The Last of Us

[Electric Crocosaurus]

I'd been looking forward to playing this since its release last summer, and I have to say I was really impressed. More than anything I was impressed with the level of tension that the game created; even at the end when I was comfortable with the gameplay and quite adept at taking out clickers and humans alike I never felt overpowered, which is how it should be.

Spoiler: show

Although the game is quite linear, I really found myself 'playing the roles' of Joel and Ellie from around Winter onwards. When I entered the operations theatre to save Ellie I was quite surprised at how protective I felt of Ellie, and how angry I was at what they were about to do to her. I'm not really a violent gamer if I don't have to be, but I still shot the surgeons in the head because I wanted to be certain that they wouldn't be able to do the same thing to another child in the future.

[DomsBeard]

I was the same and if they'd put a choice in what you could do I would've done exactly how it panned out.

[Baron Phil]

I didn't sneak past a single person in that area after I'd heard the dictaphone tapes.

[JaySevenZero]

Not long to wait now!



I see it's currently available for pre-order from the PSN Store for £11.99 - it would be fair to say that I've been looking forward to this quite a bit.

[Electric Crocosaurus]

I know, I've taken the day off work on February 14th in anticipation. I've justified it to myself by saying that it's so I can surprise my girlfriend on Valentine's Day, but really it's so I can spend more time with Ellie!

That last bit sounded better in my head than it does written down...

[mikeleddy83]

Downloading right now, fate decided to throw a Vita my way this morning but I'm watching the Grounded documentary in advance of playing it this afternoon. Skipped the text but reviews seem good so far!

[Xavier Desmond]

Just finished Left Behind. If you loved the main game it's definitely a must play. It reminded me that even though the characters and story are what stick with you about the Last of Us, I loved it as an actual game as well.

[JaySevenZero]

I've played it through a couple of times now and as several reviews have already alluded to the dlc plays to the strengths of The Last of Us in relation to its focus on character based storytelling, making it - as others have already written - a must-play if you enjoyed TLoU. Although there's been no confirmation from Naughty Dog either way, I suspect that this isn't gonna be the last we'll see of this particular title.

[Alex79]

Dammit I traded my TLOU.

[NokkonWud]

It's currently only £17.99 on PSN for a digital copy, which seems pretty good to me.

[Electric Crocosaurus]

Even though a sequel is almost inevitable, part of me hopes this is the last we see of The Last of Us. Towards the end of TLOU I found the combat was starting to grind, but a little time away (and a nice, pacey three hour run time) means that Left Behind feels fresh all over again. I liked the little nods to the main game (I'd be tempted to call the dlc 'Ellie Begins') and that they resisted the urge to just make it into a challenge pack wrapped in a new script. Left Behind definitely feels like its own thing: not essential to the main story, but able to enhance it, and even exist on its own terms.

Spoiler: show

Was it just me or did some of the designs seem more human in the flashback sequences, as if they had less time to sprout vegetation? I was released that Riley slotted well into the universe: by the end of the dlc I had grown attached to her character, and she'd stopped being just a sacrificial lamb.

I connected my Facebook account, and I was a little disappointed that they didn't make more of that. Posting pictures of pre-pubescent girls onto my wall isn't really my thing, and I was hoping they'd take pictures from my FB albums and create some sort of 'Missing' wall in-game.

I really liked what they did with the combat in this one. Being able to play humans off against zombies (I forget what they're actually called in this universe) was great fun, and created some great 'who will win?' moments.

[JaySevenZero]

I would like them to follow up this game as I think they've created a great fictional world to act as a foundation for other stories to tell and not necessarily those based around furthering Ellie and Joel's tale.

Spoiler: show

I connected my Facebook account, and I was a little disappointed that they didn't make more of that. Posting pictures of pre-pubescent girls onto my wall isn't really my thing, and I was hoping they'd take pictures from my FB albums and create some sort of 'Missing' wall in-game.

I really liked what they did with the combat in this one. Being able to play humans off against zombies (I forget what they're actually called in this universe) was great fun, and created some great 'who will win?' moments.

Spoiler: show

I liked the Facebook idea but have only done it the once and in truth it would only be worth doing twice at the most due to the limited poses available anyway, but at the end of the day it still felt like just a minor quirk and not something I'd miss in TLOU (I would actually quite like to have it implemented into GTAV though).

I do agree wholeheartedly about the combat in Left Behind though, it's a shame there weren't areas in the main game where strategy could play a greater role by pitting two groups against each other

[Electric Crocosaurus]

I would like them to follow up this game as I think they've created a great fictional world to act as a foundation for other stories to tell and not necessarily those based around furthering Ellie and Joel's tale.

I suppose when I say I don't want another game I mean it in that fanboy-ie way, i.e. I don't just want more of the same. If Naughty Dog come up with a great idea that takes the series forward then I'd love to revisit TLOU, but I don't know if the style of the original could be continued. There comes a point where these brutal, apocalyptic stories have to end, otherwise you're just dealing with James Bond characters that refuse to die even in impossible circumstances.

