Believe the Hype!
Singleplayer:
Joel, is a survivour in this new and dangerous world and he is tasked with the job of escorting Ellie to the fireflies, a group searching for a vaccine for the cordycep infection, as Ellie is immune to the infection. Well, that is the most basic synopsis of plot.
Words cannot describe how sublime the single player experience of the Last of Us is. A gripping,tense and emotional epic that will have you crying, aswell as laughing alongside Joel and Ellie. One of ND's biggest assest's is their wonderful character development. The story is centered around Joel and Ellie's relationship and how it is affected by the events taking place around them. It is wonderful to see how two strangers develop a father/daughter relationship. As you progress, there are various bit of conversation between the two and this signifies their growing relationship and the creation of a bond. For example, in the game there might be a poster of a movie displayed on the wall. And Ellie starts to question Joel on it, since she was born after the apocalypse. This might seem as small talk but it is a symbol of the growing friendship between Joel and Ellie. The story also does a wonderful job of potraying what we humans are truly capable of. It is not the mosters that are the biggest threat, it is, us Humans. ND paints a bleak image of how low human beings can fall.
The story is brought to life by a wonderful set of characters, each one having it's own unique personality. These characters are potrayed in a detailed manner with each emotion backed with some solid voice acting and facial expression.
All in all, A basic plot is lifted to a whole new level by a wonderful set of characters and a bleak, yet beautiful world.
Visuals:
The Last of Us utilises the PS3's capabilities to the fullest. Detailed character models are placed in a beautiful and colourful world. The game looks absolutely stunning.
Gameplay:
The story is not worth much if it isn't backed with some solid gameplay. Although it might not be earth-shattering, the gameplay in the Last of Us is solid throughout. Now before I move onto the gameplay, I will talk about the game's crafting system. It is a fairly simple system, you find supplies scattered across the game world and you can use these items to modify or craft weapons and medical kits. For example, you can use rags and alcohol to craft medical kits or Molotov cocktails.You also collect spare parts during the game which can be used to upgrade certain features of the currect set of weapons.Like, increasing the clip capacity of your pistol or the reload speed of the shotgun. Next, we have the Supplements. These can be used to develop Joel's survival skills. For example, collecting 50 supplemts allows you to increase the health bar or collecting 25 supplements reduces the amount of time taken for crafting a weapn. All of these features add alot of depth to the gameplay and give reason to the player for exploration, as you will need to explore in order to find the supplements and spare parts. You will face two types of enemies, first, the humans and then the infected. The game gives you the option to go stealthy or all guns blazing, although it is advised that you follow the stealthy route as ammo and supplies are scarce. The game makes you think before taking an action and these actions depend on the enemies you face. It makes you question before firing each bullet and building each item. Should I use my last remaining supply of rags and alcohol to build medi kits or should I build molotov's for more damage? Should I use my last supply of duct tapes and scissors to craft a shiv(knife) or should I upgrade my melee weapons? The game agonises you over each decision.
The sections involving the infected is able to capture the tension that even survival-horror games cannot. There are various types of infected. The Runners, these are the most basic type of infected. Basically they are zombies which can run. The second and more interesting type are the Clickers. Clickers are people who have been infected for a long time. They are unable to see and react to sounds and are able to kill the player in a single hit. Due to this they are extremely difficult to confront. The third type are the Bloaters, they are huge behemoths who have the abilty to throw spore bombs, can perform one hit kills if they get close enough and are extremely difficult to kill since they can only be killed by hitting in certain areas of the body. The infected soak up alot of ammo and using fists against them is useless. The player is handicapped and this creates alot of tension as you try to sneak past a group of infected monsters. Slowly trying to sneak past a horde of clickers without making alot of sound or trying to avoid detection from runners and bloaters is nerve wraking.
Sadly, your AI partners break the immersion. The game is designed in such a way that, when an enemy spots Joel, then only can they see the other AI partner(s). This results in comedic failures as Ellie or some other AI partner might just run past an infected without producing any hostile reaction from the monster or they might hide right in front of the human enemies and they will not spot them unless Joel is spotted.
Overall, the gameplay is solid and well done apart from the wonky AI partners. Upgrading weapons and Joel's survival skills add's depth to the gameplay and also acts as a reason for exploration. The shooting mechanics and solid and the game does not hesitate in punishing you if you make a mistake and this tension fits perfectly in a world where there is danger lurking in every corner.
Multiplayer:
The MP was a pleasent surprise. It is alot of fun and even though it lacks depth, it is a good time waster. Before starting you are asked to choose between 2 factions. The fireflies or the Hunters. Sadly, there is no difference between the two factions, no features exclusive to only one faction. You then create loadouts, these loadouts consist of a small weapon(pistol, revolver etc.) and a long weapon(diff. types of rifles) and a set of perks which you unlock by progressing though the ranking system. What's unique you ask? Well the game brings it crafting system into MP. You start with your usual loadout and you scavenge for supplies to create bombs and medi-kits like in SP. There are 2 game modes, Survival and Supply-Raid. Supply-Raid is your usual death match variant and Survival is a mode similar to search and destroy where the team that eliminates their opponents first, wins and each member of the team has only one life per round. Sadly, I haven't tested out Supply-Raid but Survival is tense and unpredictable affair, as teams play a game of hide and seek with each other because each player has only one life. As you rack up kills and revives in a match you gain "parts". These parts are like currency in match. You can use these parts to purchase armour, ammo and even create military grade weapons in between rounds or in the middle of the match. This adds a sense of unpredictability as you never know how many bombs or military grade weapons the enemy has. Sadly, there aren't enough game modes or even weapons to keep you interested in the MP and you will start to get bored after a few weeks.
Overall, The Last of us is arguably the best game of this generation and can be considered as one of the best of all time. It is a story-telling masterpiece with wonderful character development and solid gameplay with alot of depth and challenge. The MP is a pleasent surprise and can hold your attention for some time. It has a few hiccups along the way, some questionable AI partners and lack of depth in the MP but these don't block any of the entertainment. The name of the game, "Last of Us" for me is almost of a pun because it one of the last of a dying breed of games. A breed of games which have mastered the art of story-telling. A must buy for PS3 owners.