I had just completed nearly 12 hours of Naught Dog's stellar game, The Last of Us. The game stayed vivid in my mind as I fell asleep at night, haunted me every minute of my work day, and had me ripping my hair out in anticipation as I waited for that incredibly long loading screen to give way to one of the most outstanding gaming experiences I have had so far this year. I had finally made it to the end. Was it going to make me cry? Leave me heartbroken? Leave me scratching my head in confusion? Have me rolling on the floor in anticipation for the inevitable sequel? Or was it going to leave me extremely satisfied? I had escorted Ellie from Boston all the way to Salt Lake City and was in the middle of the epic final battle. As my characters entered a particular elevator, the most crucial cutscene of the entire game began. I was so close... I was almost there... This was it... When suddenly...
A black screen. I patiently waited for the rest of the cutscene to unfold, but unfortunately it never happened; I sat in silence staring at nothing but a black screen. I pressed the PS button to assure myself it wasn't my console that had either crashed or overheated. My console was fully responsive so I did the only thing I could think of. I quit the game from the PS menu, gave it a few minutes to relax, and then booted it up again. The game started in the same place, my characters once again entered the elevator and then at the very same spot - an infinite black screen. At this point I press the start button, the game was still responsive...that was until I decided to press "options". At that point my entire system crashed and I had no choice but to flip the switch on the back of my PS3 and do a hard reboot. I took out this disc and cleaned it, I played other games to assure myself it wasn't my console, but as soon as I put in The Last Of Us this happened at least four more times. Eventually I turned to the trusty forums of the internet. Seems I wasn't the only one having this problem. Some found that their discs were corrupted and had to send them back for new ones. Others had their games freeze and when they rebooted it they found their save files had disappeared and had to start the game all over again. There were so many similar problems and complaints yet nobody had a solution. The next night I booted up my game while crossing my fingers, said a prayer to the gaming Gods, and by some miracle I made it through the cutscene that was no more than five minutes from the credits rolling. 5 minutes... 5 MINUTES! Sorry- I guess I'm still a little bitter. After all this game received worldwide critical acclaim, 10 out of 10's across the board, gamers and journalists still can't shut up about it, and yet nowhere in any of the articles, any of the reviews, and throughout any of the hype did I hear about game crashing glitches. The Last of Us will inevitably be named Game of The Year on multiple occasions, and it does deserve it, it is my favorite game of the year so far, maybe even my favorite Playstation exclusive. This game certainly isn't the worst offender of glitches, this was the only real glitch I encountered throughout the entire game. It's a shame, however, that the perfect experience other gamers were blessed with was not one I, and others on the forums, got to enjoy as well.
Next: Why Are Glitches Never Mentioned In Reviews?