The Last of Us

The Last of Us
The Last of Us is the creation of Naughty Dog studio, the same production team responsible for both the Jak&Daxter series for PlayStation 2 and the unprecedented Uncharted titles on the PlayStation 3, the highly popular Playstation console owners. The title was released shortly before the Playstation 3 ended its career. While the previous games have touched somewhat relaxed subjects, The Last of Us changes the switch, proposing an epic side as serious as possible, with strong emotional implications, but also with an obvious mark of human nature. The story of the game penetrates deep into the human psyche and explores hidden fears and emotions. This time, action is taking place in a near future, where mankind is threatened by a disease in which a large part of the planet’s population has fallen victim to this parasitic fungus-transmissible spore, which as time goes by removes any human instinct , the bearer becoming a kind of zombie. Survivors are forced to retreat to quarantine areas, but they are too closely supervised by the authorities. For this reason, a resistance force called Fireflies is created, determined to face the rules in an attempt to find a cure for the disease. The main character of the game Joel, is a smuggler, who has a particularly difficult mission to carry a little girl, Ellie, to the nearest Fireflies unit outside the Boston quarantine area. The relationship between the two main characters is wonderful; although it looks like a simple one, and the way they interact, communicate and evolve together is more than surprising for a game. At first, a slight antipathy turns into a strong emotional connection. However, we will not reveal more, you have to go through Joel’s journey with Ellie himself to be able to understand correctly the evolution of the relationship between the two characters. The Last of Us shows that video games are not simple ways to relax after a hard day of work, but also a form of art that is becoming deeper and more complex every day. The gameplay is good with so well-defined rules, but at the same time as permissive as rarely given you to meet in a game. The Last of Us, although it uses zombies, is not exactly the stereotype of the game of dead men. Survivors that Ellie and Joel meet during the game are as dangerous as those infected, and human cruelty and perversity amplify the severity of this. So we can not characterize the game as being part of a particular genre because it borrows elements such as third person shooting, stealth, puzzles, inventory management and crafting to create a unique survival game experience. Of course, there is also no multiplayer, less impressive than the single player campaign in The Last of Us. Two modes of play, Supply Raid and Survivors are available, both variations on Team Deathmatch 4 vs. 4. The difference is made by the level up system based on the accumulation of resources: each map has points indicated on the radar where you can find resources that can be used during the game itself for extra ammunition and weapons or can be saved for the end, where they are transformed into “experience”. The graphics are great, although despite their sustained efforts, some landscapes and locations lose their brightness due to poor texture or lack of antialiasing. Fortunately, these gaps are counterbalanced by attention to particular details. Realistic colors have greatly helped create the atmosphere. Voice-acting is also flawless. The voices of the characters transmit emotions: fear and hope as if you have a real person in front of you, not using a digital image through the apocalyptic world. The story, emotional load and balanced gameplay is enough to motivate you to try this game.