Post by Jonathan on Aug 22, 2016 17:41:06 GMT -5
The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation 3 in June 2013. An updated version, The Last of Us Remastered, was released for the PlayStation 4 in July 2014. In the game, players control Joel, a man tasked with escorting a young woman named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States.
The Last of Us is played from a third-person perspective; players use firearms and improvised weapons, and can use stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. "Listen Mode" allows players to locate enemies through a heightened sense of hearing and spatial awareness. Weapons can also be upgraded using items scavenged from the environment. In the game's online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in co-operative and competitive gameplay in recreations of single-player settings.
Development of The Last of Us began in 2009, soon after the release of Naughty Dog's previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The relationship between Joel and Ellie was the central focus of the game, with all other elements developed around it. The team chose actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson to portray Joel and Ellie respectively, who provided voice and motion capture for the roles. Both assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with the development of the characters and story. The original score was composed and performed by Gustavo Santaolalla.
Following its announcement in December 2011, The Last of Us was widely anticipated. It was acclaimed by many reviewers, with praise particularly directed at its characterization, subtext, exploration of the human condition, and depiction of female characters. The Last of Us became one of the best-selling PlayStation 3 games, selling over 1.3 million units in its first week, and over eight million units within fourteen months. Considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, it won year-end accolades, including multiple Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications, critics, and game award shows, making it one of the most awarded games in history. After the game's release, Naughty Dog released several downloadable content additions; The Last of Us: Left Behind added a new single-player campaign, taking place both before and during the main story, featuring Ellie and her friend Riley.
Gameplay Edit
The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic action-adventure survival horror game that is viewed from a third-person perspective.[1] Players traverse post-apocalyptic environments, moving through locations such as towns, buildings, and sewers to advance through the game's story. Players use firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. For most of the game, players control Joel—a man tasked with escorting a young girl named Ellie across the United States; Ellie and other companions are controlled by the artificial intelligence.[2] Players also control Ellie throughout the game's winter segment.[3]
In combat, players can use long-ranged weapons, such as rifles, shotguns, and bows, and short-barreled guns, such as pistols and revolvers; players can scavenge limited-use melee weapons, such as pipes and baseball bats. Bottles and bricks can be thrown to distract, stun, or attack enemies.[4] The game features a crafting system, allowing players to upgrade weapons at workbenches using collected items. Equipment such as health kits and Molotov cocktails can be found or crafted using collected items. Physical abilities, such as the health meter and crafting speed, can be upgraded by collecting pills and medicinal plants. Should players take damage, their health meter can be recharged through the use of health kits.[5]
The player character is crouching, with his companion nearby. Enemies lurk in the distance, with a white outline alerting players of their location.
The game's Listen Mode allows players to discover the position of enemies by displaying their outline, achieved through a heightened sense of hearing and spatial awareness.[6]
Though players can attack enemies directly, they have the option to use stealth tactics to attack undetected or sneak by them. Stealth combat uses a gameplay mechanic called "Listen Mode", which allows players to effectively locate enemies through a heightened sense of hearing and spatial awareness. When using Listen Mode, an outline of the enemies becomes visible to players, allowing them to view enemies in different locations.[6] A dynamic cover system is present, in which players crouch behind obstacles to gain a tactical advantage during combat.[7] The game features periods without combat, often involving conversation between the characters.[8] Players solve simple puzzles, such as using floating pallets to move Ellie, who is unable to swim, across bodies of water, and using ladders or dumpsters to reach higher areas. Story collectibles, such as notes, maps and comics, can be scavenged and viewed in the backpack menu.[9]
