Still Hanging on The Last of Us

From my experience hanging out on the forums and comment sections of threads on different gaming websites over the past year, The Last of Us was and still is the most talked about game; and not just the most talked about game, the most revered game. What's more remarkable is, I have never heard of any other game getting this much incessant praise for this long on the internet, ever. Not Half-Life, not any Zelda or Mario, not Shadow of the Colossus, Braid, Starcraft (insert another widely considered best game of all time here). Sure, all these games get love here and there and brought up from time to time, but none of these titles have ever gotten the daily love of what The Last of Us is getting. Maybe The Last of Us Remastered is keeping the love flame burning strong. Either way, right now The Last of Us is the big cheese, it is the big kahuna burger, and it is considered by many to be one of the best games of all time.

Instead of trying to figure out why Half-life didn't get that daily love (which frankly is impossible because when HL was released we were using rotary phones and thought the internet was a joke), lets talk about the very recent awesome games and discuss why they aren't getting the same amount of love as The Last of Us. So...What are some of the best games of 2014 so far that don't have The Last of Us in the title? Well, Mario Kart 8, Divinity: Original Sin, Bravely Default, Child of Light, and Dark Souls 2 are what come to my mind. In terms of overall quality, The Last of Us doesn't necessarily stand far above or far below any or the former titles, yet it does get insanely more praise then them. So... why? I think there are some big reasons for this and I'll just talk about one:

• The Last of Us - The New Mascot For Sony

Sony sort of had a tangible, animal mascot at one time, but he didn't become a mascot because his game sold like hot cakes or because fans revered his game to be one of the greatest games of all time. Crash Bandicoot was just a fuzzy, friendly looking rabbit creature who became synonymous with the original Playstation because he was tailored to be that way by Sony, sort of like Mario is by Nintendo. As the Playstation "grew up" Crash was put away in the attic, along with many other of the classic game characters from Sony's past. Though Sony found no need to directly replace him, their "mature" fans still needed something to fill the void. Exclusive titles.

Exclusive titles are the modern mascots for Xbox and Playstation, with the very best of these exclusives coming the closest to serving as an actual mascot. Halo is the face of Xbox and for awhile Playstation was juggling Uncharted and God of War for most of PS3's life. In the last year its clear that victor is neither of those titles, but actually The Last of Us.

As the nature of the mascot has changed for Sony, the treatment of this new mascot also changes. The Last of Us isn't just a game, it's the best game there is and its an experience you can't get anywhere else. If you don't own a PS3 or PS4 you will be missing out on this incredible life experience. If Crash once represented fun and light-hearted good times, The Last of Us represents "innovation," "a graphical achievement" and "the best experience you can get as a gamer today." For Sony fans, nothing hits these targets better than The Last of Us. Until some exclusive title lands on the PS4 that hits those targets better in their eyes, The Last of US will continue to get this daily love from its fans.

Since Nintendo or the PC doesn't need to have a mascot like this, no game, no matter how God-like, that comes out will ever gets this same treatment that Sony fans give The Last of Us. No matter how good Zelda U is, Mario Kart 8 is, SSB U is, Starcraft 2 is, Divinity: Original Sin is, FTL is, there is no point for Nintendo and PC fans to repeatedly clog gaming websites with opinions that claim one of those former titles are the best games of all time. Nintendo already has Mario, who still represents the idea of fun, and PC which has more games than any console ever will. They both don't need to pick just one game and raise it up to the skies and praise it every day so that people who are around can jump on the bandwagon.

Last of us was an enormous achievement in terms of gameplay or graphics or music and soundtrack but what made it so special and so different was the unique ,serious way in which it talked about the human soul ,about humanity ,about its capabilities and handicaps.About life.About gain and loss.And it did that in the most touching yet most unprecedented way : through the eyes of a heart-broken father.

@elkoldo: I don't think it was a big achievement in gameplay at all, but the graphics, soundtrack were solid. The story didn't really do it for me. I see your point about the heart-broken father, but the world of The Last of Us was far too contrived to fit the central theme.

I liked TLoU plenty. It played around with perspective really well, it managed to make zombies not feel boring, and it was a big game that didn't feel the need to give more ammo than I could ever use. Still, I would have liked to see more interaction in the gameplay between Joel and Ellie and I have my doubts that a game about shooting stuff in the face is going to be my "greatest game ever."

