Back in September I finally caved and bought myself the (then new) PS4 Slim. Ever since the 4th grade when I was first put in the very difficult position of making my own Sophie's Choice of whether to become the owner of an N64 or a Playstation, I chose Nintendo over Sony. In the years since, the only other Sony gaming device I've ever owned was the 2nd generation PS2. Needless to say, there have been plenty of games in the span of the PS3 and PS4 that have always intrigued me, but one game has by far been the most enticing of all: The Last of Us.
Despite being a big zombie fan back in high school, I'll admit I've grown weary of the sub-genre. That's not to say I'm completely over zombies (and Disney/LucasFilm... if you guys ever adapt the Han Solo space, zombie-survival novel Death Troopers, I'll plotz myself), but I need something fresh to bring some life back in this world of death. Here we have The Last of Us. Critically praised to no end, I felt confident that this was the title that would do just that. While I wasn't disappointed, I wasn't astounded either.
To put it simply, The Last of Us feels like what Cormac McCarthy would write if tasked to tell his own zombie story. Even though every zombie story I've ever experienced focuses on the survivors and usually the struggle they find trusting each other to survive, or lack thereof, this one took that motif in a very intimate direction. The story of an older man -- a man who lost his daughter at the beginning of the "outbreak," not due to the virus, but due to the violence of society -- who forms a relationship with a young girl that contains the hope in stoping the virus once and for all. I thought the game did a great job in exploring this relationship in various ways and really showing how these characters change for better... or for worse. Like any McCarthy book, the story doesn't shy away from the brutal truth we all fear might be buried deep down in our own human nature.
If I had one criticism to this game it would be the lack of freedom the player has in shaping the story. The gameplay and plot is very linear forcing audiences to keep to the designated story. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, for a game that's constantly challenging our view's of morality in a world where ethics might be more of a luxury than necessity, it would be nice if I was actually able to control what choices my characters made... at least some of the time. Now I can already hear some people (likely Kieth) bitching that this game is designed to specifically force the player into those morally uncomfortable places. To make you live out awful, yet sometimes necessary, decisions.
That's a point I can't really argue with.
The game certainly made me squirm by forcing me through tough decisions that went against how I wanted to play. If that's what the developers wanted from their audiences, then they succeeded. Still... I like games to treat me how someone might teach me how to ride a bike. At first, hold my hand. Help me make some of those decisions on how to peddle and steer being sure I understand how to keep the bike upright. But by the end, it's time for the developer to let go and see if I can manage to keep the bike upright. And if I choose to take that bike a bomb it down a steep hill into a perilous canyon that ends into a volcano filled with fire-spiders, then, fuck it... let me do so. But don't pull me down with you assuming that's how I want to experience things.
In case I didn't make this clear through my bitching in the last few paragraphs... I did love this game. It was beautiful to look at in the remastered version and an excellent reintroduction into the gaming world of Playstation. I just get a little bitchy when games force me into uncharacteristic predicaments. But, hey... with the way this game ends... it's totally possible this story isn't done. There's still time for redemption, Joel. There's still time!
Despite being a big zombie fan back in high school, I'll admit I've grown weary of the sub-genre. That's not to say I'm completely over zombies (and Disney/LucasFilm... if you guys ever adapt the Han Solo space, zombie-survival novel Death Troopers, I'll plotz myself), but I need something fresh to bring some life back in this world of death. Here we have The Last of Us. Critically praised to no end, I felt confident that this was the title that would do just that. While I wasn't disappointed, I wasn't astounded either.
To put it simply, The Last of Us feels like what Cormac McCarthy would write if tasked to tell his own zombie story. Even though every zombie story I've ever experienced focuses on the survivors and usually the struggle they find trusting each other to survive, or lack thereof, this one took that motif in a very intimate direction. The story of an older man -- a man who lost his daughter at the beginning of the "outbreak," not due to the virus, but due to the violence of society -- who forms a relationship with a young girl that contains the hope in stoping the virus once and for all. I thought the game did a great job in exploring this relationship in various ways and really showing how these characters change for better... or for worse. Like any McCarthy book, the story doesn't shy away from the brutal truth we all fear might be buried deep down in our own human nature.
