The Last of Us Review

     The Last of Us is a post apocalyptic, survival-horror, 3^rd person game exclusive to the PlayStation 3 made by Naughty Dog, who are known for their very popular “Indiana Jones treasure-hunting style series”, Uncharted.  It follows two survivors of the outbreak, Joel and Ellie. You play as Joel.  The two of them must survive in a world that is full of death, despair, and chaos.  The beginning of the game completely blindsides you.  I won’t ruin it for anybody who hasn’t played the game yet.  The beginning of the game is so well done, when the blindside happened, I literally shed tears.  I will discuss the story, the characters, the troubles you face along the way, the multiplayer, the graphics and the overall look of the game in this review.

     After the game’s prologue, the game fast-forward’s twenty years into the future.  Joel is surviving with his partner, Tess.  Not much is known about Tess, only that she and Joel have been working together for quite some time.  The two of them are trying to acquire a stash of weapons, when they find out they were sold to a resistance group called “The Fireflies.”  Joel and Tess make a deal with the leader of the Fireflies that they will smuggle something across the city, in exchange for the weapons.  The thing they are smuggling however turns out to be 14 year old girl, Ellie.

     Ellie at first doesn’t fit in with Joel and Tess that well, but as the game progresses she develops strong bonds with both of them.  Joel has grown to care less because he knows it will hurt if he does, but he still has a little bit of heart.  Ellie is also tough to begin with, but Joel’s little bit of heart rubs off on her and she begins to care for Joel.  Ellie doesn’t know much about the world, because she was born into the horror it is in the game.  She is always asking Joel questions, trying to learn more about the world and what happened.  While playing the game, the characters truly influenced me.  Everything that happened made me feel for them.  Speaking of the characters, their voice actors in this game are phenomenal.  Troy Baker, the voice of Joel, is known for his work in Batman: Arkham Origins, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and BioShock Infinite.  Baker is pretty young and he was able to voice a tough, macho guy very impressively.  Ellie, voiced by Ashley Johnson, is most known for her role in the TV show, The Killing.  I don’t know how she did it, but she made me actually believe that Ellie was being voiced by a 14-15 year old.  The voice acting in this game is absolutely stunning.

     The enemies in the game are almost completely fearless and relentless.  They pose very real threats to Joel, Ellie, and Tess.  You will come across humans that will do anything to survive.  Those wanting to hurt you feels so real because of how the new and dangerous world they are in has affected them.  The regular people aren’t even the worst of it. On your journey, you will come across people who have been infected by the “cordyceps fungus” virus (the virus that started it all), people who won’t let anyone or anything stand in their way.

     There are 4 types of infected: Runners, Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters.  Runners are the closest version of the infected to human and if you get too close, they will immediately charge you, usually in packs.  Stalkers hide in the environment and strike when you are close.  Clickers have no eyesight, but they use their hearing to find you.  Clickers are quite fast when they notice you, they also kill in one move and if you screw up while trying to kill them, you are dead.  Bloaters are the people who have been infected for the longest.  Their bodies are “bloated” and they move at a moderately fast speed.  The thing that makes them so deadly is the fact that they are very, very hard to kill.  Bloaters also kill in one move.  Your enemies in the game are not to be messed with; you must tread carefully when encountering them.

     Other characters/allies you meet along the way don’t feel so basic.  You really feel for them and understand what they are going through.  Whenever Ellie was in danger in the game, I felt myself freaking out not knowing what to do, practically frozen like a deer in headlights and I had to act fast.  I have to admit, I screamed a couple of times, worrying that something very bad would happen.  The game really just throws everything at you.  It doesn’t hold back, which is what makes it feel so real.  Countless times, I remember myself opening doors in a crouched position with my flashlight off using “listen mode", an ability you have in the game that helps you really identify your surroundings, so sure that an infected would just come out of nowhere and attack me.

     Lastly, the multiplayer.  Going into it, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it’s not bad, not great either though.  It brings many of the same elements, if not all of them, over from the campaign, and does it quite well.  There are two multiplayer modes, “Supply Raid” and “Survivors.”  In Supply Raid, your objective is to collect as many supplies as you can to insure the health and safety of your clan.  In Survivors, your objective is to basically just eliminate everyone in your path, but there are no respawns, making it much tougher to survive.

     The Last of Us’ graphics are absolutely worthy of a next gen console.  Seriously, this game could be on PS4, *HINT HINT*.  The scenery of the game is magnificent and it feels like I am watching a documentary on National Geographic.  You play through the different seasons during the game too.  The detail put into the characters is unprecedented.  You can see every hair on the characters’ heads, even Joel’s beard, every wrinkle in the shirts and pants, and every emotion conveyed through the characters’ eyes.

     With all this being said, The Last of Us is the best game that I have ever played and I enjoyed it all the way through.  The only thing that bothered me, and it’s really not even a big deal, was that the A.I. (Automatic Intelligence) in the game was a little off at certain times.  It would disrupt me from the world of the game.  Examples would be Ellie, or Tess, standing in my way, not letting me get through, characters not following my lead right away, or an enemy, (only happened once) repeatedly walking into a wall.  The Last of Us is a breathtaking and absolutely stunning game that will be remembered in the gaming industry for generations to come.  Naughty Dog, you have done it again!  I rate the game a 10 out of 10.