The Last of Us Part 1

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

Joel escorts his adoptive daughter from Boston to Salt Lake City all while fighting his own demons as well as those on the ground.

The Actual Review

Game time:

PC: 12 Hours

Gameplay

For a game that is decently basic, this one's gameplay loop is rich and never gets old (at least for a single run through). You have a plethora of weapons from light speedy pistols, to heavy single-shot pistols that shoot shotgun rounds. You also have rifles, shotguns, and bows. Where the gun play gets interesting is that the infected are quick, and you have limited ammo. Yes, headshot matter, but when you are only allowed to carry 20 rounds, without the snap on aim, you are expending multiple shots. For the bow, you are only carrying around 9 arrows. You can recover if you hit headshots, sometimes, it isn't a lot.

This gameplay loop very much matches a survival story event. You have a backpack, and you are not LARP-ing a military member. Carrying only what you can find, which also includes the material to make bombs, meds, and other general purpose items. You don't have a lot of space for sure. All these things combine make the fighting really intense. There was one point where I am in an old mill and am just surrounded. I must have died there at least 5 times not understanding where the bad guys were coming from and having limited to no ammo left over because I hadn't picked any up from the ones I had killed previously.

While I did talk about the space and carrying capacity being a contributing factor to the authenticity, the crafting system is terrible. I still don't understand how it worked where I had to pick up like 4 duct tapes to have 1 that I could use? Same for scissors, sugar, and the other items needed for crafting. You spend all this time running around trying to find stuff, but you can only carry 3 of the full things which makes it hard to identify what you have really.

The only other gameplay items I do want to talk about is the map. There were a lot of weird corners to the map as this is a linear game, that would imply something is over there. Nope, just a expansion to the map with no purpose. I am thinking of a spot at the University which had 3 lanes to go to the same spot, but 2 of them were pointless. It was odd.

Graphics and Sound

I have added a video with no sound that shows just how good this game was visually. This was in performance mode which means that it isn't even the best it could look. The ability to see you move correctly in mirrors was/is something you do not see very often at all. Let alone this good. The game was full of these tricks that made it feel better. The spores, the movement of each infected version, and the general beauty. Sometimes, "You just can't beat this view"

As for sound, I think they did a stellar job of doing the layering correctly. The steps you take, the infected noises, the different things you can step on (at times if you stepped on glass, boards, or sticks, it would alert the enemy), and the weapons all make for this immersive sound in your ear.

There were times where the sound was overwhelming when you are attempting to crawl around the infected and I think that is intentional. Your skin crawls and your pulse races just listening to where all the clickers are. It is really well done.

Story and Characters

This of course is what made the The Last of Us come to HBO. This story, having watched the show twice, was still emotional and stressful. I knew 90% of what was going to happen, and I still jumped, still was happy seeing Joel and Ellie bond, and finally just the weight of the final decision.

I need to give a shot to the cast of The Last of Us as they all sound and feel like the characters they played. Chalk that to the show runners or the acting team actually caring about the game, but they were so well done, and I applaud them in their accuracy.

There isn't a main character that I don't like. Actually, Marlene bothers me. I understand what she is attempting to do, but talk about going back on your word. Just crazy that she allowed/did what she did, and I think that is the worst of the character sins. Everyone else feels right and that they continued their path forward.

My Rating

The Last of Us will be forever one of the best stories ever told in media. No matter if the conversation is a video game or the TV show. The show's faithful adaptation to the game is what kept fans involved and what brought fans of the show to the game. Sam and Carter from the podcast asked me if this was going to be one of my top 10 of all time, and it is up there. Not sure of top 10, but it is up there. It might have been if I had played during the hype. It is a wonderful game that tells a magnificent story. This is for sure a "GET THIS GAME!"

Parental Rating

Lots of violence, to be expected. Weird, creepy, fungus infected people that makes your skin crawl if you look at the models. A good amount of language. For these reasons, my parents would NEVER have let me play this as a kid, and I think if I were still 16 or so in the house, they'd be very adamant that I don't play it.

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