The last of us guardian review

The Last of Us.

Spoiler free. It is difficult to explain how exactly it does this without robbing players of the chance to experience it for themselves, but I will say this: no video game has ever gone to these lengths to humanise the enemy, or to interrogate the violence that it asks the player to perform. Since the events of The Last of Us , she has been living in a stable community of survivors, making friends, learning the guitar, kissing girls at dances. But a traumatic event drives her to leave the relative safety of Jackson on a revenge mission that takes her to the remains of Seattle. The city has been ravaged first by the military, then by the infected, and finally by nature.

The last of us guardian review

Sony, PS5 Visual and haptical enhancements along with bonus content including new modes, cut stages and audio commentary from designers make this a required experience. There was such a haunting irony in the idea of people trapped at home by a global pandemic, playing an apocalyptic video game about … a global pandemic. Well, Covid never went away, and neither did the Last of Us — in , a free upgrade allowed new PS5 owners to play a tweaked version of the PS4 original, then came the critically acclaimed TV drama series, which brought a new audience to the desperate tale of Ellie and Joel. Now we have The Last of Us Part II Remastered, an overhauled version of the excellent game, which adds a new Fidelity Mode, offering 4K resolution at 30 frames-per-second, as well as a Performance Mode, in p at 60 fps. Movement is smoother, lighting is brighter and the scenic detail, especially on foliage, just has a touch more life to it, making for an even greater sense of immersion in this muddy, ruined world. More important are the changes to the controls, with full implementation of the Dual Sense controller. The granular haptic feedback and adaptive triggers allow a palpable difference in feel between the various weapons, adding to the sheer physicality of the combat. What really lifts the game is the array of bonus content. A new mode named No Return is a rogue-like survival game in which you seek to stay alive as long as possible through multiple enemy attack waves. You get a choice of paths through the series of procedurally generated stages, each based around areas from the main game. Also, some stages are against the infected, while others feature human soldiers, so the tactics shift accordingly. What you get is a compelling mix of stealth and all-out action, and at the end of each stage, you can upgrade weapons and items. My favourite addition, however, is Lost Levels, a selection of three playable stages that were cut from the game. These short sequences are unfinished and understandably rough in places but offer a truly fascinating glimpse into the development process — this sort of content is very rarely shared with players or journalists, for that matter.

She starts off unlikable and brash but becomes fiercely powerful and a strong character all on her own. Not as far-fetched as I once thought: after the pandemic, a lot more seems possible.

Z ombie game pop quiz: You've finally found the exit to the abandoned warehouse you'd been scavenging supplies from, but between you and freedom are four shambling infected monstrosities, all eager for tasty man-shaped snacks. How are you going to make it past without ending up as human tartare? If this was pretty much any other recent survival horror title, the answer would be simple — reach for the trusty military grade shotgun, grenade launcher or plasma cutter as appropriate, paint the walls with rotted brains and waltz across the room, scooping up an assortment of high-powered ammunition along the way. This isn't one of those games though, this is The Last of Us, and your arsenal right now consists of a brick and a length of drainpipe with some scissors taped to the end. Good luck, you're going to need it. Keeping your resources limited is just one of the many things Naughty Dog's latest action adventure gets right — forcing you to think through your approach to every encounter while keeping the tension ratcheted up to 11 generates a level of unease that the genre feels like it's been missing since the early Silent Hill games. It seems an obvious point that a zombie-themed game should be scary, but it's a rare enough occurrence that here it feels fresh.

Do not read unless you have seen episodes one to four …. All was going swimmingly until they got to Kansas City, where the highways were blocked and they needed to find a detour. Of course, this being The Last of Us , nothing can go to plan. Later, he gave his ward a few pointers on stance and grip for her troubles. Ellie, meanwhile, said she had killed before. Whoever could she mean?

The last of us guardian review

S et 20 years after a horrific fungal contagion causes the downfall of society, The Last of Us is a gritty survival drama filled with desperate, flawed and — above all — human characters. As the gruff Joel, much of the game involves guiding the young and vulnerable Ellie to safety. Travelling across a ruined America, Joel and Ellie encounter many other survivors, some of whom present a greater threat than the monstrous infected. Each conflict is tense — you'll be overrun if typical "action shooter" tactics are attempted. Caution, stealth, listening and forethought are the key weapons.

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I remain conflicted. This excellent episode upped the ante with flames, explosions and tragedy. This article is more than 3 years old. Ellie tended to Joel in a dilapidated basement, then flashed back to bliss, booze and photo booths with her best friend — just before disaster struck. A baby — Ellie. Team Kieran or Team Pedro: who are you backing in the battle of the leading men? W hen it comes to video-game adaptations, TV and film producers have historically had an unfortunate habit of using the game as a kind of Mad Libs prompt for something completely unrelated. How about that? This article is more than 2 months old. Pedro Pascal is Joel, a Texan construction worker in his 50s and a semi-outsider in the Boston quarantine zone, where he does grim maintenance jobs and has a sideline in the hidden market. Chases, shootouts and horribly tense forays through long-abandoned, zombie-infested buildings are balanced with quiet or quietly devastating scenes where all you do is talk and look around. Booksmart actor cast in apocalyptic drama as vengeful soldier Abby, as TV series creators eschew close physical likenesses to the video game character. She told Marlene Merle Dandridge that the bite happened after Ellie was born and the umbilical cord had been cut.

The Last of Us finale recap — what a brutal, sadistic triumph of television. In an absolute gut-punch denouement, Joel and Ellie reached their destination — then much blood was shed and they movingly shared their truths.

It's definitely not one for the kids, unless you've a particular desire to see them spend the rest of their lives in therapy. Published: 13 Oct A quick blood test? We then saw that Anna had been bitten during the attack. The Last of Us recap episode one — welcome to the mushroom apocalypse! It was incredible. The Last of Us finale recap — what a brutal, sadistic triumph of television. Spoiler free. Reuse this content. Ellie can take care of herself, but I spent much of this game feeling horribly imperilled. Comments … Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion. Quite aside from the bloodthirsty infected tearing people to pieces, Joel and Ellie are prepared to go to extreme lengths to stay alive, and even though the game manages to make caving in a bandits face with a brick feel desperate and necessary rather than voyeuristic, some of the later set-pieces are likely to garner at least a raised eyebrow from even the most jaded gorehounds. Episode three barely featured the main cast and yet was perhaps the best single episode of TV any of us will see this year.