Arguably the pinnacle of the PlayStation 3's long life, Naughty Dog's The Last of Us is one of the most emotionally charged games ever made. Superb voice work compliments stunning, motion-capture-aided visuals perfectly and makes for a gripping portrayal of a world that has truly ended. By and large, game developers throw the apocalypse around like it's painful to hold onto it. Fallout, with its hands now thoroughly burned, passes it to the Steam market which proceeded to immediately release a slew of crafting-based survival games set after the world has met its end. Next up, B-rate shooters, followed closely by Darksiders and God of War. The Last of Us, on the other hand, makes use of a premise that, while a touch fantastic to say the least, is easier to buy into than radioactive zombies ate the color palette (or whatever is ending the world in games nowadays). Better still, it emphasises helplessness and actively discourages confrontation - the far more reasonable approach to survival. Believable characters make for a believable apocalypse, and by the halfway marker you're so invested that you're practically asking for your heartstrings to be tugged. And tugged they are, but so harshly that they can't really be pulled any further by a second run. The game's many pivotal scenes and climaxes retain their importance, sure, but they never cut quite as deeply.
A freelance games writer, you say? Typically battling his current RPG addiction and ceaseless perfectionism? A fan of horror but too big a sissy to play for more than a couple of hours? Spends far too much time on JRPGs and gets way too angry with card games?
Well that doesn't sound anything like me.
