The Last of Us

I've been meaning to play this for a while, and finally got some time to get to it. It was recommended by some friends at work, if I wanted to avoid too much grind. I played it on PS3.

I always figured this was a post-apocalyptic game, with emphasis on survival/scavenging. There are also some zombie-type aspects to it.

First off, the game looks amazing. Like really amazing. The models, faces, mannerisms, and animations are all fantastic. Then add solid VO, and the cutscenes are just stunning.

The story is amazing, and the characters are believable, with their own motivations guiding their actions.

The game's gives you an objective that you're going for even though it's always going to be a difficult path to get to that single objective. It does keep things focus though which is really nice. It also gives you a hint if you stick around in a place for too long, because you don't know where to go or forgot.

The gameplay was clear and clean. It's a stealth game until you're spotted, then it's a cover based shooter, or you could just book it and run for the next objective. I had to book it a few times, and it's nice it's an option. It also was nice to see that quite a few cutscenes were done with in-game graphics, versus watching a movie. And with that, you usually at some if not full control over your character. I like that only take control away when they have to.

The controls can take a bit of time to get back into, if you step away for a week (or two), but they make sense.

Throughout the game you can upgrade weapons at workbenches. You get parts for upgrading throughout the game, and you get an upgrade tool at specific spots, to allow unlocking various levels of upgrades. You can also see from this that there are 5 levels of upgrades, so you know you have a good chunk of the game left when you only have 1-2 upgrade tools. At first I found the bow to be very weak, but once you upgrade it, it's amazing. It's a ranged silent take down weapon. Also, the target size for a head shot is forgiving. Also, always carry a full health shiv for unlocking rooms, their contents is worth the minor spend.

I also enjoyed the game much more when I found the lock on option, because I am terrible at aiming a reticle on any console. In this game, you really can't afford to just waste bullets with misses.

A few things I would change:

* Add a continue button screen to the end of loading a game. It takes long enough, and not all loaded games will take you to a safe place

* Make enemies consistently drop ammo. Possibly just on easy difficulty? They drop ammo consistently near the end, but not throughout. Arrows can sometimes be retrieved from a corpse, but not always. Missing and hitting a wall will break the arrow.

* Possibly have an option for how long to wait before giving the hint? There were a few places I was clueless and needed the hint sooner, or missed the dialog hint.