The Last of Us - Review Thread [Emargo up, scores in OP.]

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wetflame said:
I am going to do my very best to hold out for this to drop to £25 before buying. Told myself I'd never buy a game at full price again, let's see if this or GTA V will make me break that vow. Not a slight against the game, I honestly think it'll be great and I'm really looking forward to it, but I can't justify the £40 price tag when I know it'll be half that soon enough.
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Ah the UK predicament. I don't want to buy it on release either. Don't want to stumble on spoilers either, though.

Decisions.
 
I hope it doesn't. Because then for years you're going to have to read "eww gross Last of Us #1 on Metacritic so overrated Naught Frauds"

....Kinda like how often I read "Citizen Kane overrated/I respect that movie more than I love it/etc"

You don't want your favorite to be #1 on big critic list
 
Well, if people think the Uncharted trilogy has fantastic acting (I'm one of them), then they'll be absolutely floored by The Last of Us' performances.
 
SolidChamp said:
Unfortunately, though, I'm from Canada and my PSN account is Canadian. Certain Asia "Region 3" games aren't compatible with DLC from the North American PSN store.

Uncharted 2 & 3, for example, is a game I couldn't buy DLC for. Tomb Raider as well. Borderlands 2 and Bioshock Infinite, however, I could buy the season passes.

There's no consistency! I never know which game is going to be compatible with content from my PSN account.

For The Last of Us, however, I'm 99% sure it won't be compatible :(

I'm going to finish the main campaign in the week leading up to my trip to NYC, sell that copy to my friend, and then get a North American copy when I'm abroad so I can play the DLC.
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So I just read this on GAF and think it works but i've never tried it myself so caution. You can create a user for that specific region where the disk is from and buy/install the DLC under that new user, switch to your NA account and then play the DLC. The only issue here is the DLC will be on the new users account. If you ever want to redownload it you need to rememberctge credentials to your new user.
 
NJShadow said:
I'd have to agree. When I think back to the original Uncharted (my favorite in the series), while I enjoyed the gameplay immensely (despite the constant firefights that got a tad bit repetitive), it were those moments in-between the action that stuck with me. The environments were gorgeous and remarkably immerse, the story was engaging, creepy, fun, etc.
(OK, I think I'm just rambling now. O_O)
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More or less. I think it's a bit belittling to the amount of work done by the auxiliary teams in a game development studio to say that art, music, or even the story cannot contribute to game-play. Just because a game is a "first-person shooter" doesn't mean it cannot use additional elements to either enhance or coexist with the game-play - and I think several games that have wno praise from GAF sometimes incorporate interesting ways to twist the two together.

(I'm thinking of one of NiER's endings, 999, etc.)

Back on topic, I'm surprised - willingly eat crow as I was convinced that this title would actually turn out to be a bit middling. Of course, happy to see that it's so well-received, but as the trend now suggests, I'm going to wait until the OT and Gaffers fill in on what they think a few months later before jumping on board.
 
It's unreal that people who have never played the game are saying things like "I really hope it gets to the top level [98 score on Metacritic] because GTA IV does not deserve the slot."

You have never played the game. I went into Uncharted 3 expecting it to be just as near perfect as Uncharted 2 (deserving of high scores), and it was beautiful garbage. A beautiful game of annoying set piece battles, bad bullet sponge AI, and scripted sequences.

If it's anything like Uncharted 3 then it deserves the score that Polygon gave it.
 
SolidChamp said:
Unfortunately, though, I'm from Canada and my PSN account is Canadian. Certain Asia "Region 3" games aren't compatible with DLC from the North American PSN store.

Uncharted 2 & 3, for example, is a game I couldn't buy DLC for. Tomb Raider as well. Borderlands 2 and Bioshock Infinite, however, I could buy the season passes.

There's no consistency! I never know which game is going to be compatible with content from my PSN account.

For The Last of Us, however, I'm 99% sure it won't be compatible :(

I'm going to finish the main campaign in the week leading up to my trip to NYC, sell that copy to my friend, and then get a North American copy when I'm abroad so I can play the DLC.
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Oh right, not being able to switch regions on PS3 is a hassle. I almost forgot. I had an Asian one when I was there and had to abandon it when I moved back to the US. Trophies, PSN stuff and friends all gone. I think that's why I just switched to 360 at the time. Can't believe that's still a thing they haven't addressed.

