The Last Of Us: Fulfilling The Promise Of Everything That Came Before

Such an appropriate title. The Last Of Us is, for many, the grand swansong of this generation, the culmination of nearly a decade of progress. Naughty Dog's triumph is not that they've created perhaps the best game of this console age, but that their masterpiece represents everything that developers have been striving toward this past decade. Cutting edge visuals that seem without flaw or peer, varied gameplay that cherry picks from multiple styles and spreads the different mechanics evenly so as not to overwhelm. A truly mature story that weaves into the flow of the game and works in perfect harmony with player interaction, not too slight, not too intrusive. TLOU doffs it's cap to many different titles from many different genres, not least the developer's blockbuster Uncharted series (itself heavily influenced by 3rd person adventures like Tomb Raider), but it never feels derivative, it feels like the perfect form of whatever aspect of modern adventure gaming it decides to ape.

STORY

Perhaps the most important element of all, TLOU presents the biggest leap in storytelling since Gordon Freeman caught a train. Although singular in tone (bleak), Joel and Ellie's journey across a ruined American straddles different themes, ruminating on the effects of a global catastrophe and how it impacts, among other things, the human condition. The earth is populated with pus filled rage zombies, but its the survivors still clutching onto the

remains of civilisation that are the most frightening. Central to proceedings is the relationship between a haunted old timer and a frightened but resolute young girl, a relationship that slowly develops in a wonderfully subtle way. Glance over at your charge at any given time and you may be able to trigger some dialogue between her and Joel, be it an exchange of anecdotes or a question about the world that she is experiencing for the first time. These moments seem to happen organically and the personal impact of the stories events depend on how much attention you pay to Ellie. Ignore her with the interest of pressing on and you may detect resentment in her voice or lack of trust in her glance, dote on her and the bond between you seems to grow and blossom. These non-cinematic moments serve to flesh out the story in a way that no other game has done before, or rather no other game has done so well.

It helps that the voice acting and animation is flawless, even the facial capture tech of LA Noire can't compare to the emotions conveyed on the faces of Joel, Ellie and the disparate survivors they encounter. The real beauty is in the writing, which doesn't offer oblique choices, but rather lets the player loose into a world of moral ambiguity and self discovery. This is a natural evolution of the parallel decision making of Bioshock or Mass Effect, black and white choices that can effect the outcome of a story, but in finite ways. The core events of TLOU, the twists and turns and peaks and troughs, cannot be altered and do not divide depending on player decisions, but your role in those events are open for interpretation. Naughty Dog wants you to love the characters they've created and more importantly, wants them to love each other, it's a testament to their storytelling skill that this is never a foregone conclusion.

SURVIVAL HORROR  

A couple of generations ago, survival horror was a landmark genre, pioneered first by Alone In The Dark for PC

and then then the Resident Evil franchise on Playstation. This sub genre has since descended into parody, with even Capcom eschewing the tense atmosphere and effective shock tactics in favour of a ludicrous action shooter schtick. Naughty Dog reminds us how Survival Horror used to be and presents a refined version of a format long since forgotten by the developers that pioneered it.

 Atmosphere is palpable throughout, a fog of menace constantly floats around the player, much like the deadly spores carrying the virus that brought mankind to it's knees. Even when traversing the ruined city streets in the harsh light of day, there is an ever present threat of danger. Resident Evil 5 tried daylight horror and failed miserably, throwing hordes of bloodthirsty psychos and bioweapons at a guy that looked like he could bench press a train, the result almost killed the franchise. Joel is an old man, Ellie a frightened girl and even when fully tooled up with plenty of ammo and med kits, the fear of instant death at the hands of an infected or hostile survivor is always there.

Environments are large and scattered with plentiful supplies, but the path to the next goal is seldom less than a straight line, it's the players job to wander off the beaten path and search for ammo, tools and crafting materials. This element of exploration, much like the aforementioned concern for the characters, is given as a choice, there is enough breathing room to survive without exploring (just), but then you would miss out on half of what this wonderful game has to offer. Remember those early days of hunting for a clip of handgun ammo or a hastily scrawled note containing a safe combination? You may even find a letter containing the haunting final thoughts of the decaying corpse at your feet. Naughty Dog remembers.
Real horror is hard to pull off in this day and age, the jaded gaming masses see through your creaky jump scares and overblown music scores, The Last Of Us can make standing in the middle of the street in broad daylight with a fully loaded shotgun absolutely terrifying.

STEALTH 

Stealth is another mechanic that TLOU gets spectacularly right. This is largely because the sense of danger felt when sneaking around infected mutants and gun toting psycopaths is bolstered by the expertly crafted atmosphere. The fluidity of the animation helps as well, not since the original Splinter Cell has it actually felt like you are genuinely trying not to get caught when you push forward on that stick.

Stealth, like Survival Horror, is another sub genre that's been slowly replaced by more action-centric titles; Splinter Cell now focuses more on close combat and quick kills, while the last true Metal Gear Solid title stages most of it's events in the midst of battle. Naughty Dog strip away everything that the last decade of gaming has given to make us feel safe, no regenerating health (applying med kits takes an agonizing few seconds a la Left 4 Dead), scarce ammo for largely ineffective weapons and one hit kills if you get discovered by a Clicker, the blind monstrosities stalking the sewers and dilapidated interiors of America.

VISUALS

Console gaming has come forward in graphical leaps and bounds this generation. Starting strong with the advent of HD and impressive early titles like Gears Of War, Resistance and the brightly coloured sci-Fi vistas of Halo 3. Then came an era of experimentation, mostly in how many shades of brown could fit on screen at any one time, epitomized by the sharp but painfully repetitive colour palette of the Call Of Duty franchise.
The PS3 suffered from poor 3rd party ports due to an internal architecture that wasn't exactly developer friendly, but in house studios like Sony Santa Monica kept pushing boundaries and presenting triple A titles with awe inspiring visuals like God Of War III or Heavy Rain. Naughty Dogs Uncharted engine stands tall as one of the most impressive visual frameworks to emerge from this age of consoles. It's certainly the most varied, with the Uncharted trilogy taking in lush rainforests, war torn cities, blinding deserts and in one of the series more breathtaking set pieces, a flooded cruise liner in the middle of the ocean. The Last Of Us adds stark devastation to the mix, albeit a devastation littered with moments of beauty. PC gaming aside, this is pound for pound the prettiest game out there, everything from water effects to facial animation come together to create a visual style that conjures an almost overwhelming sense of place, never before has player immersion been so potent.

This post may seem a mite overzealous with praise, hoisting a title above all others and claiming it's the very pinnacle of what gaming has achieved in this generation is frivolous in the age of the online forums and metacritic. We are fast approaching a time when games live or die on the strength of review scores and online buzz, the time of picking up and playing for the sake of it is disappearing. Developers need to step up and create more surprising and engaging entertainment products like The Last f Us. Gaming has always been about experiences and the journey of Ellie and Joel is one of the best experiences you will ever have.