This Could Be The Last of Us

Perhaps the
most intriguing game revealed at last night’s particularly grueling Spike TV
Video Game Awards was The Last of Us,
a new Playstation 3 exclusive. Gametrailers’ Geoff Keighley teased this up as so
big of a reveal that he was surprised its existence hadn’t been leaked yet, and
it indeed caught quite a few off guard. With all the hype going into it, it was
surprisingly the first reveal of the
night. Considering what
they saved for last, they, of course, didn’t count on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance’s trailer being leaked; but they may
have overrated it too.

 

One of the
surprises with The Last of Us is that it’s being developed
by Naughty Dog. Not just because of hints that Sony Santa Monica (God of War, Twisted Metal) was the developer, but that Naughty Dog isn’t that
big of a company and just finished Uncharted
3 not too long ago. They had done some hiring and formed a second team in
secret, which has been developing this game for two years. It’s also an aversion
to their usual development style of sticking to one IP over the course of a
console generation.

 

“Zombies are
boring now” is a commonly expressed sentiment among the vocal, online-savvy
gaming audience, and it’s not a particularly surprising one. They’re usually
lazily implemented in games where the designers couldn’t think of anything
better to have the player fight, and that sadly applies to a lot of games. It’s
a reaction we saw last night during the trailer too (initially, at least), when
the first enemies popped up. The
overall trailer, however, showed that The Last of Us could use zombies differently
compared to many others.

 

The game
stars two main protagonists: Joel, a survivor not afraid to remain alive
through ruthless means, and Ellie, a wise girl who’s also doing whatever it
takes to preserve (and bears a
striking resemblance to Ellen Page). Both of them must travel around the
United States that’s been ravaged by a devastating plague to find whatever they
can to survive. It’s basically a video game interpretation of I Am Legend, which, peculiarly, has
been uncharted (ah ha ha) territory for the medium.  Many said the concept here was what they were
hoping Dead Island would be; some swapped
that with Resident Evil 5. Naughty
Dog wants you to keep in mind that all footage
in the trailer (and in these screens here) was in-game.

 

Bruce
Straley is directing the game, while Neil Druckmann will act as creative
director. Both of them were integral in what made Uncharted
2 so good. Quite a few thought Uncharted 3 wasn’t quite as good as the
second game (and not because the shooting controls were initially fudged); if
you’re of that opinion, now you know why. Troy Baker is voicing yet another lead character here in Joel,
while Ellie is being voiced by….no, not Ellen Page, but Ashley Johnson.

 

It’s too
early to say whether it will be a good game, but it has a lot of potential
going into it. Despite their impressive pedigree, Naughty Dog is like any other
developer in the sense that they’re not averse to missteps. But the chances of
it being good are much higher than the opposite, making it one to watch.
Considering it’s already been in development for two years, hopefully it’s
planned for a release next fall.

 

(And
hopefully the other game with “Last” in it does to. If ever.)