The Last of Us (PS3) Initial Thoughts?

[Lucifersam1]

Anyone get this today? What are your initial thoughts?

[Gamevet]

I think it comes out until tomorrow. I didn't see it at Fry's when I went there this afternoon.

[Bojay1997]

I think it comes out until tomorrow. I didn't see it at Fry's when I went there this afternoon.

Best Buy, Target and Gamestop all have it available for sale. I picked up my copy at midnight at Gamestop and got it signed by members of the design team and the voice cast.

[BHvrd]

Good game that just barely misses the mark of "great".

Really enjoying the single player campaign, but the lack of couch co-op has left me a bit bummed and multiplayer is very fun yet the time limit is frustrating and lack of modes.

If they add local co-op and no time limit multiplayer/more modes then this should be GOTY for sure. I'm sure it will be a contender at this point anyway though as the gameplay is very fun and original in many ways, really enjoying it.

[Guyra]

Got to play this game yesterday at a friend's place, and it was great! My only gripe is with the highly consumable items, like shivs for example. It makes no sense at all to only be able to use them once. But other than that, great game!

[PreZZ]

Really great atmosphere and story. But it does feel a bit like deja vu, its basically Uncharted with zombies but better. I really like the campaign so far, id give the game a 9 out of 10, i didnt try multiplayer yet. And co-op would have been great online, I wish more games would have co-op campaigns.

[Lucifersam1]

Started playing the game and, to me, it seems like a hybrid of resident Evil, Uncharted, and MGS. I am playing it on hard to start, and I must say it is somewhat challenging in places. Occasionally, it has also given me some good scares!



Really great atmosphere and story. But it does feel a bit like deja vu, its basically Uncharted with zombies but better. I really like the campaign so far, id give the game a 9 out of 10, i didnt try multiplayer yet. And co-op would have been great online, I wish more games would have co-op campaigns.

[Gamevet]

Best Buy, Target and Gamestop all have it available for sale. I picked up my copy at midnight at Gamestop and got it signed by members of the design team and the voice cast.

It looks like this is a game I should have pre-ordered. The Target and Walmat near my house didn't have the game available and I didn't even see a spot on the shelves that noted it was once available. I decided to go to Fry's website to locate a store that had a copy available. The store 7 miles from my house didn't have a copy, while the store on the other side of Dallas did.

I'll probably pick it up in a couple of weeks, once the buying frenzy has settled down.

[Nebagram]

Underwhelmed so far, then again I wasn't blown away by the so-called 'best games ever' Uncharted series either. The action's good- very good. Offering multiple ways to subdue enemies and progress always ticks the right boxes. Nothing's worse than an enforced stealth section in a game. As for the story and the setting... As I said, I'm still waiting to have my socks knocked off. I don't go into games expecting them to be the most amazing thing I've ever played, no matter what the hype says.

Oh, and is every game I play this year going to involve a middle-aged character voiced by Troy Baker dragging a teenage girl around everywhere?

[JakeM]

A friend of mine said she beat it on easy mode in 15 hours.

[duffmanth]

I'm probably 5 or 6 hours into the game now and it's great so far. Like someone mentioned earlier it's a mix of Uncharted, Metal Gear, and Resident Evil (which I really haven't played much of). The environments are beautifully designed and free roaming. The character models are highly detailed to, basically the visuals are on par with the Uncharted games. I like how the game gives you many choices of how to engage enemies, you can use stealth and choke them, shoot them, or just beat the shit out of them with a baseball bat lol. Shooting really isn't that effective though as it just causes your enemies to swarm you. The weapons system takes some getting use to. Cycling through the weapons menu and learning how to combine and build weapons is a bit annoying, but you can quickly learn it. You really begin to like the characters almost right away, especially Ellie, fucking little brat. The control scheme is a lot like Uncharted, as far as the directional and combat controls go. A solid 9/10 so far...

*Update*, so I finished the game a few days ago, it took me almost 20 hours, what can I say, I like to explore. I stick by my 9/10 score as the game has a few little annoyances. Like I previously mentioned, the weapon menu system is a little annoying, as well as crafting health packs during combat. Why it takes multiple gun shots (even from a shotgun from 10 feet away) to take down an enemy is beyond me? Why melee weapons seem to disappear or break after a few hits is a mystery to? The enemy A.I. is a little retarded at times to, for example you choke one guy and drop him, and the guy standing 20 feet away doesn't hear or see anything and doesn't alert anyone. Maybe these guys are near sighted like in the older Metal Gear games?! These are just minor things that don't take away anything from this amazing game though. This game is everything a $60 video game should be.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Holy crap the pre-title sequence was awesome.

Just got through the museum in central Boston.

So far it's excellent in terms of atmosphere and the graphics range from nice to gorgeous depending on the lighting/filters in any given area.

Considering that it's Naughty Dog and it uses the Uncharted engine, I didn't expect it to mechanically play so much like a survival horror game. I was thinking that it was going to be more thematically a survival horror affair than mechanically one, but Joel is NOT Nathan Drake.

