The Last of Us: Demo preview

The Last of Us: Demo preview

Naughty Dog has been behind some of my favourite games on the PlayStation.

From Crash Bandicoot's swirling (I so hope he'll be back on PS3 or PS4 someday), Jak and Daxter to Nathan Drake's Uncharted, they've constantly proven that they can bring something new and inventive to the gaming world - so I've got high hopes for The Last Of Us, their take on a post apocalyptic world.

I was fortunate enough to be given some time with a pre-alpha look at what The Last of Us is likely to be offering - and to say it's intriguing is a minor understatement.

You're taken to an Earth which has been decimated by the sweeping of a fungal disease - not only are people dead, but there are several stages to the infection and as the lead character, you're about to encounter them.

In this third person game demo, you play Joel who along with two young charges is making his way through a rain-swept destroyed part of town. It looks suitably grim with buildings bashed around and an easy walk through the city not being an option. As the demo starts, Joel makes his way through a partially wrecked building with Ellie, a young girl he's pledged to get out of danger. The trouble is that danger is around every corner thanks to the terrain, a lack of supplies, and the infected.

It's here the game gets interesting as the Clickers (stage 3 of the infected) are a pretty serious enemy. With their heads turned into a cross between a piece of popcorn, a mushroom and a horror mask, they're a formidable foe (and you'd be stupid to write them off based on that description). They've got a heightened sense of sound, which means you really have to be crafty to try and escape their vicious clutches. They can only be killed by a stealth attack or by shooting them several times in the head. The problem with that is you've got limited bullets, and a relative lack of weapons. The best option is to throw a brick or bottle (handily lying around) to distract them and make off in the other direction. Several attempts that I made to kill them failed miserably and resulted in my neck being ripped out and the game reloading at the last checkpoint. Clickers are not pleasant either - with their guttural clicking noise likely to come at you when you least expect it, providing a few scares along the way. Using R2 to listen and plan a strategy is usually a smarter move than an outright blundering into the situation and hoping mashing buttons will save you.

Early stages of the Infected are a little easier to kill (there was no sign of what a Stage 2 attacker looks like) as they're simply zombies which run toward you to hack you up. Simple shivving or neck breaking will do for taking them down - but if they're in a group with some Clickers, you face a real strategic dilemma as to how to get past them and carry on your quest.

The post apocalyptic world is well presented too - I wasn't distracted by the surroundings (always a surefire sign that the designers have got it right) but I did feel I was immersed in the environment right from the very beginning.

As you trawl around this urban wasteland, you get to pick up weapons, ammo, bits and bobs which could help you survive. Shivs can be crafted from getting scissors and tape; batteries can be collected for a flashlight - but they only have a limited life span....

The early signs are that The Last Of Us relies heavily on the strategy rather than the simply gunning and running of unlimited ammo. And that's something that in all honesty, I'll relish. The feeling that not everything is the right answer suggests a kind of pick-a-path mentality to the gameplay and one which is likely to show that early decisions have ramifications for further down the line.

All in all, Naughty Dog's The Last of Us looks to have immense promise and is likely to provoke a lot of debate over what the best way to survive is - and with those kind of different options available, it could well give the game play a long shelf life as you try multiple strategies to survive and win the day.

The Last Of Us hits PlayStation3 on June 14th