The Last of Us 2 Review

The Last of Us 2 Review

The Last of Us Part II has been the center of quite a few conversations, ranging from its developer coming under fire for the amount of crunch placed upon its workers, to the widely varying reviews the game receives from critics to gamers alike. My quick and dirty review of the game is a 8.5 out of 10, with a more in-depth review continuing from here.

GAMEPLAY

Let’s start with the gameplay. The gameplay of this game is almost perfect. I only encountered one glitch my entire 30 hours of play, where I went close to a wall on horseback and caused Dina (a companion character) to shake uncontrollably. Other than that, the game ran flawlessly, acting exactly how you would expect.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

The snowy mountains of Jackson, the forests surrounding Seattle, and the inside of the city itself are all beautifully unique and pleasing to look at. I unfortunately did not get to experience the game in its HDR enhanced state, but even in 1080p, the amount of detail given to each area is breathtakingly astonishing.

The physics applied to the world is so realistic that even if you’ve never been to the areas in-game, you begin to feel as if you had. The wind waves through the grass, water wicks off your paper if you pull out a note while wet, your character’s appearance visually changes to a glistening darkened version when wet; The game leaves nothing to the imagination where graphically concerned.

LEVEL DESIGN

The different areas seamlessly run from one to another, never truly feeling like a boxed in area. Despite this, it is easy to tell when a level change occurs, when either Ellie or Abby block off a door or jump down to an area they cannot return to. Sometimes a cut-scene will signify a level change as well. Cover is abound aplenty in every level, giving you ample opportunity to move about without being seen.

SOUND DESIGN

The sound design in this game is exquisite. The music captures every tense, action-filled, terrifying moment and only serves to enhance it. When you’re walking through the snowy mountainous terrain of Jackson, the crunch and sinking sound of the snow makes you feel as if you are physically moving through snow yourself. These same sentiments can be extended to every aspect of the game. The harsh panting Ellie or Abby gives while running, the sound of metal striking when using an item such as a pipe or crowbar, the crash of thunder during one of the games many climatic moments. Every sound enhances the experience and is always masterfully executed.

COMBAT

The combat of the game builds directly off of the combat found in The Last of Us, with a few added bells and whistles. The most welcome and notable change is the ability to dodge incoming melee attacks. This allowed for a much more fluid melee experience, if you were able to dodge at the correct times. This is not something that can be spammed either, as the character throws all of their momentum into dodging, leaving you open if you whiff the dodge. It should also be noted the feel of combat changes with who you’re playing. Ellie - being slender and nimble - has a much more fluid battle style, depending on her trusty knife to see her through physical situations; while Abby has a more impactful fighting style, her punches and ability to take hits making her feel powerful, albeit slower than Ellie. This is a really nice touch, as it feels authentically like each character is a unique being, versus being clones of one another.

Another addition is the ability to go prone. This allows the player to crawl along the ground, being able to hide in places previously unavailable in the prior game. This allows for a deeper sense of stealth and adds to the organic feeling of the stealth system. As expected, moving in this way severely reduces your speed (although you can alleviate this with upgrades), and allowing an enemy to get too close to you will result in you getting spotted.

On the enemy side, they have acquired canine companions, allowing them to sniff you out if they stumble across your trail. This forces you to keep moving, as the dogs will eventually lose interest if they don’t find you quickly enough. Of course, my favorite approach to dealing with these sniffing menaces was to plant a bomb. They sniff those because it has your scent on them and… well, pretty much take care of themselves. If you do garner their attention, they will rush at you, tackling you to the ground. Your health will fast decrease while you fight them off, making running into them very unpleasant. Keeping track of the dogs is easy enough however, as the listening portion of The Last of Us has been retrofitted to include the scent trail you leave behind.

The stealth of The Last of Us 2 primarily works the same as the first game, however, if you are spotted and lay low long enough you can go back into stealth. This allows for a more varied combat style, instead of being forced into an allout shootout if you are spotted once. While this was possible to do in The Last of Us, The Last of Us 2 is much more transparent in this transition. It should be noted however, that going back into stealth, can be quite challenging to do.

Both Ellie and Abby also receive different types of weapons, solidifying the uniqueness of each other. The weapon switching can still be clunky to get around if you’re trying to use it in pinch, but this problem gets slightly alleviated by the additional holsters found in the game.

Overall, the combat system is a joy to interact with, and unabashedly, one of my favorite parts of the game.

UPGRADES

The game still has the weapon and supplement upgrades, with a few noted differences. Starting with the supplements, the upgrades now proceed in a linear fashion. If you want that really sweet perk at the end of the tree, you have to obtain all the other perks first. This linear progression is nice, although I can’t say I have a strong preference for this set-up over the last. These trees are further unlocked by finding magazines and books in-game that weren’t overly hard to locate, each branch having its own separate skill-set it was dedicated to.

The weapon upgrades are a lot more aesthetically pleasing, with each upgrade physically changing the look of the weapon being upgraded. Upgrades like weapon stability have also been moved here, versus the previous game where that perk was in the supplement upgrades. All-in-all both upgrade systems feel more rewarding, with perks that can be fine-tuned to your desired play-style.

NARRATIVE DESIGN (SPOILERS)

This is honestly the only part of the game that truly hurts The Last of Us 2. The story goes back and forth between Ellie and a newly introduced character, Abby. Both are on a quest of revenge, which leads the two to clash against each other. Abby, for the death of her father by Joel, and Ellie, for the death of Joel by Abby.

The plot goes through several points that leaves the player on the edge of their seat, craving resolution, but the story leaves the player there too long. There are parts of the game where it feels like it should be ending, but the game barrels far beyond that. During these times it gives the impression that it is actively trying to “one-up” its predecessor, refusing to end until it achieves this goal. To that end, the story suffers largely from bad pacing. It can be easily understood why the pacing was so difficult to capture, having two main characters with juxtaposing stories does not lend itself to an easy story to pace. Nevertheless, this could cause the player to experience fatigue, and question what the story is trying to tell.

The characters are developed beautifully and meticulously, to where even facial expressions, body language, and vocal tone add to the character’s development. Throughout my gameplay, the realistic believability of the emotions conveyed visually made tense emotional moments feel natural and particular scenes would leave lingering images in my mind days after viewing it. Because of this, the story’s ending truly is one you must play through to fully connect with it. Just watching or reading does not do it enough justice and can make you resent the story without hearing or seeing its full connotations.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Despite my grievance with the narrative design, I would recommend the game wholeheartedly, if only to experience the surreal, heartbreaking, tragic moments the game has to offer. The Last of Us II is an experience that stays with you long after the game has finished, and the emotional experience truly is a unique one. While the story could have used some more work-shopping when it comes to the pacing, every other aspect of the game is simply exquisite. If there is ever a “The Last of Us part III”, I’m definitely in.