T w e n t y S i d e d

I need to draw a line between my various nitpicks. On one side we’ve got my usual bellyaching about logic and too much shooting. This section where we fight zombies with David is like that. It doesn’t make sense for there to be this many zombies, it doesn’t make sense that they haven’t frozen solid, they shouldn’t stage a coordinated assault like this, and the whole section drags on about twice a long as it needs to. Meh. That kinda sucks, but it doesn’t ruin the game. Even if you’re sick of the combat at this point, the damage is contained locally and when the fight is over you can go back to enjoying whatever it is you like.

In contrast, the raider fights are a disaster. This is the place where the oil-and-water approach to game design is most evident and most damaging to the whole. As I’ve said before, I watched this game as a movie on YouTube, and I thought this scene with David was fantastic. It was tense, nerve-wracking, and even a little scary.

But now I’ve watched the chapter as part of the game, and it’s a completely different experience.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Last of Us EP31: This is a Lot of Zombies”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Okay, this is really gross, but I want to… uh… admire(?) the attention to detail on the bites on these characters. Check out the way blood flows out of the wound properly, gets wiped away, and then more flows. That kind of thing must be a monumental pain in the ass to get right. Even movies don’t usually take the time to make it look that good.

Beyond that technical note, I don’t have much else to say. You’ve heard me complain about the bandits already. And I really can’t add much to the emotional moments. This a powerful moment in the story, and Naughty Dog knocked it out of the park.

I suppose we can compare this with WATCH_DOGS, which also tried to use the death of young people as an emotional catalyst. Only WATCH_DOGS was shockingly stupid, clumsy, tone-deaf, inept, badly paced, not-characterized, and transparently manipulative. It’s easy to watch the scene where Bob Watchdog’s niece gets killed by evil hackers or whatever. I can make jokes about it. Heck, I could sing showtunes while while she bled out on the pavement and not feel the least bit bad. But this scene in the Last of Us is so brutal that I had trouble getting through it a second time while preparing this post.

It’s like the moment in the Walking Dead where you make those last few dialog choices with Clementine: This is the kind of moment that sticks with you long after the game is over.

EDIT: OH yes. ONCE AGAIN, some jackass company has decided to block our video because “OH NOES. MUH COPIERITES!”

If I was a AAA developer, I’d be looking for my soundtrack music in the indie scene just to avoid having license-holders block everyone trying to LP my game.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.