Really? I bought and played that game on the PS3 and thought it was pretty good and that's about it. I didn't think any part of it was especially novel.
It felt like playing an interactive movie to me. There was nothing particularly amazing about the gameplay, but everything felt right in that game. There was nothing I could fault in it (from memory, so within reason).
I still remember my room mates watching me play from the other room like it was a TV show they were invested in. One of my favourite all time games.
It was plotted like a TV show and so rather than feeling fresh, I felt like I already knew what would happen. It was too predictable.
For example, at one point Ellie gets caught and wakes up in a cage. I couldn't help but roll my eyes and thing "gee, I wonder if she'll escape".
Like I said in another comment, I think the hype surrounding the game had set my expectations way too high and I ended up being disappointed in what was really a good game.
At another point, she hops down onto a bus fording a canal and runs halfway across it and stops. I immediately thought "as soon as I approach her a cutscene is going to start where the bus is swept away or something". Yup.
I think it was an okay game, but it was definitely overhyped.
No, not at all. Last of Us was very good and a lot of fun, but it wasn't a masterpiece (IMHO). If I were to compare it to Uncharted (for example), I wouldn't say it was wildly better.
When I say the game disappointed me, I only mean in relation to the hype at the time. Some people have gone as far as calling Last of Us the Citizen Cane of gaming.
Well, it's subjective, of course. What was novel to me was the listening-for-sounds system which really made the stealth parts far more immersive and enabled them to play with dark and cramped stealth levels without it becoming impossible to beat.
Also I felt it was the pinnacle of Naughty Dog storytelling, driven by the lessons they had learned in the excellent Uncharted series. The fact they were able to create a game in which nearly the entire time is spent side-by-side with an AI-driven character you start to really care about was quite an accomplishment.
One more thing that sticks out for me is that I'd say Last of Us has the most gripping prologue / first ten minutes I have ever seen in a video game, and that that narrative is held quite taut throughout the game.
The game has an average rating of 95 on Metacritic, so I realize this is the mainstream take on it, but I still think the hype is justified in this case.
> I still think the hype is justified in this case
I think the hype played a part in my feeling let down by the game. I was expecting to be blown away and so merely enjoying my time with the game was a bummer.
I wouldn't begrudge anyone holding this opinion - I would struggle to point to any gameplay element as a true breakthrough - but the polish, quality of storytelling (that prologue!), and first rate acting/animation really set it apart for me. Like everything Naughty Dog, I would rate it as a lot closer to a "Steven Speilberg" level of cinematic/dramatic presentation, whereas most AAA games I can think of (Fallout 4, Starcraft II and GTA:V come to mind) are closer to schlocky B-movies IMO. Ultimately, that's not a gameplay feature, but I think it provides a compelling sense of motivation that makes playing their games uniquely immersive.
As someone who had just become a father less than a year before TLoU came out the prologue was literally the most emotional moment I had as a result of playing a video game in my life. I've had others, the end of HL2: Episode 2 struck a pretty big chord for me as well in particular, but I think it will take a long time for another game to come out that can make me feel something like that again.
Overall I'd agree with your assessment (and really, it applies to ever modern Naughty Dog title) - the gameplay is above-average but serves more as a vehicle to drive the story, but unlike many other "cinematic" games it doesn't detract from it and make the whole of the work feel half-baked.
The prologue was very good. I'm normally hammering away at the buttons on the controller trying to skip the cut scenes (I'm looking at you Metal Gear Solid), but that one I watched.
I can understand wanting to skip past the lengthy dialogue, but you're missing out on a lot of the kooky fun of the MGS franchise if you just skip past the cutscenes. If it's not your thing that's totally fine, but the MGS story is best enjoyed when not taken too seriously and just as a fun ride, and I'm guessing that might be your issue with it (please, correct me if I am off base here!)
My problem with the cutscenes in MGS was the quantity and length of them. I realize it's totally subjective, but I just wanted to play the game. I never did finish though, that game was too long.
BTW, that's another thing that Last of Us got right - the length of the game was perfect (for me).
Fair enough! I find the opposite issue with most MGS games, personally, they are often rather brief (MGS4 excluded, the cutscenes in that took forever) - though that's an advantage in my eyes since I'm easily able to replay them in a night or two when I feel like.
I have to agree, there wasn't anything particularly innovative in terms of gameplay or experience. I actually went out and bought a PS3 just so I could play Last of Us. Mechanically it's not much different than other games in the genre. It was great because it presented a story that made you wish you didn't have to put down the controller, and made you wish it didn't end. That is not to diminish the work in making the game play well, if the mechanics were shit I likely would have not liked the game as much.
Really? I bought and played that game on the PS3 and thought it was pretty good and that's about it. I didn't think any part of it was especially novel.