The Last Of Us

Naughty Dog’s remarkable remains of the doomsday

FORMAT PS3 / YEAR 2013 / PUB SONY / DEV NAUGHTY DOG / ISSUE OPM #85 / SCORE 10/10

04And now, the end is near. And so you reach, the almost final curtain… which just happens to be hiding a Clicker behind its velvet drape. Naughty Dog’s sombre masterpiece is one of the greatest PlayStation games of all time. After all, what’s not to like? Incredible performances by the two most likable leads on PS3? Good. A majestically crafted apocalyptic world where every abandoned building has a story to tell? Good. A Nolan North-voiced psychopath? GOOD.

It’s testament to the power of Naughty Dog as storyteller that it can take such dark subject matter (global pandemics, the death of family, the ruthlessness of humanity) and make something so universally beloved. The Last Of Us isn’t an easy game to play at times (take that scene with the two brothers, for instance…), but it remains effortless to adore. And that’s down to an experience completely unsullied by dodgy dialogue or any form of padding, and one that’s entirely beholden to showing the unflinching consequences of your terribly violent actions.

The Last Of Us is a game of tremendous integrity. It never once talks down to its audience or tries to insult your intelligence. It doesn’t pander through the use of side-missions or lob meaningless MacGuffins your way. This is simply a game about real people caught in extraordinary circumstances in a world that is never anything less than unfailingly believable.

Of course, it’s also a ruddy amazing stealth shooter. Tenser than a dozen oh-so-fateful England penalty shootouts, Joel and Ellie deliver consistently mesmerising encounters, where breaking line of sight and acting as an adaptive, desperate predator is key. For its time, it looked, played and sounded better than anything else on PS3.

Why is it not No 1? Sadly on PS Now we get the PS3 original and not the PS4 remaster. A minor gripe but it matters.