TLOU was quite a small and contained story, so maybe the way to go would be to take the Aliens route and take a completely different approach to the first. A story that started with the military, almost with a Gears of War approach, but that developed to focus on the emotional cost of having to kill women, children, fathers in the name of quarantining the infected.

[TomFum]

Well after a loan of this, i finished it on sunday just gone.

What a lovely game this was. One of the best games ive played in awhile. I was expecting an uncharted esc game but what i got was something so much better.

The whole feel of the game was something ive not felt in a long time with games. there was no real happiness to it, it felt like it was which was a down trodden world where survival was key, gangs were rife and nature was the real boss.

Loved it. end of.

[DomsBeard]

It certainly is and it stays with you, I was thinking about the end of summer just this morning. Shame I don't have a ps3 as I'd love to try the dlc.

[arry_g]

I'm 10.5 hours in on Easy Mode of Remastered and I still have about a third to go. It’s a longer game than I remembered. I reckon it’ll take me about another two and a half evenings to see it through to the end – I’m hoping that my next playthrough on Grounded difficulty later this month proves a little quicker when I’m not getting all of the collectables but I suspect that the game is just naturally slow due to the amount of time scrounging for equipment and the amount of time traversing the levels.

On playing through the game a second time I have realised something I didn’t the first time, the first four or so hours ofThe Last of Us are not great, either they do not hold up to repeat playthroughs or they were a bit crappy to begin with. I suspect the latter though I can't know for sure. Gameplay and level design (if you’re being reductionist) can easily be broke down into a pattern or two and they're familiar game design patterns: walk to area, clear arena (either kill all the dudes or stealth past all of the dudes), collect loot and repeat. There are variations on this formula (e.g. walk to area, collect loot, walk to area, clear arena, walk to area and so on). Taking a moment to look at the full picture though there are traversal related environmental puzzles and with the enemies there are the human enemies who flank, throw Molotov’s and have a variety of weapons and armours to deal with plus there are the infected which come in three or four varieties who are best dealt with via stealth. There is the ability to upgrade weapons and to upgrade the main character too. What I am saying is that there is enough variety within even the simpler aspect of the formula that it should be interesting and it is but not until later in the game than I remember it being first time. Was this a game that should only be played once and left be?

What carries the game is the story, for many this is an issue – right? I hear people both in person and online saying stuff like games should be games and movies and books should be left to do their own thing. The Last of Us (if you look hard enough) tells its main plot through a combination of gameplay and cutscene but it weaves a second narrative through its collectables, the story of the world and what happened to various people within it and more often than not its heartbreaking. The collectables for me are what have kept this latest playthrough fresh and interesting. I know Joel’s story. I know Ellie’s story but I never got all of these collectables last time and they’re fascinating and usually give context to areas previously explored or warning as to what’s popping up next. That said Joel and Ellie’s story is still interesting enough to see a second time (and should definitely be explored at least once). It’s just I think it’s interesting for the first hour to two hours and then it dies off and ceases to be interesting again until you meet a pair of characters in Pittsburgh later on but it is hard to know if that’s because it’s my second time through, because of my mood(s) at the moment or whether it is a genuine observation about the game I failed to notice last time.

Both my impression of the story and my impression of the gameplay lead to the same thing; the meat of the game, the real aspects that make this game exceptional are much later than I remember. Perhaps it’s a genuinely slow paced game that carried me through the early hours with world building and exposition first time? I remember having issues with the game on the PS3, loading time issues, crashes and level geometry not always loading (much like I had with Uncharted 3 recently) but not the pacing – so perhaps all this is an issue with me? That all said I still adore the game (not 10/10 adore but adore none-the-less) and it does offer a lot in terms of ways to handle an arena (though the exploration is mostly linear with a couple of diversions) married to an extraordinary story (both central plot and otherwise). I love this game and I will be playing it through one final time on grounded once I complete my current playthrough but it hasn’t proven to be the way I remembered it.

[Todinho]

Nope you're right the start of the game after the intro is the worst part of the game,it introduces the characters and the world well enough but it ends up being a painfully slow tutorial if you're playing it again,if im honest the game only really starts when

Spoiler: show

Tess dies

then it feels like the training wheels are off and you can play the game on your own.

[ratsoalbion]

And this is exactly the point I'm at now on survival difficulty on the Remastered edition.

[arry_g]

Without going into spoilers, I've just passed the conclusion to the scene with David and I guess you could say I'm on the home stretch of this playthrough right now. Providing the little one has a good night and that my wife is content with the television tonight I will likely finish this run and start my Grounded playthrough.

Although I am not overly ecstatic about doing the extended opening again I do want to play with the encounters a bit more.

[NokkonWud]

I finally finished it this time around and it's safe to say that now I understand what people were talking about. I've since gone back and finished it a second time on Grounded difficulty and wrapped up the Platinum. Utterly compelling and all the praise lavished upon it is completely understandable.