The Last of Us: Review

While Tomb Raider 2012 features a fast-paced story about Lara Croft growing up to be a woman, Naughty Dog’s Last of Us is more of a slow-paced interactive movie that makes you sweat. First you meet Joel and Tess, two brutal people whom you would love to hate: they are aggressive and angry, accustomed to a post-apocalyptic world where zombies seem to be ruling the world.

Meet Ellie: a scared, vulnerable yet strong and resilient young girl. A sore thumb in this bleak world, yet to survive she shows remarkable strength. To win the game, you must survive. Doing so requires street smarts and no morals. If you are a scaredy cat, best not to play this game, as it is a master of giving you the creeps with its sound effects alone.

Although the zombie genre is well worn, this game sheds a more depressive light to humankind. You have to kill and steal to survive as things are scarce, those zombies would love to have your brains, and your fellow humans want to live too. You might find hoards of zombies hard to kill, but are you as willing to snuff out a fellow human just so you can steal his meal?

However, the AI would cause the zombies to look pass Ellie and not you, or getting hoards to come after you when you walk and not the screaming Tess.  The imperfection part of the charm, when you look at the overall game: soundtrack, gameplay, intensity and graphics. If you are looking for some zombie bashing, this is not the game. Instead, the game offers more than mindless fun, it makes you question certain things in life, like survival and if you would emerge victorious in a zombie apocalypse.

Ailyn Koay

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