So I wrote a review for what I consider to be a fitting swan song for the PlayStation 3 before the next generation arrives, The Last of Us. In my review I generally praised most aspects of the game but criticized it somewhat by referring to the gameplay as “brain dead”. The general point I was trying to make (perhaps unsuccessfully) was that the story will blow you away as will the carefully crafted relationship between Joel and Ellie but the minute to minute game, to a lessor degree.
Not long after the review went up, a couple of comments started to come in and I don’t tend to read them. Normally it’s just a random attack from an angry fan boy but this time round there was a comment that intrigued me.
Well done on the review. You gave a pretty extensive outlook without any spoilers. I did find it very interesting that you found the gameplay to be the weakest aspect of The Last of Us, because I found it the strongest. The one true hiccup is that Ellie is completely ignored, but I think the game would be near broken if they did anything to change that. If Ellie’s exposure made the player, the game would be too demanding and if Ellie was a super ninja, it wouldnt make sense either. I think that this fact doesn’t warrant you labeling the AI as not so fantastic. The AI isn’t perfect, but it does very well to flank, trap and outnumber you. Without listening mode (which is my biggest issue in the game), the AI becomes much more of a threat which, coupled with the low health and high damage, make an extremely challenging yet rewarding approach to combat. Also, your playground during combat is so diverse that you can do so many things spontaneously. I think this just further highlights the gameplay.
I don’t want you to think I’m attacking your review. I think you did a brilliant job, and did a much better job justifying your score, which is what I think the purpose of a review is. I was just meaning to spur a discussion on the gameplay. Hope you enjoy your gaming!
It’s always fantastic to read good constructive comments even if the opinion in the end is different to mine. The problem I had was that this comment from Bashar Marhoon would go by unnoticed which is a shame as it seemed like he knew what he was talking about.It was then that I had the idea to ask Bashar to expand his comment and really dig in deep. If I were to gave him the opportunity to speak his mind on the site, what would he do with it?
After a couple of e-mail exchanges we came to an agreement and Bashar wrote the following in response to my Last of Us review.
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After reading Xav’s well-written review on The Last of Us, I couldn’t help but realize that I had fairly differing views on some of the key points that was brought up in in the review. This is my attempt at addressing some of the points I felt differently about a little more in-depth than I can in a comment, as well as give a general discussion and critique on Naughty Dog’s latest game. While the Last of Us is a character and plot driven game, it is still a video game and I personally feel that it is the gameplay of The Last of Us that deserves to be analyzed the most.
Before I start anything, however, I feel there are some disclaimers that are important. Unlike Xav’s review, I will be much more careless about spoilers. I will assume that the majority of readers have played the game (as they should have) but if someone has not played the game yet, I suggest they don’t read this as to not ruin the experience that the game offers. Also, I think it is important to note that I have played the game twice so far. My initial play-through was on normal difficulty with Listening Mode on and the second was on hard difficulty with Listening Mode turned off. This information is useful to know in order to fully comprehend some of the argument I make later on in my discussion.
Being the plot-driven video game that it is, Naughty Dog made the decision of making the game a fairly, or to some, an extremely linear video game. This is something that has received some criticism, with the linear nature of the game seen as a flaw. Even I thought the game was open world when it was first announced and was a little disappointed to find it was a linear game. The open world format seems to make some sense at first, as an open world would increase its replay value and the world that Naughty Dog created seems perfectly fitting for an open world. This form of game structure, however, would have affected the story of the game, which is obviously its main focus. The linear format helped the developers give a much more tight narrative, which in turn had a much more lasting impact on the game. Most of the discussion on the game revolves around the brilliant story and how it is a big step for video games. If the game was open world, you might have more to do, but the story would suffer and as a result, the entire game.
I find it hard to argue that the game’s linearity is a bad thing even more after I played the game. The ‘frame’ of the game can be broken down to a simple formula – you fight some enemies, travel through an area where the game lets you collect things either items or little notes, then fight enemies again. In other words, combat arena, corridors, combat arena. This is a basic linear format, but Naughty Dog’s work in making the combat arena extremely non-linear is what really makes me appreciate the game as well as the combat. Each area where you fight survivors gives you almost unlimited options in flanking, escaping and moving around. It happened to me many times where I would finish off the last enemy in an area only to find out that I could have avoided the enemy who took half my health by jumping out of a window behind me that in the heat of this I didn’t notice. I also would find out after I cleared an area, that if I didn’t lose my composure when things got hectic, I could have flanked the group of Hunters I was fighting and swayed the odds in my favor by sneaking around a path that existed behind me. This all could be interpreted as me not being ‘good’ in the game, but I think it highlights the non-linearity of the game where it counts – the combat.
While many games let you sneak around and pick people off, The Last of Us feels more dynamic. When playing a game a second time, I generally try things differently than my first playthrough to test just how much room for originality the game gives you. Most games made me feel like the stealth combat was formulaic. Got spotted in Arkham City? Mash one button to swing between gargoyles till they magically lose you. Spotted as Sam Fisher? Break their line of sight then get away from your silhouette. If you’re spotted in The Last of Us, the human enemy does very well in silently flanking you and then attacking you in numbers like a pack of wild dogs. Numerous times I’d have to combat an enemy only to find out that some guy was behind me the whole time and kills me with a baseball bat or a shot gun. The ‘Balance of Power’ system that Naughty Dog has implemented makes combat feel extremely dynamic, natural and desperate, which ultimately fits well with the narrative of the game.
