THE LAST OF US
by R(en) Ferari
GAME: The Last of Us
TIME TO COMPLETE: 12 hours? I forgot to time myself.
PLATFORM: PS3/PS4
I first played TLOU… well I say “played” but it was really a playthrough that I watched (thanks Cryaotic).
I first “played” TLOU in 2015, freshman year of college, while on a stationary bike that I severely injured my lower back on and now suffer from chronic pain because of.
I would say it was worth it.
I enjoyed the game then, but it wouldn’t be until recently, that I was able to physically play and engage with the game on the intimate level it was made for, that I truly appreciated the piece of art that Naughty Dog created.
If you haven’t heard of The Last of Us, I assume you are my summer Intro to Media professor that refuses to engage with media created past 2002, yet still teaches a class based in modern media.
If that’s too wordy, you haven’t heard of TLOU because you live under a rock.
A basic summary: The Last of Us is a game where as you play as the early 2010s gaming industry’s favorite character trope: a sad dad, Joel, who has to escort a young strong preteen girl, Ellie, who becomes his surrogate daughter, on the orders of his dead partner (as in the mature version of a girlfriend).
And it’s a damn good game.
Despite the high levels of walking used to interact and further the story, there is a healthy level of combat and survival which rounds out the game as a whole. You didn’t spend the entire game killing and fighting (like heavy FPSs like Call of Duty or some other shooting game I dont play), but instead, explore the environment and question the meaning of humanity.
It isnt a Telltale game where there are “game changing” decisions: the story is pretty set in stone, but how deep you delve into the lore and the minutia of the game is up to you, the gamer. If you don’t find every scrap of paper or take the time to read it, you aren’t left out of the story. There isn’t a secret joke you aren’t in on. The developers made sure to take into account every type of player in creating this story heavy piece. You still get the story if you don’t discover the lore. ( A game, studio that doesn’t do this as well: Arkane, creators of Prey and Dishonored).
Naughty Dog, the game studio behind The Last of Us, still remains the rulers of cutscenes to gameplay transitions and cinematic quality in games. Square Enix could never.
My largest criticism of The Last of Us, is when you have a game so preoccupied with looking and acting as realistic as possible, the level design isn’t as intuitive as one would assume. I found myself circling the same area two or three times, desperately waiting for a hint to pop up, directing me to the next location. Any continuing identifiers are lost in the expensive shaders and voice acting.
Also the mental image of Joel furiously shoveling 200 pills down his throat while a zombie creeps up behind is the pretty hilarious. Like i can barely swallow two, am i supposed to believe Joel can do it like a champ?
Maybe just do one or two pill increments next time.
Anyways.
The mechanics are good. The camera and UI are good. It looks amazing. The giraffe scene? Stunning. The ending sequence? Im DEAD.
Perchance, the most important quality in terms of this site’s purpose?
It’s gay.
Even if it isn’t in the main game, In TLOU DLC, Ellie shares a kiss with her best friend before she dies. If you haven’t seen the E3 TLOU2 gameplay preview trailer thing, Ellie kisses her beautiful girlfriend.
Though two different points in her life, The Last of Us is not only a story about a man allowing himself to feel again, but also the story of queer youth survival in times of hardship that seems not too far away from our own futures. Naughty Dog doesn’t have a clean record in terms of accurate representation, but this is a step forward. A AAA game company like Naughty Dog is finally doing what I’ve been asking of game developers for years: they’re realizing that their name carries enough weight in a game to not be afraid of “queer leads dipping sales”. They are recognizing the importance of diverse leads (Chloe and Nadine, queer women of color leads in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy) and now with Ellie kissing her damn girlfriend in the long anticipated gameplay reveal for the sequel of perhaps, their best game.
