It is hard to know how to begin discussing this game because
it is entirely unique. Throughout the course of my 15 hour play-through I felt
equal parts fear, hope, distress, with just a twinge of frustration (I’ll
explain that last part in a bit.) The
Last of Us, directed by Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann, is an emotional
rollercoaster from start to finish. It continually pushes back the boundary of
how far you the gamer think it will go. This is not a cheery, pulp adventure
like Naughty Dog’s previous series Uncharted,
even though many of the game mechanics are pulled directly from that series. No,
this is a dark and gritty game set in a post-apocalyptic United States in which
a fungus named cordyceps
has evolved to the point where it can infect humans. It is a game that needs to
be played with as little prior knowledge about the story as possible. The Last of Us is nearly perfect; the
acting is superb, the gameplay is visceral, and of course the story could not
be more haunting.
Joel and Ellie, the
two protagonists, go on a journey that is both expertly written and
phenomenally acted. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson give the highest-caliber of
performances as Joel and Ellie respectively. This is actually Mr. Baker’s
second game this year in which he plays an older gentleman who is forced to
escort a young girl through a treacherous world. However, his performance here
is magnified by the third person gameplay; both Joel and Ellie’s are. Never
have I felt such a distinct connection with two characters in a video game. I
would also like to laud Nolan North for his portrayal of David. This is a voice
actor that I have heard in many, many games, yet when the credits rolled I was
utterly surprised that he had voiced this character. It was a completely different
type of role from what I would associate with him, yet he nailed the delivery.
While it is true that the actor’s had a huge part in this by
creating two very empathetic characters, I believe the art direction went a
long way to creating two real people. They did this by creating an art style
that I struggle to explain properly but would almost call a cartoonish reality.
Still, at first glance of any screen of this game no one would call this game
cartoonish. It is very realistic, but it is not realism. The character’s faces
are much more animated. On both heroes, their eyes appear larger and are much
more expressive. In this digital medium this actually makes the characters feel
more real. It is similar to the early days of cinema when image quality was
worse. Actors during that time would use copious amounts of makeup to make
their features larger so they would stand out on camera making their
expressions easier to read on the grainy film. Video game characters need a
similar sort of help. As a counter example, a game like Heavy Rain by David Cage tried and to a certain extent failed to
create realism in a video game. Something about the animation in that game
seemed lifeless.
In regards to gameplay, this is the first Naughty Dog game I
have played in which stealth is a viable option in encounters. When playing as
Nathan Drake in Uncharted, I would
often attempt to sneak quietly through an area, taking out soldiers one by one.
However, it never seemed as though the game designers wanted me to be stealthy
because it often seemed I would clear out a room entirely of enemies except for
one final guy which there was no way to get behind, so I would take him out
with my weapon. As soon as I fired by gun, 10+ other soldiers would appear in
places that I had just cleared of enemies requiring me to take them out in a
fire fight as well. For the most part The
Last of Us avoided that problem. The majority of the encounters had a set
number of hunters or infected placed within the “arena”. If the player managed
to clear out all of the enemies save one by stealth, no others would appear. That being said, the gunplay was also fun when
I had to resort to it.
Before I discuss the story elements that I found so exhilarating,
I want to briefly touch on what I found mildly frustrating about the game
itself. When I first started the game, I was asked what difficulty level I
wanted to set the game at. There were four options: Easy, Normal, Hard, and
Survivor which was grayed out. Having done a little research online, I had read
that survivor mode was the optimal way to experience the game. However, I
couldn’t choose it, so I instead decided to play it on hard mode thinking that
after completing the game, it would be unlocked. I believe that this was a
mistake. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed
the challenge that hard mode provided; nevertheless, I feel that playing
through a narrative heavy game on a mode that causes you to die over and over
again detracts from the experience. There were a fair amount of moments
throughout my play through that went like this: I would be completely immersed in
the world and the story, then I would enter an area where the challenge suddenly
skyrocketed causing me to repeat the encounter, and then repeat the encounter, and
then repeat the encounter, and then repeat the encounter… You get the idea. One
or two continues does not necessarily remove me from the world of the game. However,
when I had to start looking at these battles more like a puzzle in a video
game, and less like a life or death scenario for Joel, and Ellie I was
immediately taken out of the world of the game and placed firmly back on my
behind in my room. Of course I could have dropped down the difficulty at any
point throughout the game, but I didn’t want to because I as keen on unlocking
survivor mode. Unfortunately even after finishing the game the mode still
eludes me.