The game features an artificial intelligence system in which hostile human enemies react to any combat situation they are placed in. If enemies discover the player, they may take cover or call for assistance, and can take advantage of players when they are distracted, out of ammunition, or in the midst of a fight. Players' companions, such as Ellie, can assist in combat by throwing objects at threats to stun them, announcing the location of unseen enemies, or using a knife and pistol to attack enemies.[10]
The game's online multiplayer allows up to eight players to engage in competitive gameplay in recreations of multiple single-player settings. The game features three multiplayer game types: Supply Raid and Survivors are both team deathmatches, with the latter excluding the ability to respawn;[11] Interrogation features teams investigating the location of the enemy team's lockbox, and the first to capture such lockbox wins.[12] In every mode, players select a Faction—Hunters (a group of hostile survivors) or Fireflies (a revolutionary militia group)—and keep their clan alive by collecting supplies during matches. Each match is equal to one day; by surviving twelve "weeks", players have completed a journey and can re-select their Faction.[13] Killing enemies, reviving allies, and crafting items earn the player parts that can be converted to supplies; parts can also be scavenged from enemies' bodies. Players are able to carry more equipment by earning points as their clan's supplies grow. Players can connect the game to their Facebook account, which alters clan members' names and faces to match the players' Facebook friends.[14] Players have the ability to customize their characters with hats, helmets, masks, and emblems.[15]
In September 2013, an outbreak of a mutant Cordyceps fungus ravages the United States, transforming its human hosts into cannibalistic monsters known as infected. In the suburbs of Austin, Joel (Troy Baker) flees the chaos with his brother Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce) and daughter Sarah (Hana Hayes). As they flee, Sarah is shot by a soldier and dies in Joel's arms. In the twenty years that follow, most of civilization is destroyed by the infection. Survivors live in heavily policed quarantine zones, independent settlements, and nomadic groups. Joel works as a smuggler with his partner Tess (Annie Wersching) in the Boston quarantine zone. They hunt down Robert (Robin Atkin Downes), a black market dealer, to recover a stolen weapons cache. Before Tess kills him, Robert reveals that he traded the cache with the Fireflies, a rebel group opposing the quarantine zone authorities.
The leader of the Fireflies, Marlene (Merle Dandridge), promises to double their cache in return for smuggling a teenage girl, Ellie (Ashley Johnson), to Fireflies hiding in the Boston capitol building outside the quarantine zone. Joel, Tess, and Ellie sneak out in the night, but after an encounter with a patrol, they discover Ellie is infected. Full infection normally occurs in under two days, but Ellie claims she was infected three weeks ago and that her immunity may lead to a cure. The trio make their way to their destination through hordes of infected, but find that the Fireflies there have been killed. Tess reveals she has been bitten by an infected; believing in Ellie's importance, Tess sacrifices herself against pursuing soldiers so Joel and Ellie can escape. Joel decides to find Tommy, a former Firefly, in the hope that he can locate the remaining Fireflies. With the help of Bill (W. Earl Brown), a smuggler who owes Joel a favor, they acquire a working vehicle. Driving into Pittsburgh, they are ambushed by bandits and their car is wrecked. They ally with two brothers, Henry (Brandon Scott) and Sam (Nadji Jeter); after they escape the city, Sam is bitten by an infected but hides it from the group. As his infection takes hold, Sam attacks Ellie, but Henry shoots him and commits suicide.
In the fall, Joel and Ellie finally find Tommy in Jackson, Wyoming, where he has assembled a fortified settlement near a hydroelectric dam with his wife Maria (Ashley Scott). Joel contemplates leaving Ellie with Tommy, but after she confronts him about Sarah, he decides to stay with her. Tommy directs them to a Fireflies enclave at the University of Eastern Colorado. They find the university abandoned, but learn that the Fireflies have moved to a hospital in Salt Lake City. They are attacked by bandits and Joel is severely wounded. During the winter, Ellie and Joel shelter in the mountains. Joel is on the brink of death and relies on Ellie to care for him. Hunting for food, Ellie encounters David (Nolan North) and James (Reuben Langdon), scavengers willing to trade medicine for food; David reveals that the university bandits Ellie and Joel killed were part of his group. Ellie manages to lead David's group away from Joel, but is eventually captured; David intends to recruit her into his cannibal group. She escapes after killing James, but David corners her in a burning restaurant. Meanwhile, Joel recovers from his wounds and sets out to find Ellie. He reaches Ellie as she kills David; Joel consoles her before they flee.
