The Last of Us 2 review – ignore the twats, it’s great
I finished playing The Last of Us Part II last night and I am still thinking about it. I had written recently www.thewordofward.co.uk about how replaying The Last of Us (part one) had rekindled a love of games due to its story. I love story-based solo games and this series is one of the best.
Spoiler free review
Game-play
I will go on a spoiler frenzy soon but for now, I will play nice. I am going to assume you have played the first one. If you haven’t then go do that, even the overly sensitive morons who didn’t like what happens in the second one loved the first. You can read my original review here.
The Last of Us Part 2’s game-play is pretty much the same as the original. A bit of travel and then an encounter with either infected or humans. All of whom will kill you without a second’s thought in a really violent way. The mechanics and the way these encounters pan out are similar and do occasionally get repetitive. It is one of the few negatives but on the whole, it is still a lot of fun. Particularly chucking a bottle against a distant wall when there are a lot of infected around and then when they gather, chuck a pipe bomb and watch them explode. Nice.
The principal differences when fighting are:
Infected – There are some new varieties and they are hard as fuck. One of the new bosses, in particular, is terrifying and really hard to kill.
Humans – They call each other by name, so you feel slightly more guilty about killing them. Or at least I think you are, I felt nothing because I am a cold-hearted killing machine. Except for the dogs. I don’t want to kill dogs. Humans suck but dogs are nice.
Apart from a few new skills and weapons, there is nothing really groundbreaking here. You will spend most of you non-fighting time exploring, looting and crafting. Which is fine. Change all that too much and the game will differ too much.
If you enjoyed the game-play before, you will this time.
The Story – non-spoiler version
The Last of Us Part 2 sees Ellie goes on a mission of violent revenge. Apparently, this is not a spoiler but I kind of guessed why before I played. Then a load of massive arseholes leaked the story and ruined it. If that was you, you make the world a worse place and I hope your life is pointless. Anyway. If you still don’t know what happens, then kudos to you.
Ellie and her partner travel north to rainy Seattle where there is a war going on between two rival gangs. One is a mega violent but basically understandable group of normal people. The other is a mega violent group of cultist nut-bags. Ellie’s mission, which she chose to accept, is to basically kill a lot of everyone.
The Controversy surrounding The Last of Us 2
It is hard to talk too much about the plot but it is the story that has had all the saddos up in arms. They will claim it is the trigger point of the mission that is part of it but I have yet to read one negative review that hasn’t mentioned the most epic shock of all time! Ellie is gay! Oh my god!
This is not actually a spoiler as it was revealed in the DLC The Last of Us: Left Behind which came out six years ago, so I am guessing none of the homophobes played it or they wouldn’t be whining on about it now. One of the reviewer’s twisted logic ran along the lines of – Ellie could have saved humanity but didn’t and now she is a lesbian, she won’t even procreate. Seriously dude, (and the one-star reviewers are all men) you are an idiot.
The story is dealing with consequences to actions and how violence begets violence. Which genitals the protagonist prefers is irrelevant.
The moral question in the story (well, actually in the first game) is how Joel’s father-like love for Ellie means that he may have destroyed a chance for a cure for the infected. His decision to save Ellie may have caused thousands or even millions more to die. Is that justified? It is understandable?
The issues raised in the sequel are more about the consequences of the first and the circle of violence. It looks at how revenge can seem justified from two completely different viewpoints. It is really powerfully done and I really enjoyed what it was trying to do. Sometimes the messages were hammered home a little too obviously but on the whole, I think it was great.
At no point did her sexuality matter or affect anything in the story.
SPOILERS!!!
What the idiots are complaining about
Ok. So some of the twats are trying to claim that their main beef is that Joel was killed. They then happen to mention that Ellie is a lesbian and that Abby is quite muscular as an aside that they then keep bleating on about. There is also a trans character that must have also added to their baffled and befuddled rage. These are fictional computer characters gents. Even if they weren’t what difference does it make? Would you have suddenly liked the game if she was travelling with her boyfriend? Bizarre.
Why I think the direction of the story is justified
Assuming you aren’t uncomfortable with other people’s sexuality, you might have beef with the fact that Joel was killed really horrendously. Which is justified. He was. He did kind of deserve it though and when you see it from Abby’s point of view, her act of killing him was totally understandable. There was no need for torture but if Ellie’s adopted father being killed justified killing Abby and everyone who was there, then having Joel murdering your father and dooming millions to infection is surely understandable too.
There are consequences to actions. Without sounding too patronising (although it absolutely does sound patronising) this is something you learn when you get older.
What I didn’t like about this direction and what they could have done
The main issue I had with the story – which I loved – is that it is so fucking grim. Once Naughty Dog decided it was about consequences they had two options – a gritty and depressing revenge story or a redemption arc. They actually went for two dark revenge stories which, don’t get me wrong, was amazing. It was a brilliant twist to have you play as Abby and see things from her point of view. Once the direction was decided, it was great but they could have gone the other way and they probably would have done that brilliantly too.
I think what most non-homophobic players who hated Joel’s death would have liked, was a redemption story. Some cure could have surfaced or some technique, that would have not required Ellie’s death, may have been developed and Joel could redeem himself. Even if that ended with him having to sacrifice his own life at the end, people would have been cooler with it. His story would have been about saving Ellie as a kind of counterpoint to losing his own daughter. I find it hard to believe that there were only one immune person and only one doctor who had the expertise in the whole of the US.
But they went with the revenge thing and Ellie being immune was just an aside and didn’t really play much of a role. Fair play to the developer, it is their story and characters and what they did was superb.
Conclusion
This has been a bit different from my normal reviews but I felt it necessary to blather on a bit. The Last of Us part 2 is such a superb game that I found it a bit sad there was so much controversy. In the end though, much like Ellie being gay, it didn’t matter. Most people lived it and it sold tons. When I initially saw all the one-star reviews I was sad that the game might not be as great as I hoped it would be. Then I read a few of them, realised their beef and knew they could be safely ignored.
I really enjoyed the game and it was an amazing story with an incredible twist. Although a bit linear and repetitive in a couple of places, it is still one of the best games out there. Roll on another seven years and who knows what will happen.
Prediction: JJ grows up with his two loving mothers and everything is nice. Someone, maybe the Fireflies led by Abby, kidnaps Ellie to extract the cure. JJ goes to rescue her. It is all bleak and depressing as fuck. Or is it? Hopefully, in the end, they get the cure but Ellie lives and she and Abby become buddies. Everyone hugs.