May 6, 2021

The Last of Us Remastered: Escort Missions are fun, guy?

 I know I reviewed the Original game for PS3. Hell, I might even Quote Myself in parts of the review. I am playing the remaster since my PS3 has been acting up. So here we go:
The Last of Us was a controversial game mostly because Elliot Page, back when he was Ellen Page raised a stink about Ellie being an ersatz of the formerly her that is now him. Also, something, something the game where they actually appeared had a nude model of Page's character. So, convoluted story of controversies of the original game that I referenced in the original review has been Remade, since I had to update the status of Mr. Page no longer being Ms. Page... I'm keeping it as is on the original in context of the time it was written. Now woth that out of the way let's  get cracking with the review:

Wait, complaints about escort missions:
GTA escort missions suck! Escorting E.E. sucks!
EVA wasn't AS BAD but a bit annoying... but there is ONE supremely annoying Escort Mission... mainly because the character sounds like Cindy Vortex... yes, I'm talking about Ashley Graham of Resident Evil 4.  Luckily, TLOU has competent AI companions that are ignored by the enemy AI. 
Gameplay in a nutshell...

Graphics:
For an upscaled PS3 to PS4 game, the graphics are pretty good. Not TLOU2 good, but good enough... Naughty Dog tends to be pretty good in this Department. The graphics actually look like early PS4 and I don't mean this as a jab against the game because this is a PS3 game after all.
8.5



Music and sounds
I gave you a sample of the music with the Title theme. The music is composed by Gustavo Santaolalla.(21 Grams, Babel, Brokeback Mountain) The Music blends well with the environments and is often soft and subtle. The voice acting for the game is actually pretty good. There's a few big names from the VA field doing additional voices in the game. Even Deadpool/Nathan Drake voices a character here. Yes this is copy-pasted from the original review. Nothing changed here so I have nothing to add. The reason this isn't perfect is because of some minor issues in the voice acting from background characters.
9.5 


Gameplay: 
As I mentioned before, the game is a huge escort mission on a post-pandemic world. That last part of the sentence is important, since the Survival Element (and a huge chunk of the story) relies on the whole Post-Pandemic world where resources are scarce. (And here we are during a Pandemic of our own... take it away Cardigan Backyardigan)



While you could fight your enemies with guns, the limited Ammo and the imposed Ammo capacity limit will make things harder for you to "go Rambo" on the enemies (infected and enemy humans.) Luckily you have melee weapons and stealth that you can use to take down enemies. There are a few elements reminiscent of platforming games and some "environmental" puzzles to solve... Something like Tomb Raider. I mentioned Stealth earlier, but I want to go a bit deeper on that theme. It's not Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell. Stealth is used for two things: Avoid Enemies and Ammo-Saving Stealth Kills. The Stealth element is a bit basic. Hide behind walls or waist high obstacles to circle around enemies. Late in game avoid glass that suddenly becomes noisy.

 The Action is interrupted by serene sections where you can explore and learn a bit more about the world, and have character interactions where you can see the bonds between them evolve. Also, those peaceful moments are the perfect chances to craft your items, reload weapons, etc. Why? Because Reloading, Item Crafting, HEALING, Reading, etc. is done in real time. Crafting that Medikit in the middle of the battle to heal yourself will get you killed.
8.0

Controls:
Normally they are pretty responsive, but every now and then, move.ent becomes jittery and stuttery...
Cleaned the controllers, pushed and pulled the sticks, reversed the sticks on both PS4 AND the game. Waiting on a brand new controller to play Left Behind.

7.0

Story:
World went to shit in 2013. A Mutated Cordyceps Outbreak eliminated 60% of mankind. I probably died because I couldn't outrun my infected mom or brother.  But this isn't my story... this is Joel Miller's story: a construction contractor who lost his daughter to the Army's strict population control protocols during the outbreak. As he descended into darkness, Joel became bitter and a horrible human being in order to survive. He dragged his brother, Tommy down this dark path until Tommy had enough and left Joel. Eventually, Joel becomes one of the better smugglers in Boston. Bitter, cynical, and mistrusting, he ends up having to smuggle a girl, Ellie, who could be Mankind's last hope to end the pandemic, since Ellie is infected, yet immune to the effects of the Cordyceps Brain Infection.  The meat of the story lies in the journey and how Ellie begins thawing the chunk of ice that once used to be Joel's heart... until the sequel comes along and takes a MASSIVE SHIT on this game's story so The Unlikable Bulk can be justified.
9.5

Fun Factor
Is the game fun? Yes. For those of you who like online play, there are a few modes that you can play, but I'm not a fan of online, so I can't help you there. Now the main game is fun, but I prefer the Quite peaceful moments of the game than the action packed sections. Mostly since I have to rely on the game's "Listen Mode" (You crouch automatically and you can be aware of enemy movements even behind obstacles that obstruct your view.) Also, after playing the sequel,  with improved mechanics, this one feels a bit lacking. The peaceful moments allow me to enjoy the Joel and Ellie dynamics.
One minor gripe that I have with the game is that some of the infected (Clickers and Bloaters have this insta-kill if they get close enough to you.) It can be pretty annoying at times. Your mileage may vary here. I'd say this game requires a "cool off" period between each full play-through.(from start to the ending)
  9.0

Overall:
The Last of Us Remastered gets a 8.58 as its final score. The walking bug ended up hurting the game a lot more than I expected. The "main gripe" against the game will be that it's a semi-interactive movie. Some people might complain that this review is pretty close to the PS3 one, but I'll chalk that up to my stance not changing that much from back then. While the remaster is good, I could see the potential of a remake... and it seems that the remake might be a true remake and not a remaster. 

Once I play Left Behind I can make an updated version of this review or just do the review separately and then tack on a link to that review on this rant.

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