In the spring, Joel and Ellie arrive in Salt Lake City and are captured by a Firefly patrol. In the hospital, Marlene tells Joel that Ellie is being prepared for surgery: in hope of producing a vaccine for the infection, the Fireflies must remove the infected portion of Ellie's brain, which will kill her. Unwilling to let Ellie die, Joel battles his way to the operating room and carries the unconscious Ellie to the parking garage, where he is confronted by Marlene, who he shoots and kills to prevent the Fireflies from pursuing them. On the drive out of the city, Joel attempts to shield Ellie from the truth; he claims that the Fireflies had found many other people who are immune but were unable to create a cure, and that they have stopped trying. The pair arrive on the outskirts of Tommy's settlement. Ellie reveals that she was not alone when she was infected and expresses her survivor guilt. At her request, Joel swears his story about the Fireflies is true.[16]
43]
Additional content Edit
Downloadable content (DLC) for the game was released following its launch. The game's Season Pass includes access to all DLC, as well as some additional abilities, and the documentary Grounded: Making The Last of Us;[44] the documentary was released online in February 2014.[45] Two DLC packs were included with some of the game's special editions and were available upon release. The Sights and Sounds Pack included the soundtrack, a dynamic theme for the PlayStation 3 home screen, and two avatars. The Survival Pack featured bonus skins for the player following the completion of the campaign, and in-game money, as well as bonus experience points and early access to customizable items for the game's multiplayer.[46] Abandoned Territories Map Pack, released on October 15, 2013, added four new multiplayer maps, based on locations in the game's story.[47] Nightmare Bundle, released on November 5, 2013, added a collection of ten head items, nine of which are available to purchase separately.[48]
The Last of Us: Left Behind added a new single-player campaign which serves as a prequel to the main storyline, featuring Ellie and her friend Riley; it was released on February 14, 2014 as DLC[49] and on May 12, 2015 as a standalone expansion pack.[50] A third bundle was released on May 6, 2014, featuring five separate DLC: Grounded added a new difficulty to the main game and Left Behind; Reclaimed Territories Map Pack added new multiplayer maps; Professional Survival Skills Bundle and Situational Survival Skills Bundle added eight new multiplayer skills; and Survivalist Weapon Bundle added four new weapons.[51] The Grit and Gear Bundle, which added new headgear items, masks and gestures, was released on August 5, 2014.[52] A Game of the Year Edition containing all downloadable content was released in Europe on November 11, 2014.[53]
The Last of Us Remastered Edit
Main article: The Last of Us Remastered
On April 9, 2014, Sony announced The Last of Us Remastered, an enhanced version of the game for the PlayStation 4. It was released on July 29, 2014 in North America.[54] Remastered features improved graphics and rendering upgrades, including increased draw distance, an upgraded combat mechanic, and higher frame rate.[56] Other enhancements include advanced audio options, an audio commentary, and a Photo Mode. It includes the previously released downloadable content, including Left Behind and some multiplayer maps.[57] The development team aimed at creating a "true" remaster, maintaining the "same core experience"[58] and not changing any large story or gameplay elements.[59]
The Last of Us is played from a third-person perspective; players use firearms and improvised weapons, and can use stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. "Listen Mode" allows players to locate enemies through a heightened sense of hearing and spatial awareness. Weapons can also be upgraded using items scavenged from the environment. In the game's online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in co-operative and competitive gameplay in recreations of single-player settings.
Development of The Last of Us began in 2009, soon after the release of Naughty Dog's previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The relationship between Joel and Ellie was the central focus of the game, with all other elements developed around it. The team chose actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson to portray Joel and Ellie respectively, who provided voice and motion capture for the roles. Both assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with the development of the characters and story. The original score was composed and performed by Gustavo Santaolalla.
Following its announcement in December 2011, The Last of Us was widely anticipated. It was acclaimed by many reviewers, with praise particularly directed at its characterization, subtext, exploration of the human condition, and depiction of female characters. The Last of Us became one of the best-selling PlayStation 3 games, selling over 1.3 million units in its first week, and over eight million units within fourteen months. Considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, it won year-end accolades, including multiple Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications, critics, and game award shows, making it one of the most awarded games in history. After the game's release, Naughty Dog released several downloadable content additions; The Last of Us: Left Behind added a new single-player campaign, taking place both before and during the main story, featuring Ellie and her friend Riley.
Gameplay Edit
The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic action-adventure survival horror game that is viewed from a third-person perspective.[1] Players traverse post-apocalyptic environments, moving through locations such as towns, buildings, and sewers to advance through the game's story. Players use firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. For most of the game, players control Joel—a man tasked with escorting a young girl named Ellie across the United States; Ellie and other companions are controlled by the artificial intelligence.[2] Players also control Ellie throughout the game's winter segment.[3]
In combat, players can use long-ranged weapons, such as rifles, shotguns, and bows, and short-barreled guns, such as pistols and revolvers; players can scavenge limited-use melee weapons, such as pipes and baseball bats. Bottles and bricks can be thrown to distract, stun, or attack enemies.[4] The game features a crafting system, allowing players to upgrade weapons at workbenches using collected items. Equipment such as health kits and Molotov cocktails can be found or crafted using collected items. Physical abilities, such as the health meter and crafting speed, can be upgraded by collecting pills and medicinal plants. Should players take damage, their health meter can be recharged through the use of health kits.[5]
The player character is crouching, with his companion nearby. Enemies lurk in the distance, with a white outline alerting players of their location.
