The Last of Us

Believe it or not I actually started writing this review the week before the release of the game, a mix of my own anticipation and a need if you will to put a forward to the review in a vain attempt at making a more professional review compared to the more rambling and idiotically funny attempts in the past in say, my Homefuck, I mean Homework… Damn it, Homefront review or my Resident Evil Survivor review and both of those games can still proudly suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, by the way. But no, The Last of Us was a game I was genuinely excited for and yes every time Naughty Dog gave us a sneak peek my pants got all kinds of messy.

But why? Why did I, a sad, lonely, depressed neck bearded hyena get excited about anything that didn’t involve having breasts shoved in my face while slipping a bill into a g-string? Well first off, next to Capcom who have been proving their ability to disappoint me with titles like Operation Raccoon City (I am aware it was actually Slant Six’s diarrhea I played but it’s still a stain on my favorite gaming franchise) and the mediocre Resident Evil Six (didn’t hate it but still felt devolved compared to its peers) Naughty Dog has actually yet to disappoint me (Capcom so far has avoided me showing up and axing one of their developers a question by their release of Resident Evil: Revelations which was actually pretty much what I wanted even if it wasn’t pretty enough and didn’t star Claire Redfield but they still have time to correct that with the next game). The first Naughty Dog game I ever played was Crash Bandicoot 2 on my original PlayStation and I was terrible at it but was too young and stupid to understand that and still greatly enjoyed the game. And then came the Uncharted series, the first Naughty Dog games I picked up since Crash Bandicoot Warped and I really played them more by coincidence then an actual desire.

Not sounding promising so far? Well that was what I thought; I actually got Uncharted 2 as a gift from my sister and wasn’t really looking forward to trying it out, I had other games for my PS3 that I played first and only popped Uncharted in when I’d exhausted every other game I had. What made me shy away from Uncharted? Pretty much anything but shooting stuff that I knew was in the game. As a veteran of the early Tomb Raider games on the PlayStation and a few of the series original dying breathes on the PS2 before its recent resuscitation I’d learned that I was terrible at those games and they should be avoided at all costs as the game play and me never got along. Until I played Among Thieves and found that when done well even someone like me who had some legitimate total freak outs because of the well done visuals combined with my crippling fears of heights. But point is, I played the second Uncharted game to completion and found myself eventually playing the rest of series until they were stolen for heroine money, I’d managed to complete them first of course but that doesn’t make my situation any less shitty.

Personal problems aside I was genuinely impressed with the Uncharted games because they handled characters well and each game felt like a refinement and a legitimist improvement over the previous installments in every way, as opposed to say, Call of Duty where I’m mostly playing the game to see how much more they can fuck it up while lovingly stroking my copy of Call of Duty 2 while wondering where it all went wrong (someday, I will find that asshole who modeled the ‘AK-47’ in BLOPs and beat him to death, for the good of the species). So with The Last of Us banking on the characters of Joel and Ellie with some standard support characters I can actually trust that there will be an intelligent handling of characters and mature character development and I fully hope to be drawn in and actually care for their well being, unlike Ashley Graham or Sheva Alomar who, if given the option I would gladly barter to some of the less kosher members of the various weird fandoms I belong to for reasonably well drawn pictures of pregnant hyena-women because I’m really weird myself. This is of course all being written before my dirty little paws have actually touched the game in either a loving or abusive manner; only time will tell which will happen.

But, the stars are aligning and it’s looking like we’re actually starting to get good games again. I was impressed with Mists of Pandaria and that merely turned out to be the appetizer for some truly great games so far this year (and in the closing months of the last) that I have been enjoying in a multitude of categories; including the new Tomb Raider reboot, (which has cemented itself as the standard by which I will judge any new release this year by) Metro Last Light, Wargame: AirLand Battle and a few that I’ve gotten my paws on for some short prerelease tests such as Company of Heroes 2. The question is; will The Last of Us stand up to these titles?

It’s aiming high, that much is evident from the get go, it’s banking on being one of the last major titles for the PlayStation 3 and is potentially trying to establish a new exclusive series for the PlayStation 4 which if the first game is good will only widen the already considerable margins that the PlayStation 4 is beating the Xbox One by (although at this point saying a gaming system is better than the Xbox One could mean that one is referring to a Sega Genesis). However the developers are gambling on a vast multitude of very complex game design mechanics on a platform that is not as well suited for the as a PC is and even at that many of these mechanics are hard to pull off regardless of platform. They’re also aiming at a somewhat overused genre but admittedly are using some pretty unique and fresh ammunition to fling at it. This series’ sink or swim rests entirely on the people making it, who thankfully have proven themselves, to me at least to be some of the most competent people in the industry today and probably the team most likely to pull something like this project off in a way that would make angels cry tears of pure animal joy.

