Reviews

No Return Review:
Well I’m obviously a sucker so I bought the Part 2 Remaster. Full price too. Just really wanted to play that Roguelike mode and I’ve only played the campaign once and one of these days I want to play it again. 

It’s so fun. I’m loving it. Even when I die. Which can happen quickly. I just love the gameplay. It’s intense. I’ll pull off a desperate last second headshot on a guy running at me with an axe or some shit like that. It’s thrilling.

Joel’s 12 round revolver is so good. I just wish he could dodge.

Lev is pretty fun too. I love the bow so Lev awesome.

Abby might be the best. I won with her. It was intense still. Also very fun. 

This game mode is a lot of fun, primarily just because the gameplay of TLOU is so good. But I love it.

I’ve unlocked every character and I’ve beaten 5/6 bosses. Rat king is last. I’m loving the game mode. I’ve had tragic deaths, comical deaths, insanely clutch finishes, and perfect encounters. And all of it has been fun.

Beat the last boss. The Rat king. Funny enough I found him to be one of the easiest. I might keep playing a few rounds here and there. I’d like to beat all the challenges I think but I’m not sure if I will. This rogue like was awesome because TLOUS is awesome, my one complaint is I wish they had a stats page that showed how many runs you’ve attempted and succeeded on and all that. I also wish there was something else progression wise. Besides a few more random challenges there isn’t much more to do besides try to get high scores just for the sake of getting high scores which doesn’t do anything for me.

Original Journal Review:

The graphics, animation, and art design are fucking incredible. The different environments from the snow, to the lush overgrown abandoned city, to the sewers, to the infected buildings, to a burning cult  village, it all looks amazing. I especially enjoyed that the game is in Seattle. Seeing century link field and other seattle landmarks recreated so well really added to the immersion. There is a bar that you go loot and fight enemies in and I’ve been to that bar. It’s just another reason why I feel this game was made specifically for me. The cutscenes and character models are amazing. The voice acting is amazing. Are you getting the pattern here? It made me question whether this is the best looking game ever made. And then it answers the question. Yes it is. 

The combat feels so intense. I don’t know exactly what it is. I’m having difficulty describing why it feels so much better than other games of this genre. On paper it’s pretty much the same type of gameplay as tomb raider. But it feels so much better to play than tomb raider. I think it comes down to a lot of small things packaged together so well. I’m playing on hard and the fear of death is real. Every kill in this game feels intense, exciting and scary. Every death is unsettling and disturbing.

The sound and music is so effective at making you feel what emotion they want you to feel. The repeated use of the guitar throughout the story is very impactful.

The crafting, upgrades and gun customization is simple but effective. It isnt doing anything new. It doesn’t need to. The creative level design, beautiful environments, and the fear of running out of supplies adds plenty of motivation to explore and loot. But you never spend so long searching and looting that you lose sight of what your character is trying to accomplish story wise.

I am early on still but at the 12 hour mark I really like the story and how they tell it. I love playing as Ellie. I love what they have done with Ellie. 

And then the big Abby twist happens. I can see why people would be upset about this. It’s wrong for them to be upset, but I can see it happening. It’s a big story cliffhanger and you need to build up Abby’s customization and perks again. For a very brief moment it feels like you are losing gear and abilities. But they do a good job in quickly giving you new cool items and guns to use. And Abbys missions are sweet. They are even better than the early Ellie missions. The creepy cult bits were great. The skyscraper crossing level followed by the descent through the infected building level was amazing. And the patient zero hospital bit followed by the rat king boss was fan-fucking-tastic. That was so good. Then they follow that up with the sniper scene! This game is incredible. Next we get burning scar island ending with that big scar fight with the sickle and arrow. Sweet Jesus. This game is so much fun. It is currently on a 6 ish hour stretch of being absolutely perfect. It jumps from one unreal section to the next. I can’t believe people are complaining about this game. I can’t believe it.

And now the ending. What a sad ending. Right in the feels. That’s going to stick with me for awhile. Brutally effective. Incredibly well done. The ending to first game left me thinking about it for weeks. This ending will be no different.

After reading the reddit comments about this game they have left me sad. How can people miss the point by so much? How could they not hear what the game is saying? This is why democracy doesn’t work. Because of the people.

The only valid criticism I’ve seen is about the pacing of the game. But even then, the pacing is deliberate and the pacing decisions are made because they result in the best story telling possible. As a result, the pacing of gameplay is sacrificed. Switching up characters and not knowing who you will play as and for how long makes it difficult to plan your upgrades. And you become attached to Ellie. It’s difficult to want to play as Joel’s murderer. It’s difficult to jump back 4 days with such a story cliffhanger. It’s difficult to give Abby a chance and care about her backstory. It’s almost like that’s the point...Also, the ending to the game is anticlimactic from a gameplay perspective. But, even that makes sense because you don’t even want Ellie to go back and hunt Abby down! When Ellie says she can’t let it go it’s painful to see her leave again. You don’t get this big beautiful action sequence to end the game. That’s not the story they are telling.

Now for the serious journalism part of the review. The big topics that need to be discussed. That main debate that everyone is focused on. Are Abby’s arms too big? Are they too big for a women? No that’s ridiculous. Are they too big for a women in the apocalypse? No, her camp is doing fine and she’s been hitting the gym for years. But are they so big that I wasn’t able to focus on her story for about 45 minutes because I could only focus on how big her arms were? Yes. Was I exclusively going for head locks just so I could see those puppies in action one more time even though it wasn’t beneficial or practical? Yes. Did I take momentary breaks to pump out a set of curls so I could get swoll and feel more like Abby? Of course I did, and then my arms got tired and my aim was shaky.

I was late to the game on Naughty Dog because I never had a PlayStation as a kid but since then I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last three naughty dog games. The last of us used to be my favourite linear story game of this generation. Uncharted 4 I think is the best action adventure game of this generation. And this one is better than all of them. I can’t wait to see what they do next. Good luck cyberpunk. It is going to be a very hard task to beat this game.

Final Score: A++

I doubt anyone is going to see this because only a handful of people on this site have logged the game. However, I feel as though it is my calling—my life's purpose—to preach upon the mountaintop to the empty crowd below about how absolutely genius this game is. 

Firstly, to label this thing as a game would be an insult. It's an experience. It's an absurdist, surreal masterpiece much like the works of Mexican-Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel.

Every single aspect of this game is purposefully chosen to be the way it is. The voice acting? Almost nonexistent. Most characters are voiced through TTS. Some minor characters (most notably: the news reporters) are real people, and the inclusion of their real human voices make such a drastic and impactful difference. The writing is masterful. It makes the most of its medium and the medium from which it is communicated (TTS). The characters are brilliantly designed: walking noses, a potato man, a haunting lemon woman, the list goes on. The way these characters interact through the writing is a joy to witness. 

There are so many twists and turns, the game is randomized and individualized towards your current run. You can finish the game and replay it and you'll play through completely different levels (the minigames). There are so many different mechanics that you might miss during one run and discover in another. The fact that the game manages to achieve this while simultaneously staying true to the plot is insane.

The first time I experienced this masterpiece, I had a friend watching me as a play. We were both hysterically laughing, tears falling from our eyes. We were shaken to our core. I will never forget this game. I cannot praise Samer Khatib (the mastermind behind this masterpiece) enough.