Unfortunately, the combat does suffer with the Clicker enemy type. This is because of the nature of the combat with them. After playing the game twice, I still have mixed feelings about the Clicker. I initially thought they were enemies that would be constantly on your tail because of the little sounds you make when sneaking around. Unfortunately, when I encountered them, I found out that they weren’t as menacing as I thought. The Clicker apparently uses echolocation but they don’t ‘see’ you even if you’re out in the open. This is something that is inconsistent with the narrative. While this means that the stealth segments with the infected isn’t based on them seeing you (like the humans), but on how much noise you make, the Clickers do not react to sound as they should. Joel can make enough sound only for the Clicker to barely react to the player as they should. The best example I can think of this is when Joel jumps over a barrier. He makes a fairly loud sound when climbing over but a Clicker will not react at all, even if nearby.
This builds up to another issue that many had with the game – Ellie. Enemies would not ‘see’ or ‘hear’ her and would be literally invisible during stealth segments. Stealth games in general have three phases, which I will use other game terms to explain. The first phase is Incognito, where the enemy is not aware of your presence. The second is Caution, where an enemy is aware that something is wrong maybe because a dead body was found. The final stage is Alert, where the enemy sees/hears/spots you and you are forced to confront it. Traditionally, a player would trigger each phase as they stealth kill more enemies, with the player eventually reaching Alert and triggering proper combat or a player would clear an entire area while in Incognito. If Ellie can be seen and spotted by the enemy as Joel is, the game would have something out of the control of the player that can shift combat from Incognito to Alert. Players would not be able to clear out an area purely through stealth if they wanted to because Ellie would constantly blow their cover. Other options, such as having Ellie hide, would ruin the connection Joel and Ellie create as needing each other because she would be useless and just annoying (Resident Evil 4?). While Ellie is practically non-existent to the enemies in Incognito and Caution, she is in Alert as she can throw bricks and even kill someone if they’re about to harm Joel and enemies can grab a hold of her, switching the flow of combat. This makes the dependence on each other that is shown in the story translate into the gameplay in an appropriate way. To sum up, the decision to make Ellie invisible, while not the best, is the most fitting decision for the story and the narrative as well as the combat itself.
Xav’s review stated the AI as “not fantastic” and I think I gave an extensive look as to why I disagree with that. My biggest issue in the game is something that Xav did not mention at all – Listening Mode. (Editor’s Note: I purposely played the game with listening mode disabled for the reasons Bashar is about to mention) For a game that highlights immersion, it seems illogical to give Joel the power to see through walls. While Naughty Dog does a good job at justifying this – they are making sounds so Joel is aware of their position – it is too powerful to be put in a game which constantly reminds you that you are not powerful at all. Listening Mode is The Last of Us’ detective mode and is the biggest issue in the gaming industry, even more than the FPS Syndrome. While the Call of Duty formula has evolved into its own genre, sadly destroying the other type of slow-paced, ‘tactical’ shooter, the detective mode is a gameplay element that can be slapped onto any game or genre to function as a major crutch for the player. Even though my hard playthrough was my second, I enjoyed it more because of the increase in tension and stress I experienced simply because I couldn’t see everyone in the area. The third person view already works as a form of crutch because you can move the camera to peek around corners and constantly check your back and the player doesn’t need another one. This is best exemplified while fighting David. During my first playthrough, it didn’t feel like a fight until they took away Listening Mode when he uses stealth as well. This led to a proper heart-pounding, white-knuckle experience. On my second playthrough, however, the entire fight was heart-pounding. I could never see him!
Everything I said about the combat is played down if experienced with Listening Mode. Players can stay in Incognito and Caution a lot more and players cannot be flanked by human enemies because they constantly know where all the enemies are, even if hidden well. After killing David, I felt that more enemies in the game should have adopted that nature and be silent and so not seen as well. On my second playthrough, I felt that this wasn’t needed, because you can’t see everyone all the time, and so you don’t need an enemy that actively hides from you when it’s possible to miss the one making his way around you anyway.
Perhaps Naughty Dog was afraid to make the game inaccessible to players who didn’t enjoy the tension and while I understand that, I can’t help but feel quite disappointed. Luckily, you can turn off Listening Mode, something I appreciated to no end. Also, Naughty Dog did well in attempting to balance Listening Mode by making Joel crouch and move slower while listening. This stops a player from playing the entire game in detective mode (like Batman: Arkham Asylum) but it’s still a tool that is too overpowered to be given to the player.
This was my reaction to the points made in Xav’s review, and my reaction to the gameplay in The Last of Us itself based on my playthroughs. While I didn’t mention the story much, this is not to take away from the brilliance that it is. It is a step forward for video games and should be seen as the standard to work towards by any self-respecting developer. The game as a whole is something that developers should work towards. The developers in Naughty Dog should be extremely proud of themselves for what they have produced.
Written by Bashar Marhoon
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As you can see it’s an expertly crafted response to the opinions I shared in my review. Sometimes doing a review can be a bit tough, you’re working hard to finish the game and write up a review to meet a certain deadline. We unfortunately don’t have the luxury of reflecting back on the game, once the review goes up it’s pretty much considered “final”. It’s a fine line between writing a fair review whilst meeting those deadlines.
I’ve taken the time to go back and look at my review, as it currently stands my opinion on the title remains the same. There’s a couple of things I would of liked to have worded better and maybe a made the review a little longer just so I could go into more detail. As long I never produce something as awful as this review, I’ll be pretty content with myself.
I’d like to thank Bashar Marhoon for his response and I definitely encourage all other readers to get involved if they have something they want to get off their chest. I don’t really mind if the comments are positive or negative, just as along as they’re well constructed and insightful.
Got something to say? Let’s hear it then, we’re all here because we love gaming anyway.
