Sony Japan Studio: 28 Best Games They Helped Create
13. The Last Guy
So, we have a PS3 first-party exclusive, set in a near-future dystopia occupied by swarms of zombie-like creatures. The tough main protagonist must tactically navigate cityscapes to get to his end goal and save what's left of humanity.
Nope, this is not The Last of Us...but rather, a very quirky PSN puzzle game.
An early effort by Japan Studio dropped to give the new PSN store original content. It completely subverted gamers' expectations of a zombie apocalypse game, and kind of...still does.
It's given top-down perspective, set in real-world cities across the globe (with levels actually rendered by Google Earth!), with the gameplay focused on strategy and problem solving, over guns-blazing or horror chills.
Add to that, it eschews the grim premise for quirky energy, with the ordeal is surprisingly fun, as you mix up approaches with trial-and-error, more like a puzzle you must solve instead of a frustrating situation (although it can be challenging).
Last of Us was THE game of the PS3 generation, but this distinctive title plays like nothing else, and was a showcase for the type of off-kilter inventiveness Japan Studio was capable of.