Game Review - The Last Of Us

-Aaron "Aeecee" Clark
Reviews Editor

An entirely fallen nation with nearly abandoned cites and partially lifeless towns that are the aftermath to an unbounded disaster. With hordes of zombies looking to infect others and groups of bandits scouring for helpless victims chaos has become standard. The Last Of Us is the latest exploit and major console exclusive straight from Naughty Dog and after everything presented hitherto to this point how does it all fair in the end?

Story:

America had been overrun with an unusual species of cordyceps associated fungus that has turned many into diseased atrocious killers. Whatever remains of society now finds itself living amongst other survivors in heavily policed quarantine zones and other independent settlements. With once quiet towns now infested with infected and formerly hectic cities completely controlled by bandits leaves many without courage.

The story centers Joel an enduring quarantine inhabitant and native supply smuggler who lost his daughter when the catastrophe commenced. Joel has now been burdened into hesitantly escorting this special teenager Ellie to an insurrectionary organization infamously recognized as Fireflies. Who find out that Ellie has widespread resistance to the cordyceps infection which could be the solution for an antidote.

The relationship encountered between the both of them develops much more deeply as the two become closer as time passes. Other characters established throughout are curious enough and many play key roles and are not just there simply for filler. The story overall is one of the more fascinating experiences in gaming and at moments becomes both shocking and disturbing.

Rating: 5/5

Gameplay:

The Last Of Us is much like Uncharted with that it combines together standard platforming elements and ordinary shooting gameplay. The adventure material is comparably identical to Uncharted as you ascent objects and traverse alongside overhangs in very analogous situations. While it is not acrobatically materialistic as Uncharted and stands fairly stale in certain aspects but still remains well done.

Although despite great platforming action is what formulates the majority of gameplay as the game offers trivial variety in conflicts. You will find yourself either fighting against bandits searching for potential casualties or variations of infected to consistently skirmish through. Conflicts are dealt with either by plowing through with everything you got or staying quiet and using different stealth elements.

Shooting your way through can become marginally hazardous despite good precision targeting and great covering abilities. Weapons are especially restricted with the total amount of ammo they hold and armed bandits barley drop ammo when slain. These specific confines make getting tangled in constant firefights at certain points both very often risky and even unfairly difficult.

The other alternative presented for dealing with enemies is through using stealth to either eliminate enemies or sneak straight through. Stealth is not only the best decision intended for dealing with enemies but in several situations is the only option. Although stealth stands great there are some issues such as there being very few stealth weapons and limited stealth moves.

Another major gameplay element is the beneficial capability to craft certain objects from different random material you discover all around. You will be able to upgrade your weapons within numerous different areas and construct special grenades that have assorted usages. Despite some minor flaws with certain gameplay elements The Last Of Us remains standing durable as an incredibly enriching experience.

Rating: 5/5

Design:

The Last Of Us when it derives towards areas around level design this game stands firm being overall simply amazing. Throughout your vast adventure you venture through all kinds of different locations from bandit seized cities to seemly hushed woods. These numerous locations also occur in various seasons as the story paces from deeply harsh winter to lovely eyeing spring.

Enemies are abundantly intelligent and will give you an initially virtuous challenge even when playing through the easiest difficulty setting. Fighting through humans groups from brigands to soldiers remains typically standard material they use covering cleverly and are cunning flankers. Battling against multiple infected is also pretty standard with some special types like infected with sonar and instant killing bites.

Weapons variety is trivial for the most part with your normal affair like the average handgun and the ordinary shotgun. There are also some special weapons offered too including very effective flamethrowers and stealth capable bows with mostly retrievable arrows. You can also create special throwable weapons too such as molotov bottles and blasting nail cans that are all useful.

Although the vast majority of this game will have you concisely escorting Ellie throughout she can mostly watch after herself. Not only does she support you in shootouts with her limited arsenal but she will also occasionally takedown enemies stealthy. She can also help you out whenever enemies have you pinned down and are throttling you which is incredibly helpful.

Although one particularly outlandish element of the design is that Ellie remains entirely invisible towards enemies when you use stealth. Which may seem somewhat awkward in definite settings but remains adequately helpful so you only have to worry about yourself. The Last Of Us generally is amazingly impressive in the design area equally as it stands in the gameplay area.

Rating: 5/5

Presentation:

The Last Of Us is not only one of the best looking games on the PS3 but is also one of the best looking games this console generation thus far with some of the most realistic character models and level detail you may have ever seen in an adventure game like this. Voice acting is also really great with people like Tory Baker and Ashley Johnson behind the microphone and is also given some well written dialog to work with as well to help enhance the story. The game also spots both an incredible frame rate and draw distance although the load times between levels are sometime too long for their own good and overall the games presents itself extremely well.

Rating: 5/5

Final Verdict:

The Last Of Us is one of most impressive things to come out of Naughty Dog this generation even with the success of Uncharted hanging on their shoulders. Although not flawless then again what game is still stands as an action adventure experience you will not want to miss. And is most likely the last big first party bust to hit the PS3 and should be played by anyone with the system.

Final Rating: 5/5


Game Review By: Aeecee