Naughty Dog, the developers behind both the Jak & Daxter and Uncharted series, have released their latest game,The Last of Us, for the Playstation 3. The game has been getting some incredible reviews, and as a fan of their past titles, I had to check it out.
I came into the game totally in the dark. I have avoided any and all information about the game because I wanted to be surprised. This review is spoiler free, so don’t worry about getting any aspects of the game ruined for you here.
Let me start by saying that the game is rated M for Mature. This is the video game equivalent of an R rated film. There is some language and violent content that cement the rating at an M, but it is all in service of the story. It is hard to describe the story of The Last of Us without giving anything away, but I can tell you that you will care about the characters you encounter. These are not your stereotypical throwaway video game characters. The voice acting and characters are all very well done, and the environments and settings you play through in the game are breathtaking in their detail and beauty. The developers used every part of the craft in service of the story of these characters, and it shows.
The game is not a run and gun type of game. Stealth, crafting, and careful thought are the only way you will make it through this game. In some games, you can easily take out a room full of bad guys. In The Last of Us, it is easy to get overpowered if there is more than one enemy nearby. Is there a different way through here? Maybe you can sneak around a different way? Maybe you can silently take out one or two enemies on the outer perimeter? These are the kinds of questions you’ll be asking yourself throughout the game.
There are a handful of games of this caliber. This is far and away the best game of this generation of games. The worst part of The Last of Us is trying to get up for work the next day. It really is that good.
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