've ever played. The game's gameplay, story, and characters really impressed me.

The gameplay is challenging but rewarding. Players control Joel and Ellie as they try to survive by fighting zombies and other enemies, solving puzzles, and exploring the world. The gameplay is always exciting and immersive.

The story is emotionally intense and thought-provoking. The game presents a dark and hopeless depiction of a post-apocalyptic world. The story will make players think a lot.

The characters are well-written and very believable. Joel and Ellie are the game's central figures, and their relationship is one of the game's strongest aspects.

The atmosphere affects every aspect of the game. The game creates a gloomy and eerie world, which gives the game a realistic and immersive feel.

I ended up replaying this in preparation for the new HBO show. The show is very true to the game, without changing much (so far). The few changes I thought were good ones. One of the bigger changes is around spores. Truth be told, spores are very inconsistent in the game. They are never reliably around heavy concentrations of infected, nor always underground. It honestly makes sense to remove it from the show given how often it seems to contradict itself in the game.

That all said, it holds up. The writing, characters and quiet moments are some of the best in the medium. The combat is is pretty solid. Not the best third person shooter, but there are small tweaks that make sense within the game. Such as gun sway to add a little bit of RNG and tension into the game play. The crafting is simple but effective. You are often presented with options for defense or offense and rarely are given enough resources to craft both. For example, molotov's and med kits use the same resources. The pacing for weapon upgrades is solid as well with a clear escalation in the set pieces. There are a few difficult curve blips on the radar though, such as when you get separated from Ellie earlier in the game and need to jump start a generator to open a door. They spawn a bloater and several infected out of no where. It's a pretty tough sequence given how confusing the layout of the level is. Overall solid level design, with a few areas that are confusing due to homogeneous environmental assets. One issue with immersion would be how loud stealth kills often sound. I get they want to highlight the brutality and visceral nature of these kills, which is affected, but then if you walk a little too fast a clicker will maul your face off. Another bigger issue with the immersion would be in the AI companions. They are utterly useless and often times feel broken. They will charge and run into clickers and enemies without alerting them. It's for the best they don't alert because that would result in truly frustrating game play. It's a compromise they made given technology limitations. A shame they couldn't make the companions smarter. Finally, I felt they really missed out on more emergent game play. You aren't presented with any (or very few) opportunities to have infected fight human enemies. It happens in the DLC during almost every human encounter, which is awesome. Just such a missed opportunity to not include it during the main game.

The plot has it's fair share of contrivances early on, but they end up being worth it for the character moments that proceed. Some examples would be Marlene appearing looking for Robert right after he died (his body is in front of her) and asking where he is. Getting ambushed by the army the moment you enter the capital building. Doesn't make sense given they had already wiped out the fireflies there. Ellie riding past a bandit camp on a horse, not being attacked nor pursued, yet they were ready to ambush Joel and Tommy. The way the university is handled also feels a bit contrived, but there is payoff. The moment you figure out where the fireflies went you are immediately ambushed by raiders. They are at least connected to the next chapter in the game by being David's men. Could have been handled a bit differently, like they are already in the hospital/university scavenging and they go in to see if they can figure out what happened. To be fair, Naughty Dog has plenty of silly video game moments in the Uncharted series (sometimes far worse offenders than in Last of Us).

That all pointed out, there's no denying that the Winter chapter is a masterclass. Hunting, bumping into David and fending off infected, the blizzard are all amazing. Some other great aspects of the game are in the small details and quiet moments. Whether this is banter between two characters or reading non-linear notes that tell a story of other survivors. After the intensity of Winter, we take a breath and relax in Salt Lake City with the best moment being when a giraffe appears. Beautiful and serene.

The DLC isn't action packed, but it plays to Naughty Dog's strengths in characters in a good way. I personally really enjoy it and as mentioned earlier has some of the only emergent game play moments.

A great game with some flaws that are easy to overlook.

Lana: Never played this game before but I was blown away by the story. Loved the dynamics between Joel and Ellie and there were a couple plottwists that I did not see coming! The gameplay is not bad but stays mostly the same throughout the whole game and thus can get a little repetitive sometimes. However, that doesn't mean that it's an easy game by a long shot! Next to that it was worth it to power through the gameplay because the cutscenes and story are just so so good. I think everyone should definitely experience this game once if they're interested. 9.0/10

Rodrigo: This was my favorite story line based game ever until Red Dead Redemption 2 dropped. It's definitely its main focus and they excelled at doing it. Gameplay gets at times repetitive however the sheer difficulty of the game prevents it from getting into "boring" territory. Really well polished characters. Really engaging character development. Amazing graphics and scenery. Excellent for a 2013 game. 9.5/10

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This story is that good I've finished it twice now, and a pretty good multiplayer offering also that's different to your standard COD/BF games. Fantastic visuals with well detailed characters models and facial animations. The voice acting is great all round and the characters are well written. The overall tone is aided even more by a light on the ears but impactful soundtrack. Only real minor I had was the combat, stealth sequences were frustrating and your AI companion would regularly wander about or get in your way making them of little help to you.

