First Look: The Last of Us

Naughty Dog is already quite famous for it's Uncharted series, but it seems that in The Last of Us they have taken out the big guns. I tried to pick a trailer that I felt would best represent this game, but I couldn't really pick one as they are all awesome, so I opted instead for this gameplay trailer which is a little long at 7 minutes but believe me you will love every second of it. The Last of Us is the story of Joel and his companion Ellie a 14 year old girl. In this game a plague has decimated civilization and it has turned some humans into mutant creatures that sort of look like a cross between plant and zombie. The game begins in a quarantine zone in the city of Boston 20 years after said plague has destroyed civilization. For reasons yet unknown a friend of Joel is dying and asks the protagonist to protect Ellie who lives in a boarding house in the quarantine zone. Joel a black market dealer of weapons and drugs as well as being a survivor honors his friend's wishes and rescues Ellie and thus begins their trip to get out of the quarantine zone. The game will apparently take place in various places throughout the U.S. which is now pretty much reclaimed by nature and is filled with the infected, and other survivors that are hostile towards Joel and Ellie. As if this wasn't enough, Joel and Ellie must scavenge to survive, as you saw in the video ammo seems pretty limited and Joel isn't exactly an expert marksman, which in my opinion adds realism to the game. We also saw how Ellie is actually a pretty useful character even though she is controlled by the AI of the game, saving Joel and assisting him throughout their quest. I highly recommend checking out other trailers for this game you so can see the different aspects and situations that Joel and Ellie will find themselves in. Joel and Ellie is a meeting of two worlds, Joel knows how the world was before the plague and Ellie on the other hand was born after the plague hit, so all she knows is the world she lives in and is very curious as to how the world used to be before the plague. During the game Joel and Ellie seem to develop a father-daughter relationship and this is important as they are all each other has in the world of The Last of Us. The game will feature what Naughty Dog has called "Dynamic Stealth" which means the the player will be able to try many different strategies to every situation, and the enemies will act differently depending on the players strategy, giving the player a different experience in every encounter and giving the game more overall depth. Their is no release date for the game yet but I can tell you that this is only a PS3 exclusive game.
The game has already received many awards and it is generally believed that it is a strong contender for the Game of the Year award. With a story developed by Naughty Dog which is a studio known for great story lines, graphics that look very realistic, a gameplay style that offers so many choices and what seems so far to be an awesome AI for both enemies and your companion Ellie, The Last of Us is a game you definitely don't want to miss.

Drake's Reviews Score (Pre-Release) 10 out of 10