Anyway, I need this. I need a PS3 bundle for this. Now I really have something to look forward to next week. C'mon Sony, bring me back!
 
Naughty Dog has raised their bar. I wonder what kind of pressure they'll have to endure when making the sequel. How will they top this critical acclaim?
 
The Albatross said:
It's unreal that people who have never played the game are saying things like "I really hope it gets to the top level [98 score on Metacritic] because GTA IV does not deserve the slot."

You have never played the game.

If it's anything like Uncharted 3 (another overhyped game that got a majority of perfect scores), then it deserves the score that Polygon gave it.
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I find it funny people tend to overlook Gamespot for its 8 even though it is only a 0.5 difference. Still very far away from the 10 scores.
 
AranhaHunter said:
Doubtful. May get to 97 or may go down to 94. Don't see it deviating much from that though.
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It needs around 5 more perfect scores to reach 98 I believe. I think that can be done. It's all up to the people reviewing the game. I think most of us can agree though- GTA IV does not deserve that title. On my short list of games- Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted 2, Bioshock, etc. - I feel are all stronger and deserve the praise that is given to GTA. It is an embarassment of the industry to rate that game that high.
 
Damn 96 on MC? pretty impressive.

Also some people on the net are going way way overboard from the comments section on the Gamespot review:
"who the f**k made you a reviewer you f***ing bas***D u don't even know how to review a game u just support games which get a 0 out of 10 last of us is a master piece even ign agrees that and u r playing on easy mode that's why the puzzels are easy and u just r 1 piece of shi* guys don't belive this guy he is a liar he just hates the game and the company sony and naughty dog he is apiece of shit game supporter call of duty and the worst console in the universe xbox even game cube is better than xbox"
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Hot damn I just hit the motherlode!!

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CIl80kX.jpg
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Rivyn said:
I find it funny people tend to overlook Gamespot for its 8 even though it is only a 0.5 difference. Still very far away from the 10 scores.
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Yeah, very true. Polygon is just receiving more attention so that's why I commented about it. Gamespot as well. 7.5 is almost exactly what I would give uncharted 3. A game that has some really good parts of it, but I pretty much hated playing because of the repetitive, annoying, and joyless gun battles that dominated the entire game. The Polygon review describes Last of Us as suffering from the same thing that I thought UC3 suffered from.

But, if you like bad AI, bullet sponge bad guys, repetative, predictable firefights, and staged action scenes... Then I dunno, Uncharted 3 might deserved a 100% for you. From what I've seen of Last of Us, it's more like UC3. But maybe not, holding out for a month or two for reactions. UC3 was a collective orgasm, and then like 30% of people were like "uhhhh this game kinda sucks" 2 weeks later.
 
The Albatross said:
It's unreal that people who have never played the game are saying things like "I really hope it gets to the top level [98 score on Metacritic] because GTA IV does not deserve the slot."

You have never played the game. I went into Uncharted 3 expecting it to be just as near perfect as Uncharted 2 (deserving of high scores), and it was beautiful garbage. A beautiful game of annoying set piece battles, bad bullet sponge AI, and scripted sequences.

If it's anything like Uncharted 3 then it deserves the score that Polygon gave it.
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What's wrong with hoping? I don't see people claiming The Last of Us to be better then GTAIV. They're just saying GTAIV doesn't deserve that top spot because they've played the game.
 
Beysus said:
Naughty Dog has raised their bar. I wonder what kind of pressure they'll have to endure when making the sequel. How will they top this critical acclaim?
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The Adventures of Troy Baker

Help Troy cement his spot as the #1 video game voice actor in the world! Nail auditions, take voice acting lessons, charm your way through interviews in your quest to defeat the evil Nolan North and his smooth leading man vocal chords.

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Steven Blum

"This is...a game" - GameSpy

"ND, please have my babies" - Greg Miller, IGN

"...what the FUCK" - Amirox, NeoGAF
 
thuway said:
It needs around 5 more perfect scores to reach 98 I believe. I think that can be done. It's all up to the people reviewing the game. I think most of us can agree though- GTA IV does not deserve that title. On my short list of games- Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted 2, Bioshock, etc. - I feel are all stronger and deserve the praise that is given to GTA. It is an embarassment of the industry to rate that game that high.
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You're talking about this like it should be every reviewers goal, independent of their opinion of the game. It's not their duty to put your favourite the game at the top of an aggregate site.
 