The Last of Us is a very heartwrenching solidly paced story full of twist and turns, all backed well by a gameplay system that just hits the fundamentals it establishes enough to be entertaining. It's not a particularly perfect mix, nor does it flesh out as much as it could at any point, but it's certainly a very good time.

The gameplay itself deserves more talk here, because it's a rather interesting mesh of solid cover shooter design with enemies that flank and force you to keep moving with legitimately interesting resource management options provided you're on a difficulty high enough for that to matter. The stealth itself is actual trash, relying too much on one or two variables that sometimes the encounters just completely wrestle control out of you with, leaving the entire system hardly reliable and creating a tension that it feels like the game's railroad could immediately upend from you at any point. Which isn't necessarily a good thing, because there are encounters where I couldn't help but laugh that they just decided "oh yeah nice stealth erm it actually didn't matter here's a horde of enemies." The ammo system is curtailed to where enemies drop more ammo the less you have, so the illusion shatters quickly if you try to play it by stealth and as costless as possible.

But what's central here, what holds the entire thing together so well is the excellently paced story. It understands its central theme of looking for something to fight for, and paints that atop a perfectly established cast, each with excellent dialogue and humanizing interactions. The game gives every opportunity to let emotional attachment sweep in, to where I wasn't particularly engaged at the beginning I ended up heartbroken and feeling sympathetic to the characters by the end. Of course, there's some problems arising through the cracks here too, with certain illogical shit like the thing at Tommy's Dam that I won't go into, but it never 100% got in the way. By Winter in the story, I was willing to forgive the smallest infraction from long ago.

It really left me in the end super satisfied and looking forward to what will come next. I felt that enough to where I didn't have any motivation to try Left Behind, but I hear that part is pretty good too. Pretty good emotionally written game. (7.5/10)

I replayed The Last of Us to refresh my memory in preparation for the new sequel and to finally play the DLC.

I cried, again, in the prologue. Fell in love again with Joel and Ellie. Got lost again in the beautiful yet clicker infested hellscape. I don't usually replay games or rewatch movies because the stories lose suspense and power, but The Last of Us was an exception. That ending was still heavy and beautiful even with foreknowledge.

I think it's because The Last of Us is not a very bombastic story. Sure, there's the zombie apocalypse and the search for a cure, but those are not the focus. The main story is just about two people surviving in terrible situations, bonding and growing together. In a way, it's a very familiar and timeless story.

The combat mechanics are also both satisfying and terrifying. That first chapter introducing the infected always feels brutal, but TLOU does a great job of slowly empowering the player, opening options, and giving strategic choices. Eventually even the greatest Cordyceps threat becomes manageable. Every single new gun acquired, every upgrade to those guns, and every item discovered, are all game changing additions with lots of room for different playstyles.

If you're looking to play this game then you should definitely get the DLC. Left Behind adds more dimension to Ellie's character and it will be good to know about her backstory before playing TLOU 2. You'll also get to see Ellie's true badassery.

While this game is rightfully praised for it's story, I found the gameplay incredibly addicting and the level design was gorgeous (although fairly straightforward). This gets the highest recommendation.

The story left me feeling a bit hollow, as I obviously wanted to root for Joel and I felt for him greatly, but I feel his actions at the end are disingenuous at best and greedy to the point of human extinction at worst. I understand that he had grown to love Ellie, and to tell her the truth would have put an undue burden on her head, but it also conveniently saves him from having to treat her as someone with their own agency and allows her to continue to exist in his mind as a proxy daughter. I feel for the guy considering what he has been through, but the fact that he played out his grief therapy in such a way that he may have doomed the human race is like a gut punch. I have heard a lot of people say they would do exactly what Joel did, and that the Fireflies had plenty of shots before Ellie to extract an inoculation. I got the feeling that Ellie was quite special, based on the dialogue by the doctors and the head Firefly. They had to do what they had to do. Brutal.