The Last of Us Part II - PlayStation 4 Special Edition

Ever since 2013, The Last of Us has been my top rated game of all time. It's one of the very few games I have given full points to in every category (Story, Gameplay, Acting, Design, Visuals, Sound, Music, and Replayability). The only other game that has also achieved full points, is another Naughty Dog game called Uncharted 4, but I still rank The Last of Us higher than UC4.So it can't be understated just how much I was anticipating this game, and how much was at stake for my expectations and level of hype. Thankfully I'm someone who avoids just about every piece of information that goes out about something before it's released if I already am committed to that thing. Such as avoiding trailers to movies, games, and TV shows, avoiding casting news, avoiding watching gameplay demos, avoiding reading news articles or spoilers, etc. This takes a lot of effort, but I've done things like muting keywords on Twitter and Reddit, and using a Chrome Extension called "Spoiler Protection 2.0" to help block potentially spoilery content from my eyes. Basically, if I know I want to watch or play something, I want to go into that experience with as little knowledge as possible.And oh BOY how important those things would become for this game. I had vaguely heard that there had been some stuff leaked about the game, but I had no idea how much or what it was, because again, I was already blocking just about every source of information out there, and I added extra keywords to be extra safe at that moment as well.Well, it turns out, a lot of really important stuff leaked. Stuff that could absolutely completely change your point of view on the game when you hear about them out of context with the full experience. Thankfully, that wasn't an issue for me. I went into the game without any idea what the story was going to be, or what any twists might be, and I was just completely blown away. The game does a really great job building up this world and these characters, and these big moments you may have heard of come off very different when you've actually been playing the game for all that time where the story is building up to those points.That being said, there ARE moments where the game makes you feel uncomfortable. To be fair, this existed in the first game too. It's a mature game, with mature themes, and it demands a level of emotional maturity and empathy to the characters that you really need to be able to have or you might not enjoy this experience. You need to be able to let the story take its own path, and not set expectations for where you WANT it to go. If you're capable of doing that, this game presents some really brilliant storytelling that builds upon themes of revenge and trauma and friendship in wonderfully complex ways.Things WILL happen that you don't expect, and you WILL probably feel uncomfortable with many of them, but that's the point. The game wants to place you in a headspace where you need to re-examine the actions of the story and these characters, and understand them with better hindsight and perspective, and that can be uncomfortable for sure. But that's part of what makes the game so well done. It places you into that headspace, and then as long as you're capable of being open to critically examining the morality and justifications of several different characters and choices, it takes you on this path to seeing the game and story in a completely different light. It's structured in a strange way, which I can't explain much about without spoiling the events of the story, but that structure is there for a reason. It's important that things happen the way they do for the story to pay off in the way it needs to.If there's any flaw in the game I would say that because of how complex the story is and how uncomfortable certain moments are in the game, it can be an experience you may not immediately want to relive. I thought it was absolutely a brilliant story and probably the most well written characters and story arcs that I've ever seen in a game, but because of the way that story is delivered, it can put you into a headspace that makes you feel almost like you don't want to go through all that again, at least, not right away. If you looked at my scoring categories above, you'd see that replayability is one of the categories I score games on, and because of the way I felt after playing through this game, I decided on giving that category a 4/5, rather than the 5/5 of the other two games I mentioned. That score to me means it's a strong enough story and experience to be worth replaying, but maybe not immediately. All of the other categories got full points. This means that The Last of Us: Part II is still highly rated, but doesn't quite beat the original, or even Uncharted 4. It becomes my third highest rated game of all time, with a final calculated score of 99% (my scores are weighted and curved towards a 70% average)However, despite the above being said, I have since replayed it, and I liked it even more the second time, now having further context behind the characters and story moments.----On a side note, this review score is meant to describe the game, not the packaging. I received the special edition version of the game and I was slightly disappointed that the cardboard outer box was sealed with a sticker that peeled the black ink off the box, no matter how carefully I tried to take that sticker off. Otherwise I do mostly like the box design and the steelbook and art book that came with it, but I think the other box could have been built a little better, especially for the added price tag.

