The Last of Us Thread(PS3)

THE LAST OF US, FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Just got through playing the first 3 hours or so. Here are my first impressions.

The opening scene is pretty friggin awesome! You originally play as the daughter of the main character, who is barely in her teen years, if even. There is a little bit of interaction between the two as she's falling asleep on the couch. Daddy (Joel) carries her to bed, and she's out cold. You, as the daughter, wake up a lil while later and for some reason you feel the need to search the house for your dad. Going through the house, you eventually find him in the back yard (there's a huge Easter egg for those of you who look out the window and look for the source of the dog barking). A crazy event occurs (I really like the girl's acting). That's one huge point I should make. The acting is easily 9.9/10 for me! While you're constantly focused on what's on the TV, and what actions, puzzles etc you gotta solve and what combat you gotta work out. Similar to TOMB RAIDER, there seems to be key points which get activated during game play, where one of the actors responds to something specific you've done, or the environment etc. Voice acting is great!

Moving on, I don't wanna spoil the full intro, but if you ever wanted to experience what an actual apocalypse would feel like through the eyes of a 10 or 11 (maybe 12?) year old girl...this scene is it! You don't do anything, you're just carried along for the ride as you, daddy and (was it Uncle Larry?), your uncle, drive away from your home and you head through the city as carnage hits up all around you. DAWN OF THE DEAD did an amazing job with blonde chicky escaping her house and driving through her neighborhood! The driving scene was 9.9/10! Exceptionally done!

You finally get downtown, and more carnage occurs, you get into a car crash and you're now on foot, and you're controlling JOEL, who's carrying his daughter (Sarah), whom you were just controlling, and you're running through the city with your bother (Larry?) trying to avoid the chaos and the infected. You do a smart move and find an alley and almost make it out of the city when you're stopped by a police SWAT guy (why there was only 1, I have no idea. These guys are usually in packs). There is one close call, and there is one pretty major casualty (which I didn't expect).

that's just the intro! Action packed and awesome!

The game starts off 20 years later. You (Joel) are woke up by a friend named Tess. You learn about a gang who was giving Tess a hard time. You go and settle the score with this gang and find out they double crossed you (or Tess) in a bad deal. Tess then learns her deal went sour 'cause this gang was dealing with another gang. (so GANG A was doing business with TESS, but then decided to sell TESS's merchandise to GANG B, so you DEAL with GANG A, then go work out another deal with GANG B for the merchandise).

GANG B is called "the fireflies". You make a deal with them (which introduces the actual story) and you're now trying to escape the city. Sounds simple eh? Here's where it gets friggin' awesome!

You're running through an I AM LEGEND style of city. Everything is destroyed (I don't really understand how buildings and city streets can look like a bomb went through them since the world has been infested with these creatures. There was no mention about a military retaliation...I'm guessing you just gotta assume it's what's happening).

It should be mentioned, the game developers have made it clear these things are not zombies. While they behave in the same way, they're called "clickers". In short, there is a FUNGI releasing off spores which infects humans (no mention of other creatures) and turns them into violent mutated people that want to eat you. They are blind, fully blind. They rely on a form of sonar, like bats. They make an eerie clicking sound (like the chick from THE GRUDGE) to detect and attack you. Which means they're attracted to ANY sounds! So stealth is key!

LIKES:

Story is pretty good (the set up to the story was better than the actual story itself). The story is a minor spin off the 2006 movie Children of Men. You have a WORLD WIDE disaster, and one person seemingly holds the key to survival.

Graphics! Very awesome! Nuff said.

AUDIO, same. Exceptional. Definitely a game to play in a dark room with loud audio!

Controls: they're a little tricky at first, but once you get used to them, they're pretty good. I think they could have been better if they were more like skyrim's controls. For the most part, you pretty much have to press TWO buttons at the same time to do much (healing, change weapons etc). But the stealth + combat is good! They don't let you jump, which is lame, but everything else is alright.