The game's Listen Mode allows players to discover the position of enemies by displaying their outline, achieved through a heightened sense of hearing and spatial awareness.[6]
Though players can attack enemies directly, they have the option to use stealth tactics to attack undetected or sneak by them. Stealth combat uses a gameplay mechanic called "Listen Mode", which allows players to effectively locate enemies through a heightened sense of hearing and spatial awareness. When using Listen Mode, an outline of the enemies becomes visible to players, allowing them to view enemies in different locations.[6] A dynamic cover system is present, in which players crouch behind obstacles to gain a tactical advantage during combat.[7] The game features periods without combat, often involving conversation between the characters.[8] Players solve simple puzzles, such as using floating pallets to move Ellie, who is unable to swim, across bodies of water, and using ladders or dumpsters to reach higher areas. Story collectibles, such as notes, maps and comics, can be scavenged and viewed in the backpack menu.[9]
The game features an artificial intelligence system in which hostile human enemies react to any combat situation they are placed in. If enemies discover the player, they may take cover or call for assistance, and can take advantage of players when they are distracted, out of ammunition, or in the midst of a fight. Players' companions, such as Ellie, can assist in combat by throwing objects at threats to stun them, announcing the location of unseen enemies, or using a knife and pistol to attack enemies.[10]
The game's online multiplayer allows up to eight players to engage in competitive gameplay in recreations of multiple single-player settings. The game features three multiplayer game types: Supply Raid and Survivors are both team deathmatches, with the latter excluding the ability to respawn;[11] Interrogation features teams investigating the location of the enemy team's lockbox, and the first to capture such lockbox wins.[12] In every mode, players select a Faction—Hunters (a group of hostile survivors) or Fireflies (a revolutionary militia group)—and keep their clan alive by collecting supplies during matches. Each match is equal to one day; by surviving twelve "weeks", players have completed a journey and can re-select their Faction.[13] Killing enemies, reviving allies, and crafting items earn the player parts that can be converted to supplies; parts can also be scavenged from enemies' bodies. Players are able to carry more equipment by earning points as their clan's supplies grow. Players can connect the game to their Facebook account, which alters clan members' names and faces to match the players' Facebook friends.[14] Players have the ability to customize their characters with hats, helmets, masks, and emblems.[15]
In September 2013, an outbreak of a mutant Cordyceps fungus ravages the United States, transforming its human hosts into cannibalistic monsters known as infected. In the suburbs of Austin, Joel (Troy Baker) flees the chaos with his brother Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce) and daughter Sarah (Hana Hayes). As they flee, Sarah is shot by a soldier and dies in Joel's arms. In the twenty years that follow, most of civilization is destroyed by the infection. Survivors live in heavily policed quarantine zones, independent settlements, and nomadic groups. Joel works as a smuggler with his partner Tess (Annie Wersching) in the Boston quarantine zone. They hunt down Robert (Robin Atkin Downes), a black market dealer, to recover a stolen weapons cache. Before Tess kills him, Robert reveals that he traded the cache with the Fireflies, a rebel group opposing the quarantine zone authorities.
The leader of the Fireflies, Marlene (Merle Dandridge), promises to double their cache in return for smuggling a teenage girl, Ellie (Ashley Johnson), to Fireflies hiding in the Boston capitol building outside the quarantine zone. Joel, Tess, and Ellie sneak out in the night, but after an encounter with a patrol, they discover Ellie is infected. Full infection normally occurs in under two days, but Ellie claims she was infected three weeks ago and that her immunity may lead to a cure. The trio make their way to their destination through hordes of infected, but find that the Fireflies there have been killed. Tess reveals she has been bitten by an infected; believing in Ellie's importance, Tess sacrifices herself against pursuing soldiers so Joel and Ellie can escape. Joel decides to find Tommy, a former Firefly, in the hope that he can locate the remaining Fireflies. With the help of Bill (W. Earl Brown), a smuggler who owes Joel a favor, they acquire a working vehicle. Driving into Pittsburgh, they are ambushed by bandits and their car is wrecked. They ally with two brothers, Henry (Brandon Scott) and Sam (Nadji Jeter); after they escape the city, Sam is bitten by an infected but hides it from the group. As his infection takes hold, Sam attacks Ellie, but Henry shoots him and commits suicide.