Anyway, I'm not so sure that other games weren't praised as much as TLoU has been. Half-Life 2 was in a similar situation in that it had a big budget, was perceived to be of extremely high quality, and happened to be in a very popular genre. Super Mario 64 and A Link to the Past come to mind too although HL2 is probably more comparable because it had add-ons and multiplayer to keep the hype rolling.

Still, I do agree with you that TLoU is also benefiting from timing (which seems crazy after the big deal people were making about releasing a non-sequel so late in the generation). Sony is in a drought of big budget exclusives and that magnifies the other factors a bit.

to compare the leading up of half'lifes gameplay and to compare it to tlous's average gameplay but "good" story is the reason why tlou is my most overrated game to date. people actually think a story (cliche and forced) is equiv on ANY level to half-life2 game blows my mind. add in tlous' average gameplay in a pretty bow and i say: nobody better ever compare half'life anything with the crapfest that is tlou.

These overstatements are deplorable. I personally detest when people irresponsibly overstate a game's accomplishments. This game is on the same level of madness as Half Life 2. Grossly overrated. That is not the say the game isn't good. It good game without a doubt but nowhere remotely close to the amount of praise it receives. Its praise is akin to the hate Justin Bieber receives.

@Pedro: if you didn't like the game, that's fine. But don't force your opinion on everyone who disagrees with you. Many people love The Last of Us (myself included), others don't. It's called an opinion for a reason, and you should let people have one.

If you read what I was responding to, the person was not stating an opinion. And you should take your advice let others have their opinion on the game in the same way you do. No one is imposing anything on you.

Of course that person was stating a opinion, what would even make you think otherwise?

@Pedro: My apologies. I misread what you said.

What, exactly about what elkoldo said about TLoU, is inaccurate and so "deplorable"? I think he/she hit the nail right on the head, though I'd like to add I also believe that TLoU supports itself through its own strong gameplay foundations to boot that help enhance an already strong narrative that constantly approaches and deals with deep, humanistic situations and conditions that are handled and dealt with in a mature, realistic manner.

You did nothing to provide any counter points to their points, just attempted to shoot it down with nary an effort. WHY you disagree would be wonderful to hear instead of a simple, "I'm sick of hearing this bullshit". Personally, I detest when someone simply disregards such a game's accomplishments without anything worthy of more than a second's glance.

What enormous achievement was made in terms of gameplay? Seriously what is this grand leap? They took a particularly solid gameplay formula and re-implement into their game. That formula being the Uncharted; which is their game after all. Even the game's pacing was rooted in the Uncharted formula to the point I can tell when the action was going to start and end.That is not a bad thing, not even in the slightest but, to state that enormous strides were made is erroneous. The graphics were on the same level as Uncharted 3 and somehow its being stated as if its leagues beyond that game. Does any of this sounds reasonable or accurate to you?

As for the story and all of the humanity aspects that many claim, well that is vary on perspective and opinionated. I felt the story was strong at the start but dwindled very quickly. It was better implemented than Tomb raider's attempt but they both failed to capture this sense of humanity and believability that many claimed to be above and beyond anything else. But then again it's a game's story. The main stickler for games is that they are trying to blend to contradicting mechanics. You have a core mechanic that is mindless killing, bundled up with the main characters being ever so "caring" life. This game is not the only game that has this formula and wouldn't be the last. I am not arguing about whether this game is good or not because I believed it was a good game but when folks start to act rabid and overstate things its truly annoying just like my response maybe to you.

Naughty Dog's storytelling acumen demonstrated giant strides in various areas since the Uncharted games, such as dialogue, acting, character development and pacing. Yes, the formula had been laid and improved upon with each iteration of the Uncharted games, but TLoU perfected it far and away past what their previous works have accomplished. It's not erroneous at all to state enormous strides were made. The near universal accolades laid at its feet are proof of this enough. Their formula has improved by leaps and bounds when not even looked within the context of the game's individual mechanics.

