I finally finished off The Last of Us. I'm not a zombie/survival/stealth fan, typically, so there were times when I had to force myself to play. I ended up playing alongside a few Let's Plays which was a really neat experience with this kind of game.
Ultimately, I loved the game; it felt very much like a slower-paced Uncharted game to me. I think my biggest beef with the game is with the way it's been hyped, strangely enough(though, if that's the game's biggest issue, I'd say the dev team did a pretty bang up job). To me, TLoU does nothing new, and actually commits some of the cardinal sins of game design according to recent complaints in the industry. The game frequently takes away any player agency in favour of flashy setpieces/cutscenes. Friendly AI is immersion-breaking as anybody who has played knows. Sneaking around, trying to remain silent, only to have the silence broken by Bill's stomping boots is silly in an environment like this. Sometimes, the rules of the stealth sections feel poorly defined; sometimes enemies seem to know exactly where you are when you're hidden, sometimes they will look right at you and not even see you. The game is obviously pushing the PS3 hardware to its limits, as the framerate takes occasional hits. I think some of these aspects have been glossed over, and it's really disappointing to me, because these complaints are levied heavily at other games and are often used to bemoan the current state of the industry. Heck, this game should have been universally panned simply for its use of QTEs, or at least that's what I've been led to believe.
That said, I totally understand the fever for this game. There is a level of polish here - real craftsmanship - that is all too rare in the industry. The art, sound, performance capture, and environment design are all top notch. The Last of Us doesn't really do anything new in terms of game design; everything has been done before from a strict gameplay perspective.
I read a thread on the Neogaf that asked, "Why can't we get more games like The Last of Us". Some people pointed to Naughty Dog, some to the creative directors, and some to Sony for giving Naughty Dog the freedom to create. I think the answer that most aligned with my feelings was one that said that we already have plenty of games like the Last of Us. We just don't have enough good ones. In the end, we complain about a lot of things in game design. But we are willing to forgive when the total package adds up to an experience like this. I can't wait to see what Naughty Dog does on the PS4.
Topic: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions? (Read 587083 times)
