The Last Of Us Review

THE LAST OF US REBELBROS REVIEW

Zombies, right?  I mean, I'm up to my eyeballs in fictional tales of dead people rising up and biting the faces off of good old air-breathers like you and me.....yet here I am, about to say that The Last Of Us is one of the best video games on the Playstation 3, and probably for this generation of consoles. I KNOW I KNOW, I took my time after finishing the game to let my opinions turn from that sludgy cement shit into something concrete.  Nothing changed.  I still feel like this is some of the best bang for your buck material in the video game market.  Let me explain why.

You've probably read other reviews about this game talking about the graphics, or the fingernail biting tenseness of the combat.  Maybe it went on at length about how well-rounded the characters of Joel and Ellen Pa......I mean Ellie are. All of that is well and good for many reasons, but the real star of the show to me was the sound design. Here's a tip to anybody trying to create a sense of tension in movies/gaming; do not blare the fucking trumpets of heaven at me like I'm some retard who can only sense Pepsi and Funyuns sliding down my throat. I get it.  Silence can truly be golden, and when shit hits the fan in The Last Of Us there is nothing more horrifying than the solitary sound of a clicker slowly rattling away as it lumbers closer and closer to your hiding spot.  The soundtrack is phenomenal, filled with depressing guitar lines and ethereal string work by Gustavo Santaolalla.  It makes you truly feel like this is what you would listen to in a post-apocalyptic environment until your untimely demise.

The graphics are of course some of the best I've seen on Playstation 3.  Granted, I'm a PC master race snob so of course I've seen better in recent years, but you can tell that Naughty Dog pulled from every corner they could to get this thing running as beautifully (and smoothly) as it does most of the time.  It's wasn't a locked-in 60 fps or even 30 for that matter during my experience but honestly I could give a shit. Impressive for six year old hardware, and it really excites me to see what they can pull off for the next generation of consoles.

The story, by video game standards, is top of the pile.  I'll of course spare you the ending but it is one of the most nuanced, complex, and eyebrow raising resolutions I've come across in awhile.  This is not something you are going to be in the middle about, you will either love it or hate it, and in all honesty I could easily see how someone could feel unsatisfied with it at the end of the day.  I would disagree with this person until bricks were thrown but I still could see it.

If there is one area that I felt let down with, it would have to be the combat.  It truly is exhilarating throughout the campaign, and there were moments of sheer "holy fuck that was awesome" healthfully peppered throughout.  Sometimes though, I would find myself cursing at the screen as they would unleash waves of zombies at me and I felt that creeping sensation of "oh that's right, this is a video game" set back in.  This ties in to my second complaint, which is seriously, enough zombie shit for a minute. I don't know, maybe I'm just fucking sick of shooting the undead at this point in my life, or maybe there is serious problems in my brain but I need a new drug, man.  It's time to move on and clean off the zombie residue that's all over the place.

I've tried out the multiplayer and it seems to be pretty fun so far.  They have an interesting leveling up system where you gain "followers" to your camp, and it's your job to get them supplies through the multiplayer matches you play in. Every match you play passes time and these two mechanics decide what your level is.  Confused? Then go back to Call of Duty, bitch. They've managed to maintain the tenseness of combat from the campaign while still having all the tropes of multiplayer.  It's solid, but if you're buying it strictly for MP then you might want to look elsewhere.

So what have we learned today? Aside from the minor hiccups, The Last of Us is pretty amazing, I need to return some books to the library, and dark chocolate is delicious.

REBELBROS FINAL SCORE

923/1000