While this game has been receiving unworldly praise from gaming publications across the world prelease; I am just a lowly hyena sitting in a two bedroom apartment in Glendale Arizona waiting to start my new job at Buffalo Wild Wings so my broke ass doesn’t get to play the games prelease but as a consumer whore I am entitled not only to my own opinion but to share it with anyone foolish enough to read my words. So, will The Last of Us prove itself to be gaming’s Citizen Kane as several other reviewers have stated proudly? Personally I am always leery of games with this much hype as they’re the ones that fall the hardest on their faces when they fail to meet their lofty goals. However this is one game that I hope will not disappoint me but I; despite all the evidence to the contrary am bracing myself for the worst but hoping for the best from this game.

Well, I finally got to start playing the game and well. It’s good, excellent even. It’s no Citizen Kane but as far as narrative goes it’s the closest I’ve ever seen and the only competition it has in that department is likely the upcoming Beyond: Two Souls which for a game with a story is the one I expect to blow more people away but it does have Willem Dafoe so it is kind of cheating, I guess.

The game play is good and the controls responsive and fluid; as I expect of Naughty Dog after the Uncharted series. Shooting works well and is atmospherically hectic at close range which I liked even if it killed me many times but I felt like the game was punishing me for fucking up, which to be honest it should. There were a few cheap shots the game pulled, such as enemies appearing out of nowhere in an area I’d already completely cleared, got lost in and then finally found the generator I needed to start; only to be accosted by infected who only could’ve appeared from the walls or Narnia. While the game is appropriately sparse about giving away ammunition it feels too artificial; many times I would stealth kill an enemy carrying a pistol (or whatever gun, really) and get no ammunition and then kill a guy with a pipe by beating him in a fist fight only for him to drop a box of shotgun shells. A game play mechanic I wanted was the ability to search the bodies for ammunition and supplies but this was absent as well as a way to command Ellie to do anything; it would’ve been nice to try to coordinate stealth kills with her. Hint; I want those last two features if there’s a sequel, Naughty Dog.

The stealth elements in the game work okay but they feel somewhat unrewarded as stealth killed enemies don’t drop anymore items than those killed in gunfights which is disappointing as while I’m not asking to swim in ammunition it would be nice if when I sneak up on the guy with the shotgun I get a shell or two. As for how one stealths around Joel (and Ellie in the parts where one plays as her) has an enhanced hearing mode which mutes the actual sound somewhat and shows the outlines of any enemy within range, the logic being your character is listening very intently for them. This works well and is honestly a lot more sensible than any other system and explanation for this same mechanic than I’ve seen in any other game; it’s especially useful against the Clicker infected. As for how stealth works, it works okay but less so against human opponents in game. Overall it works well and does not hold the player’s hand, you actually have to actively pay attention to your entire surroundings, failure to do so will get you killed.

As for the human enemies there is not much to say, they look believable for how long they have been surviving in the post pandemic world and many resort to melee weapons as opposed to firearms, creating the impression of just how rare ammunition has become in the world of The Last of Us. A few problems I’ve noticed is that sometimes these guys can be weirdly durable, with several taking multiple close range shotgun blasts to the chest without dying, even on the easiest difficulty setting. And as mentioned, killing armed enemies does not net any extra reward which was mildly confusing. Another feature I would’ve liked would be the option to loot the corpse of a fallen enemy for extra ammunition and supplies, as opposed to items just being dropped when they are killed. This would help add to the immersion of the game and makes sense to include in a game of this type.

Now what about the infected enemies? Probably the most refreshing new enemies I’ve seen in a game in a long time. It helps that the idea of a fungus invading the human brain and taking over motor functions is an interesting take on ‘zombie’ type enemies and that all the different stages of the fungus’ life cycle is clearly defined and unbelievably well designed in game. They also often require new tactics to deal with effectively, especially compared to the human enemies. And to be honest these are the first infected type enemies I actually feel threatened by. As a gamer I tend to think of infected people as little more than easily mowed down waves of stupid thanks to games like Left 4 Dead as then enemies in that game really aren’t that scary on a one-on-one basis even counting the special infected but the infected in The Last of Us are actually quite terrifying to face. Most of my deaths to them came down to one of two things; me being an idiot and alerting them to my presence at an inopportune time or lack of awareness during some of the few forced combat parts of the game. These guys can be downright brutal to face with the combat against them usually turning from a well planned Sam Fisher style ninja attack to a messy brawl of death in poorly lit areas with pipes, panicked gunfire and a fourteen year old flying around in pure hectic insanity. I loved it. These enemies are scary; fighting them is always my last choice, if I can avoid contact, than I do.