The Albatross said:
Yeah, very true. Polygon is just receiving more attention so that's why I commented about it. Gamespot as well. 7.5 is almost exactly what I would give uncharted 3. A game that has some really good parts of it, but I pretty much hated playing because of the repetitive, annoying, and joyless gun battles that dominated the entire game. The Polygon review describes Last of Us as suffering from the same thing that I thought UC3 suffered from.

But, if you like bad AI, bullet sponge bad guys, repetative, predictable firefights, and staged action scenes... Then I dunno, Uncharted 3 might deserved a 100% for you. From what I've seen of Last of Us, it's more like UC3. But maybe not, holding out for a month or two for reactions. UC3 was a collective orgasm, and then like 30% of people were like "uhhhh this game kinda sucks" 2 weeks later.
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So you ignore 50+ reviews that are completely at odds with your point to focus on the Polygon review and then berate us for focusing on the Polygon review? Are you serious with this? Seriously the amount of hypocrisy in your two posts on this page are absurd. If you want to talk about this intelligently, by all means do so, but your agenda is predictable. And arguing about Uncharted 3 is fallacious. The Last of Us is not Uncharted 3.
 
The Albatross said:
But, if you like bad AI, bullet sponge bad guys, repetative, predictable firefights, and staged action scenes... Then I dunno, Uncharted 3 might deserved a 100% for you. From what I've seen of Last of Us, it's more like UC3. But maybe not, holding out for a month or two for reactions. UC3 was a collective orgasm, and then like 30% of people were like "uhhhh this game kinda sucks" 2 weeks later.
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I agree with you on UC3 on everything you mentioned but I disagree that The Last of Us will be the same. It has been hinted in every single review thus far that there are no repetitive, predictable firefights and bullet sponge bad guys.

Even the AI has been mentioned as being the best AI thus far.

I doubt 90% are lying and 10% are not.
 
GeeDuhb said:
That's a really good point. I think what a lot of people fail to realize that a score of 10 doesn't mean that everyone is going to love the game. You have to consider your taste in games and apply the 10 to it. For example, I am not really an RPG guy. Never have been, probably never will be. Even if an RPG got a 10, I am almost sure I am not going to like it. Heck, I know Fallout 3 was an Action-RPG, but still, I got it because of all the amazing things said about it, and I never got into it at all.

In the end, just because someone says Sushi is the most amazing food in the world, doesn't mean I am going to put it NEAR my mouth.

With that said, my hype level for this game is through the roof, thanks to the reviews. Don't get me wrong, I was excited before, because the Uncharted games have justified my purchase of a PS3, so I was banking on another Naughty Dog gem. But now I am just ecstatic!
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Thanks, and yeah, I agree. I think the Gears of War games are really good (I haven't played Judgment, though), but they just aren't my cup of tea (and I have played them). I don't disagree with the high scores for those games, though even though I didn't like them.

Personal taste is the most, in my opinion, important factor in spending my money on a game.

On the topic of reviews, I believe there needs to be a nice mix of objectivity and subjectivity. It's a balance.

I can't stand sports. Just don't like them. No matter how objective I may be able to be, you just don't want me reviewing a sports game, and you definitely don't want me to subjectively review it.

In the case of The Last of Us. I love Survival horror games. I also love Naughty Dog games, and have yet to be disappointed in anything they've produced for the PlayStation consoles (Crash, Jak, Uncharted). With that said, I will try and review TLoU as objectively as I can, but still acknowledge and work in my subjective feelings about the game. But I'm not a professional reviewer.

When it comes to a professional review, I want these things:

Professionalism.
Objectivity.
A mix of Subjectivity so I can know where the reviewer is coming from.
Balanced analysis. Not overly critical, but not insanely vague.
At the very least a rundown of the gameplay mechanics.

