Genre: Survival Horror; Sub-genre: Stealth
ESRB: M (explicit violence and gore, profanity, intensely depressing situations)
Estimated hours of gameplay (thorough play/quick play): 22/12
Developer: Naughty Dog
I gotta say, it is a huge relief when I definitively know what to rate a game. And imagine how much better it feels when it's not only a three star game, but a game I genuinely enjoy! Since my reviews are based on how much I recommend a game to the general public rather than just my own personal pleasure, sometimes a three star game can still bore me. Not this time. Although I do have some critiques and warnings for those interested, let me get into why Naughty Dog has once again made me proud to possess an over-priced Blu-Ray player.
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| Sony's Blu-Ray player, the "Playstation 3," can also play video games. Startling! |
Now, for those who don't know about Naughty Dog, the thing you need to know is that they invest a lot of their expertise into storytelling. So if you want a game like Gears of War where you just fire endless machine gun bullets at baddies and skip all the cutscenes, this game will not click with you. The best way to enjoy it is going to be from sitting quietly and paying attention; immerse yourself. Obviously, since it's a survival horror game, the effect will be increased if it's dark and you're alone. That being said, it is a gritty survival horror game. If you have a weak stomach (especially if you're also a parent) then this whole ordeal might be way too stressful for you. But if you're like me- desensitized and cynical- or if you're starved for a good story from a video game then The Last of Us will slap you right in the face with some of its twists and turns. My one complaint on this element is that the main character, Joel, has a background that's a little too vague. There's definitely a lot of personality and relatable emotions to him, I just don't get what his stake is in his quarantine zone or what he has to lose from his post-apocalypse life.
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| Zombies are a little too PG-13 these days. Just warning you: The Last of Us is NOT. |
I'm actually some kind of dumbfounded with the gameplay here. I never computed "survival horror" and "stealth" to be two things that would go together so well. Sure, I remember thinking, "Isaac has no sense of sneaking around!" when playing Dead Space. And BioShock offers builds that can make the player somewhat stealthy. But here it's full blown stealth. Joel can't move bodies and lacks the finesse of the awesome technology/shenanigans available to people like Solid Snake, Sam Fisher, and Agent 47, but it is still a vital tool to his successful navigation of the world. And, when fused with the setting, enemy design, and scene-by-scene story, it makes it all the more intense, real, and investing. All that being said, another warning I have would be that it IS a survival horror game. So things are slow and clunky by design. If you want to be able to perform perfect air combos or headshot ten dudes in a row this game might frustrate you. BUT I myself do not like survival horror games. At all. A little anecdote: I bought Dead Space when it was brand new at full price before realizing how stupid I was to buy it. I only got about two levels in before I gave it up, and I think that game is likely worthy of a three star rating! So think about that: this game is good enough to transcend its genre "handicap."
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| Navigating menus in real time (no pausing) is terrifying! |
And, by complete surprise to me, there is a multiplayer feature in this game! Keep in mind the campaign alone is well worth the price of admission for this game. So this is just an extra bonus. I thought it would be some kind of PvE horde mode, but it's actually a head-to-head mode. That sounds idiotic, but it actually is pretty damn good. It scores most of its points with me for being so unique and fairly balanced. But I can't help but wonder, "Where are the zombies?" Seriously. The infected have NO direct interaction with the gameplay. Maybe they'll introduce a PvE horde mode later on for that. But basically the only time you even hear about them is during the day-by-day announcements the game makes. Basically, instead of having experience points (like Call of Duty) you have survivors. Keeping them alive and happy by competing well will earn you more supplies and unlock more stuff. It can hook up to your Facebook account if you let it, but as far as I can tell this only provides the player with pictures of his or her friends when the game makes daily announcements about the survivors; implying that you and your friends comprise their numbers. While this concept of survival replacing experience is unique, it leads to my biggest complaint: this multiplayer is TOO STRESSFUL. If you have some bad games or screw up on an event, you can suffer a large hit to your progression. That wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't count leaving games early (or freaking disconnects!) as a big fat ZERO for the day. I was doing pretty well until I left a game and it said I was ~40 supplies short for the day and it made half my people "hungry" and the other half "sick" when they were all previously "healthy." My other two complaints are that it is impossible to leave a game once a countdown has started and that the second game type ("Survivors", the primary is called "Supply Raid") is incredibly awful. I'm sure there are people out there who enjoy the concept, but it's identical to the first game type only with more limiting spawns. Adding a feature that can prevent me from playing is not a feature!
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| Showing off gets you bonus supplies... somehow. |
Conclusion:
The biggest downside is that this game is a PS3 exclusive. But the upside to that is that makes my judgement easier to render: if you own a PS3, then get this game! How do you not own three copies already!?
One last comment:
Hey! Resident Evil! Dead Space! So you say your games are becoming more "shooter" and less "survival horror" because it's more profitable? The Last of Us LAUGHS at your impotence. LAUGHS!
Check it out.
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