***This review contains SPOILERS***
Naughty Dog Studios set a high bar with the first “Last of Us,” so the sequel had its work cut out for it. While it succeeds by taking the combat, visuals, and overall gameplay to the next level, the story and characters fall well short of what was the best part of the first game.
What made the original game so enthralling was the journey, both physically and emotionally, of Joel and Ellie. Watching the father/daughter bond form was incredibly moving, and the story wraps up in a perfectly written finale. Here, there are huge chunks of time of Ellie going at it solo. And even when she had Dina with her, the character interactions are mostly flat. They have a very complex relationship at the start of the game, but outside of the cutscenes, they have little to say to each other. It becomes painfully obvious how much the game needed the Ellie and Joel dynamic when we get to the flashbacks. While the main story was just okay, every time I played the flashbacks I realized that was the game I wanted to play.
Then, things takes a controversial twist at the midway point as you now play the game from Abby’s perspective. Forcing players to control the “villain” is off-putting at first. She killed Joel, and as Ellie you’ve spent hours trying to track her down and kill her, but now you must step into her shoes. It becomes apparent pretty quickly that she’s not the monster we thought she was, and one by one we’re introduced to her friends…all people that we know Ellie will end up slaughtering. Despite knowing where the second half of the story is heading, I enjoyed this portion of the game the most. There were some good interactions between Abby and her friends, and once she teams with Liv, the game even recaptures a bit of the that parent and child dynamic. It’s a bit gut-wrenching knowing Abby will at some point find all her friends dead and end up on a collision course towards Ellie. However, I was a little disappointed that she never got to see most of the damage the Ellie’s wrath had caused. Just when it seems like we’ve gotten to the epilogue, the game throws one more curveball at us. The final play through as Ellie is joyless. At this point, she has become the bad guy and still wants to kill Abby and anyone that gets in her way. Fortunately, they don’t end the game in all out tragedy, but they do leave things a little too ambiguous. (Like the first game, players that want to get all the upgrades and any missed items must start a new game+. But, a second play through will probably enhance the story in the first part of the game.)
Where “Last of Us Part II” shines is the gameplay. They took the things that worked so well from the first game, and tweaked them enough to make every aspect even better. Crawling under cars, hiding in high grass, and homemade silencers all keep the stealth aspect interesting. Crafting new types of weapons and improved hand-to-hand combat add freshness for those that rather charge into battle. Gunplay is still quite difficult, and without practice and firearm upgrades, it can be very frustrating. However, even in some of the trickier parts of the game, it’s not a big deal to get killed because they are fairly generous with the checkpoints.
The visuals are fantastic, and they expand the post-apocalyptic world introduced in the first game. Traveling through overgrown and flooded part of downtown Seattle can be breathtaking. While the creature designs are topnotch, the design on the human enemies, particularly the Scars, is bland.
“The Last of Us Part II” is just as thrilling to play as the original and is even more beautifully designed, but the weaker story and ambiguity between the heroes and villains causes the game to lose its most important element.
***1/2 out of *****