The Last of Us Part II review

Last summer was released the long-awaited sequel of the post-apocalyptic game from Naughty Dog. It remains as an exclusive of PS4 which every fan of adventure games should play at least once in their lives, provided that they feel comfortable with tension and horror scenes.

GRAPHICS

As an AAA videogame, TLOUII doesn’t disappoint the bulk of players, the quality of the graphics is marvellous. From the accurate illuminations of the scenes to the amount of detailed elements that incite you to live a memorable experience. Just for instance, at the moment of upgrading our weapon, we can appreciate how the improvements are made through an animation, or when we’re gazing at a cheerless landscape, we are able to see a realistic fog around the buildings or even the rain falling on the ground. The cinematics are just so real-looking that bring you back new emotions that help you to go deep into the game.

GAMEPLAY

Playing TLOUII is stressful, nostalgic and exciting but also it’s true that the game’s pace can get at some point too slowly, given that much of your time is spent stalking around areas full of enemies. However, the events and the new obstacles we pass through the story show us how beautifully the levels are made, converting the game experience addictive. In this second instalment have been added new interactions with the environment (like breaking glasses or playing the guitar), new objects to craft and new types of foes (human and not human ones), always in order to reach the realism.

MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS

The music makes us feel mainly nostalgic or tensive because they try to remind us we are in a post-apocalyptic world. Moreover, in many moments of the game, the music changes to emphasize the situations, up to the point of making your hair stand on end. 

This videogame incorporates plausible sound effects that give us an awesome experience of the environment. The amount of detailed sounds is astonishing, we can hear the arrows crashing in the different materials such as wood or iron or even Ellie’s breaths in the several situations she will face up to.

STORY

This story has a plot twist that changes unexpectedly the direction of the events and causes an unbearable desire of vengeance to the protagonist Ellie (now at the age of 19). This will set off the protagonists on a new adventure to Seattle, where they deal with new unexpected enemies.

Also is true, that inside the harsh and gloomy post-apocalyptic world of TLOUII we can find some peaceful moments. Normally, these come out in the form of flashbacks which contextualize the characters or just add new information about them. These interruptions can be loved by some or hated by others because after all, they distance us from the awaited ending.

REPLAYABILITY

For those who want to achieve all the trophies or just would like to play TLOUII again, there’s plenty of extras that will help you to live a new game experience. All these extras are available in a type of store where you can buy different modes of playing (like mirror mode, unlimited ammunition, permadeath mode…) with points you get through the course of the game. This variety of modes allow people with different necessities to be able to play the game properly. Once you have played the whole game you will unlock the New Game+ and the hardest mode called ‘Grounded’ in which enemies are harder to kill, the Listen Mode is disabled and the damage taken from enemies increases by 3x. Oh, and you also don’t have any HUD to help guide you.

Definitely, this sequel is great to play once and maybe twice especially if you want to find the secrets it hides. Nevertheless, this game it’s so long that I wouldn’t recommend playing it in permadeath mode unless you have many extras supports or you are a pro-player because whether you die, you’ll have to start since the beginning.

NEGATIVE COMMENTS

We can’t consider TLOUII a perfect game because like everything, has some issues. For example, Ellie’s desire of revenge at some point is too exaggerated. Also the fact there are too many supplies in moderate mode affords you to fulfil your inventory very easily. And mainly, what most of the players criticize is the pace of the story, since if we look at the statistics of the people who have completed the game, just the 60% has achieved it. This probably isn’t due to the difficulty otherwise surely is due to its unhurried pace for reaching the end. 

VEREDICT

To sum up, this game is an 8.5 out of 10 because it gets you into the story with its realistic graphics, stimulating music and innovative gameplay. Especially something that stands out of this story is the fact that sets you out questions to your actions. You don’t just kill people, you see the repercussions.