Of which, I find TLoU's shooting to have taken a step above and beyond any I've yet to see in any game yet, mostly due to its implementation and utilization of knock-back. This has been seen in other games before so it's nothing I'd claim to be revolutionary per se, but I would still nevertheless classify it as an enormous achievement that helped lead to much more dynamic and tension filled firefight engagements. Depending on what type of gun and at what range (and the difficulty selected), a good hit could knock Joel down onto the ground and incapacitate him for up to 3-4 seconds, stripping control out of the player's hands and leaving them vulnerable and was deadly on higher difficulties. This enforced a cat and mouse type playstyle and made the player give consideration about doing things in a fight they probably wouldn't think twice about in any other shooter.

Just play Uncharted and then TLoU. The shooting is nothing alike. Gunfights were finally truly exchanges of fire in TLoU instead of "fill up the damage meter of the other guy the fastest without having to worry about being hit at the same time" tired mechanic that plagues all shooters nowadays. Name me another game where getting shot has gameplay ramifications like that......penalties that go past the growing red screen of death trope so far seen in almost all shooters thus far, unless you want to travel into games such as ARMA where getting hit is near instant death the first time. I can't think of one, and I can't play any other shooter (unless it's on the side of a sim) as I can TLoU. That's a grand leap in my view.

The Last of Us was probably one of the worst games I played last year, and one of the most miserable times I've had playing a game. Man, I do not regret having second thoughts about buying it and deciding to rent it instead.

I can't even begin to understand where you're coming from for any of this. The gameplay is that of a run of the mill third person cover shooter, except with the addition of agonizingly tedious stealth and constant rummaging for crap. The soundtrack never stood out in any way and I can't even remember any of it. The story is just a mix of The Road and The Walking Dead, the only noteworthy aspect being the performances.

It's a miserable game.

@Pedro

I mostly agree with what you're saying, but at the same time, there are definitely aspects to TLoU that make it really incredible. You liken TLoU to HL2, but there really isn't a comparison, based on what we both agree on in regards to TLoU's standard gameplay. HL2 revolutionized a lot, and what it didn't revolutionize it certainly created the blueprint that many other games have been using even in 2014. Physics, sound design, scripting, AI, graphics, animation and level composition... ask any programmer what they think of HL2's design if you think it's overrated. Believe me, it's a technical marvel. HL2 really layed out the power of the Source Engine as well, and as I'm sure you already know, Titanfall was built upon the same engine, albeit modified somewhat.

I do think some people go way overboard with their praise of the game, but even still, it's deserving of being called one of the greatest of all time. Curiously, did you play it when it came out in 2004, or later? I find that most of the people who don't feel the HL2 hype didn't play it when it dropped, so I'm just wondering.

Back to TLoU: the gameplay wasn't innovative, to be certain. With that said, I loved the story -- some didn't, and I get that some people hate the disconnect between gameplay and a story's message/tone, but keep in mind, we're dealing with an interactive medium here, one that is controlled by people with tens of millions of dollars. What I'm saying is, as much as I'd have no problem with TLoU being an adventure game, or at least a game less gory and third-person shooter-like (and more in line with the story's tone), I'm sure these kinds of decisions are made with financial interests in mind. Anything with a "shooter" genre attached to it tends to do better, sales wise. It's sad, and I'm the first person to say "publishers shouldn't influence anything", but at the same time, it's not my 50 million dollars going into the game, so what can I say. I don't think the disconnect with the story and gameplay is so bad.

But then again, I loved BioShock Infinite, even more than TLoU, and a lot of people call that overrated as well. I'm more of a sucker for interesting stories than most, I guess.

Its only been one year dude.... Trust me, People will have found a replacement by december and TLOA will fade into Oblivion like everyother game.

Your points are noted. I do not agree and as tempting as it might be to counter argue, I don't think it would accomplish much and I not trying to make an argument that the game is bad or not good. Any further back and forth would only extremify the views. Its worth noting that I was expecting the game to be bad but I was surprised that it wasn't.

Firstly no game is deserving of a title "greatest game of all time". That is simply foolish and I don't want to get started on the HL2 religious following in this thread but I would still hold the forth that TLOU is heading in the HL2 madness. It makes even hard resisting since you list a plethora of accolades that weren't anything above and beyond when compared to other games especially the AI and Physics.

I have heard of plenty of games with a much more unanimous amount of praise (exclusives invariably get hate from many fronts), but yes: TLoU is, well deservedly, considered one of the greatest games of all time. It showed the industry where it's supposed to go next in terms of writing and characters and I can only imagine what these guys will do next and how much they will be able to raise the bar next time.