Now while all these aforementioned elements certainly do set The Last of Us up to be a great game there is something that propels this game past great and into the realm of excellence; Joel and Ellie. While the game’s main narrative is an excellent as well, we’ll just set that aside and talk about our main stars. Joel is a rough and tough man, he’s at least in his late forties and has seen it all in the twenty years of survival he’s done since the infection came and ruined everything he knew and loved, ripping that which was most dear to him away and leaving him emotionally dead inside. And this for once, is not overplayed, Joel is attached just enough to the world around him that the deadness that has settled into his soul like a cancer has not rendered him unable to survive or emote as would normally be the case when a writer tries to create a character like Joel. Joel can form relationships but he likes to keep them as distant as possible to enable him to leave that person if he needs to in order to survive; so he’s basically become the average Finnish male but with a Texan accent. While piloting Joel the player will be tasked with accomplishing the mission of Joel’s survival using any means at their disposal; at times this can and will get quite brutal and Joel is shown to be no stranger to brutality against his fellow man.

Through a series of events he meets up and is tasked with escorting a teenager named Ellie, who is disturbingly reminiscent (to Joel at least) of Joel’s late daughter. As for Ellie’s design I feel it necessary to point out that she is the first teenager I’ve ever seen in a videogame that not only looks but acts like a real teenager and not a small adult acting out a stereotype.

Ellie tries to be funny to lighten the mood; she has very realistic (basically how I remember myself and other teens acting when I was still that young and stupid) and unpredictable mood swings but still reacts in an intelligent manner to the events going on around her. Even her AI in game play is not completely useless with her saving my ass several times in non scripted events while an enemy had me in a chokehold. You get to play as her for a while and she does actually handle a bit differently than Joel, as she is smaller and much weaker than he is so she is much less durable and unable to surprise and overpower enemies for stealth kills. Instead she performs the most brutal (and realistic) takedown I have seen since Manhunt; due to her small size she cannot overpower a full grown male so what she does is leap onto their back and just start stabbing the hell out of them with her knife, repeatedly jabbing them in the chest and neck until they bleed to death. This animation sequence should’ve been shown at an E3 reveal because I feel it says everything that needs to be said about the world Naughty Dog created for this game. Simply put, this was impressive, visually disturbing but necessary in some cases for the player to progress. Ellie also performs some very savage melee kills with that knife, which has some enemies actually look up at her as they bleed out from having their guts mangled.

These two characters are very real, believable and incredibly likable; they both grow on you as you play through their story and see world they live in, the battles they fight to survive and in some cases the horrible choices they are faced with. They also start off not liking each other a whole lot. Joel is initially tasked with escorting Ellie as part of a deal to get back some guns that one of his contacts sold to pay off a debt he owed to a resistance group called the Fireflies who are trying to fight against the martial law that grips most Quarantine Zones and trying to find a cure for the infection; this moron is tortured by Joel and his companion, Tess, the closest thing Joel has to a friend and after they tire of his shit they blow his brains out. They are then approached by Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies, and agrees to return their guns and then some in exchange for the two smuggling some cargo out of the City for her; the cargo is Ellie. This is how our two main characters meet and Joel intends and makes it very clear that he views Ellie as nothing more than cargo.

Well, shit gets complicated with the job very quickly and instead of just having to deliver Ellie across town Joel ends up needing to take her out of state, at the insistence of Tess who is first infected and then killed by some soldiers who are out hunting the rebelling Fireflies and believe that Joel is part of them, due to him being found around a bunch of dead firefly members. Joel and Ellie escape from the soldiers and in a mix of devotion to his dead friend who insisted he do it and probably somewhat of a lack of choice, what with the local soldiers trying to kill him Joel and Ellie begin to trek all across the ruined landscape of America and clearly begin to bond despite Joel’s reluctance. Eventually the two become an inseparable duo and this evolution of their relationship is very clearly shown and evenly paced, their trust is built up over several months on a very solid foundation of each character’s actions towards one another, especially as Ellie proves herself to Joel to be much more than cargo, she proves herself to be a competent, trustworthy and loyal compatriot to Joel; even if they still have some rocky spots but that just makes it more believable. But by the end of the game they will both risk life and limp for one another; and you’d feel bad for anyone or anything that tries to get in between them or their goal.