So, in a small way the game’s story falters because it is a
game and not a movie, but don’t quote me out of context in saying that because
the benefits of this being an interactive piece of art far outweigh this one
negative. I’m going to begin to discuss the story now, so skip to the final
paragraph if you don’t want to read any SPOILERS.
When the game starts, the player gets a glimpse at life before the world goes
to hell. The opening shot is a close up of a young blond girl sleeping. At
first thought one might assume this is Ellie, but a quick glance at the box art
would prove otherwise. This girl is Sarah, our main character Joel’s daughter. It’s
Joel’s birthday and Sarah was waiting up for him to give him his present: A
watch that she had been saving up for. As this all happens in a cinematic, the
viewer can see that the relationship between these two is incredibly strong. Shortly
after, Joel carries his daughter to bed. When the game becomes playable, the
gamer is in control of Sarah after she was awoken by the phone ringing. This
blew my mind. Having watched a zombie movie or two in my time, and knowing that
this was a prologue, I had already surmised that this character was not going
to last the night. Knowing this made it hard to go forward with the game. Also,
by not allowing me to control Joel until he is forced to carry his wounded
daughter through streets filled with infected people, I felt the helplessness
Joel was feeling all the stronger. There was nothing that could have been done
to prevent what happens to his/my daughter. It’s inevitable.
A few other times throughout the game the player finds
himself in control of a different character. One of my favorite such moments,
and to be honest my favorite moment of the game, comes at the start of winter. It begins with a cut-scene of Ellie hunting a
rabbit. Now prior to this the last thing the gamer saw was a mortally wounded
Joel fall off of a horse. Seeing Ellie alone and with the same horse makes the
player wonder if that truly was the end of Joel. The gameplay helps to support
this because now the player is in control of the previously non-playable Ellie.
It’s one of the few quiet moments in the game. There are no infected, and no
humans trying to kill the player. Ellie is stalking a deer. There’s no music
playing, it’s just the girl and the deer in the snow-covered woods. This
silence and loneliness drove home the doubts in my mind that, “Yes, Joel is
gone. The rest of this game will just be me and Ellie.” It was unnerving. Shortly
after felling the deer, Ellie runs into two men. What follows is a cinematic
that establishes two important details for upcoming events: These two men come
from a settlement with many other people, and Ellie is willing to trade the
food for medicine hinting Joel is indeed still alive. Still, as short-lived as
it may have been, that moment when I became that young girl all alone in that
repulsive and terrifying world stands as a pinnacle of interactive
story-telling.
I could continue to gush about the quality of this game for
pages and pages, but what I have to say about it isn’t important right now. What
is important is that you find a way to play this game. People have been
clamoring for a game that truly represents why games are a truly unique and
worthwhile type of art. This is that game. It is a game in which the violence
is neither justified nor criminalized; it just is. Characters are neither
heroic nor evil; they just survive. There is no black and white in the The Last of Us; everything is grey. The
ending perfectly sums up that sentiment. I will not spoil that here, but I want
to finish this with one question. At the very end of the game, do you feel that
what the man does is justified? Please let me know as I’m extremely curious to
find out other people’s opinions. One last time, I entreat you to remain as
ignorant of the game as possible, find a PlayStation 3, and play this game.
The Last of
Us
Gameplay –
4.5/5 The gameplay is
fun and the progression of Joel and his weapons feels great, however, the
constant restarting at continues removed me from the story and the game
slightly.
Visuals –
5/5 Beautiful vistas and
characters that feel real.
Sound – 5/5 Sound design that makes you cringe
every time you have to bash someone’s skull in or strangle them but also
includes beautifully captured sounds of nature that greets the player in the
quieter moments.
Music – 5/5 Gustavo Santaolalla’s score blends
twangy guitar with some of the most disturbing string music to perfectly fit
this apocalyptic frontier.
Story – 5/5 Dark and brooding. An amazing
compliment to Naughty Dog’s previous games.
Overall – 5/5
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