The Last of Us represents one of the most expected games for consoles launched this spring. The game is set to be launched on May 7th 2013 and it will be exclusively available for PlayStation 3, being developed by Naughty Dog using their own graphic engine and implementing several mechanical options from Havok. The survival horror game shall be available for try both in single player and multiplayer mode and it concentrates on the adventurous action story of the two main characters, Joel and Ellie, who travel in the remains of the North America followed by military agents and other dangers.
The story of the game The Last of Us is pretty interesting and takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. The story of the game commences 20 years after the triggering of an epidemic of a killer fungus which led to the death of millions of people, transforming many of the infected in deformed and wild creatures. The deserted cities were taken over by nature, which invaded everything and clothed the concrete in green. The survivors of the killer fungus infection now live in crowded quarantine areas and are protected with an iron fist by the American armed forces. This happens because the entire area where the survivors live is under martial law and the survivors are often accused and investigated in order to find eventual infiltrators that could be infected.
Joel is the main character of the game The Last of Us. Joel is a mercenary and a black market merchant who gets to be caught in the middle of some touching events, after which he promises his friend that the young Ellie shall be taken far from the drastic regime in the quarantine area. Joey and Ellie commence their journey through the ruins of America, recoiling as best as they can from the infected creature and from other people as well. The only wish of the infected ones is to spread the killing fungus and the two youngsters would be great specimens from this point of view. Besides, the survivors that live in the wilderness also consider the two a great prey. As if Joel and Ellie’s situation would not be hard enough, these are also pursued by military forces that would do anything to bring Ellie back in the quarantine area, from which she ran away.
The game mode from The Last of Us is specific to all the action and adventure games. The player gets the third person angle and gets to control only Joel as Ellie gets to be guided by AI (the computer). Within the game there is a cover system during fights, a system that the player can use when necessary as the majority of the fights are full contact or under a rain of bullets. The player is the one that will have to “maneuver” Joel to defend both himself and Ellie from the infected and the survivors that are hostile towards the two. From the revolutionary options used by the engineers from Naughty Dog, the stealth dynamic system is noticeable, which offers the player a multitude of tactics and moves that he shall be able to perform depending on the situation in order to defend himself and relate with the enemies. The critical situations in which the player gets depend entirely on his choices and these situations can vary depending on the gaming style that the player adopts.
The concept of the game The Last of Us is based especially on the existence of the fungus cordyceps which was presented in a documentary in which the fungus infected an ant and transformed it into a kind of a zombie. Besides, the source of inspiration also came from reference movies like “I Am Legend”, “28 days later”, “The Road”, “The Walking Dead” and “No Country for Old Men”. The touching music of the game was created by the double Academy Award winner Gustavo Santaoalalla, the one who also signed the soundtrack for the movies “Brokeback Mountain” and “Babel”. The producers of the game say that they want to place major emphasis on the music in order to express strong emotions.
The Last of Us seems to have the specialized critics on its side, as the game won several prizes even from the release of the trailer within the E3 conference in 2012. Game Informer, IGN, GamesRadar, Machinima and GameSpot, amongst others, consider that this is indeed one of the best games of the year and one of the most anticipated productions for PlayStation 3.
The game The Last of Us will be available at prices varying between 60 and 90 dollars.