Anyone else think The Last of Us is overrated?

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Heard nothing but rave reviews for The Last of Us, redboxed it, and was pretty disappointed. The story, presentation values, etc., are INCREDIBLE...but when it comes to the gameplay it just wasn't fun. I completely understand the point of making it not handle like most shooters (these are people, not super soldiers), and the whole survival simulator is a cool idea when dealing with humans, but the infected (ESPECIALLY the clickers) just aren't fun to go against. In a lot of ways this felt, well, too gamey. It was like they wanted the bleak end of the world emotional roller coaster that the walking dead game provided, but also wanted it to be in the AAA shooter/adventure category that Uncharted is in. It's a bold move, but ultimately it turned into trying too hard to be different things. Chalk it up to a testament to the story and the world, but after a couple hours I just wanted to stop dealing with clickers and see what was next. IMO, if they had made it much more about exploration and close calls, and only a few parts where you actually had to fight, it would have been a much better balanced experience.

Also, as great as the story was, am I the only one getting really burned out on all these apocalypse/zombie stories? Seems like every other movie and game coming out lately is just another doomsday tale.

It seemed like we were getting to the point where everyone was sick of zombies, and then everyone changed their minds and another wave of them crashed down upon us.

Yes. So much yes.

I agree about Last of Us. Haven't played very far yet... but the controls are horrible, gameplay is boring, and the characters/story are also really boring so far. The game has good graphics and decent voice acting but that's about it imo.

I think I'm spoiled by the Walking Dead. Played the Telltale games' graphic adventure game just recently, and Last of Us is just looking really sad by comparison, especially in its characters.

Pretty much how I felt. BTW, The new Walking Dead DLC came out today.

Nice, I'll have to check that out when I have time.

I'm sick of zombie stories too, but I like when something takes a different approach with it. TLoU's story is a wasteland story, not a zombie story. The difference is that the focus is more on what humans do in a survival situation, while zombies, or in this case, clickers, take a backseat to everything else. Also, clickers are different enough from anything else I've seen, zombie wise, so TLoU works just fine for me. I don't have any issues with the gameplay. I think there's a good enough mix of puzzle and exploration, in addition to the action and stealth elements. I also enjoyed crafting items. I preferred to take a stealthy approach to combat, but shooting feels a lot like Uncharted, so I have no issues there. I think the additional emphasis on stealth suited this particular game though.

I can compare my experience with the story to my experience with the movie avatar, because, like with Avatar, people were claiming TLoU changed their outlook on life. I had to find out what was so special about both pieces of fictional media, because critics were raving about them and people were making them out to be the holy grail of their medium. Neither had that effect on me, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy them. Unlike Avatar though, TLoU at least showed me some things I hadn't seen before, at least not in a videogame. It may not have changed my life, but I like TLoU a lot. The famous line at the end of the game didn't have the same effect on me that I heard it was supposed to, but I would recommend TLoU to any gamer who has lost someone close to them. I'm not going to proclaim that TLoU is my favorite game ever, since that simply isn't true, but I will say that I'm glad I played it. Is it overrated? Probably. So are a lot of things, like Disney, or Harry Potter. That doesn't mean I don't like them though.

I haven't played The Last of Us, but The Walking Dead was one of the best games I've played despite being relatively simple.

The Last of Us is Splinter Cell meets Resident Evil 4.

I so disagree. The gameplay is great. The way ammo and resources are so scare you have to make tough decisions. The sneaking around clickers. Having to quickly create your molotov cocktail before the 4 guys reach you and kick your ass. The stealth killing with the bow.
Everything just works great.
One of the best games this generation, period.

If you don't like the gameplay, it simply means you do not like this type of game. It doesn't mean the gameplay is flawed.

Binotou, just keep playing. The story is AMAZING, the ending will get you quiet.

Like I said, the game play is a mixture of splinter cell versus Resident Evil 4, even the idea of luring enemies and using infrared to see through walls comes from Splinter Cell except it is labelled as hearing in The Last of Us. Does anyone know why Joel has the power to see through walls? Is he superman?

The game even reminds me of Arkham City except Arkham City has more weapons, it is a great game with great production values but to say it is something innovative to all the other great releases this gen is exaggerating.

Metal Gear Solid is the true father of stealth espionage.

Last edited by Kazuki on 04 Jul 2013, 2:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I so disagree. The gameplay is great. The way ammo and resources are so scare you have to make tough decisions. The sneaking around clickers. Having to quickly create your molotov cocktail before the 4 guys reach you and kick your ass. The stealth killing with the bow.
Everything just works great.
One of the best games this generation, period.

See, this is your mistake. You approached the game like a shooter. It's not a shooter! It's a survival horror/stealth game.
It's like buying Metal Gear Solid and then complaining it doesn't work as a shooter...
If you don't like the gameplay, it simply means you do not like this type of game. It doesn't mean the gameplay is flawed.

Binotou, just keep playing. The story is AMAZING, the ending will get you quiet.

Stick to playing Call of Duty: Zombies or dead island if The Last of Us, Splinter Cell, Resident Evil or Metal Gear Solid games aren't your cup of tea.

I can respect that...however it shouldn't be getting so many "perfect" scores in that case. Perfect means even people who don't care for the genre should enjoy the game. I think the 10 is getting thrown too loosely. I'd say 9.0-9.5 would be better.

Also, the story is good but if you've encountered enough apocalypse/wasteland stories it really wasn't that original, ESPECIALLY the ending.

That's subjective, and is just your opinion. Besides, you must realize that no game exists that appeals to absolutely everyone. It's the same with other forms of media too. Review scores are completely subjective, and I don't put much stock in them, since I rarely agree with them. If I were to review every game I ever played, you would find that I would only give perfect 10s to my absolute favorite games of all time, and even then, I don't take 10 to mean a game is perfect, because I don't think a perfect game exists. At best, as the case is with my favorite games, I enjoy the game so much that the things that aren't so great about it don't concern me at all, since I'm too busy loving it for its good points.

But, my scale is subjective, and it could vary from person to person, even among reviewers. You can't tell a person what they should or should not rate something, just because you don't agree with them. It's up to you if you want to fault a game for not appealing to you as a shooter fan, but what you just said is virtually impossible IMHO. Perfect does not mean that people who don't care for a genre should like the game. Ok, one's definition of perfect is subjective too. But by your logic, any film that is regarded as a classic, and was praised by critics, shouldn't be regarded as such if it fails to appeal to women who only watch romance flicks, even if it's from a completely different genre. Videogames are no different. TLoU is not a shooter, so you're approaching it from the wrong angle.

As for the game's story, I am aware that wasteland stories are not unheard of in film, but videogames are a different medium altogether, and up until recently, devs didn't know how to approach such a story in a game, while still having enough action to appeal to most mainstream gamers. It was much easier to just go for a zombie apocalypse story instead. The fact that the type of story in TLoU has been done before in other mediums is not the point. Besides, if something is done well, I don't care how original it is, as long as I enjoy it.

Wow! I was just wondering what I should spend my PSN credits on...

That was the best gaming experience I've had in a long time.