The Last of Us Part I
Finally got round to playing 'one of the best games of all time', 10 years after release and having already watched the TV show that followed, I feel like I've somehow had the rug pulled out under my feet. While I can't honestly say that any part of the game is plainly bad, it's obvious that a massive internet hive-mind frenzy is responsible for the surge of awards, acclaim, and outright hysteria that follows the series to this day.
It has to be admitted that the remaster's graphics are incredible, although turning them up to their true maximums will tax the vast majority of PC's. Sadly despite this, the developers fall into the same trap as so many other groups, where a truly fantastic level of graphic fidelity ends up utterly ruined by constantly covering everything in fog, dust, smog, mist, blinding rain, or if those aren't good enough, just outright darkness to the point where everything is just shadows on shadows. The sections where actual light is allowed to get through do look excellent though, and are spaced throughout the game.
Sound design overall can only really be described as 'good'. All generally well crafted, but nothing particularly stands out as amazing, and music is sparse but well placed.
This is where the praise ends however. Gameplay overall is painfully linear, and even allowing for the fact it's technically 10 years old, it's just dull. There is literally nothing in here that hasn't been done before, and better, elsewhere. A particular annoyance was just how gamified the resources and ammo systems were, in an attempt to enforce an atmosphere of constantly scrabbling for kit and scavenging. By the end of the game Joel is carrying 3 different hand guns, a sawn-off shotty, a full size shotgun, a hunting rifle, a full size bow, an assault rifle, and a literal flamethrower (as well as 9 different grenades), but at no point can you ever carry more than around 30 or so bullets for any of them.
Silent melee kills on dangerous enemies have to be done with crafted shivs which break upon use, and the same shivs are also used to unlock optional loot doors, while the parts to make them can't always be easily found; creating a choice between silent combat and getting more loot. Joel's been living as a smuggler in an apocalypse for years without ever finding a fixed blade knife? You can carry around up to 3 pre-made large health kits, but the small chocolate bars and snacks found lying around can only be eaten on the spot (because they're just a replacement for what would have been a glowing +5 health icon 10 years before). Of course you can't put those in your backpack, that's where you keep your 9 guns.
For a game that loves to bash you over the head with the idea of using stealth combat where necessary, the actual stealth mechanics sure are basic. The earlier complaint about how everything is dark means the game has to literally pop up a UI note to advise that you can leave your flashlight on when dealing with zombies, because it won't attract them (convenient). Enemies that are described as 'flanking' are really just pathfinding to your exact spot but being forced to detour to the side; if you sit and watch them they will always end up right next to you, even if they have ranged weapons that would let them sit back. Fire literal hand cannons within 20 feet of someone but move 10 feet to the side and you've 'vanished', so off they search again.
And then finally, the plot. The most lauded story-based game in what must be nearly 20 years. The plot and storyline must be great, surely? Well, it's functional, and that's about it. Having seen so many franchises where public opinion is that 'the book/game was better than the TV show', here I have to say it feels reversed. The TV show took the bones of a plotline from this game, and made an actual story and characters out of it; the game is just a series of scenarios that Joel slowly grinds through, killing everything as he goes. There are no choices, this is a set-story and you aren't deviating an inch, if you spend too long hanging around an area a big hint will pop up for you to let you know which way to go. I particularly enjoyed the constant running joke of Joel finding and keeping various maps for each area, as though you actually need to navigate.
The characterisation of both Joel and Ellie seems almost deliberately vague, they're both intended as Mary-Sues, and I suspect this is why the show had so many negative responses, because any actor that's not 'you' as Joel, and your own real or imaginary child as Ellie is never going to live up. Joel could be literally any masculine-coded American middle-aged male you care to think of. His backstory is that he used to have a daughter. His personality traits are that he used to have a daughter, and he shoots things. No friends, no beliefs, no known affiliations (alright, one brother, estranged) or life motivations. Even with his 'partner' Tess it's not clear if he even has any attachment to her at all beyond her usefulness as a smuggling accomplice.
