A More Stunning Masterpiece – The Last Of Us Remastered Review

The Last Of Us IS a work of art.

<p><span style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;">A man once said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Games are not just art&comma; they are the most revolutionary form of art mankind has ever known about&comma;” a phrase that seems so fitting for what I felt  while playing <&sol;span><em style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;">The Last of Us<&sol;em><span style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;"> <&sol;span><em style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;">Remastered<&sol;em><span style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;">&period; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;"><em>The Last Of Us<&sol;em> is ambitious&comma; bold&comma; and emotional interactive beauty a story-line of depth and emotional&period; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;">It&&num;8217&semi;s rare that a game or any entertainment media makes you think&comma; much less effortlessly play on your emotions as a whole – something that captivates you&period; Within seconds of playing that&&num;8217&semi;s exactly what happened to me&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211723&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Prologue-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-86128 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211723&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Prologue-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Last of Us Remastered Prologue BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Almost immediately in <em>TLOU&comma;<&sol;em> we&&num;8217&semi;re confronted with a zombie-like infection that ends the world&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s there we meet our first protagonist Joel&comma; with the world burning around him&period; Flash-foward a few years after the infection where government rule is steadily collapsing&comma; with &&num;8216&semi;containment zones&&num;8217&semi; and where a new politically militant group&comma; The Fireflies&comma; have formed with the belief that mankind can be saved and that there is a cure&period; In between these zones we see the remnants of how things used to be before the infection&period; Littered with lone survivors and collectives of bandits known as Hunters&comma; these people reside alongside the Infected themselves&comma; who pose a real threat beyond the confinement of the containment walls&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>TLOU<&sol;em> does an incredible job of painting the picture and explaining the situation around us&comma; so much so that in a way I was forming my own political standing on the issues of the fallen society&comma; debating if I agreed with the Fireflies and how I felt about the infected world around us&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211808&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remasterd-Cover-BagoGames1&period;png"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-86124 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211808&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remasterd-Cover-BagoGames1&period;png" alt&equals;"The Last of Us Remasterd Cover BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the midst of all of this we have Joel&comma; a man simply getting by doing odd jobs in one of these zones&period; I was actually startled when first introduced to Joel – I anticipated a caring sort of man&period; Instead&comma; we&&num;8217&semi;re greeted with a broken man who&&num;8217&semi;s been surviving for years&comma; that was the first interpretation I got wrong&period; During his ventures with his companion Tess &lpar;a woman who runs most of the goings-on within the walls&rpar;&comma; they cross the Firefly leader who proposes another odd job for an amounting reward of weaponry supplies and more&period; In this world that&&num;8217&semi;s almost irrefutable&period; The task&quest; To smuggle a little girl from one city to a university occupied by Firefly forces&period; The little girl&quest; Our second protagonist&comma; Ellie&comma; a young&comma; fierce girl&period; This is where I made my second misinterpretation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When I was told I was playing a game about a fourteen year old girl and a man travelling together&comma; I anticipated a story of a man protecting this little girl and for her to be scared&comma; even sad&period; How wrong I was&period; Truth is Ellie is essentially a badass&comma; it creates for an interesting combination of a young girl who has never seen the world for what it previously was&comma; somewhat lost and someone who is hardened raised by fighters&period; She swears like a sailor&comma; kills like a road warrior&comma; and still possesses the attitude of a 14-year-old girl&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211752&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Melee-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-86125 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211752&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Melee-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Last of Us Remastered Melee BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The story sees you smuggling of Ellie and the game presents a number of equally complex challenges&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll stack up to hordes of Infected&comma; some more fierce than others and with their own traits&period; You may encounter Hunters and fight them off but regardless of the enemy&comma; each field of combat is dictated by the difficulty of the task and the supplies you have available&period; I often found myself avoiding all-guns-blazing due to lack of ammo or necessary equipment to take on that kind of fight&period; Ammo&comma; equipment and tools to craft are also a rarity dependant on the difficulty you play&period; These moments where supplies are low and you have no where to run creates immense tension&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I recall being in a tunnel with 10&plus; Infected grasping my controller like a little girl&comma; jumping at the even slightest look at an Infected&period; This was amplified even more so by some handy features the game brought out from the Dualshock 4&comma; such as I&&num;8217&semi;d have to shake my controller if my torch battery began flickering or listen to back stories about the outbreak through the speaker of it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Despite being a gimmick&comma; these additions built a strong backend to the environment and overall feel of the infectious disease and it&&num;8217&semi;s consequences&comma; bringing more depth to the characters&period; I played the story through on Hard&comma; attempted Survivor and Grounded &lpar;higher difficulties&rpar; and it was nigh on impossible for me to do&period; I was pleased with this&comma; there was no directions or scripted way to play&comma; you were given an encounter and they basically said &&num;8220&semi;deal with it&period;&&num;8221&semi; This derivative in gaming is general is lacking&comma; <em>TLOU<&sol;em> though aced it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211822&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Cant-Be-For-Nothing-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-86123 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211822&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Cant-Be-For-Nothing-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Last of Us Remastered 'Can't Be For Nothing' BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As you push through the story&comma; you learn more of Joel and Ellie&comma; their past&comma; and the details of their