REVIEW : The Last of Us Part II (PS4)
Like a Clicker in a spore-filled vault, the Last of Us Part II nears ever closer. But, rather than shiver in horror, we’re growing more excited by the day. This is one of the plays of this age everyone looked forward to most and the seven years since the initial LOU have seemingly moved more than a Bloater’s right leg.
First, though, we have to say that The Last of Us 2 looks unbelievable – detailed, more fully apprehended than even LOU Remastered, and bigger in reach and scale.
Its HDR exhibition gives the play more prominent depth than its ancestor, particularly in more shaded areas where you rely rolling on your lapel torch. And the climate and water outcomes are utilised as more than eye-candy – they add a contrasting texture to the sport and, in the case of the latter certainly, greater gameplay variety.
Audio too is excellent. If you own a soundbar, home theatre setup or clean virtual surround headsets, you get a visceral, dark score and spatial sound effects that are as evenly solid as the visuals. Like all good horror movies, the audio often gives you hints to what’s ahead, deepening the expectation and stimulating your heart rate.
In gameplay sessions, it is great that Last Of Us 2 is instantly familiar. in comparison with The Last of Us Remastered, we found it is easy to transfer some original strategies. However, that’s not to say there’s nothing new – it’s merely that the most modern features have been intuitively blended so you can choose them up spontaneously.
Ellie is a strange kind of character to Joel, for beginners. She also has a different mindset in the sequel, being chiefly driven by rage and revenge.
The world has evolved in the four years of in-game time and nature has considerably reclaimed downtown locations. This means there are more possibilities to stay out of sight of competitors when there is nothing else to dodge behind. Ellie can even use armaments to snipe infected or human foes from the grass, such as with her trusty bow and arrow combo, putting more stress on stealth than ever before.
You can move around destroying everything, of course, but with resources/bullets so scarce, it’s not advisable.
Instead, taking out opponents silently is a crucial talent to master. And, this point you have a perpetual switchblade this time rather than a list of fragile shanks – so that helps immeasurably.
All other weapons we found so far are generally the same as before – although upgrades can vary more. And, Ellie has a unique skill tree that permits for much more variation over the basic one from before.
Like Joel’s skills in the first game, you can add new capabilities and modifiers through getting booster pills. But this time, there is a much more extensive range of skills to learn, in different skill paths.
Considering The Last of Us is one of the best games ever created, that’s some feat.
As before, searching every nook and hole is necessary, not least to stock your inventory up with articles you’ll require during battle.
There were opponents at almost every turn in the preview charge, with a decent flavour of each of the game’s distinct factions.
The infected are back, of course, but tweaked to present more of the threat.
If the infected are profoundly spurred by zombie flicks, the Seraphites appear to have come directly from films like The Hills Have Eyes.
They are more skilled with weapons, so give a very distinct threat to the other main human faction in the game, the WLF. This recent group are heavily-armed militant types think Fireflies from the original – but this time with dogs that can sniff you out.
They all have one thing in general though: they all bleed. And purl when you rip their throats out.
The Last of Us Part 2 is harsh – more so than the original, it appears.
Murdering someone, even an infected, is a more real, upsetting adventure than before, with violent death throes and bubbling, harsh sound effects.
Stealth kills are especially savage, with various audio cues leaving you in no uncertainty just how severe an ending your victim has experienced.
They have been considerably improved, with an innovative dodge technician that will even let you take on a Clicker hand-to-hand and end animations are naturally frightful.
Naughty Dog does something that very few achieve – it reminds of the expense of taking life every time. You never get adapted to it, surely when battling up close, and it constantly seems essential to the plot and setting.
Even from just two hours of gameplay, we can see that The Last of Us Part 2 is a more nebulous, more resolute game than its ancestor.
It provides Ellie with a lot of unique skills to master but constantly feels familiar and intuitive – allowing fans to pick it up quickly.
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