The Last Of Us Part II: PS4 Review

The Last Of Us Part II: PS4 Review

Developed by Naughty Dog
Platform: PS4

Wracked with but not wrecked by spoilers dropping before release, and with the weight of expectation squarely on its story, The Last Of Us Part II is a fulfilling exercise in atmosphere, as well as the tropes of the survivor genre much seen in the likes of the Walking Dead.

Naughty Dog has so ferociously guarded this release to heighten the enjoyment of fans that it's repeatedly asked for spoilers to be held close to the chest, and for story details to be kept confined as well.

It makes a review difficult in some ways, but not impossible - loosely, the game centres around Joel and Ellie once again and their life in the post-Infected world years after we last saw them. Once again, a mission rears its head and it's back into the world of The Last Of Us we go.

In many ways, The Last Of Us is very familiar to anyone who's spent a modicum of time within the survival genre, be it comics, games or TV series.

There's once again the message of doing what it takes to survive and the cost of which doing so wreaks upon you - Battle ye not with monsters, lest ye become a monster as Nietzsche said. And much of that ethos is etched throughout The Last Of Us Part II.

As factions arise, groups rise and fall and the game progresses, the dourness settles like a heavy choking mist over proceedings. It's all a world away from the strumming guitar lessons at the start and the innocent snowball fight that sets up the prologue of the game; but it's a welcome touch of levity before the light is dimmed irrevocably and almost irretrievably.

Naughty Dog's included some new touches to their game to ensure this doesn't feel like a retread of the 2013 original.

There are more vicious encounters, a few newer creatures that present a fair few problems in a resource-free world, and things like dogs and Bloaters (a kind of infected) which can track you. The game sticks largely to its MO, and delivers superbly, if with familiarity throughout.

Corridors where your torchlight is the only illumination before that jump scare? Check.

Gorgeous cut scenes and world building that explain every ounce of the craft and demand from the higher ups that's gone in to the visualisation of the performance? Check.

A sense of creeping desperation as the game proceeds and you know you're running out of weapons and bits necessary to survive? Check.

Scenes where you're on horseback and ploughing through snow with flakes settling on your clothes a la opening of Red Dead Redemption 2? Also, Check.

If this seems like it's cocking a snook at Naughty Dog for repeating itself, it's truly not; it's a recognition that these were the highlights of the original game, and the sequel takes the same beats and amplifies them where necessary. It's even taken some of the same mechanics and gameplay beats, edges and sequences as Uncharted 4 and twisted them into their own.

It's the narrative that provides the thrust this time around - less a game about survival, more about what it means to survive and what the cost is, The Last of Us Part II's elegaic edge has a maudlin quality that's in keeping with its stealth kills and vicious encounters. Each death felt like a small piece of my soul was being sacrificed and began to wear heavy on my mind as the story progressed.

Encounters are more brutal, and more frenzied - the viciousness is omni-present, and the softer edges of the story (such as they are) complement it well and needed when they come. Flawed individuals make up the story, and serve as a reminder of humanity - or the crippling lack thereof - in this post-apocalyptic world.

New enemies emerge, and new ways to defeat them are needed; throw into that mix as well a feeling that the environment can throw anything at you without warning, and it's no wonder the over-riding feeling of The Last Of Us Part II is one of unease and almost crippling fear among the stealth and stalking.

There are some new skills to learn throughout, but the basics of the first game are in tact, and make diving back into the world easy enough. And touches like subtitles and guided audio cues will give all players the chance to be part of Joel and Ellie's world, rather than seasoned Last of Us gamers. It's things like this which add to the craft of The Last Of Us Part II and speak volumes to how gamers should be treated.

There are occasionally one too many flashbacks, something frustratingly akin to the Lost effect, where the player is drawn out of the game at the tensest of moments, leading to a feeling of delayed gratification. But each flashback, as it comes, serves to deepen the character engagement and then subsequently lose the player in a few hours of diverted gameplay.

A few glitches have also hit the game in its pre-launch status; a couple of times, characters have blended with walls, and even gone below the game itself, forcing a restart, but these minor bugs will hopefully be ironed out at launch.

Graphically, The Last Of Us Part II looks incredible - overgrown areas sing with both reality and flourishing touches. Walk past the snow on a tree and it'll fall off onto the ground, walk through water and the ripples carry on - every inch of Naughty Dog's craft is evident in every corner of the screen (even if the game's more a guided open world, than an actual open one).

However, it has to be said, The Last Of Us Part II is not the game you'd expect, and that's no bad thing at all.

It may lack the novelty of the first game in some parts, but in others, it's deepened and enriched the experience, and developers have aimed to provide more of a conflicted gamepath than a straight rescue mission of the first.

It tears up a rulebook, changes the rules for storytelling and consistently shakes the core of what makes a triple A title on the platform. And you'll hate it in parts, forced to relive moments that consistently cause you pain - but at the same time, you'll deeply admire Naughty Dog's determination to try something different with the story-telling narrative.

The Last of Us Part II is a game of consequences where the web of revenge envelops all from the centre out, and where the strands surround players who appear on the peripherary. To that end, while the story's still Ellie's, the world feels deeper, more real and more terrifying. The violence appals more this time around, shrouding a lot of the world in ugliness.

It may be one of the PlayStation exclusives to hit the PS4 platform before the arrival of the PS5, but The Last Of Us Part II is a challenging, enticing, sickening and engaging follow up to spend plenty of time in in the darkness of the winter months.

The Last Of Us Part II releases exclusively on PlayStation on June 19
This reviewer was given a pre-release copy of the game from the publishers and PlayStation NZ.