Video Game Review - The Last of Us

Now this game may have very unoriginal ideas such as zombie like people and taking place in a post apocalyptic world, but when I heard it was being made by the guys who did the Uncharted games (which if some of you remember, was my number 1 game series of the 7th generation of gaming), I had to take a look for myself. Now I may not be a big fan of those two ideas (mainly because I've seen them being done to death), but having played the game, I feel it has a lot of potential of being a great game. Let's take a look at it:

The game begins with our main protagonist Joel (voiced by Troy Baker) celebrating his birthday with his daughter Sarah (who is a minor character and is voiced by Hana Hayes). However on that same night, an infection of some kind, enters the US and turns anybody that gets infected into rabid and monstrous killers. Joel, Sarah and Joel's brother Tommy (voiced by Jeffrey Pierce) attempt to leave the area, but as they do, Sarah gets shot by a solider and dies in her father's arms. We then cut to 20 years later where the infection has taken its toll and has destroyed most of the civilisation of mankind with the remainder of humankind in either one of the heavily-policed areas which are quarantine zones, independent settlements and nomadic groups. Joel now lives in a quarantine zone in Boston who now is a smuggler and works alongside his friend Tess (voiced by Annie Wersching). Apparently, their weapons have been stolen and after been given a task by the leader of a rebel group that are fighting against the authorities who are governing the quarantine zones and call themselves the Fireflies to smuggle a teenage girl called Ellie (voiced by Ashley Johnson) out of quarantine to a Fireflies team outside, they attempt to do just that with a few obstacles along the way (including soldiers, infected people and other things). Will they succeed and what awaits them during the task? Play this game to find out. The game is very similar to that of Uncharted in that it has a cinematic feel to it and all the acting is done pretty darn well. You'll be spending most of the time using guns, weapons and stealth to get past obstacles and enemies of all shapes and sizes. Like with most recent games, you're given a chance to decide how to handle these things in your own way using a technique that is similar to instinct in Hitman and Tomb Raider, Eagle Vision in Assassin's Creed and Detective Mode in Batman: Arkham. A system that Naughty Dog have introduced, known as "Balance of Power" is a mechanic that gives the enemies the advantage knowing what to do if Joel is in trouble of any sort (out of ammo, attacked by other enemies, distracted etc) which makes the game more challenging but that's the fun of it. Similar to that of Tomb Raider, the player can explore the world around him/her to find materials that can upgrade any weapons that you may have equipped or are just carrying around just for the hell of it.

Now I feel really gutted that I did my top 20 7th generation games way too early, because I had no idea that there could still be some hidden gems in this generation and I had that feeling when I played this game. It is a great game that is up there with Uncharted 1, 2 and 3 in terms of its cinematic feeling. It may not be as epic as Uncharted, but it is just as emotional as that game, if not better and I really enjoyed playing it for what it is. If Naughty Dog are planning to make a sequel, I will definitely say yes to that. 9/10