Game On

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Last of Us



Game On's - At A Glance
THE LAST OF US
(published by Sony Computer Entertainment, developed by Naughty Dog)
platform played - PS3


THE LAST OF US takes you into an alternate world that tests your survival skills and your patience to stealth.  You run through a post-apocalyptic setting, fighting and avoiding infected, zombie-like people and belligerent survivors.  Timing and stealth are the key components to effective game-play while moving through the visually detailed stages.  This both makes THE LAST challenging and frustrating. 


The game progresses you linearly through the story, pushing you to the end while limiting some of the freethinking and open world exploration, which could have been quite awesome.  Along the way, you find collectable items to craft new weapons, objects used for combat, and items to distract bad guys.  These can be useful in this low ammo setting.  Another added quality is your character being able to 'listen' for possible hidden or out of sight enemies.  A nice feature but not always helpful, so don't depend on it all the time or you'll find yourself becoming a 'fungi freak' chew toy.

The combat and linear-like maneuvering is what I found the most troubling.  Although they boast about the AI for real-time interaction when confronting bad guys, it leaves you needing to combat one thing at a time or be swarmed with no way to understand where the attacks are coming from.  And don't expect much help from your AI buddies.  Sure they shoot occasionally, but their bullets are about effective as yours (... meaning not so much, apparently you can shake it off pretty quickly).  The worst part (which I think they mean to be helpful) is that the game will give you an idea of where you went wrong after you die.  Some of the combat sequences and suggestions make this more a skill game than a shooter game (don't put a gun in a game and expect us to not use it, and where are all the guns and ammo on the fallen bad guys?? really???).  A suggestion, if you want lifelike responses for AI to initiate combat, how about a little more thought into effective combat damage.  So, after all my whining, the need to stealth is very heavy and you must do things in stages for combat as they give them to you or the AI will trigger some bad situations.

Overall, this is a great product.  I found the cut-scenes epic, using motion-capture for fluid body movement, and the distressed story filled with the human condition.  The graphics and attention to detail for movement and body language really sells the narrative.  With the haunting music to help set the darker tone, these elements alone validate the numerous "Game of the Year" awards.  This game may not be for free world hustlers like me but I can make allowances.

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