If I had one criticism to this game it would be the lack of freedom the player has in shaping the story. The gameplay and plot is very linear forcing audiences to keep to the designated story. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, for a game that's constantly challenging our view's of morality in a world where ethics might be more of a luxury than necessity, it would be nice if I was actually able to control what choices my characters made... at least some of the time. Now I can already hear some people (likely Kieth) bitching that this game is designed to specifically force the player into those morally uncomfortable places. To make you live out awful, yet sometimes necessary, decisions.
That's a point I can't really argue with.
The game certainly made me squirm by forcing me through tough decisions that went against how I wanted to play. If that's what the developers wanted from their audiences, then they succeeded. Still... I like games to treat me how someone might teach me how to ride a bike. At first, hold my hand. Help me make some of those decisions on how to peddle and steer being sure I understand how to keep the bike upright. But by the end, it's time for the developer to let go and see if I can manage to keep the bike upright. And if I choose to take that bike a bomb it down a steep hill into a perilous canyon that ends into a volcano filled with fire-spiders, then, fuck it... let me do so. But don't pull me down with you assuming that's how I want to experience things.
In case I didn't make this clear through my bitching in the last few paragraphs... I did love this game. It was beautiful to look at in the remastered version and an excellent reintroduction into the gaming world of Playstation. I just get a little bitchy when games force me into uncharacteristic predicaments. But, hey... with the way this game ends... it's totally possible this story isn't done. There's still time for redemption, Joel. There's still time!
[WARNING: LAST OF US & LIFE IS STRANGE SPOILERS]
ReplyDeleteIn discussing the ending with Keith, I began to come around on it a little. I still think it works better as a movie ending than as a video game ending (ie, as a story you are told vs. a story you have agency in shaping) but it's powerful and unforgettable and, hey, we're all still talking about it aren't we?
The game I keep comparing and contrasting this to is Life is Strange, which is another one we both just played a few months ago. That whole game is about choices, but they're sort of "false" choices in that no matter what you do throughout the game, you get one of two possible endings. Either Chloe dies and everyone else lives (including Kate Marsh, regardless of whether or not you botched things like I did in Chapter 2) or Chloe lives and everybody dies. It's a "save the world, lose the girl" conundrum that ends up completely overwriting all the tiny choices you made along the way, which ultimately turned me off from the game a bit; I'd say through the third chapter, Life Is Strange had all the makings of an all time classic, but then it overextended itself a bit with the "wheelchair" alternate timeline (a huge choice to make - assisted suicide? - but the same result either way) and, well, I've already complained about the ending.
Then meanwhile in this game you've got a very similar "save the world, lose the girl" decision that has to be made... except it's not a decision at all. The game decides for you, because Joel decides, and even though it's thematically consistent with his personality and the overall vibe of the game, it still "feels" wrong that I had to pull the trigger on that surgeon. The game is full of cutscenes in which Joel shoots and kills people threatening his life; why do I need to actively kill the surgeon? Proponents of the ending (Keith) will point out that when the game makes you pull the trigger, it's making you feel the weight of that choice - and that's very true, except that it isn't a choice at all. To me it feels needlessly heavy. If this is a game without a single cutscene, fine - but it isn't; Joel's acting autonomously at various moments throughout the game, and it just strikes me as cheap for the game to pull a "but YOU need to be the one to do this" at the end there. I guess it's not the lack of choice that bothers me - let the game tell the story it wants to tell, sure, fine - it's the ILLUSION of choice. In a weird way it's the same criticism I had with Life Is Strange, which gave you hundreds of choices throughout the game but only two possible endings. And it's the same issue a lot of people had with that level in Modern Warfare 2 where you need to shoot up some airport security guards in order to "blend in" with the terrorists you're with, who sniff you out anyway right afterward and kill the character. (And it sounds like it's a similar beef to the one a lot of people had with Mass Effect 3 - wouldn't know, haven't played those yet.)
But yeah, all in all, this was a great game. I've never been a fan of survival horror but this was the most enjoyable version of the genre I can imagine.