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The Last of Us Story Review


VinWarrior

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One of the defining titles of this generation and of all time in the gaming world is without at doubt in anyone's mind The Last of Us, and whether you like Playstation or not, you can't deny how breathtaking these new steps in the gaming world are. So with that, let's get down to the review and determine if The Last of Us is truly worth every ounce of praise it gets or not. Sidenote: I won't be touching on the multiplayer, as I have no interest in playing it just yet, I may do a separate review, but this is strictly the story.

 

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Let's start off with story. The Last of Us follows the survivor of an infectious spread of Cordyceps fungus on humans, named Joel, as he is tasked with protecting a fourteen year old little girl named Ellie and bringing her to the Fireflies, a group of radical firebrands against the totalitarian military watching over the survivors in quarantine zones. This group believes that Ellie may be the key to saving the human race. The story that the Last of Us brings is without a shadow of doubt in my mind the best emotional journey ever delivered in any form of media, and it's environments and characters engulf you in the game. One moment that sticks out in my mind is an incredibly hopeful moment, no spoilers here. Ellie begins running and you follow her, and once you reach her, she's watching a giraffe graze on some grass hanging outside a hole in the building, you soon again follow her to a balcony as you sit and watch the world, and wildlife take back their homes. It's awe-inspiring and you can sit and watch for hours just gazing and enjoying the view, and it made me question whether the game's ending was right or not. That is the ace in the hole for the game, it's ending. When I first beat it, I was angered at Joel's decision, again I won't spoil anything, but after I started to question it more and more, and realized while I still agree with the Fireflies, Joel's decision is a very human and real one, and it's justified. I have never seen a game that made me question my humanity and my faith, like The Last of Us did, which is what makes this game so inspirational and bright, despite being grounded and gritty. 

 

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Now, gameplay wise. The weapon selection is good and the game has a good sense of making every shot feel real and count, however, switching from weapon to weapon is far too clunky and slow. This hindered me so much in the game, as it followed a much more advanced design of Gears of War's d-pad system, but it wasn't smooth at all. It wasn't even the regular swapping of weaponry that was poorly designed, it was switching from one type of weapon to another. What I mean is this: Each weapon has a few different types, like in the main weapon slot, you have a rifle, a bow, and a flamethrower, so on and so forth. When I needed my rifle cause I was out of ammo, and had the bow selected, I would press "X" to get it, and Joel would crouch in the middle of combat, as I had to scroll through ten weapons, select that one, and then exit out of the system to get it out in combat. I'm not even going to mention the AI's incredibly precise accuracy and the extreme damage of their shots. I would like to point out I played on normal difficulty, and my deaths added a good three hours to my playtime. Prepare to die, a lot. Even through all that it's still quite a bit of fun to feel proud of clearing a whole room of clickers.

 

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As for graphics, the game's are far beyond that of a console's power, and they exceed it so well it was awe-inspiring to me to observe. Level design is superb, from the snowy hillsides to broken down bus stops in the city, it all amazes you once you start. Character models look and act real, you can see grit and dirt on their faces in precise detail, and they emote the way they should, according to their personality. I never though the most beautiful game of 2013 would be a survival horror, and to be honest, it really isn't just a survival horror, it's a lot of themes and colours mixing to make a real and fresh world.

 

 

All in all, The Last of Us is the most though provoking game of 2013 without a doubt and in my mind, the most thought provoking game of all time. The game has so much content to offer and it angers me when people brush the game off because they're "tired of Zombie games" or "dislike Playstation". This game is not in the slightest a typical zombie slasher or just another PlayStation game, it is an experience, one that everyone should sit down and devote a good 36 hours to, which I got out of the game. My final verdict for the Last of Us is my second ever:

 

10/10

 

The Last of Us is well worth your $60 on story mode alone and the game is a rare creation that lands a perfect story mode with nearly no faults and an enveloping cast of characters. Expect more reviews in the future and leave your thoughts below!

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Wonderful review, Edward, as always. You clearly stated the pros and cons with the game, and it was expertly written. I couldn't have trusted anyone else to do an accurate representation of 'The Last of Us' action-adventure video game from the developer Naughty Dog

 

The only thing I disagree with is the weapon swapping. We're in 2014, over 35 years since video games were brought into being. Games should be getting more and more realistic by the engine, and by every quintecade. The main protagonist is a middle-aged man named Joel, who clearly isn't in his physical prime. He should be slower than the average 30 or 20 year old. If you look at others Treyarch's 'Call of Duty' realistic fiction war simulator games, the characters swap 5-11 kilogram weapons at a lightning speed, which clearly doesn't portray the limits of physical exhaustion.

 

Now, I completely understand that games go off the realism track to make games more fun and enjoyable, but I think that the subtle elements of age like moving slower really added realism for me. 

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Wonderful review, Edward, as always. You clearly stated the pros and cons with the game, and it was expertly written. I couldn't have trusted anyone else to do an accurate representation of 'The Last of Us' action-adventure video game from the developer Naughty Dog

 

The only thing I disagree with is the weapon swapping. We're in 2014, over 35 years since video games were brought into being. Games should be getting more and more realistic by the engine, and by every quintecade. The main protagonist is a middle-aged man named Joel, who clearly isn't in his physical prime. He should be slower than the average 30 or 20 year old. If you look at others Treyarch's 'Call of Duty' realistic fiction war simulator games, the characters swap 5-11 kilogram weapons at a lightning speed, which clearly doesn't portray the limits of physical exhaustion.

 

Now, I completely understand that games go off the realism track to make games more fun and enjoyable, but I think that the subtle elements of age like moving slower really added realism for me. 

 

Bu... but Tom Cruise is like 50 and he keeps doing action movies! 

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I finished the last of us, I liked it. But in my opinion it gets more praise than it should. The AI was terrible and weapon handling was clunky, the story however was amazing, I loved the story and after uncharted I was under the impression that naughty dog became a one trick pony.

 

The last of us changed that opinion.

 

The graphics are good, but the character models ingame can not keep up with the pre rendered characters in the cutscenes.

 

In my opinion I would have given it an 8.

 

Gameplay was fine, story was good, It had some graphical glitches and the AI was teriible, finished it in around 10 hours on the hardest setting without feeling challenged once.

 

Great review Eddy!

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