The Last of Us was, simply put, a tour de force of everything that makes a game amazing. The astounding visual aesthetic, beautiful score, sublime controls and powerfully emotional story all combine for an experience that is not soon to be forgotten.
The story of The Last of Us revolves around Joel, Ellie and their trek through the United States in an attempt to locate the Fireflies, a separatist group of the United States government (or what’s left of it) with hopes of helping to find a cure for the dreaded infection that is afflicting mankind. In this post-apocalyptic story the human race is being decimated by a parasitic fungi of the cordycep family, spread through airborne spores. Once infected, the person becomes crazed and has traits similar to a “zombie”, feeding on the uninfected. They run, scratch, claw and generally just try to kill you. Similar to zombies, a scratch or bite from the infected will, in turn, infect you. Infected are not the only thing you need to worry about through your travels in The Last of Us. You will also encounter small pockets of survivors through your travels. These people are not to be taken lightly as most of the time they are also fighting for their survival and will stop at nothing to ensure it. The Last of Us does a masterful job of conveying a feeling of desperation to the player when dealing with these two very different enemies. The survivors call out for help, use strategies such as flanking and generally are present in numbers. Hardly anyone travels alone is this world. Their are different types of infected you come across which alters the way you go about handling each scenario. The infected usually are in packs as well and tend to swarm on you if any loud noises are heard which almost forces you to play somewhat stealthily.
These scenarios can be approached in three different ways: the run and gun format, which is basically a death sentence, the stealth kill format which doesn’t work on all enemies or lastly, just avoiding combat all together which is easier said than done. The decision is yours, but the one constant, no matter which way you decide to deal with them, is sure to be nerve racking. This feeling is supplemented by the lack of resources you have available to you. Especially, in the harder difficulty setting, resources are sparse and force you to take things usually taken for granted, such as ammo, into constant consideration. Their is a crafting system that fits the game very well which basically lets you make items from several pieces put together such as rags, alcohol, bindings, etc. It’s these items that are in short supply. To add to that, a few of the items use the same resources, forcing you to decide whether you want to play offensively or defensively. A very nice system overall that compliments the game. You can also upgrade your weapons with “parts” which are just small cogs you find in the environment. To upgrade your weaponry you must first find a work bench. Higher level upgrades require more “tools”. There are a total of five tools you can acquire to have access to the higher level upgrades. This system also compliments the game well, letting you focus on making a specific weapon you may like more powerful. You can not upgrade everything in one run through which forces you to spend it where you want it most. A new game plus mode is available once you complete the game which is a very welcome feature that not enough games have. Aside from the weapons you also have another tool at your disposal for dealing with everything which is called the “listening mode”. This basically works like sonar giving the player a visual representation of sound on screen from enemies and friendlies alike. Yes, it may sound like a cop out, but it is very useful. You can turn this off in the options if you please. Lastly, you can upgrade what’s best described as abilities. By finding bottles of pills you can upgrade such things as health, distance of listening, crafting speed and others useful abilities. All these systems worked wonderfully together albeit in real time which makes any of these actions nearly impossible to accomplish in the middle of encounters with enemies.
Part of what makes The Last of Us such an immersing experience is the sheer quality of the visuals. We are on the eve of next generation consoles, but if you didn’t know better you would think this game is running on them already. The environments are so dense with detail, they can tell stories on their own. From dilapidated buildings in abandoned cities to beautifully rendered woods teeming with life, everything looks and and sounds authentic. The settings all feel very organic with so many little details that add significantly to the total experience, it’s just amazing. The other part that adds the the experience is the motion and facial captured characters. The characters speak and emote in such a way, they demand an emotional commitment from you and an emotional commitment you will give them. Along my journey I met and interacted with several characters, each with with own unique personalities and agendas. The story is definitely one of the best stories to ever come from a video game with believable characters and motivations unlike anything I have seen before. Character development between Joel and Ellie is also a thing to behold. It never felt contrived or rushed, instead feeling like a well written book. I was only able to play in two to three hour sessions because the story as well as the gameplay was so emotionally and mentally draining. Although very somber, the story has great pacing to it, never feeling like it dragged with filler.
Not to be forgotten is multiplayer which is surprisingly fun. Their are only two modes: Survivors and Supply Raid. Survivors is the typical team deathmatch of four versus four. Everyone gets one life , but it’s best out of seven matches. Supply raid is similar, but instead of one life each team get a shared finite pool of lives. The reason this isn’t your typical multiplayer is that all the gameplay mechanics from the single player transfer over to the online experience. Ammo is at a premium and items can be produced finding resources around the map. This adds to the overall tension of the battles as gunshots rang out seldomly with fights sometimes just coming down to melee combat. This is an interesting and very fun take on the “normal shoot them up” multiplayer that runs rampant in most games, usually playing like something that was tacked on last minute. This is not the case here as battles tend to be a lot more methodical with teamwork being of the utmost importance. A fun little meta game is also included in the multiplayer which puts you in charge of a group of survivors that increases with your intake of supplies. Although fun, at times it feels a bit unbalanced as does multiplayer matchmaking. Either way the multiplayer is not something that should be overlooked.
Xsus Marks the Spot 