Great Games: The Last Of Us
SPOILER ALERT: Plot details for The Last of Us follow.
The Last Of Us is as mesmerizing as it is grotesque. Its content is depressing, but its accomplishment is inspiring. I was struck by moments of fear and beauty, dread and disgust. The dead walk the earth, civilization has collapsed, militarism reigns supreme, and all are either hopeless or desperate. It was a brutal odyssey, but one well worth taking, one that rattled my core.
With all the zombie games out there, how is it that this one manages to stand out? Fighting off the undead in a post-apocalyptic scenario doesn’t sound like anything particularly novel or exciting to the seasoned gamer. Where The Last Of Us, I suppose, stands a head above of the crowd is in its execution of gameplay, graphics, and plot, utilizing the PlayStation 3 to its full capacity.
Those familiar with first-person-shooters should have little problem managing the arms, but charging in guns blazing won’t get you very far. It is in this respect that the gaming mechanics owe a debt to Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid. That game was an innovator in the stealth genre, that your strategy to win shouldn’t be based on running in, shooting down foes. In real life, that gets you killed, and so too does it do in the game. You need to strategically sneak around behind stray cars and crates. Even the way you kill matters a great deal. Guns are loud and can alert others to your presence, so it’ll be often be preferable to strangle or shiv. Arrows are also useful as silent killers, when coming from afar. The type of firearm also matters in terms of range and reload time. Flamethrowers, for instance, are very effective when dealing with a group of zombies, but can have short range. Melee weapons, such baseball bats and axes, can be effective in close range, but are the kiss of death when challenging Clickers, Bloaters, or a really powerful gun. Stray items can be combined to make Molotov Cocktails or Nail Bombs, putting you in control of how many sorts of items you wish to have. Bricks and bottles can also be thrown to stun enemies, or distract them. These options provide multiple ways of beating enemies, depending on whether or not you’re more aggressive or defensive as a player. Some battles will feature epic standoffs against hordes of zombies, or firefights with other men, while other times, it could be a fight with a single Bloater, or a sneak around in a fiery kitchen. The cutscenes can also be incorporated into the fighting, with surprise attacks which require you to press a particular button at will. Aside from battle, there are many other fun aspects of the play, like moving around ladders or swimming underwater to make your way around, and chases to outrun zombies or massive trucks.
The visuals in this game are those of extremes. Some areas are as beautiful as any fantasy local, while others are as skin-crawling as any haunted house. While zombie series like The Walking Dead can execute the drudgery of a post-apocalypse well, aesthetic beauty is nary to be seen. I think of the moment when the capitol building is revealed, glimmering in the sun and overcome by grasses, or when we enter the church, each stained glass window glowing before us. I also think of the quiet moments, like when Elle hunts an elk in the winter or when she touches a giraffe for the first time. As you can imagine, The Last Of Us has much of the modern cities, schools, and hospitals ruined by time and waste. However, it adds the fleshy flowers and walls that rule the insides of many dark corners, spreading their spores through the air. Another unnerving detail are the rats the scurry in the corners, or the white mice that gather around the rot.
It’s fair to say that the driving force of this game is its plot. While this certainly isn’t the first game, or even the first zombie game, to be a thoughtful storyline or a brutal set up, it sets itself apart from most other undead fantasies due to the relationship between Joel and Ellie. This is what keeps us invested, this is what makes us care. We enter this game with the understanding that the savagery of the world has driven near everyone into a state of moral ambiguity. Joel lost his daughter, not to a zombie, but a soldier. The twenty years since have hardened him into a survivalist, willing to do just about anything to keep himself up. Three different factions rule this part of the world. The government, which provides rations and safety, but rules under a brutal martial law, where upstarts are routinely executed. The Fireflies, an underground resistance against the government that isn’t above acts of terror to achieve their goals. The Hunters, an anarchic gang who take whatever they need and practice cannibalism for sustenance. Joel’s latest job is taking a girl, Elle, who is immune to zombie bites, to the Firefly Lab so they can develop a cure. Along the way, you meet a number of interesting characters, and from them, we see the personal toll that these zombies have taken on everyone. The smuggler, Bill, for instance, lives secluded, surrounded by his traps and comic books. Henry and his son, Sam, parallel Joel and Elle, but when Henry gets bitten, Sam shoots him and then himself. Henry would rather die than live without his child, a warning of what’s to come. The closest thing to decency is Jackson, the friendly community where Joel’s brother, Tommy, resides. Much of the world has gone to hell, but not all of it.
Joel and Elle’s relationship goes along the way you’d expect it to, she gradually breaks through his shell and he opens up more. This makes it no less real, though. While still a child, Elle certainly isn’t helpless, and learns from Joel how to fight back. There are sweet turning points, such as when he first instructs her on using a sniper rifle or when she leads him, injured, through the hospital. Elle is foul-mouthed and spunky, but she is also Joel’s heart. We come to like Elle, too, as she’s the only bright and humorous spot in this world of dread and bleakness. Joel slowly finds the father in him coming back, and that proves more to his detriment than anything else.
In many games, you are asked to save a princess, which will restore prosperity to a world turned to ruin. Mario’s rescue of Peach led to the restoration of the Mushroom Kingdom. Link’s rescue of Zelda led to the restoration of Hyrule. While Elle certainly isn’t a princess, she is certainly special. Upon bringing her to the Fireflies, you learn that the only way to create a vaccine is to perform a surgery on Elle’s brain that will kill her. I was saddened to learn this, but accepted it, as many gamers probably did. Joel, however, could not. He’s come to see Elle as a daughter, and can’t handle her being taken away. So he goes on a rescue mission, killing many in his way. Saving Elle will not save the world, but lead to its certain end. It wouldn’t have been a difficult thing for the game to give an alternative route, where Elle doesn’t have to die, but a vaccine can still be developed. The game, however, sticks to its guns, putting the “heroism” of our protagonist into question. He rids the world of its only chance at salvation, and further, lies to Elle about the events, telling her that the Fireflies had other immune children. None of this feels out of character for Joel, in fact, it feels depressingly inevitable. As far as Joel is concerned, what good is saving the world, if there’s nothing in the world that’s worth saving?