I don't like review scores. I want to read a review, not the number at the bottom of the page. I don't put scores on my reviews, because, to me, that's the most subjective and worthless part of a review. I'd give Heavenly Sword a 9/10 if it was purely up to my subjective opinion of the game. As an actual game, it is flawed and imperfect, but I personally love it. I don't disagree with the 7/10 scores the game got when I read the body of the review and saw the reasons behind giving it that score, and I agree with many of them. But for me, as an individual, those drawbacks one guy saw simply didn't affect me in the same way they did him.

It's like how some people are completely obsessed with jaggies and can't play a game that runs at 30fps, and others don't even notice the difference.
 
Man, I'm hoping TLoU can somewhat alleviate my severe case of 'Dark-Souls-has-shown-me-the-true-soulless-mediocrity-of-99%-of-video-games-this-generation-itis'.

No pressure, ND.
 
DeadRockstar said:
You're talking about this like it should be every reviewers goal, independent of their opinion of the game. It's not their duty to put your favourite the game at the top of an aggregate site.
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I don't hide the fact that I'm pissed off that GTA IV is a piece of shit and a dark day for games journalism. When I reflect back on this generation, I want the aggregate score of a game that I truly love to be at the top. Just like any one else. If it doesn't reach 98, It's no sweat off my back. I just am rooting for a team.
 
Dragon said:
So you ignore 50+ reviews that are completely at odds with your point to focus on the Polygon review and then berate us for focusing on the Polygon review? Are you serious with this? Seriously the amount of hypocrisy in your two posts on this page are absurd. If you want to talk about this intelligently, by all means do so, but your agenda is predictable. And arguing about Uncharted 3 is fallacious. The Last of Us is not Uncharted 3.
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Hahahahahah... this means so much to you. "seriously the amount of hypocrisy is absurd..." "you want to talk intelligently.." "Your agenda is predictable."

Question: Does everybody who thinks that there could be valid criticisms of a videogame have "an agenda" to you?

Trust me, I have no agenda when it comes to a game that I have not played. UC2 is one of my favorite games ever; UC3 I really disliked. I like Naughty Dog in general. I usually dislike Polygon, but in so far as their review is being ripped similar to the AV Club review of UC3, where so many other publications gave it 90s and 100s (and ultimately I think that AV Club was spot on), I'm willing to entertain the idea that Polygon's criticisms could be accurate ...

Of a game that neither of us have played.
 
antitrop said:
It's certainly a great way to draw attention to yourself.

Depends if you want the attention or not. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down".
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You are saying two pretty silly things here:

Polygon reviewed the game the way they did because they wanted attention.
Standing out from videogame review sites makes you deserve to be "hammered down".
 
Dragon said:
So you ignore 50+ reviews that are completely at odds with your point to focus on the Polygon review and then berate us for focusing on the Polygon review? Are you serious with this? Seriously the amount of hypocrisy in your two posts on this page are absurd. If you want to talk about this intelligently, by all means do so, but your agenda is predictable. And arguing about Uncharted 3 is fallacious. The Last of Us is not Uncharted 3.
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Certain people do this every single time. Not just for Sony exclusives, but all platforms. It's pretty funny tbh.


Really you have to boil it down to Polygons complaints.

A.) The gunplay sucks and you can't aim for shit.

False. We have played the demo, gunplay is awesome.

B.) The game is too violent.

For me that's a positive, but there's an option to turn off the violence/gore. Non complaint.

In other words, I strongly disagree with the review, as does nearly every single other reviewer out there.
 
thuway said:
I don't hide the fact that I'm pissed off that GTA IV is a piece of shit and a dark day for games journalism. When I reflect back on this generation, I want the aggregate score of a game that I truly love to be at the top. Just like any one else. If it doesn't reach 98, It's no sweat off my back. I just am rooting for a team.
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While I agree GTAIV shouldn't have been a 98 MC game - more like 93-94 - it was not a piece of shit. You also don't know if TLOU is really deserving of that title unless you have played it.
 
zoukka said:
You are saying two pretty silly things here:

Polygon reviewed the game the way they did because they wanted attention.
Standing out from videogame review sites makes you deserve to be "hammered down".
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I disagree with the first statement, it's obviously his genuine opinion. I don't think Polygon resorts to click-baiting. (Or at least more than any other competitor site, I should say, as every single one does it to some degree)

I was just merely stating that sticking out will bring attention, whether you want it or not. The attention will draw much more criticism than the rest that fall in line. If you are willing to stick out you better be able to back up that opinion.

