The Last of Us Part 2 - Review
When the first Last of Us was released, it was something that likes of which on gamer had played before, it changed so much about games, but it was very much a one and done experience. Many years later Naughty Dog are back with a follow up, but is this newest chapter worth visiting, or should you keep memories of the first untainted?
The story that is told here, honestly, it is complex, there are layers upon layers and each time I thought things might come to a close, something else would appear. The basic story has Ellie venturing out to seek revenge, but the way and who she travels with need to be discovered on your own, not because it would spoil things, which it would, but it has more impact that way. The story starts off simple, Ellie, Joel, Tommy and the rest of the crew are living simple lives in the town of Jackson, a well-fortified town in Wyoming. Taking turns at patrols, they venture out on set routes, in order to determine if there are Infected nearby, clearing out any they find, a simple life for sure, but not without it’s dangers. Sadly there is an event that takes place and it triggers the larger story, having been able to avoid spoilers, theories and outright crazy predictions, so I went in completely blind, I even avoided watching the dedicated State of Play, just so I could enjoy it the most.
With that all being said, I do have problems with the story, as it is such a scripted affair, there is little room, or really none at all, to make choices. What this leaves you with, is an on the rails story experience, for example, you can’t choose to ignore killing someone, if the game requires it, which feels restrictive. There were times when I thought the game would also allow me to make a choice, but it doesn’t, you are in it for the ride and that is it. Please don’t misunderstand, it is one heck of a ride, I would have like a little freedom to make a choice or two.
Looking at the gameplay on offer though, everything from the first game has made its way across and has been tightened and refined to such levels, it is insane to think about. But they also added in entirely new mechanics and systems, which help add another layer of complexity and fun to the game, something that I am incredibly grateful for. The game still allows you to do the listen thing, slowing you down, while you attempt to locate nearby foes, this is something that is very handy at times, but you can upgrade it; upgrades are handled in multiple ways, but more on that later. Because of the Listen Mode, you can sneak around enemies, in order to either take them out silently, or bypass them entirely, something that is made a lot easier now, thanks to elements like tall grass or low cars to hide under. The addition of these new mechanics makes stealth a much more viable option, especially when supplies are running low, giving you more choices in how you can proceed.
Supplies are still just as rare as they were in the first game, so deciding on when to use your guns, or explosives is something you need to constantly consider, as there are no random rooms packed with supplies before big confrontations. In the first game, Joel required the creation of shiv’s in order to take down enemies with one hit, if taken by surprise, thankfully they have done away with that here, as Ellie has her own switchblade, making it easier for her to do so. There is also a large range of weapons available for long distance combat and some of them can have silencers equipped, but like most things there is a durability to them, so if they are used, they will break, and sound is your enemy. The ability to crawl through grass, under cars and trucks, hop over short walls and such, to get around enemies, makes some fights completely avoidable, something that I took advantage of a few times, purely because I just didn’t want to spend time attempting to stealth kill a few people, get spotted then waste bullets taking out the rest.
As I said before though, there is an entire upgrade system to make use of, from weapons to Ellie, there are a wealth of options, the catch, you can only upgrade, if you find the parts you need. For weapon upgrades, you need to find bolts of scrap, sometimes you might get one-piece, other times a lot more. The same is true for Ellie, in order to learn new skills, you need to pop some pills, literally, randomly collected medication is needed to upgrade, but there is another thing there. In order to unlock new upgrade paths, so to speak, you have to find training manuals, you don’t just know everything, you have to read about things, it is a great idea that helps make exploring even more rewarding. Heck, some weapon upgrades, like being able to have two pistols equipped, only happens if you find the leg holster, which is not something that is lying on a convenient table, it is in a safe, in a back room, locked behind a puzzle of a safe combination. Exploring, whilst important for the game, is perhaps even more so, if you want to have a fighting chance and as some of the later level upgrades, further down the trees, require a lot of pieces, you will have to explore.
With all that good though, there is some bad and honestly, it was one of the most frustrating things, using Listen Mode, you can sense when there are enemies nearby, it is the entire point of it, however, when entering spaces that seem like they should have enemies and you find none, you should be able to relax. This is not the case, as there are times when the game simply omits someone from the skill, in order to have a surprise attack thrown at you, which then runs into a scripted fight or cutscene. This was proven during a patrol mission, where a larger infected creature pulled Ellie from the room, the first few attempts at dodging it failed, resulting in death, however repetition leads to success and eventually I was able to dodge it like a pro. There was a catch, after almost 10 minutes of dodging, I got caught, only for a cutscene to play out, which again highlights the restrictive nature of the game, dying sometimes and then not another, it strikes a bizarre bargain of game and movie and one that does not feel in the players favour.