I won’t delve into more detail about Joel and Ellie, simply because I want to avoid spoilers, point is, they’re two of the meatiest and well written characters I have seen in a long time and that’s including books and film; in fact the Disney love story might want to sneak a few peeks from Naughty Dog’s homework on how to properly show a developing relationship (although, Tangled was a lot better than most Disney movies and I don’t have this complaint about it, but now I’m rambling). Both characters actually develop, mature, learn and even influence one another significantly throughout the story and by the end you can clearly see the differences in both characters; Joel gets a little warmer and more compassionate, as if he found what was missing in his life through Ellie and Ellie matures and learns how to survive in the harsh world around her through Joel but she still never stops being the girl that Joel met in Boston at the start of the story. However, although Joel and Ellie are well fleshed out many of their supporting characters are not. Tess’s death, for example, didn’t affect me too much because she was kind of flat and I felt like I barely got to know her. The only supporting character I felt was memorable was Bill and that was just because of how bananas paranoid he is. And the rest are kind of flat but a lot of that goes into the short times you are exposed to them, however I didn’t hate any of them except the creepy cannibal rapist but I wasn’t supposed to like him but I did like Ellie macheting him a question. See, I can make up verbs too, take that Ebonics.

The environment design team needs to be praised for the excellent work they did in the Last of Us. The cities look prefect and the sound design is unbelievable, most of the game lacks a backing score of music which helps suck you in. and suck you in this game does, my first sit down of it lasted thirteen straight hours and I didn’t even mind. Nature has taken over and it’s clearly shown in the level design and dragged me in much the same way the Metro and Stalker games do. I didn’t even notice any major bugs while playing so whoever went in with the spray did one hell of a job as those usually assault me like the Rangers on Pointe Du Hoc whenever I play a game.

As for the story, it’s very good on its own, even if the big ‘secret’ about Ellie being painfully obvious but I still won’t spoil it. As mentioned earlier the span of the story covers almost one full year of these characters adventuring; total game play time is around 15-16 hours, which isn’t bad and the game play does not feel padded at all. If anything it feels like you are only playing the major plot points of Joel and Ellie’s adventure, as if this was the minimum one needed to tell this story and that’s pretty impressive and I look forward to seeing the single player DLC content Naughty Dog plans to release later this year. The story, dialogue and characters are all very well written even if some of the side characters lack the meat of the main cast, they’re still well done.

Nitpicks just to complain; several destroyed Bradley APCs you pass in game are not modeled with the 25mm Bushmaster chaingun but instead some weird cannon that appears to be a 105mm demolition gun; which while that would make it better against massed, light infantry (or infected or not civilians) it is kind of weird to see. The hunting rifle is kind of confusing as at its maximum upgraded state it holds only three rounds in the magazine and appears to be either a Remington 700 or a Winchester 70 (or a combination of the two) but the three rounds means it is a safari magnum caliber weapon but considering the raw power the rifle possesses fully upgraded I could believe it being a .375 H&H which is kind of weird. And that’s it, really, I can’t think of anything else to complain about which is a weird state for me to be in about a game. I’m scared, confused and alone, please, hold me.

As usual I treated the multiplayer like a ginger and ignored it completely, actually now that I think about it, I don’t even realize most games have multiplayer. You could literally tell me just about any game I own has MP and I would believe you but still not give a fuck.

Score for the number fetish crowd: a very deserving 9/10. The game comes about as close to prefect as you can get, it would be a full 10/10 with just a few very minor tweaks so I look forward to further installments in this series. As for how it stacks up against the other titles I’ve played in the twilight days of the PS3 generation; it’s probably the best PlayStation exclusive and while it did not blow me away as much as Tomb Raider (it’s more like a well delivered straight in a boxing match while Tomb Raider was more like a surprise haymaker to the temple while sitting on a park bench trying to understand baseball) did it is still an excellent game and will be looked back on as a classic, at least by me. And if you have a PlayStation 3, you have no reason not to have it and if it wasn’t so close to the end of the console’s life cycle I’d recommend getting a PS3 just to play this game.

Fun fact: I wrote most of this review listening to the German versions of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic songs and Megaherz’s Hurra- Wir Leben Noch on repeat because I’m not fucked up at all.

Put the sticks away, I’ll review a bad game next time.

One word summary: “Dumpsters”