Date played: June 17th
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10
Incredible. Simple incredible.
Naughty Dog has just released The Last Of Us, a stealth action game set in a post-fungal apocalypse world. The game has one of the strongest openings in a video game, it's up there with the first five minutes of Dead Space 2. It starts 20 years before the game proper, with Joel living a normal life with his teenage daughter. His daughter is the first controllable character. She wakes up to a phone call during the night from her uncle who seems distressed. She starts looking for her dad who comes in the house, yelling that they need to leave as the neighbors are acting weird. Then the neighbor crashes through the window and Joel has to shoot him to protect himself. They escape and make it to a police checkpoint. Tragically, the daughter is shot by the officer as they think she is infected.
What makes the whole thing great is the presentation and atmosphere. It feels....real. First, the graphics are jaw-dropping. The attention to detail is insane and really makes the world feel believable. The character's face animation is stunning too, relaying their emotion very well. Combined with amazing acting, it makes everything feel super polished.
20 years after the intro, Joel is some sort of smuggler who is working with a girl named Tess. They are after a guy named Raymond for some reason. It seems he may have stolen some of Tess's gear or something. There's also a group called the Fireflies that seems to be some sort of organized resistance. It's not quite clear yet. Either way, Joel and Tess made their way to Raymond's hideout and that's where the actual gameplay started. This is a stealth game so far. Joel crouches behind cover and walks around slowly, trying to take down guards without getting shot too much. Ammo is extremely limited and I've had to rely on silent takedowns, shivs, wooden planks and even bricks to take down enemies.
The stealth is enhanced with a "listening" mode, where Joel can focus on his hearing to see where enemies are when they make sound. It works really well and I like the mechanics so far. The shooting is a little stiff but it works and feels powerful. We got to Raymond, he told us he got a deal with the Fireflies and sold them our weapons. This resulted in a bullet to the head from Tess. We then found a person that would help us recover our weapons in exchange for a delivery job. The catch is that the cargo is a 14 year old girl, Ellie. She was infected by the virus but is not turning into a monster, which is probably why she is so valuable. Joel is now tasked with bringing the girl outside the city safely. I cannot fucking wait to play more of this game...
Platform: PS3
Session fun rating: 10/10
Incredible. Simple incredible.
Naughty Dog has just released The Last Of Us, a stealth action game set in a post-fungal apocalypse world. The game has one of the strongest openings in a video game, it's up there with the first five minutes of Dead Space 2. It starts 20 years before the game proper, with Joel living a normal life with his teenage daughter. His daughter is the first controllable character. She wakes up to a phone call during the night from her uncle who seems distressed. She starts looking for her dad who comes in the house, yelling that they need to leave as the neighbors are acting weird. Then the neighbor crashes through the window and Joel has to shoot him to protect himself. They escape and make it to a police checkpoint. Tragically, the daughter is shot by the officer as they think she is infected.
What makes the whole thing great is the presentation and atmosphere. It feels....real. First, the graphics are jaw-dropping. The attention to detail is insane and really makes the world feel believable. The character's face animation is stunning too, relaying their emotion very well. Combined with amazing acting, it makes everything feel super polished.
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| The Last Of Us starts really strong |
20 years after the intro, Joel is some sort of smuggler who is working with a girl named Tess. They are after a guy named Raymond for some reason. It seems he may have stolen some of Tess's gear or something. There's also a group called the Fireflies that seems to be some sort of organized resistance. It's not quite clear yet. Either way, Joel and Tess made their way to Raymond's hideout and that's where the actual gameplay started. This is a stealth game so far. Joel crouches behind cover and walks around slowly, trying to take down guards without getting shot too much. Ammo is extremely limited and I've had to rely on silent takedowns, shivs, wooden planks and even bricks to take down enemies.
The stealth is enhanced with a "listening" mode, where Joel can focus on his hearing to see where enemies are when they make sound. It works really well and I like the mechanics so far. The shooting is a little stiff but it works and feels powerful. We got to Raymond, he told us he got a deal with the Fireflies and sold them our weapons. This resulted in a bullet to the head from Tess. We then found a person that would help us recover our weapons in exchange for a delivery job. The catch is that the cargo is a 14 year old girl, Ellie. She was infected by the virus but is not turning into a monster, which is probably why she is so valuable. Joel is now tasked with bringing the girl outside the city safely. I cannot fucking wait to play more of this game...
