First and foremost, in this review I want to address that if you’ve heard anything about this game, you’ve heard the hate and distaste people have had for it online. Several key moments of the story of the game were leaked which caused a uproar and caused many to hate or refuse to buy it. While I don’t know how many of those people actually spent any time playing the game, I can tell you that I played the game all the way through and enjoyed my time with the game. The story isn’t anything I would consider ‘happy’ and there is no ‘happily ever after moment’ by the end. The story takes you down a dark road which can be tough to deal with but from a story telling perspective, it draws you in in a magnificent way.
Story: 9.5/10
As I just said, this story takes you on a dramatic and dark journey which always leaves you wanting to know more and makes the game hard to put down. I would play for 3 hours and get so wrapped up in the world that it felt like barely any time had passed. I don’t want to spoil anything (if it hasn’t already been spoiled for you) but I can say that playing the game all the way through is a real journey and experience that gamers need to take.
Score: 8/10
This is a tough category to rate for this game since most of the game has no music. However the brief moments that do have music are very memorable and the songs Ellie plays on her guitar create and great cover of a song you might already really enjoy.
Characters/Character Development: 10/10
Something The Last of Us has been able to do very well with their characters is make them feel like a real person with real emotions, wither they be a major or a minor character. Something big about this world that they do a good job of showing you is that no person is entirely good or entirely evil. Everyone has a level of gray to them. Because of this, every cutscene feels like a movie and playing through the game is just a way to get to the next scene.
Graphics 9.5/10
Graphics in this game are crisp and amazing. Something that take this even further is the whole sense of nature taking over that you see while walking through the game. Roads are now filled with waist deep grass and if it wasn’t for the cars parked on it, you probably wouldn’t even know it was a road at all. Buildings and walls are falling apart and infested with greenery growing throughout it. Highways have fallen apart and in several places have rivers of rainwater flowing through them. Going off the beaten path in several areas can reward you by trying to figure out what used to be there and how it has been destroyed.
Gameplay: 9/10
The gameplay itself is something that truly gives off the vibe of a post apocalyptic world, aside from the obvious zombies and cults. While exploring the world, it’s typical to find only 1 piece of ammo for a gun, and with those limited resources you still need to progress. While this would be annoying in most 3rd person shooters, I believe it adds a sense of realism to the game. While taking on a group of infected you can’t just go in shooting as fast as you can; ammo needs to be used sparsely and precisely.
Other things like crafting take time. If you need to heal yourself during a fight, you’re going to have to find a safe form of cover in order to do so. Healing is not instant and trying to heal yourself out in the open can be costly. The same goes with trying to make bombs and Molotov cocktails.
Difficulty: 6/10 (0 being the easiest, 10 being the hardest)
The game provides good challenges while you progress through the game. Certain fights that would normally be in big open spaces in other video games are in more realistic spaces that don’t give you the freedom you might have otherwise. One example of this is a moment in which you fight a bloater through a cramped hallway and room of a hotel; giving you the realism that you can be attacked anywhere, anytime.
Fun: 8/10
Given the dark tone of this game, ‘Fun’ might be the wrong word to describe this category, but what I can say is I heavily enjoyed playing it. The intense and gritty world you explore in The Last of Us Part 2 makes you feel cautious at every turn but feels rewarding as you progress. Learning more about each character through dialogue and cutscenes prevents you from stopping because you will always want to know what happens next.
Recommended for-
- · Fans of zombie games
- · Fans of 3rd person shooters
- · Playstation owners