Home » Previews » Preview: The Last of Us
Previews

Preview: The Last of Us

You’re standing on a high-up floor of a derelict and long abandoned skyscraper. Part of the wall is missing — peeled back by nature — as vegetation has gradually crept in and claimed where man had made his home. Through the hole, you can see the crumbling and quiet city stretching off into the distance, the Earth almost swallowing it up, some parts disappearing entirely under new, green growth. Rain drizzles almost endlessly and paints everything with a slick, glossy sheen, feeding the ravenous trees and undergrowth, rendering the sky permanently overcast. Both beautiful and oppressive, the city died long ago. Apart from the vegetation and the animals the only other living things that remain are to be avoided at all costs. Facing them means certain death one way or another. Be it through lack of supplies, experience or simply running out of luck, what is reclaiming the city will take you too.

the-last-of-us-hands-on-3

The haunted beauty of the city’s corpse below distracts you for a second and you forget where you are. You hear a clicking sound coming from a room nearby. Instantly you feel the cold steel of your sidearm pressed against your leg, the makeshift shiv in your hand — and most of all, the sickening rush of fear you get every time. You know you have to move silently or death will be swift. Crouching down as low as possible you inch forward impossibly slowly, wincing at every creak and crack you make on the long since used floor. Despite the coolness in the air, the beads of sweat on your brow grow and trickle down your face. You hold onto the shiv tightly and even though the uneven edges of the broken glass that forged it dig into your palm you do not cry out. Can’t afford to cry out. Rounding the door frame you see the source of the noise.

It’s a Clicker, twitching uncontrollably.

the-last-of-us-hands-on-2

The sight of it is enough to unsteady your nerves. It seems to move without rhyme or reason. Twisting and turning this way and that, all the time letting out those awful inhuman clicks that search for you in the dark. You know the Clicker can no longer see and use that to your advantage. Crawling ever so slowly, you make your way behind an ancient desk covered in magazines and yellowed photographs of some long dead family. Aside from the useless belongings of the dead is a glass bottle which you take and clench tightly in your hand. From your vantage point you can see the Clicker facing the opposite direction and take the moment to hurl the bottle so as to distract the creature and make it vulnerable for attack.

A moment passes before the bottle breaks, eyes closed and fists clench you wait for the sound.

It hears the glass shatter and seeks out the cause, heading in the direction you hurled the bottle. You make your way up behind it put your arm around its throat and plunge the shiv into the exposed flesh on its neck. It dies, clicking and gurgling, spluttering up blood. You know it’s you or them and move on without a second thought.

The coast seems clear so you head down a nearby hallway. This one is intact and without any holes to the outside is too dark to navigate safely. Turning on your flashlight you shine it ahead of you. You see several pairs of red eyes staring at you with an inhuman hunger. They start moving towards you, fast. You turn and run, knowing escape is the only option. You round the nearest corner and smack violently into a second Clicker you hadn’t noticed before. He takes hold of you and bites out your throat in one swift movement. The city took him and he took you. Just like you knew it would.

the-last-of-us-hands-on-4

The Last of Us is beautiful, tense and often terrifying. While the story above isn’t an exact description of my short time with the game, it tries to convey that level of anxiety and fear I felt while playing. At a hands-on session I was fortunate enough to play a half-hour section at an unspecified point in the game’s plot where Joel, Ellie and Tess (Joel’s smuggling partner) are making their way through Boston. It can’t be emphasised enough just how much the environments themselves are characters in this game. As gamers we’ve grown accustomed to dilapidated, ruined, post-apocalyptic and destroyed cities but The Last of Us’ Boston is a sight to behold. Everything you see creates a sense of loss, of a once thriving human settlement, now abandoned. Exploring the streets and viewing the vistas evokes a strong feeling of melancholy not often experienced in video games.

The world has been put together with the utmost of care by Naughty Dog and it really shows. The overcast skies and constant rain drive you towards shelter knowing that the interiors of buildings are no more secure and in fact are likely to be far more life-threatening. Once inside, the sense of loss and longing for what came before remains and is even amplified by smaller, more personal details of the people who came before.. The environments are a sight to behold and feel much more organic and realistic than post-apocalyptic settings we’ve seen before. Thankfully, moving through the world is as fluid and natural and the world itself.

the-last-of-us-hands-on

The DNA of Uncharted is present in The Last of Us, but not so much so that it feels like playing an Uncharted game. Just enough that movement and control feels similar and familiar. It helps in easing you into this new world, new style of play and new rules. Joel moves around much like Drake except now you have a dedicated run button. When things get too tight and your only option is escape the run button comes in handy. Joel is also much less agile. Don’t expect to make death defying leaps across impossible chasms and hang onto to edges by your fingertips. The movement in The Last of Us is far more grounded in reality. Joel can climb, but only when there is a ledge in reach or when standing on something. It makes for a change of pace and further reinforces the idea that these are real people in a real place.

Throwing objects and firing weapons works much the same as in Uncharted or any recent third person shooter. Stealth plays a large role and Joel lets the player know when someone or something is nearby as he automatically assumes a crouched position. From here Joel moves silently and can move around enemies to avoid them or find a better vantage point to take them out. Options for eliminating the infected are limited. If you have some ammunition you can take them on guns blazing, which is quite effective but has the downside of immediately and loudly announcing your presence. If you prefer to use the stealth approach and have crafted a shiv you can sneak up behind a Runner or a Clicker and silently take them out. Runners are the recently infected who are still aware of their humanity. They still have eyesight and although you can see them struggling against the power of the fungus controlling them, they come at you in packs, with great speed and can quickly overwhelm the unprepared.

the-last-of-us-hands-on-1

Runners can also be choked to death if you are out of homemade shivs. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the Clickers. They can only be stealth-killed with a shiv. At one point in my playthrough I snuck up behind one and grabbed it prepared to stab it in the neck. The game paused for a second and words appeared on the screen saying, “you can only stealth kill a Clicker with a shiv.” I panicked, so the Clicker broke free, but luckily I had crafted a melee weapon. I frantically pummeled the attack button and the monster died before it could kill me, but it was an incredibly tense moment.

Almost every consumable (including melee weapons but excluding ammo) is crafted from items found strewn throughout the world. In the derelict building I explored in the demo I found scissors, tape, oil, bottles, wooden planks and alcohol. These items allowed me to craft med kits, Molotov cocktails, shivs and also let me modify melee weapons into more powerful forms. The crafting is all about balance. Do you craft a shiv rather than make your melee weapon more powerful? Do you create Molotovs rather than a med-kit? In fact the idea of balance is used in the wider context of the game too. On one hand, using stealth lets you pass through areas without spending ammo but will deplete your consumables much more quickly. On the other hand, using weapons will deplete ammo and make you more vulnerable to attack but may let you keep those precious scavenged items for longer.

The Last of Us is shaping up to be one of the most unique experiences of this console generation. It seems to be a game that puts patience and careful planning over the usual gung-ho, gun rush gameplay that’s come to dominate the gaming landscape. Dripping with tension and tinged with sadness The Last of Us is all about survival at any cost. Will it be a beautiful swan song for the PS3? Only time will tell, but the signs are all very good.


This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.

About the author

DeltaPhoenix08