Ellie is arguably even worse, despite the fact that the entire game is about her. She essentially pops fully formed into the world at 14 years old, you are given literally no backstory about her whatsoever until the very end of the game via a couple of diary entries, and 3 sentences of dialogue. Her personality is to be unnaturally pleasant and cheerful even for a regular 14 year old girl, let alone one constantly travelling and being attacked by zombies and bandits in an apocalyptic nightmare. She will occasionally raise her voice slightly and curse in the sort of genteel manner that might offend a priest, just to remind you she is in fact supposed to be a teenage girl going through a severe PTSD-inducing traumatic life; but only briefly before returning to her usual state of socially pleasant optimism. Both characters show no signs of change or growth until key plot moments where they are required to, whereupon they suddenly change their minds. Joel in particular spends the entire first half of the game trying to palm Ellie off until the precise moment he's able to; whereupon he immediately becomes a surrogate father and doggedly refuses to let her out of his sight. Ellie chafes at the idea of anyone telling her what to do, or treating her like the child she actually is, but accepts her being smuggled to the Fireflies and out of the safety of the QZ without so much as a murmur, if not actively assisting this despite how much danger it puts her in.
The plot itself is as basic as can be, leveraging the background of the scenario (zombies, yo) as justification for a lack of any explanatory detail whatsoever. FEDRA is bad, they have no interest in a cure, would kill Ellie on sight, and only care about maintaining dictatorial control. You know this because you are told so by a Firefly (rebel group working against FEDRA). No further arguments, no other evidence or justification, you never even speak to a FEDRA aligned character who has a name to present an opposing opinion. Joel as the PC is initially motivated only by money / supplies, and takes the job of smuggling Ellie without even knowing why she is important; he could quite literally be trafficking a 14 year old sex slave and doesn't question it. Yet contrarily, he also appears to be the only person who has any issue with killing Ellie in the final act. It's just accepted that although a few people wring their hands for a while, ultimately the entire Firefly group goes along with murdering a child, to the point that almost the entire Firefly population dies at Joel's hands trying to stop him.
Overall, I wonder if I'd been able to play this when it first came out, I may have felt less critical to it, but without nostalgia goggles on, this feels like a case of Playstation fans experiencing heavy buyers remorse and tribal bias, resulting in an internet group-think that decided a 7/10 game is somehow an 11/10,
It has to be admitted that the remaster's graphics are incredible, although turning them up to their true maximums will tax the vast majority of PC's. Sadly despite this, the developers fall into the same trap as so many other groups, where a truly fantastic level of graphic fidelity ends up utterly ruined by constantly covering everything in fog, dust, smog, mist, blinding rain, or if those aren't good enough, just outright darkness to the point where everything is just shadows on shadows. The sections where actual light is allowed to get through do look excellent though, and are spaced throughout the game.
Sound design overall can only really be described as 'good'. All generally well crafted, but nothing particularly stands out as amazing, and music is sparse but well placed.
This is where the praise ends however. Gameplay overall is painfully linear, and even allowing for the fact it's technically 10 years old, it's just dull. There is literally nothing in here that hasn't been done before, and better, elsewhere. A particular annoyance was just how gamified the resources and ammo systems were, in an attempt to enforce an atmosphere of constantly scrabbling for kit and scavenging. By the end of the game Joel is carrying 3 different hand guns, a sawn-off shotty, a full size shotgun, a hunting rifle, a full size bow, an assault rifle, and a literal flamethrower (as well as 9 different grenades), but at no point can you ever carry more than around 30 or so bullets for any of them.
Silent melee kills on dangerous enemies have to be done with crafted shivs which break upon use, and the same shivs are also used to unlock optional loot doors, while the parts to make them can't always be easily found; creating a choice between silent combat and getting more loot. Joel's been living as a smuggler in an apocalypse for years without ever finding a fixed blade knife? You can carry around up to 3 pre-made large health kits, but the small chocolate bars and snacks found lying around can only be eaten on the spot (because they're just a replacement for what would have been a glowing +5 health icon 10 years before). Of course you can't put those in your backpack, that's where you keep your 9 guns.
For a game that loves to bash you over the head with the idea of using stealth combat where necessary, the actual stealth mechanics sure are basic. The earlier complaint about how everything is dark means the game has to literally pop up a UI note to advise that you can leave your flashlight on when dealing with zombies, because it won't attract them (convenient). Enemies that are described as 'flanking' are really just pathfinding to your exact spot but being forced to detour to the side; if you sit and watch them they will always end up right next to you, even if they have ranged weapons that would let them sit back. Fire literal hand cannons within 20 feet of someone but move 10 feet to the side and you've 'vanished', so off they search again.