GAME PLAY: is phenomenal! Action packed and wow! I guess I should also mentioned, I intentionally started a new game in HARD MODE. There is EASY, NORMAL and HARD. I always pick hard mode with these kinds of games. NORMAL is usually too easy. Hard is hard! I've already had a few scenes/levels where I've died multiple times trying to figure out the right pattern to kill a bunch of infected in a room.

DISLIKES:

It took me over 24 hours to download 68% of the game before it told me I had enough of the game to start playing it while it downloads the rest. I was geared to start playing Friday night, but I had to wait extra hours! But that's also a combination of my internet speed, which is horrible (I max out at about 600kb/s (yes...that's less than a MB/s which is what most of you have).

LINEAR: This game is very linear. While the environments are beautiful. You can explore stuff and look for power-ups, health and salvage etc, there is only one possible way to go. I found myself multiple times, facing multiple different ways to go, and once I found out I was going the correct way to progress the level, I had to back track and take the other ways to see what was behind "door #2 and door #3" (which by the way was only small power ups to enhance your weapons and character abilities). I regularly came across cupboards and draws and lockers which allowed me to open them, only to find they were empty. I'm guessing in EASY and NORMAL modes, they have power ups. Not so much in HARD. The only good thing about a linear experience is you know you're going the right way. The bad thing about linear is no exploration. But I guess if you had a none linear experience, you'd have DEAD ISLAND...and we all know how that turned out.

SO...all in all..my first 3 or so hours have easily been a 9.9/10. This is one of those games that I can't put down, and when I have to (like...go out or go to work), this is the game I can't stop thinking about. I'm talking to my friends about, and those friends of mine who are also playing it...we're dishin' it up and talking about it and everyone's looking at us like we're crazy game fanatics (which is what we are..so that's ok!)

I guess my next post about this game will be within the week to talk about the game once I've finished it and give a complete review on it. For all those of you who are playing it, enjoy! Those who aren't...I respectfully suggest you START!!!

This game kicks much ass. It's a must buy.

I agree. It has a lot of you know when it's quiet and when you're coming up on shit, but the way it's done is fucking fantastic. I remember I was fighting a group of bandits last night. Killed a bunch with my weapons, and when I grabbed this bandit holding his ass hostage, and his friend was negotiating to free him. I decided to be a dick and shoot the hostage, but had no bullets. After his buddy then heard the click called my ass out, and beat his friends head in, and threw a molotov at him, and his two pals. Whipped a brick at the last, and charged him into the wall to kick his ass. Only to be shot in the back by the flanking dick. I love the fight or flight options, but some instances of course can't be beaten without clearing the room. I like the fact new game plus doesn't carry over to a higher difficulty. I'm about to hit Survivor mode up in a bit. Despite the run of the mill situations I can forgive it for how brutal the world they've crafted hits. The fucking opening was bad ass all the way to the end credits. Sad to see it end. Anyone mess with the multi-player yet? Seems interesting to some extent with how clans work and such.

all i've played is the multiplayer, so far. it took a bit of getting used to, but now it is amazing. stealth and teamwork are mandatory. you have very limited ammo, which goes fast and can only be replenished by looting your victims and cashing in salvage.
i've only played supply raid, which are 2 4-man teams, deathmatch style. no jumping, no blindfire, no run n' gun.
once you pick a side (hunters or fireflies) you go through twelve weeks of matches, each match being one day. at the end of each match, your salvage get added up and goes to the survival of your clan. you have a set amount of salvage to get per match, to ensure the survival of your clan. if you don't get the minimum required (per match) people get hungry, get sick, and/or die. when you kepp the clan healty, you get more members joining, which means you've now got to get more.
it's pretty damn interesting.

i wish i had the money and time for this......looks amazing!

once you get the hang of crafting and master the tactic of sprinting the f@#* outta there and healing up once you've been hit, the game goes a lot smoother. assuming you've got good team mates. if you've got one or two lone wolves who don't get it, you're jolly well effed.
i prefer the hunting rifle. 2 shots to down, then you snipe anyone who tries to revive.
can't stop playing this damn game. still haven't touched the SP.