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Developed by the studio Naughty Dog, creator of the Uncharted series, comes The Last of Us or more specifically, The Last of Us: Remastered which is the essentially a remake of the 2013 Playstation 3 hit to the Playstation 4. First of all, this review will not solely focus on the improvement made from its predecessor, but see it as a whole game in order to let those who never played the PS3 version know what the game is about. With that out of the way, let's review.
The Last of Us is a story-driven game viewed from a third person perspective. It is set in a post apocalyptic world 20 years after an outbreak of a virus that turns people into creepy brain-tumoured zombie-like monster plunge mankind to near extinction. Simply put, the living condition at the time is bad enough that the factions in the game fits all the stereotypical role at said settings. Government that the people hate, Rebels that the government hate, and the bandits that everyone hate. Add a protagonist and a cause for he or she to do and you got Hollywood material right there. Fortunately, what the game focuses on is not the big story that drives the world, but the emotional ties that was born from the two unlikely protagonists in the game.
The game puts us on the role of Joel, a hardened man with a dark past involving his teenage daughter Sarah and his companion, Ellie who is unsurprisingly, a teenage girl with a surprisingly curse-happy vocabulary. Together, they travelled (sometimes with others) in a quest to find a cure for the infection that have befall the world. In all seriousness, it is put better in the game but that is the story in the nutshell. Along the way, we will witness the bond the was formed between the two and see how they react to the world that they live in. This, my reader, is where The Last of Us shines the most. Ellie and Joel, no matter how cliche'd and obvious the pair is on paper, the game depicts this in the most dynamic fashion that we could not help but stare in awe in the camaraderie that they showed us. In one point of the game, Ellie barely able to climb a ladder before it broke. This however, causes Joel to be left alone to fend for himself down below. Ignoring the safety up above, Ellie jumped downed and shrugged it off by saying "together till the end." before accompanying Joel to find another way to escape the place. To top it off, the game did not even make a deal out of it, it is just seamlessly added into the story, never forcing players to learn that, 'hey, Ellie cared for Joel now, like so bad that she even risked her life for him'. The game also includes a lot of minor conversation in which Ellie, who has never went out of the secured government protected city, observe a lot of new stuffs like a music store with old songs and even contemplating the poster of a movie around the place.
Next, the gameplay of The Last of Us. The game includes a mix of stealth, gunfights, crafting and simple puzzle solving in its repertoire to keep it from being a CGI movie. Stealth is used when dealing with both the infected and the human enemy which you will find in the game. While the human are self-explanatory, the infected played a bit differently as it focus more on sound rather than sight, though that still does not mean you could stand beside one without care. Although shooting is a valid strategy in the game, it is ill advised as ammo in the game are scarce enough that you would want to keep as much as you can unless is really needed. As a matter of fact, any direct confrontation is a rather poor outcome in the game as even the stealthiest takedown a person could do have the chance to expose oneself for all to shoot. That said, the shooting in the game is satisfying enough that even when it does nothing new, it does not take the fun out of the game as a whole. It even provides you with a good selection of weapons, though unless you want to beat the enemy by punching them in the face, you better learn how to use all of them. Crafting involves using stuffs you found in the world to create bombs, molotovs, health kits etcetera. It is important to carefully manage when and what you want to craft as materials are limited and items are important to win. The puzzle section provides a mean to relax after having a big shootout with the humans or tension inducing sneak moment with the infected. It is easy enough that the only reason you cannot finish it is because you don't see around the map. The game even use character interaction to give you hints of the puzzle(don't worry, it's subtle enough that it is not immersion breaking). It also stands as separating plot points so the story will not advance so fast and felt like having a jump every so often. There's also a few button prompt event that keeps the player engaged in the cutscene. All in all, the gameplay provides a balanced feeling that allows player to not felt bored with the game and just want to see the story or to be too exciting that people could not care less about the story and just wanna do stuffs in the game.
Now, the graphic, sound and execution of the game. Being a ps3 remake, it could be said that it is unfair to compare it to Ps4 games like Infamous Second son(I will use this as example as it serve as a fine standard for a Ps4 game). Although it is true that The Last of Us is certainly not as vibrantly colored as said game, it certainly felt like a class above the Ps3 standard. The original game is considered one of the most beautiful game on the Ps3 and on the Ps4, it manages to not be overwhelmed by the standard. I would refrain myself from using advance graphical terms as i myself have limited knowledge in it. However, I will judge it using my standard of graphical and execution rating. First of all, animation. It is marvelously extensive and detailed. In the game, there's a lot of time that Joel would boost Ellie up to reach something and almost none of the animation would be the same due to the plot requiring something else. Movement felt fluid (Although not as in Second Son's fluid movement) with the exception of horse control which is a bit clunky. Shooting angle is fine. Though for those who wants to aim from the left shoulder, be prepared for L2 then R1 for a lot of time. A pity that there's a lot of time that the view would be useful but is just too bothersome to be used. Facial Expression is very well done. This is a big point to touch as i love to compare The Last of Us' Ellie's expression to Second Son's expression mainly Delsin Rowe's. If Delsin's manage to be give a very realistic and believable feeling, Ellie's would be a very expressive and emotional feeling. Infamous Second Son puts me in a lot of situation where i would just clap my hand on how awesome looks like. For The Last of Us, it makes me believe the event I am seeing. Moving on, the modeling does have a bit of clipping but it is understandable as it is consisted of many layers. Rather, it is impressive that clipping is not much of an issue considering how much animation the game have. The sound in the game is good, the composition fits the game and manage to capture the feeling. The ambiance felt right and the gunshot felt solid. Voice acting is superb. Shout out to Ashley Johnson for her very impressive performance for doing Ellie.
Replayibility is a o-kay for the game. Although there are collectibles that is quite interesting to get in the game as it tells story of what happen in the game, it does not give a reason too replay the game just to find it. It does not instill the feeling of needing to find those collectible missed in the first playthrough. Multiplayer is interesting and although it require teamwork and strategy to win the game. It is just mostly a shooting deathmatch game. Not that it is bad, but it would help to have more variety. It does however, manage to not allow a player to go on a spree. The game do require patience as to not make careless mistake like triggering a bomb or get surrounded by the enemy. Balancing ammo and stealth also plays an important part in multiplayer and the perk-like system does give a minor variety and advantage that could turn the tide of the battle. The progressiveness of the multiplayer is well designed and does make it a point so that the player would play seriously in each match and not just throw it after messing around. It is also worth mentioning that the multiplayer games are 4 on 4 so each member counts. It is also hard for me to find a multiplayer game which I am not sure where the trouble lies in, the game or the fact that not many people bought the game yet.
So, with the seamlessly balanced gameplay and storyline, how does this 2013 remake fare among the next gen games?
Pros:
+Engaging story with emotional value to the characters
+Exciting encounter with great focus on stealth and management
+No loading screen in campaign
+Bows are not overpowered
+Marvelous voice acting is marvelous
Cons:
-Minor clipping issue
-Multiplayer, Y U NO find me a game?
