Ever since this game came out it's been getting extremely high scores, 10/10s and being called a masterpiece, game of the decade, game of the generation and even best game of all time. All of these are absolute bullshit. I played the game in 2016, 3 years after it came out. I played it over the course of about 3 or 4 days. LOVED the game, but somehow, didn't love it as much as the other people seemed to.
I thought it was a good game, but nowhere near what other people were claiming it to be. Looking back years later, i find the game to be mediocre when it comes to being a game, and might as well be an interactive movie. I've seen multiple videos critiquing it since it came out, and i agree with all of them. I recently wrote a comment on a video talking about the game, and this is what i said:
"For me it's either a 6 or 5. A 6 if you consider how it pushed the PS3 to its limits graphically, the great level of detail and art design that went into the game's world and characters, how amazing the soundtrack was and if you consider the sound design and voice acting. But a 5 if you rate it purely on story and gameplay. It will never be a masterpiece for me."
That is how i feel about the game. Where everyone else praised the game, i felt it lacked. And where everyone else overlooked or didn't even mention at all, i loved it. You commonly see people like me claiming that it might as well be an interactive movie, but even that falls flat. Arguably the whole point of a film is to tell a story, something that The Last Of Us falls flat in. It's story and characters are as generic as they come. You got the tough, hardened middle aged white man who has a troubled past who wants to stay out of trouble, but gets called back into the action. You got the young, often naive seeming girl who must be taken care of or watched by the older man, who neither get along at first, only for them to end up becoming close and caring for each other by the end. You got the zombie infection/virus story, where the world has been overrun by zombies, and bandits are left to run around being evil, even though there's really no reason to, other than being a bunch of assholes. You got the fireflies, a bunch of bandits and anti government people who cause a bunch of chaos, once again only really to be a bunch of assholes. You've got the military who at first seems to be protecting you, but really are just a bunch of nameless nobodies who shoot first ask questions later, also they betray you (who saw that one coming, eh?) And of course, the one person who's somehow immune to the entire virus, and is going to be chased after so a cure can be made, often with the person having to sacrifice them self for humanity. Oh, and don't forget the brothers, one very young who look after each other in the apocalypse like world, only for something to happen to one of them, causing "drama' and a heartfelt moment.
Nothing in this game's story or characters is original. Infact, i would have liked for the game to be centered around the brothers' story, if anything. They actually seemed more interesting than Joel and Ellie. Maybe instead of having the younger brother be infected, and having the older brother have to kill him, maybe have that part of the story happen at the end. It definitely would have made a bigger impact on the players if they spent this entire game going around with their little brother killing zombies, bonding and really sharing some emotional moments, before having to put their zombie ridden brother down. Change up the story, flesh out the brother characters, end on a satisfying yet dark and even melancholy note.
But nah br0000000, let's just be lazy and make a generic third person shooter with zombies (never seen that before) and make the characters and storyline be so goddamned cliche, even a casual non gamer wouldn't like it (yet somehow they did)
As you can see, i really don't think the game deserves all the praise it receives. It currently has a sequel coming out in 2020, and once again, it's a generic story. The trailer gives it all away, Ellie has a friend, or lover, who gets killed by bandits, wouldn't be surprised if they are people who tracked her down to hurt her cause she didn't use her immunity to save mankind. They kill her friend, and either fail to kill Ellie, or leave her to die. She goes on a quest of Revenge to make them pay, and meets up with Joel on the way. Expect a segment or two where you play as Joel or his brother, including some callbacks or references to the first game, whether it be easter eggs, dialogue or even some returning characters. I'm not sure how the game will end, but i assume it ends with a plot twist of some sort. It's such a cliche story that i wrote here, yet it seems so fitting from a AAA game developer that's lazy and doesn't have an original bone in their body.
So tell me what you think, and sorry that there is no TLDR, as you sort of have to read this whole post to get where i'm coming from.
I thought it was a good game, but nowhere near what other people were claiming it to be. Looking back years later, i find the game to be mediocre when it comes to being a game, and might as well be an interactive movie. I've seen multiple videos critiquing it since it came out, and i agree with all of them. I recently wrote a comment on a video talking about the game, and this is what i said:
"For me it's either a 6 or 5. A 6 if you consider how it pushed the PS3 to its limits graphically, the great level of detail and art design that went into the game's world and characters, how amazing the soundtrack was and if you consider the sound design and voice acting. But a 5 if you rate it purely on story and gameplay. It will never be a masterpiece for me."
That is how i feel about the game. Where everyone else praised the game, i felt it lacked. And where everyone else overlooked or didn't even mention at all, i loved it. You commonly see people like me claiming that it might as well be an interactive movie, but even that falls flat. Arguably the whole point of a film is to tell a story, something that The Last Of Us falls flat in. It's story and characters are as generic as they come. You got the tough, hardened middle aged white man who has a troubled past who wants to stay out of trouble, but gets called back into the action. You got the young, often naive seeming girl who must be taken care of or watched by the older man, who neither get along at first, only for them to end up becoming close and caring for each other by the end. You got the zombie infection/virus story, where the world has been overrun by zombies, and bandits are left to run around being evil, even though there's really no reason to, other than being a bunch of assholes. You got the fireflies, a bunch of bandits and anti government people who cause a bunch of chaos, once again only really to be a bunch of assholes. You've got the military who at first seems to be protecting you, but really are just a bunch of nameless nobodies who shoot first ask questions later, also they betray you (who saw that one coming, eh?) And of course, the one person who's somehow immune to the entire virus, and is going to be chased after so a cure can be made, often with the person having to sacrifice them self for humanity. Oh, and don't forget the brothers, one very young who look after each other in the apocalypse like world, only for something to happen to one of them, causing "drama' and a heartfelt moment.
Nothing in this game's story or characters is original. Infact, i would have liked for the game to be centered around the brothers' story, if anything. They actually seemed more interesting than Joel and Ellie. Maybe instead of having the younger brother be infected, and having the older brother have to kill him, maybe have that part of the story happen at the end. It definitely would have made a bigger impact on the players if they spent this entire game going around with their little brother killing zombies, bonding and really sharing some emotional moments, before having to put their zombie ridden brother down. Change up the story, flesh out the brother characters, end on a satisfying yet dark and even melancholy note.
But nah br0000000, let's just be lazy and make a generic third person shooter with zombies (never seen that before) and make the characters and storyline be so goddamned cliche, even a casual non gamer wouldn't like it (yet somehow they did)
As you can see, i really don't think the game deserves all the praise it receives. It currently has a sequel coming out in 2020, and once again, it's a generic story. The trailer gives it all away, Ellie has a friend, or lover, who gets killed by bandits, wouldn't be surprised if they are people who tracked her down to hurt her cause she didn't use her immunity to save mankind. They kill her friend, and either fail to kill Ellie, or leave her to die. She goes on a quest of Revenge to make them pay, and meets up with Joel on the way. Expect a segment or two where you play as Joel or his brother, including some callbacks or references to the first game, whether it be easter eggs, dialogue or even some returning characters. I'm not sure how the game will end, but i assume it ends with a plot twist of some sort. It's such a cliche story that i wrote here, yet it seems so fitting from a AAA game developer that's lazy and doesn't have an original bone in their body.
So tell me what you think, and sorry that there is no TLDR, as you sort of have to read this whole post to get where i'm coming from.