And then finally, the plot. The most lauded story-based game in what must be nearly 20 years. The plot and storyline must be great, surely? Well, it's functional, and that's about it. Having seen so many franchises where public opinion is that 'the book/game was better than the TV show', here I have to say it feels reversed. The TV show took the bones of a plotline from this game, and made an actual story and characters out of it; the game is just a series of scenarios that Joel slowly grinds through, killing everything as he goes. There are no choices, this is a set-story and you aren't deviating an inch, if you spend too long hanging around an area a big hint will pop up for you to let you know which way to go. I particularly enjoyed the constant running joke of Joel finding and keeping various maps for each area, as though you actually need to navigate.
The characterisation of both Joel and Ellie seems almost deliberately vague, they're both intended as Mary-Sues, and I suspect this is why the show had so many negative responses, because any actor that's not 'you' as Joel, and your own real or imaginary child as Ellie is never going to live up. Joel could be literally any masculine-coded American middle-aged male you care to think of. His backstory is that he used to have a daughter. His personality traits are that he used to have a daughter, and he shoots things. No friends, no beliefs, no known affiliations (alright, one brother, estranged) or life motivations. Even with his 'partner' Tess it's not clear if he even has any attachment to her at all beyond her usefulness as a smuggling accomplice.
Ellie is arguably even worse, despite the fact that the entire game is about her. She essentially pops fully formed into the world at 14 years old, you are given literally no backstory about her whatsoever until the very end of the game via a couple of diary entries, and 3 sentences of dialogue. Her personality is to be unnaturally pleasant and cheerful even for a regular 14 year old girl, let alone one constantly travelling and being attacked by zombies and bandits in an apocalyptic nightmare. She will occasionally raise her voice slightly and curse in the sort of genteel manner that might offend a priest, just to remind you she is in fact supposed to be a teenage girl going through a severe PTSD-inducing traumatic life; but only briefly before returning to her usual state of socially pleasant optimism. Both characters show no signs of change or growth until key plot moments where they are required to, whereupon they suddenly change their minds. Joel in particular spends the entire first half of the game trying to palm Ellie off until the precise moment he's able to; whereupon he immediately becomes a surrogate father and doggedly refuses to let her out of his sight. Ellie chafes at the idea of anyone telling her what to do, or treating her like the child she actually is, but accepts her being smuggled to the Fireflies and out of the safety of the QZ without so much as a murmur, if not actively assisting this despite how much danger it puts her in.
The plot itself is as basic as can be, leveraging the background of the scenario (zombies, yo) as justification for a lack of any explanatory detail whatsoever. FEDRA is bad, they have no interest in a cure, would kill Ellie on sight, and only care about maintaining dictatorial control. You know this because you are told so by a Firefly (rebel group working against FEDRA). No further arguments, no other evidence or justification, you never even speak to a FEDRA aligned character who has a name to present an opposing opinion. Joel as the PC is initially motivated only by money / supplies, and takes the job of smuggling Ellie without even knowing why she is important; he could quite literally be trafficking a 14 year old sex slave and doesn't question it. Yet contrarily, he also appears to be the only person who has any issue with killing Ellie in the final act. It's just accepted that although a few people wring their hands for a while, ultimately the entire Firefly group goes along with murdering a child, to the point that almost the entire Firefly population dies at Joel's hands trying to stop him.
Overall, I wonder if I'd been able to play this when it first came out, I may have felt less critical to it, but without nostalgia goggles on, this feels like a case of Playstation fans experiencing heavy buyers remorse and tribal bias, resulting in an internet group-think that decided a 7/10 game is somehow an 11/10,
Mini Review: Finally got round to playing 'one of the best games of all time', 10 years after release and having already watched the TV show that followed, I feel like I've somehow had the rug pulled out under my feet. While I can't honestly say that any part of the game is plainly bad, it's obvious that a massive internet hive-mind frenzy is responsible for the surge of awards, acclaim, and outright hysteria that follows the series to this day. It has to be...
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