From a gameplay perspective, The Last of Us is hardly phenomenal. The Last of Us largely sticks out in people's minds because of its story telling and excellent production values. It's an experience but as far as GAMES go, it's not even anywhere close to one of the greatest games of all time.

No, it won't.

YOU gimmie a sandwich!!

@JustPlainLucas: for me, the game sticks out for all aspects, not just its phenomenal story. I agree the gameplay isn't the greatest, but it fits the tone of the world and feels very personal and brutal to the point where I questioned why I enjoyed it in the moment when I felt a little sick afterwards. Bashing a guy's skull with a spiked bat will do that. That and running for dear life when I ran out of bullets and supplies. It just felt real to me, and I enjoyed that a game could be that honest about its gameplay as opposed to the unrealistic power fantasy most zombie/apocalypse games evolve into. It felt refreshing in a way. You may not have seen it that way, but that's how I view it.

@Rotondi: what i don't understand is that you seem like very smart guy but it's strange that i keep see you troll the game in the articles

why are you doing that ?!

On Topic: what i recall is that before the last of us come out fanboys were saying every one will forget about this game in a month and it won't sell sh1t (which is now over 7 million sold) and after a month they said wait few more months and now they are saying it's only one year old game give it another year

in this gen a game get backlash just after 2-3months after the hype is gone .....i keep say alot of hate for dark souls 2 BTW

yet this game is still going strong after over a year and the fact that Users matescore is 90+% on every Metascore site (which is rare those days from gamers ) prove that it lived up to it hype for most who played it not just the critcs

Last of Us has always been an interesting topic for me. I do get carried away and exaggerate points when I'm trying to have some fun, however I think there is a lot of great counter-arguments to why The Last of Us is not that great. Like many people have the opinion that The Last of Us is incredible, my opinion is different and there is a lot of fun in trying to convince the other side why your opinion is better.

Naughty Dog made The Last of Us, so I'm not so sure who the heck said this game wouldn't live up the hype or wouldn't sell. Practically everybody has been nuts over this game since its initial reveal. I was even nuts for this game when it was first revealed. So I think when you refer to some people who said this game wouldn't live up to the hype, you're talking about an extreme, extreme minority of people who had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. Sony fans are nuts for Uncharted, so obviously The Last of Us would be a hit.

The Last of Us defines modern gaming. It is the ideal single-player game that the majority of people who play games today WANT to play, this includes critics. There is no reason why The Last of Us wouldn't have scored as high as it did. Then there's me. The Last of Us is not my ideal game. It did not feel original and I felt the story was lame. But, I have complete respect for the people that enjoy this game. I'm just here to talk about my opinion that's all. It's fun having an opinion that not many people have. It's fun trying to convince people that The Last of Us may not be the 2nd coming of Christ. I also don't think many of the highly acclaimed movies of the last decade are that good either. Like Salinger once said, "People are always clapping at the wrong things."

It blows my mind that in today's gaming world, a game like Wonderful 101 doesn't sell anything and something like Call of Duty sells a god amount of copies. So I don't care what metascore The Last of Us got. The majority of gamers today would rather play a brainless shooter or a brainless action game than something like FTL. The majority of gamers today also put far too much stock in graphics, an aspect of gaming that matters so little. I take the fact that the majority of video game critics gave a high score to The Last of Us with a grain of salt since the majority opinion on video games is often very far from what I find enjoyable and fun.

That's not to say I always disagree with the majority.

@Rotondi: even though i disagree with your opinion

i admire the way you discribe why you don't like TLOU as much as others ..and now that know that you are just having fun it's all good

After playing videogames for 30+ years my take on this is that The Last Of Us is the best game ever made in history. No wonder why this game has gotten over 200 game of the year awards,that really says something. Tlou has it all, amazing story, great voice acting, beutifull graphics, fantastic gameplay, the overall atmosphere throughout the whole game is just perfect, the character evolvement is extremly well thought out, Multiplayer is very intuitive, fun and it has great gameplay with loads of weapons and maps. This game is just perfect in every ways tbh, the guy who gave this an 8 here on gamespot must have been drunk haha,,, It deserved 10. Not many games deserves a 10 on the score but this masterpiece is one of those few games that truly deserved it.