There's no dashing, rolling or ledge hanging. Even though the characters can move and strafe freely, the weight and speed of the characters is much heavier/slower than Uncharted.

And, of course, considering the style of game - that's not a bad thing at all.

I feel like this portion is the last of the "tutorial" style levels, at least I'm hoping it is ... because I feel like they're running me through every possible hand-holdy scenario to give me a feel for options/what to expect, which is totally a hallmark of this generation (the extended tutorial).

Overall I think I enjoy the Uncharted games a bit more but this has been a great experience so far and I'm looking forward to playing through (and giving the online a go).

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Oh, and is every game I play this year going to involve a middle-aged character voiced by Troy Baker dragging a teenage girl around everywhere?

No.

There will be a few featuring Nolan North as a middle-aged guy dragging a teenage girl around.

[thegamezmaster]

Got this for Father's Day, had to buy myself. Gee go figure. As far as initial thoughts am loving the game. Curious what's in the Season Pass with 3 DLC content? Worth getting?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Got this for Father's Day, had to buy myself. Gee go figure. As far as initial thoughts am loving the game. Curious what's in the Season Pass with 3 DLC content? Worth getting?

No clue what's going to be on the season pass and I haven't been able to find any online details that report exactly what it is other than "single-player and multiplayer content".

That aside, I'm just about to get out of Pittsburgh and holy crap, every time that I think the game is getting too redundant it throws some crazy shit at me.

This might be the best pure "survival horror" game I've ever played. Naughty Dog put the key elements of what makes a survival horror experience under the microscope and crafted something wonderful.

Also, the ambient conversations between Joel and Ellie completely trump anything that Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth say to each other in Bioshock Infinite. Joel and Ellie have a much more natural conversational dialog.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Just got out of Philadelphia and into "Fall".

Holy shit this game is emotionally exhausting in the best possible way.

[Gameguy]

So this is from the same studio that previously released this?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUNeKmHvVWM

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

So this is from the same studio that previously released this?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUNeKmHvVWM

You've got a problem with ninjas wearing bed-sheets?

[JakeM]

And the first 3 Crash Bandicoot games.....

Another friend of mine says he hasnt lost his save file, but its been freezing on him last night, 4 times total. Hes 5 hours into it on normal mode.

[Gamereviewgod]

Beginning and the end were fantastic. Everything in the middle left me dulled. It's too structured (search, find people, defend, lose people) to flow naturally, and repetition breaks any sensible reality. How lucky, since Ellie can't swim, there are floating palettes at every impassable body of water. How lucky, at every blocked off path, there are ladders.

Clicker encounters were great too, despite the idiocy of friendly AI. Sound design made rooms of infected come to life. Human encounters lacked the same thrills.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Beginning and the end were fantastic. Everything in the middle left me dulled. It's too structured (search, find people, defend, lose people) to flow naturally, and repetition breaks any sensible reality. How lucky, since Ellie can't swim, there are floating palettes at every impassable body of water. How lucky, at every blocked off path, there are ladders.

Clicker encounters were great too, despite the idiocy of friendly AI. Sound design made rooms of infected come to life. Human encounters lacked the same thrills.

The repetition and structure don't bother me so much as the design choice to allow friendly AI to wander into the DIRECT PATH of danger/view of enemies and not cause any trigger. Though, don't get me wrong ... I'm REALLY glad that they don't trigger anything because as helpful as they occasionally are at dispatching a bad guy, they almost always crouch-walk into their direct line of sight.

[Lucifersam1]

Thankfully, I never locked up or had trophy issues. I ended up playing and beating the game on hard. I may remove the patch if I decide to try for the Survivor trophies, as I read that some of the saved upgrades disappear. Need top do a little more research.

In terms of multiplayer, I feel like it is becoming somewhat repetitive...



Another friend of mine says he hasnt lost his save file, but its been freezing on him last night, 4 times total. Hes 5 hours into it on normal mode.

[Nebagram]

The repetition and structure don't bother me so much as the design choice to allow friendly AI to wander into the DIRECT PATH of danger/view of enemies and not cause any trigger. Though, don't get me wrong ... I'm REALLY glad that they don't trigger anything because as helpful as they occasionally are at dispatching a bad guy, they almost always crouch-walk into their direct line of sight.

You know, it was that exact thing that caused me to ragequit Uncharted 2 about an hour in. Few things ruin games quite like enforced stealth sections, so I was properly pleased when The Last of Us effectively said 'up to you how you take down enemies, if you think you can charge them, go for it'.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I'm not sure I've ever witnessed a game in its genre, that pulls from so many familiar tropes resolve the way that "The Last of Us" does. Sorry Bioshock Infinite, for as excellent and clever as you were, The Last of Us was easily the most impactful experience I've had all year.

[M.Buster2184]

So i finally got a chance to sit down and beat it. Man what a good game. Naughty Dog comes through once again. Anyone else get a chance to play this game? I know not everyone will like it, just wondering people's opinions. This is without a doubt one of my favorite games of this generation.