So I’ve done it! Finally! I’ve dived head first into The Last of Us and I’m nearly out the other side. I have put off playing this game for ages, ages and ages! I think partially because everyone kept telling me how great it is… And I worried it wouldn’t live up to expectations. But I’ve decided this October is the time to get it done. So here are my first impressions
For those of you that haven’t played it, The Last of Us follows Joel – a grown ass man, and Ellie – a 14 year old girl who thinks she’s a grown ass woman. We play as both of them as they go about their jolly adventure in the zombie apocalypse to deliver Ellie to a group named after one of the most overrated bugs ever… The Fireflies. So firstly I remember why I didn’t get very far in the game to begin with. I don’t know what it is but something about the movement and the colour scheme of the early game makes me very nauseous. Now I don’t mean that as an insult… I mean literally nauseous! But I’ve pushed through and later parts of the game are not having this effect on me which is great! Gameplay is pretty standard, move around the world with the joysticks, interact with buttons, find stuff, craft stuff, read stuff, shoot things… Simple.
Secondly I nearly rage quit very early on. I hate clickers! And I think this is a huge disadvantage of the early game where there are heavily clicker based areas. Your shivs aren’t upgraded and if you don’t have enough, it takes you three decades to move five meters in stealth mode and there’s always something that sets them off anyway. It’s just frustrating, and if you go the stealth route it’s bloody boring. I found myself getting quite angry at the game for wasting my time, and the story just hadn’t piqued my interest enough at this point.
In the later game however, upgrades and more frequent resources make game play a bit better, and you begin to invest in the story a lot more. I won’t bore you with too many details (or spoil it for the slow pokes like me) but the story does start to pick up and become a liiiitle more interesting (if not predictable…. Back to this point when I finish the game). You meet some interesting characters and groups along the way and the mob of clickers does thin I promise!
There are also some really beautiful moments like the giraffes or some of the dialogue between Ellie and Joel. Seeing their building relationship is a little heartwarming and I’m looking forward to whatever the final showdown is!
So far this game has been interesting, I’m not sure if it’s as amazing as everyone has told me but we shall see…
With the game being a PS Plus title, it seems a lot of the guys and gals here at Respawning are playing through The Last Of Us right now, either for the first time ever or just a repeat playthrough for old times sake! You can see William’s first ever TLOU journey in the video below.