OK, I started playing this at 10:30 p.m., wrapped around 3 a.m. I'm at "The Woods." I'm amazed to say it: This game has legitimately great GAMEPLAY. It goes without saying that the art direction, OST, VA, etc, are all top-notch, but I'm really, truly impressed by how well the game PLAYS.
In my head, I'm trying to sort through all of the elements that make it work so well. It's a potent combination of many small things working together in perfect harmony. Like the way Joel effortlessly segues in and out of cover without any jarring transition; the way he organically feels his way along the walls as he creeps in the dark, and leans around corners, and how his partners effortlessly squeeze in beside him, keeping a low profile.
The sneaking controls are tight and deliberate, not fiddly or oversensitive like an MGS game. And that's great, because this game has been primarily a stealth title so far. Probably the best stealth game I've ever played -- listening in on enemies to pin down their location and movement within a limited range, observing their patterns (easy enough to pin down, yet with just enough spontaneity to seem "alive" or sentient), and then tightly winding your way around the many interconnected rooms and passageways, distracting and drawing away your foes with an effortless toss of a brick or glass, and then closing in for a shiv to the throat, a drawn-out stranglehold or, if they see you, a rollicking brawl/fast-paced shoot-out.
Speaking of which, there's another balance the game strikes well -- when hell DOES break out and you find yourself outnumbered and outgunned, even amongst the deadly one-hit-kill Clickers, your ability to sprint out of dogpiles or beat back most enemies with quick melee strikes and then shake even the most relentless pursuers by weaving in and out of rooms and diving into the shadows create a sense of exhilaration without the hopeless annihilation that often results from being detected in other games. I love it.
So stealth and the build-up/release of confrontation/takedown is the taut sinew that holds this game together, but then you have the air that fills its lungs, the "breathers" in the form of soaking up the lush environmental detail, and heading off the beaten path, never quite getting lost but always finding some supplies to reward you for your thoroughness. Supplies aren't hyper-abundant like the loot in BioShock Infinite (a game I loved), but that makes it all the more precious. Playing on "Normal" difficulty, it seems like there's just the right amount of supplies, enough for me to make a couple shivs every now and then, and to keep at least couple of first aid kits in tow.
I've yet to upgrade my character with the supplements or upgrade my weapons/holsters with the gears, but I appreciate those extra RPG-lite layers being here, as well.
I appreciate how the gunplay feels truly lethal here; enemies don't seem bullet-spongy, and neither does Joel himself. I like how crafting and healing is in real-time. I like having a flashlight I can use to explore my surroundings or turn off to feel more stealthy, and I like shaking the controller to fix my flashlight's battery when it periodically goes on the fritz. I like how easy it is to pick up planks and bricks and bottles and use them to pump up melee attacks or trick unsuspecting enemies into investigating the wrong corner of the room.
I love -- LOVE -- how in a game with AAA production values and a third-person view of a character with a gun, I'm barely doing any shooting; bullets are scarce but valuable for getting out of tight fixes, so there's incentive to shoot less and THINK more. And when the fisticuffs and sneaking and stealth kills are as fun as they are, it's easy to lay off the trigger, which in turn makes the times when you use a gun all the more impactful. This balance makes the experience as a whole feels all the more refreshing. I loved the Uncharted games, but this is so fresh coming off of them, and really proves a versatility I never knew ND could achieve.
Oh, and another thing: This game has such admirable restraint. Again, maybe it's because I'm accustomed to the (fittingly pulpy and genre-inspired) bombast of the Uncharted series, but there are so many moments in TLoU so far where the game opts for a quiet moment instead of a loud one, or a gentle whimper instead of a roar. The scaffolding you just stepped on creaked, but it didn't give way so that you could dramatically jump to safety; no, it just creaked beneath your weight, making you truly feel the strain of time on a skyscraper being slowly reclaimed by nature.
Man, so much to say. Between this and Animal Crossing: New Leaf -- two games that couldn't be more different, yet couldn't be more perfect for each other -- I'm in gaming NIRVANA.