Video games have a variety of genres that cater to different people with different desires. Some people want a huge open-world game that they can sink hundreds of hours into just exploring every small detail. Some people want short games that they can just pay a couple bucks for on Steam for a one and done night. Some people want games to play with friends for an enjoyable hangout session. And then there are people like me, people who want a strong, character-driven story to really capture my attention and want to play the game. Obviously, a video game needs to have gameplay – duh – but a game that can have fun gameplay and a well-written, well-acted, and engaging story makes it so much more special for me. The absolute king of this realm is Naughty Dog, most famous for their Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted series. Uncharted, in particular, is one of the best examples of these cinematic games, providing tight, third-person, cover-based shooting gameplay with exhilarating set pieces and fun characters. Games like these are criticized – “Why not just make them movies or TV shows?” Critiques like these are annoying to me because you being the one who controls these characters, you being the one who hits the buttons that causes these amazing things to happen, makes the experience all that more powerful. Naughty Dog’s latest game, The Last of Us Part II, a sequel to their 2013 game (made after their third Uncharted game), takes this to a whole new level.The original game from earlier this decade is one of the most emotional and powerful games I have ever played. It is the perfect example of games as art. It has tense, stealth-action gameplay where you must collect supplies to survive, making it fun to play, but it really shines with its entire artistic approach (to sound pretentious). Its minimalist soundtrack, composed by Gustavo Santaolalla, is beautiful; the graphics and art design are gorgeous, perfectly showing how nature can overcome a post-apocalyptic world with some of the most-stunning graphics for the time (and that hold up rather well); and above all else, the story is nothing less than extraordinary. At first glance, it’s bland; man must protect and escort girl. Pretty boring, right? But by the end of the game, you have laughed with these characters, you have gotten angry with these characters, you have cried with these characters, and you have rooted for everything to work out for them. The sequel also excels in all these areas, but where it changes things is how it makes you feel.The first game has you commit horrific acts, but because it can make for fun gameplay and it is usually in the name of self-defense, you can accept it. The sequel is dark. It is depressing. It toys with your emotions with its approach to story and characters. Like the first game, the gameplay is fun – more on that later – but the actions you as a player are forced to commit are horrific. This is where it really proves its necessity as a game and not a miniseries or some other visual medium. One scene, in particular, has you interrogating an infected person i.e., someone who is going to die no matter what. You want information. The game doesn’t show anything too graphic because the camera shifts to look at your character’s face, but you must hit the button, multiple times, to get this information. It doesn’t last long because it cuts to black after a bit, but you don’t get to shy away from these awful acts. If you want to see where this story goes and what happens to these characters that you’ve grown to love, you have to partake in these events. It’s messed up, maybe even too much for some people, but as a piece of art, and more specifically as a video game, it is amazing.It’s hard to talk about this game in detail without revealing spoilers, but if you go in with an open-mind, it’s good. Like, really good. It is definitely one of the greatest gaming experiences for me personally. But if you are one of those people who are expecting a certain story and will be upset if it doesn’t happen your way, you will loathe this game. It doesn’t conform to audience expectations. It tells a certain story the way it wants to tell it and fully commits. You have to give it a chance. There are some bold narrative decisions, but they help propel the story forward, make it different than the first game (if you want the same game, just go play the original), and make you not only agree with your characters’ decisions, but also disagree and feel conflicted with their decisions. That’s what is great about it. It doesn’t pull punches and doesn’t try to be something it is not. It is a dark tale about dark events with characters who are emotionally tortured. That’s not to say there aren’t beautiful, touching moments – there absolutely are – but they are brief releases from the extremely violent nature of the game. The game is unrelentingly harsh, but I applaud the willingness to commit.However, being a game, there are gameplay aspects to discuss. That being said, nobody in their right mind would play this game without having a