A game for your senses
Available since June 19th, The Last of Us Part II by Naughty Dog has set the social media on fire, maybe not as much as when the leaked video hit the web, but still that game seems to leave no one indifferent.
For my part I could not help[ but compare the two and I am not the only one to do so. The original game was a shocker, from the moment of the accident at the start, it took a while before it calm down and gave you a chance to catch your breath. In part 2, the beginning is slow and it allows the player to get familiar with the game controls, this helps ease the player into the game and adds to the over all enjoyment. Also different from the original game, this one does not have a multiplayer section and therefore it is possible to achieve the platinum trophy without having to spend hours trying to win matches with other players. I used the same setup as the original game to do the review, which is a low light environment and a headset to be fully immersed in the game. Should you have any pets at home, then I would not recommend this setup, since a pet can arrive at a moments notice and make you jump when the game is intense.
Scenario: Flaming Hot
The scenario of the game is very mature and touches some subject that are very sensitive and even taboo still in some household, therefore be warned that sexual orientation, religion, inter generation relationships and to a certain extent even racism. Be advised that if you are not comfortable with these subject, you may want to stay away from this game, but on the other hand, if you have an open mind and would not be offended by those topics, the game has a very young adult approach to it all. There are many cut-scenes in the game and most of them help you think of what were the events and reflect upon them.
Graphics :5 Alarm Fire
Simply put the graphics for this game are amazing, the character design does have that Naughty Dog touch, but the environment and the presentation of the areas, really helps with the immersion, on a nice day you can almost feel the warmth and in the rainy one, your visibility is reduced and the sound of the rain can play tricks on you. But to be honest the dark places are the best and worst ones, bu that I mean, best designed but worst place to be in.
Game-play: Flaming Hot
The enemies are abundant and they react differently, so you need to know how each reacts to counteract their actions and survive. The game also contains a multitude of collectable items, some will help in your survival like weapons, that will require some resources to upgrade them, resources to help learn and improve your skills or resources to enable you to fabricate healing kits or other devices for your survival. Other are there just for you to find and complete the collection and maybe get a few trophies for those achievements. Yes, there are lots of fights and sometimes it feels like the enemy has an unlimited supply of troops. Sometimes it is safer to run from a fight than try to eliminate all the targets. This game is not based, so that a player can just run in gun blazing and expect to kill every enemy with a limitless amount of bullets. Be wary there are more enemies than there are bullets in the game and you carrying capacity is also very limited.
Sound: Warm
Not that it is bad or annoying, to put it simply, the music and the sound are as you would expect them to be for a game of this type. Yes, it sets the mood but nothing more. Spoiler Alert! You even get to play some guitar in this game.
Should you be looking for a game that is mature with e great scenario that can make you think, this is a game for you, as long as you don’t scare easily. With The Last of Us Part II, I think that Naughty Dog delivered and that the mature game fans will appreciate all the hard work that was put into this one.
The evaluation copy of this game was provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment Canada, the game was evaluated on a PS4 with headset. My overall grade for this game is Flaming Hot.Â