The Last of Us Review

Consoles: PS4
Release Date: July 28^th 2014
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

In June of 2013, a masterpiece in gaming came out. A game that swept the gaming industry with nearly perfect scores across the board. I am talking about The Last of Us. From Developer Naughty Dog (creator of famous franchises Uncharted and Crash Bandicoot) comes a third person shooter, survival, and action adventure game. Last year the game blew me away and this year was no exception.

STORY
Naughty Dog has some of the best storywriters around with their Uncharted series and with The Last of Us the story was no different. In 2013 a fungal virus started to spread causing humans into zombie like creatures. Twenty years later the U.S. is no longer the same. Heavily armed quarantine camps have been set up, nomadic groups are formed and everything else is in ruins.

The story puts you in control of protagonist Joel and his journey of escorting a young girl named Ellie who is possibly the key to curing the virus and saving humanity. They must travel across the U.S. to an organization that may be able to make a cure. Along the way they venture through a few cities. They see how the cities have crumbled and how nature has taken over them. (It is quite possibly the most beautiful and frightening thing to see). Bandits have seized control of the cities and of course the infected roam the land. Joel and Ellie must fight with limited supplies and craft weapons in order to survive this post apocalyptic world.

Now I don’t want to give away too much of the story because it is a story you need to play! This game plays with so many emotions in all the right ways. Even if you don’t like gun fighting or video games in general, at least watch the videos of someone else playing the game. It is an emotional roller coaster that you will take and want to get back on as soon as you are done. If you have already played the single player, the remastered version also comes with the DLC Left Behind. Which you want to play after you beat the game. It bridges a huge time gap that was left out in the original single player.

GAMEPLAY
The game plays nearly identical to the PS3 version but has some changes that fully use the PS4 Dualshock 4 controller. For instance, to go into your backpack you just touch the touch pad and Joel or Ellie opens up their bag for easy access. Naughty Dog also changed the shooting mechanics. Instead of using the L1 and R1 like in the original title it is now L2 and R2 similar to that of most PS4 shooters on the market. This is definitely a better option then the old controller mapping. If you don’t like the PS4 features there is even an option to revert it back to PS3 controller scheme.

The only option you can’t turn off is the Dualshock light bar, like most games for the PS4 it changes color for your health. This is no exception. Another feature that is added in the controls (thanks to the Dualshock 4) is the motion sensitivity and speaker. Throughout the game your light now flickers on and off and you need to tap the controller to make the light generate. Certain messages or recordings will now play through the speaker adding another level of immersion of the game. Some of these features have been used in previous PS4 titles like “Killzone Shadow Fall” and it fits well with this game.
Those of you who have played through the PS3 version on hard, there are two new levels of difficulty “survivor” and “grounded”. So there is plenty of extreme difficulties to keep you busy and cursing away as you play this title.

GRAPHICS
This game looks absolutely beautiful! When the game came out on the PS3 it looked amazing. Actually if you play the two side by side you won’t really see too much of a difference. The PS4 has some finer detail on the character but not much. The main difference between the two is that the PS4 runs at 1080p and 60 frames per second. There is even an option to run the game at 30 frames per second. Depending on what type of TV you have you may need to play with it to see what works and looks best. A new feature that is added in the PS4 version is the photo mode. Photo mode allows you to take pictures of the landscape and even selfies. It almost feels like a boasting option, but when a game looks this good it deserves it.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I am going to keep this short and sweet. If you own a PS4, buy this title. Even if you are not a fan of shooters, the story will keep entertained and makes this a journey you will want to take again and again. With new features, better framerate, and all the DLC this is definitely an HD remastered game to pick up. The Last of Us receives the first Blood Shed’s 5 out of 5.
(If you own a PS3 version of this game and want to upgrade to the PS4 version. Gamestop is still giving you an instant $25 trade in credit towards the purchase of the HD remastered version.)