Game Review - The Last of Us Remastered

Disclaimer: 

1. I played the supposedly enhanced version of this game, i.e. The Last of Us Remastered on the PS4 which was released a year later after the original

2. I went in to this game after having played Telltale Games' The Walking Dead (TTTWD for short) a few years ago, which I consider to be the pinnacle of not only story-driven games, but video games in general. I mention this because both of these games belong to the same genre in my eye. That is to say a "father-daughter-survival-horror-in-a-post-apocalyptic-setting" game. Having said that, it should come as no surprise that there are going to be comparisons (at the end).

3. This is going to be quite a long review. So if you are a lazy bum, I don't have to point you to your browser's 'close' button. Now that that is made clear, here are my thoughts on this game...

It has been quite a long time since I've posted a video game

review here. You see, I was not able to find any game that was worth talking about. I mean, I've played a few good games, but those did not stay in my mind for very long. However, that cannot be said for this game. At least not entirely.

You might be thinking that for having made such a statement, I would've absolutely loved this game. The fact of the matter is, I have no idea what to think about this game. Only a handful of movies/games bring this feeling inside of me and that is exactly why I want to talk about it. 

Like I had somewhat hinted in the disclaimer section of this review, this game is about a man and an orphan's uneasy journey through fungus-infested America. It has been a few years since the epidemic hit the US. Humans have almost succumbed to the Cordyceps fungi (this actually exists in real life and as you can imagine, sends shivers down my spine) that takes control of their minds and turns them into flesh eating zomb... well, technically monsters. Turns out that the aforementioned orphan, named Ellie, is somehow immune to this infection. It is the job of Joel, a survivor, who is the father figure and a bodyguard to take her to a place where a cure might be found for this disease. Joel and Ellie have a dark history of their own. Joel's backstory is wonderfully told during the prologue. Ellie's history, though somewhat told through the DLC 'Left Behind', still needed some questions answered. Along the way, you meet several other characters, you lose some, you help some, you destroy some, the whole nine yards. The way the story resonates is through these meetings. You cannot help but feel what Joel or Ellie is feeling under such circumstances. Sometimes you watch helplessly as people get massacred left and right. This sense of helplessness, dread and regret is what carries the weight of the story. Not the action, though there is plenty of it. You maybe scavenging for weapons in an abandoned house only to find that a man hung himself from a tree in the backyard with a note saying he's had enough. You may find a kid's toy lying  on the ground with some blood across the floor. These subtle indications that are left to the human imagination are what makes you uncomfortable and the setting great. And did I metion this game is depressing as hell?

You may now notice that point 2 of my disclaimer makes sense, doesn't it? Similar themes. Now the game is different in many ways to TTTWD. The Last of Us is a third-person action game throughout. You play as Joel for the most part, though there are sections where you take on the role of Ellie as well. You point and shoot at what runs at you or shoots from cover. You don't exactly stick to cover a la Gears of War. I think that is what gives it a more realistic feel. There are several weapons that can be used such as pistols, revolvers, shotguns, assault rifles, molotovs and even baseball bats. There are two different enemy types - the humans who want to kill you and rob you or the infected of which there are three types - the runners, the clickers and the bloaters. Runners are mindless zombies who can see you at run at you at great speeds. They are the low-tier enemies. You can even use your fists to fight them and save yourself. Bloaters are at the ultimate stages of infection. They are fat, heavy and move slowly. But they are harder to put down also. The clickers, on the other hand, are the most important and interesting enemy types. They are blind, so they make creepy clicking noises to identify their prey. If they find you, it is pretty much a one-hit kill. That is where stealth comes into play. The stealth aspects are really well done. You can use the materials lying on the ground to distract these clickers and sneak behind them and take them out. In cases where human enemies search for you, you can throw a bottle or a brick at them which then attracts clickers to them. They kill off each other and you can move on like a boss. So you can use your imagination to proceed through the game in fun ways. You also have an "instinct" button that lets you hear through walls and guess your enemy's positions or movements. Crafting is also a major gimmick in this game. You can craft molotovs, explosives, smoke grenades, and even design melee weapons with the things you find around the map. The puzzle sections are solved in tandem with Ellie. Since she is small, she can fit through place otherwise inaccessible to Joel. I must admit, I feel like an idiot now since some of these puzzles were so simple yet I spent a few several minutes to figure them out. 

The graphics are extremely impressive. The game runs at 60 FPS on the PS4 without any slowdowns or compromise on the visual fidelity. The animations are of the highest quality even by today's standard. That is saying something for a title released almost two years ago. They feel so life-like which is not that common in the video game industry. Throughout the 15 hour journey, I never felt like I was playing a game. It was that real.

To be honest, though the music was good, I only remember only two, or maybe three tracks from the whole game, one of which is the beautifully composed opening theme song by Gustavo Santaolalla. Most of the soundtracks have this dirty, nasty noises in the background which nicely adds to the theme. The voice acting is movie quality with emotions delivered in right quantities. The voice actors did an exceptional job with this. Some of the lines, however, felt cinematic and a bit "fake". In some instances, I felt as if humans beings in the real life would not say such things. These dialogues are few and far between but definitely affect the immersion in my opinion.

Despite saying all these good things about this title, there is a reason why I said I did not know what to think about it. Let me explain (and this is where comparisons start)... TTTWD had all these good things times two. Lee and Clementine are far better characters in my opinion. This may be due to the fact that TTTWD was an adventure game and focused almost always on the story. Be it dialogue, the choices, or the direction, you were Lee looking after Clem. Also, the characters in that game did not have an MO. It was true survival for them; as they say, live to fight another day. That adds to sadness more and resonates even more with the player. In TLOU, you were 'playing' as Joel - you have weapons, you shoot bad guys, and you progress to the next objective only to ultimately reach the MO. Also, the ending. TTTWD tore me apart with its emotional ending. And it was not exactly an "ending" ending, which was absolutely heart-breaking. TLOU has an ending that is good but it was not anything great. Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed. It didn't feel complete.

I must say, even after playing what is supposedly a title made by the almighty himself in the eyes of many gamers, I still think TTTWD does it better. Due to all the facts stated above, it goes without saying that I will remember this game, I will remember Gustavo's opening theme song and I will definitely remember Joel and Ellie. But only because a sequel is in the works. For me, Lee and Clementine will always be close to my heart.

Score - 7/10