journey to find a cure for the infection&period; They seem a perfect fit&colon; Ellie an orphan and Joel being what he is&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s not that simple&period; Joel&&num;8217&semi;s a cold character&comma; forming no attachments and always reminding himself that this is just a &&num;8216&semi;job&&num;8217&semi;&period; As they work together&comma; those attachments do form and Joel finds it hard to accept that Ellie is practically like his own daughter&period; Usually when you&&num;8217&semi;re given two main leads&comma; chances are you will only like one of the protagonists&comma; but here&comma; you just might&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The authenticity and emotion of the story&comma; coupled with the complexity of people you come by&comma; makes you accept this story as if it were your own&period; The depth and thought process of the campaign is staggering&period; I found it beyond difficult to feel passionate or emotional about any form of entertainment&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s all incredibly sad and touching – this is the kind of game that can make the biggest men whimper&period; There are particular moments that literally define the game for the work of art that it is and just how deep it feels&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s never something I&&num;8217&semi;ll underestimate about it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;86127" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-86127" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211739&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Park-View-BagoGames&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-86127 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211739&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Park-View-BagoGames&period;png" alt&equals;"The Last of Us Remastered Park View BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-86127" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Last of Us Can easily be counted as a work of art&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Something was really potent and intuitive about the story for me as well&colon; it was progressive&period; Moments weren&&num;8217&semi;t a blur&comma; you weren&&num;8217&semi;t constantly fighting&comma; or exploring&comma; or listen to exposition – there was just a nice blend of it all&period; One thing&&num;8217&semi;s for sure&colon; each and every moment was just staggeringly beautiful&period; <em>TLOU Remastered<&sol;em> uses the quality of the cutscene characters from the PS3 version and throughout the game&comma; everything from the smallest blade of grass to the motion to colour of Ellie&&num;8217&semi;s eyes is incredible to look at&period; Its most profound feature was its facial expressions and the genuine emotion they express that makes the game all that more surreal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Even more impressive is regardless of where you are in the game&comma; main story&comma; side story or even Factions multiplayer&comma; you get the same graphical power&period; Most campaigns in-game feature pre-rendered clips and the other parts of it&comma; especially multiplayer&comma; never stack up to the same visuals &lpar;&ast;cough&ast; <em>BATTLEFIELD 4<&sol;em>&&num;8230&semi;&rpar;&comma; yet <em>TLOU<&sol;em> holds true on all fronts&period; If 1080p&comma; 60fps is something that should be &&num;8216&semi;applauded&&num;8217&semi; on consoles now&comma; <em>TLOU<&sol;em> should get a trophy from even the most elite PC cabinets&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;86120" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-86120" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211904&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Factions-Gameplay-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-86120 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211904&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Remastered-Factions-Gameplay-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Last of Us Remastered Factions Gameplay BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-86120" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Factions mode in The Last of Us is a great addition to the game&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Once you finish the masterpiece that is the campaign&comma; you can move on to some of the other options packaged with <em>TLOU&colon; Remastered<&sol;em>&period; First is multiplayer&comma; something that most campaign-centric games get terribly wrong &lpar;looking at you <em>Tomb Raider<&sol;em> and <em>Assassins Creed<&sol;em>&rpar;&period; For once&comma; I actually feel as though I&&num;8217&semi;ve been given a multiplayer that I quite enjoy&period; You&&num;8217&semi;re given a choice of faction&colon; the Fireflies or Hunters&comma; both of which you can customize – like making yourself look like a total badass&period; You&&num;8217&semi;re then thrown into three modes which&comma; despite their quantity&comma; are quite good in their own ways&period; You have Supply Raid&comma; a 20 Life Team Deathmatch&semi; Interrogation&comma; which is a bit like capture the flag with interrogations&semi; and Survivors&comma; which is a round based game where once your entire team is down&comma; you lose the round&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All three modes have a nice tension to them&period; With only 20 lives&comma; you don&&num;8217&semi;t want to lose a round on survivors&period; You can&&num;8217&semi;t run-&&num;8216&semi;n-gun&comma; <em>Rambo<&sol;em>-style like in <em>Call Of Duty&period; <&sol;em>You have to<em> <&sol;em>hang back gather supplies and roll tactically&comma; even stealthily in groups&period; The multiplayer&&num;8217&semi;s way more fun with friends and encourages team-play across the board&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ve had some enjoyably tense action moments in multiplayer&comma; but I hope that Naughty Dog introduces a few more modes so it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t fall stagnant too fast&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211918&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Left-Behind-BagoGames&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-86119 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;08&sol;04211918&sol;The-Last-of-Us-Left-Behind-BagoGames&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Last of Us Left Behind BagoGames" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Finally there&&num;8217&semi;s the DLC expansion of<em> Left Behind<&sol;em>&comma; included with <em>Remastered<&sol;em>&period; It follows the side story of a younger Ellie and her endeavours&comma; shedding a great light on her as a person and bringing with it even greater depth to the main campaign plot-line&period; You learn of Ellie&&num;8217&semi;s past&comma; including her relationship with her young Firefly friend named Riley and all the more it makes the game a hell of a lot more interesting&comma; which is pretty hard to do considering just how damn good it is&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The Last Of Us Remastered&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;em>s extraordinary – words cannot describe just how good it is&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ve never played a game as stunning and captivating as<em> The Last Of Us<&sol;em>&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s given me a truly memorable experience and a game that can shame a good 90&percnt; of Hollywood&period; Do yourself a favour&comma; play this game&period; It deserves the title of &&num;8220&semi;Game of the Generation&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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