http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/2012/08/03/7-reasons-the-last-of-us-is-next-gen-now/
1.) Suble Storytelling
This isntAngry Men With Guns II, its a tale of a man whos done questionable things in the past charged with transporting a young girlacross a near feral America. Ellie has describedJoel asa violent thug, a brutal killer and a torturerand shes on his side. The combination of world weary guilt and youthfullynaïvecuriosityis an interesting mix. And with much of the exposition andcharacterdevelopment coming as much from in-gamedialogueas it does from beautifully acted cut scenes this is going to be quite the tale.
2.) Violence Means Something
Most games make death such a casual thing that it literally becomes a press button event. The Last Of Us takes a different route the violence is there but it resonates with meaning and ramifications. This is a game about ordinary people simply trying to not die, both you and the enemy. No special training or powers, justsurvivalof thefittest. Underlining the far moretangible motivations is a shocking sense of impact to it all; frenzied beatings, guns that feel like ugly and heavy tools rather thanbeautifullydesigned machines. Youve only youve only got to watch the closing moments of thisThe Last Of Us gameplayto see how killing leaves a mark not a score.
3.)It's not all about the Monsters.
Usually when a game has a monster/power/gimmickit revolves around it like a planet in orbit, tied to, and bound by, it inescapably. Here these fungus-infected zombie folk are the cause of the events in the game but little else. The disease has broughtcivilisationto its knees but as a result the biggest threat is other people, not monsters. Theyre there, and always a threat, but are an ingredient rather than the whole cake. Because The Last Of Us isnt beholden to its monsters it opens up the narrative and potential action in so many ways. It also means theyll be so much more powerful when they do appear in-game. Think about it: that thing might look scary the first time, but third? Tenth? Compare that to another dirty, twitchysurvivor encounter that could go either way
4,)It's Going to be Tough.
Not in a punishing way, more a challenge. For starters theres no regenerating health, you need to use med packs to heal. Plus Naughty Dog have talked aboutThe Last Of Us live inventory management and dynamic stealth- you cantpausethe action to craft weapons for example. Enemies will eventually notice if their friends startdisappearing as well, meaning stealth isnt an automatically safe option. Ammo is also super rare. You might not want to risk tackling a rival group of survivors but you might have to if theres nothing in yourrucksackbut dreams.
5.)It's Next-Gen Acting.
If anyone can do incredible videogame acting its Naughty Dog. Theyve had three Uncharted games to flex their dramatic chops and perfect those skills. Now everything theyve learned is going into The Last Of Us. The level of emotion displayed so far has been been believable enough to pass right through Wow Im watching a great looking video game and straight into Im watching a great story territory. And a big part of that is the cast. With Troy Baker andAshley Johnson playing Joel and EllierespectivelyNaughty Dog has made them as much a part of the games development as any programmer or artist. There have been script rewrites andcharacterdesigntweaks as a result of their performances, and the rapportbetween the two on screen is one of the games biggest strengths.
6.)It's Beautiful.
Its the little things that really make The Last Of Us pop visually. The way that sun lit walls seem to almost glow slightly, how Joel flexes his hands when hes thinking and the way the animation has its own AI pulling out movements and blending them depending on theenvironment and things around you. Everything Naughty Dog learned about blending motion caption, hand animation and procedural stuff is combined with a mastery of the PS3 great than even Sonys own engineers. This will quite possibly be the absolute peak of current gen graphics.
7.)It's Not A Traditional Post-Apocalypse.
This is important: this isnt the usual end of the world, all scorched earth and brown dust. This is a world thatd ended within the lifetime of most of the people its left behind. It totally changes the context because instead ofsurvivorslooking on ruins generations later, its all familiar everyday remains that are almosttauntingthe ones who lived. This is asocietystill grieving for what its lost, the transition to a strange other world future still hundreds of years away. A beautiful counterpoint to it all is Ellie who, at 14, has nomemoryof what came before. It leaves herwith a burning curiosity of a world shes never seen but can sense in the ruins of both the buildings and people around her.
AtariKidX
1) Suble Storytelling
Nothing new here. Heavy Rain, Ferenheit, Alan Wake plus most survival horror games have done this to some extent. The next concern is if Naughty Dog have what it takes to pull off subtle story telling. Remember that for all the praise that Uncharted 2 gets, they've never even tried to tell an emotionally stirring story. If someone told me that Michael Bay was making a movie that focused on subtle storytelling I'd be more than a little skeptical. Naughty Dog has never told a story that went beyond 'kinda like Indiana Jones'.
2.) Violence Means Something
The idea that violence carries a real impact will only hold if the whole game treats violence as something rare and unique. If that's the case we still need to see what you'll do for the rest of the 95% of the time. If not, violence will be just as common and generic as in other survival horror shooters.
3.) Its not all about the Monsters.
Really.. that's supposed to be unique? That's pretty much at the heart of most zombie genre movies, books and a fair number of the games. It's not a bad idea, it works well and it's part of the genre, but it's about as innovative as Mario jumping on turtles.
4,)It's Going to be Tough.
Not regenerating health is next gen now?! I dont even... As for brutal, unforgiving and not pausing the game while browsing your inventory, try Day Z now THAT is unforgiving (that does not automatically mean that its better or worse, just that Last of Us is not offering anything new here).
5.)It's Next-Gen Acting.
Again, that's a helluva an assumption to make before playing the game. I agree that Naughty Dog has a history of superb voice acting and presentation and hopefully that will be one of the core strengths of the game. But again remember that theyve never even tried to do script, voice acting and storytelling with any emotional impact before. This is not territory where they've proven themselves yet.
6.)It's Beautiful.
It is, but no more so than Uncharted 2 and 3 and those games are certainly not next gen. Compared to the high end stuff on the PC it's not outstanding its simply solid graphics with a lot of polish. That is impressive and worthy of praise, but that does not make it something new to the industry.
7.)It's Not A Traditional Post-Apocalypse.
Again, nothing all that new. big city in ruins? How is that innovative or unique? Look at Enslaved for example. Look at Day Z, look at Im Alive.
People might want to remember that Naughty Dog is not a company that became famous for innovating or moving the industry forward, they became famous for doing what others had done already for a decade but doing it really really well. Note for example that there is very very little in Uncharted 1-3 that Lara Croft hadnt already done to the point of repetition. It just did it really well.
Last of Us looks like itll be a lot of fun (at least I think so). But theres not really anything there that is going to show us anything we havent already seen before. Its going to be a pretty linear third person shooter with lots of cut scenes, dialog and focus on the two main characters Kinda like Enslaved but better realized.
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