strong connection with the story, so I’ll keep it brief. Basically, it’s the same as the first game, but polished and better because of it. You can now go prone and sneak in grass, craft more items and use different weapons, face new and improved AI, and really just get a more cinematic (there’s that word again) combat experience that feels so fluid, largely because of how slick the animations are. It’s genuinely fun to play. Walking into an area that is filled with enemy patrols or infected (i.e., zombies), slowly taking some out, getting caught, then frantically trying to find cover as you kill some with your shotgun and toss a Molotov or two, only to go back in stealth and repeat the process creates some of the most exhilarating gameplay experiences out there. I can’t do it justice with words alone, but needless to say, it is not just an interactive movie – this is a game, through and through.The game even toys with your gaming expectations, with two notable examples coming to mind. The first is when I heard horrific sounds in an area, which led to my character automatically pulling out their gun. The level also started featuring ammo supply drops and showed my current health, signifying an encounter was about to take place. Then nothing happens. But I wasn’t disappointed because that tense feeling I got was special – I was on the edge of my seat and shocked that nothing happened, and it was wonderful. The other scenario was the opposite. I was in a safe zone upgrading my weapons and, out of the blue, a couple enemies come out and attack me. It was deceiving of the game to attack me while my guard was down during what is almost always a safe zone, but it genuinely shocked me and made me scramble to survive. It was amazing, and I loved it.My only real complaint with the game is something that I have seen few people bring up and if they do, it’s usually complimentary, but I think it is a legitimate criticism. Naughty Dog has been adding more and more open levels to their games for some time now, basically since the first Last of Us (they have had a full-fledged Uncharted game and expansion pack since then). While their games are still very much linear and definitely nowhere near open-world, there are some very open areas that can take some time to explore. I, unlike most people, dislike these because while it is cool to have that sense of freedom, it destroys pacing to be walking around a huge area for an hour or more trying to explore every nook and cranny. Yeah, it’s not required, but you are really missing out if you don’t explore, both in terms of gameplay items and supplies and sweet character interactions. The linearity of Naughty Dog games creates not just tight stories, but great pacing, and so I am not the biggest fan of these more open levels, even if they are well-designed and reward the player for exploring. But I digress, this is not the biggest deal for me and certainly not for most people.On another note, the game has the most accessibility options of probably any game ever. Most of the settings weren’t important for me, so I can’t confirm how accessible they make the game to more disabled players, but they seemed to have put a genuine effort into making this game playable by as many people as possible. That’s really cool. I even used some of the features myself. I don’t want to constantly tap a button to pick up supplies, so I turned on auto pickup. I hate mashing a button to get out of an enemy’s grasp, so I turned on a feature that just let me hold a button. There are so many features that I strongly encourage you to look through them all to see if there’s anything that can make the game a little more enjoyable for you. You can even adjust the difficulty on a detailed level! I played on moderate, but I found myself having way too many supplies and being quite overpowered, so I kept the enemies on that same difficulty, but turned the supply drop to hard. It made it more fun, which is what games are meant to be. This level of accessibility and player-choice should be encouraged, and I hope that other developers take notice.The Last of Us Part II is excellent, really superb. At the very least, even if someone ends up hating the game, it’s worth playing soon (if you enjoyed the first) to be part of the discussion taking place. I think a lot of the hate is unwarranted, but despite my love of it, there are some very understandable points I have heard, including comments on the structure of the narrative. I didn’t have a problem with it, but that is a fascinating, legitimate counterpoint. I think that the real beauty of this game is that it created a discourse. Some of it is hate-filled and immature on so many levels, but some of it is intellectual and honest and makes you not ashamed to play games. Love or hate it in the end, this game has made so many people jump to the internet and post their thoughts. At the end of the day, isn’t that what art is supposed to do? Make you want to talk about it and discuss it with friends, and even strangers? The Last of Us Part II does that. It succeeds. And I love it.