In the fall, Joel and Ellie finally find Tommy in Jackson, Wyoming, where he has assembled a fortified settlement near a hydroelectric dam with his wife Maria (Ashley Scott). Joel contemplates leaving Ellie with Tommy, but after she confronts him about Sarah, he decides to stay with her. Tommy directs them to a Fireflies enclave at the University of Eastern Colorado. They find the university abandoned, but learn that the Fireflies have moved to a hospital in Salt Lake City. They are attacked by bandits and Joel is severely wounded. During the winter, Ellie and Joel shelter in the mountains. Joel is on the brink of death and relies on Ellie to care for him. Hunting for food, Ellie encounters David (Nolan North) and James (Reuben Langdon), scavengers willing to trade medicine for food; David reveals that the university bandits Ellie and Joel killed were part of his group. Ellie manages to lead David's group away from Joel, but is eventually captured; David intends to recruit her into his cannibal group. She escapes after killing James, but David corners her in a burning restaurant. Meanwhile, Joel recovers from his wounds and sets out to find Ellie. He reaches Ellie as she kills David; Joel consoles her before they flee.
In the spring, Joel and Ellie arrive in Salt Lake City and are captured by a Firefly patrol. In the hospital, Marlene tells Joel that Ellie is being prepared for surgery: in hope of producing a vaccine for the infection, the Fireflies must remove the infected portion of Ellie's brain, which will kill her. Unwilling to let Ellie die, Joel battles his way to the operating room and carries the unconscious Ellie to the parking garage, where he is confronted by Marlene, who he shoots and kills to prevent the Fireflies from pursuing them. On the drive out of the city, Joel attempts to shield Ellie from the truth; he claims that the Fireflies had found many other people who are immune but were unable to create a cure, and that they have stopped trying. The pair arrive on the outskirts of Tommy's settlement. Ellie reveals that she was not alone when she was infected and expresses her survivor guilt. At her request, Joel swears his story about the Fireflies is true.[16]
43]
Additional content Edit
Downloadable content (DLC) for the game was released following its launch. The game's Season Pass includes access to all DLC, as well as some additional abilities, and the documentary Grounded: Making The Last of Us;[44] the documentary was released online in February 2014.[45] Two DLC packs were included with some of the game's special editions and were available upon release. The Sights and Sounds Pack included the soundtrack, a dynamic theme for the PlayStation 3 home screen, and two avatars. The Survival Pack featured bonus skins for the player following the completion of the campaign, and in-game money, as well as bonus experience points and early access to customizable items for the game's multiplayer.[46] Abandoned Territories Map Pack, released on October 15, 2013, added four new multiplayer maps, based on locations in the game's story.[47] Nightmare Bundle, released on November 5, 2013, added a collection of ten head items, nine of which are available to purchase separately.[48]
The Last of Us: Left Behind added a new single-player campaign which serves as a prequel to the main storyline, featuring Ellie and her friend Riley; it was released on February 14, 2014 as DLC[49] and on May 12, 2015 as a standalone expansion pack.[50] A third bundle was released on May 6, 2014, featuring five separate DLC: Grounded added a new difficulty to the main game and Left Behind; Reclaimed Territories Map Pack added new multiplayer maps; Professional Survival Skills Bundle and Situational Survival Skills Bundle added eight new multiplayer skills; and Survivalist Weapon Bundle added four new weapons.[51] The Grit and Gear Bundle, which added new headgear items, masks and gestures, was released on August 5, 2014.[52] A Game of the Year Edition containing all downloadable content was released in Europe on November 11, 2014.[53]
The Last of Us Remastered Edit
Main article: The Last of Us Remastered
On April 9, 2014, Sony announced The Last of Us Remastered, an enhanced version of the game for the PlayStation 4. It was released on July 29, 2014 in North America.[54] Remastered features improved graphics and rendering upgrades, including increased draw distance, an upgraded combat mechanic, and higher frame rate.[56] Other enhancements include advanced audio options, an audio commentary, and a Photo Mode. It includes the previously released downloadable content, including Left Behind and some multiplayer maps.[57] The development team aimed at creating a "true" remaster, maintaining the "same core experience"[58] and not changing any large story or gameplay elements.[59]