Of course, you can’t talk about The Last of Us Part 2 and not mention those amazing visuals, the game is perhaps one of the best looking ever created and I say this having seen some next gen games. There is an attention to detail that is honestly unmatched, in any other game, from the details on the bag Ellie wears, to faded signs half a street away, there is no lack of detail anywhere. The same carries over to the facial performances, they are detailed, letting you see the most subtle of movements, which help sell some of the more emotional and complex scenes. When those two parts combine, you get something that could be passed off as a movie and given the number of cutscenes, that can easily be an argument.
Something that I honestly didn’t think I would have to talk about, but I am glad I get to, are the accessibility options, because they add the now standard, but have added a host more there. In all the PlayStation story games, I turn off the need to button mash to open doors or such, as it is just annoying and here was no different but included in that menu are more options that you might imagine. From high contrasts, to colour-blind options, plus audio descriptions for signs and such, there is plenty of options to ensure the game works for you, if you need them, something that is wonderful to see. The reason that I am bringing it up though, is that they don’t impact the visuals, the high contrast option, applies a grey colouring to everything in the world and I do mean everything, good characters are coloured blue, items are yellow and finally red for enemies. Even though there are colours applied to things, there are still plenty of details to help you see what things are, walls are not just grey slabs, you can still see imperfections in the paint jobs and more. The best part is that you can turn it on and off, once enabled, with a swipe of the touch pad.
There are some issues with the visuals though, most of it comes down to slow loading textures, with a good number of times, when textures were slow to load in, they didn’t pop in, just slowly faded in over time. The problem with that, is once you notice it, until they are fully loaded, it is quite distracting and can take a good number of seconds to complete the load. The other issues is with the animations, both of enemies and the mains, starting with the enemies, there are only a few cycles of animations for them to use and while solid, they appear far to often. Getting an enemy, walking their route, to then just turn around, whilst still walking, was something I thought was a wonderful touch, but then that exact same animation is applied to every human enemy, removing the wonder. The other issue is with the animation in the cutscenes, as they are done in real-time, any equipment you have on you, will show up in the scenes, which is always good, but there were a good dozen shots, where characters legs were clipping through their bodies, or other parts of the legs, which again breaks you out of things.
The main characters are brought to life by returning actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson as Joel and Ellie respectively, but as there have been a few years between the games, they have aged them up and even with that, both still feel right. Alongside them, are new characters and most of them are great fits to the universe, some feel a little stereotypical though, like gruff commander and such, but they still work. The only complaint I have with the cast is Laura Bailey, not with the actress herself, she does a great job with her role, the problem is that she uses her normal voice, which is the exact same one used for Kait Diaz in Gears of War and dozens of other projects and unless I was paying attention, I feel disconnected when I hear her voice. She delivers a great performance and it is a strong addition to the world, but I just wish there were something else done to it, to make it stand on its own.
On the sound front, Gustavo Santaolalla has done another amazing job, with so many themes feeling like they came from the first game, but still being fresh and exciting, indicating their newness. There are sometimes when you can strum a guitar, which is nice and they lead into a proper song, which is also done with such wonderful attention. A nice touch is that the score will fade away, when you need to focus on words, and come back, when the game needs it to and the best part, is that they never feel like they are wedged into a place, they have an organic insertion to them. There are some audio mix issues with the dialogue though, sometimes a character off screen will say something, causing an event to occur, but without subtitles on, you can’t hear what is being said. The other odd thing is voiced carry for the human enemies, but not the infected, which lets you hear conversations some distance away, but not infected when they are two rooms away.
Naughty Dog have created, in simple words, one incredible game. There is so much detail from the characters, to the word, the story and the music and it all comes together, to present one remarkable experience. It is not without issues though, presentation issues are present, which given how stunning things look normally, do stand out a lot, the other issue is more to do with the core gameplay. As you have to experience all the story beats, the game will hide enemies from you, in order for you to trigger them, this feels cheap and when you clear out areas, only to be surprised by a previously not present enemy, it hurts. But while those are issues, they are not enough to mar the joy in playing it, making this one of the must play games of the generation.
The Score
9.0
Review code provided by PlayStation
The Pros
+The presentation is stunning across the board, character and world shine here
+The core gameplay returns from the first game, but has new layers, giving you more enjoyment
The Cons
+The game feels cheap at times, by hiding enemies from you, until they are needed, causing scares
+The story loses its drive about halfway through, with the characters seemingly going through motions to see it done