I would hope for Phil Kollar's sake that after The Last of Us is all said and done his opinion doesn't look silly. It probably will, though.
 
The Albatross said:
But, if you like bad AI, bullet sponge bad guys, repetative, predictable firefights, and staged action scenes... Then I dunno, Uncharted 3 might deserved a 100% for you. From what I've seen of Last of Us, it's more like UC3. But maybe not, holding out for a month or two for reactions. UC3 was a collective orgasm, and then like 30% of people were like "uhhhh this game kinda sucks" 2 weeks later.
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.........

Destructoid said:
It should also be noted that the artificial intelligence of the Infected is remarkable. While not exactly careful, Infected actually know enough to not charge at you in a straight line. During one moment, I was actually snuck up on by a monster, who turned and ran when I spotted him. He came back with a friend, and proceeded to dart from doorway to doorway, in an attempt to confuse me. Human enemies aren't quite that tricky, but they do try to outflank you and keep you moving. The Last of Us definitely boasts some of the best A.I. I've ever seen, and I'm very cynical when it comes to A.I. boasts.
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Alright guys, let's try and play a game. Let's find a review that clarifies whatever hyperbolic statements come up next.
 
Dude Abides said:
Or maybe the guy just gave his honest opinion.
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Oh, probably true. I saw the video. He played it like a shooter. He couldn't get into the actual mechanics the game wanted you to use, so, it wound up being unenjoyable.

Still doesn't legitimize his review. Reviewers are supposed to play games as they're meant to be played. If I played a CoD game as a slow paced stealth game (totally possible, using the knife only), then I'd have a damn bad time.
 
The Albatross said:
It's unreal that people who have never played the game are saying things like "I really hope it gets to the top level [98 score on Metacritic] because GTA IV does not deserve the slot."

You have never played the game. I went into Uncharted 3 expecting it to be just as near perfect as Uncharted 2 (deserving of high scores), and it was beautiful garbage. A beautiful game of annoying set piece battles, bad bullet sponge AI, and scripted sequences.

If it's anything like Uncharted 3 then it deserves the score that Polygon gave it.
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Uncharted 3 was basically the same game as 2. Maybe a bit worse but still. So please stop the hyperbole.
 
How has a mod not fixed the spelling of embargo in the thread title after all this time?!

I'm cautiously optimistic about TLOU. I'm never as impressed with Uncharted as the press are but the Edge 10 and quote I read from it have me excited.
 
joshcryer said:
Oh, probably true. I saw the video. He played it like a shooter. He couldn't get into the actual mechanics the game wanted you to use, so, it wound up being unenjoyable.

Still doesn't legitimize his review. Reviewers are supposed to play games as they're meant to be played. If I played a CoD game as a slow paced stealth game (totally possible, using the knife only), then I'd have a damn bad time.
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So you're conceding and adding "but he played it wrong"
 
Figboy79 said:
I don't like review scores. I want to read a review, not the number at the bottom of the page. I don't put scores on my reviews, because, to me, that's the most subjective and worthless part of a review.
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I don't care about a single review score, or reading a review. It's just one person's opinion, and the only opinion that matters on games, movies, books etc. is mine--as I'm either going to enjoy it and get my money's worth, or not.

I really only look at the aggregator sites like Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes etc. If a game/movie/etc. is in a genre I love and at 90%+ I pretty much always love it. In the 80s is more of a mixed bag. 60-70% is very hit and miss. 50s and below I seldom like anything.

Only time I'll delve more into reading reviews is when I'm hearing good things about a game that's in a genre I don't typically play as I want more info on the gameplay, difficulty level (hate hard games) etc. before deciding to check it out for myself.
 
kick51 said:
So you're conceding and adding "but he played it wrong"
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Plenty of reviews are worthless because the reviewer didn't properly play the game.

Jim Sterling's Vanquish review, for example. His Resident Evil 6 review is also full of holes, even though I hate that game.

God Hand?

I'm sure if we put our brains together we can find plenty of video game reviews where the person who was reviewing it obviously wasn't fit to do so.

Is it so hard to believe that Polygon's TLoU review might end up in the same collective group of "poor reviews"? I'll certainly find out next week when I get the chance to play the game.

I look forward to comparing my own opinion on the game to Phil's.
 
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