Review: The Last of Us (PlayStation 3 PS3)

This terrifying post-pandemic survival adventure, which sets two central protagonists Joel and Ellie in a fight for their very existence against nightmarish infected mutants and hostile human survivors, is such a good looking game with so many fine qualities to admire that it's not far off at all from what I'm expecting from the PS4 when Sony’s next-gen console arrives in a few months' time.

This exceptional game is developer Naughty Dog's magnus opus - the studio's most ambitious and biggest project to date, and also its best work - even outshining its Uncharted series.

The Last of Us is a masterclass in storytelling which is mature and at times very moving, characterisation which is deep and multi-dimensional, and action which is both thrilling and jarringly brutal. It's also one of the most visually stunning games on PS3, with absolutely first-class audio and voice acting.

The character of Joel, who you'll control for the bulk of the game, is introduced during a truly heartbreaking opening in the present time, before the game zips forward 20 years where the Texan is seen again as a grizzled and cynical arms smuggler living in a world devastated by a fungal infection.

Not much information is given about the infection, but it's clear that it's killed many people during its spread and sent civilisation as it was crashing down.

Quickly we see a stark and scary crime-ridden vision of the future where the military is trying to keep the remaining population under tight control. Some of the infected still roam around in varying states of hideous and murderous deformity.

Early on Joel begrudgingly accepts the task of trafficking Elle, a 14-year-old girl with a significant secret who was born after the infection took hold.

From here the game becomes an epic, perilous and extremely violent road trip across a ravaged America.

You'll move through various locations from decomposed cities to dense forests, exploring, scavenging for items you can use and playing deadly games of cat-and-mouse against soldiers, bandits and clusters of the infected.

The narrative tells a bleak tale of human nature that examines how people adapt to their surroundings, how they cope with horrific experiences and how they have an instinct for survival no matter what severe levels of depravity they must sink to.

Make no mistake, The Last Of Us is dark and depressing. This is a game which takes the characters within, and therefore its players too, to places where life is about as bad it gets.

There is virtually nothing uplifting or light-hearted here, although the burgeoning makeshift father-and-daughter relationship between Joel and Ellie is very touching.

It develops not through endless cutscenes but through natural conversations and interactions during their journey.

Of course, their journey is punctuated with many bloody and brutal bouts of combat.

The Last of Us cannot be classified as a shooter because although you do have access to firearms you'll mostly be using other weapons which you find or craft along the way, including bricks, poles, blades and explosives. Resources such as ammunition are extremely scarce so you'll need to make the most of whatever you can lay your hands on at any given point.

Besides, going into a confrontation shooting, or swinging for that matter, at anything that moves will usually result in an unfortunate outcome for you. This is partly due to the toughness of the AI but also, refreshingly for a game, because Joel is not a super-human shooter or fighter. With the exception of a special hearing ability that allows you to locate nearby foes, he doesn't have extraordinary skills and is far from invincible.

There's usually an element of choice involved in deciding how best to get through each set-to, but stealth is nearly always involved and you'll need to master its subtlety to survive and progress. Getting through conflicts can be as much about puzzling the safest way through as it is about the actual action.

You will need to deal with a range of enemies who display different behaviours. All of them are basically ruthless killers who will strike as soon as they can, but by far the worst of them are the Clickers. These crusty-headed messes are victims of the infection who are have been so severely affected that they are effectively blind and detect your presence by sound alone. Coming face to non-face with one of them is truly frightening - these monstrosities have got to be among the most harrowing creatures ever seen in a video game.

The nature of the enemies you're up against combined with having to move around so cautiously for much of the time really ramps up the tension, creating the right level of nerve-jangling dread for the worst of the scares that will have all but the most hardened horror fans nearly jumping out of their skin.

The Last of Us is a genuinely scary game both in terms of its vision of the future and for having some properly chilling and gruesome moments.

When physical contact with a human or infected enemy does come it is unceasingly graphic and savage. Emphasis is on gritty realism, and there is nothing glamorous or gratuitous about the violence.

Each shot, punch, and swing is felt through the crunching, ugly impact it makes. Every smashed face, every strangling, every shivving is unpleasant and unsettling.

The Last of Us doesn't celebrate its violence but rather presents it as a necessary evil. Every encounter and kill feels contextual to the situation Joel and Ellie find themselves in at the time.

What helps make the violence more palatable is the emotional attachment towards each other that the two main characters develop. You will also likely start to feel a bond with the pair and caring about their fate and seeing the barbaric world through their eyes makes it easier to carry out some of the stomach-churning acts on their behalf.

Joel and Ellie are both believably real people with fully fleshed out personalities and complex emotions.

Although Joel is very bitter and hardened from the events he has witnessed in the 20 years since we first met him, he still maintains some humanity hidden underneath the surface.

The big bad world is completely new to Ellie, who has grown up in a quarantine zone, and she reacts to it with a mixture of wonderment and fear. She is curious, vulnerable and, like any other teenager, prone to being moody and potty-mouthed. She’s a very spirited girl and a great companion to have along for the journey.

The story, which should take most people 15 to 20 hours to complete depending how good you are and how much exploration you do, is smartly constructed and well paced. It is constantly suspenseful and this, combined with the intense action, means you’ll play most of it on the edge of your seat, probably with sweaty palms and heart pounding.

The 2033 world in which Joel, Ellie and the other interesting characters you’ll meet live is visually arresting. It’s populated with rusting vehicles, deserted buildings, desolate streets and overgrown vegetation but it isn’t the empty grey and brown wasteland you might expect.

Decay and colour are almost in equal measure across the environments which have a kind of twisted beauty to them along with a strange haunting air of familiarity. There are many everyday items and possessions to be seen, but they all look weirdly out of place in the surroundings – it’s as if normal life was abandoned at a moment’s notice when people were going about their ordinary business. It’s all fittingly disturbing.

There is great attention to detail in the locations, while character models and animations are hugely impressive throughout. Voice acting is at the very upper end of the scale while the rest of the audio is very good. The ambient sounds help to really ratchet up the tension but also have their own important part in the gameplay.

There are basic online modes available which involve joining a faction and fighting other teams for survival or supplies but the emphasis is very much on the single-player campaign. So many games these days are all about online multiplayer so it’s really refreshing to see the top two games of 2013 so far, The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite, buck this trend and put the focus squarely on rich and rewarding solo experiences.

The Last of Us delivers in all departments but there are a couple of small areas where it isn’t perfect.

Firstly, I’ve found myself stuck on a few occasions and lacking help from the in-game hint system, leaving me unsure of where to go or what to do for frustrating albeit infrequent periods.

Secondly, if you’re expecting a completely open world, where you’re free to direct Joel and Ellie as you wish, you might be slightly disappointed. There are various points when you’ll find a certain staircase, door or passageway is blocked, which makes the game feel slightly confined at times and reinforces how it’s the story rather than you as the player that is firmly in overall control of events.

These are very minor gripes because on the whole The Last of Us is a superb game with real substance behind its style.

Some of the sights and sounds have already stayed with me when I’ve switched off my console after each play (tip: try not to play this at night), while I expect vivid memories of it to stay with me long after whenever I stop playing altogether.

It’s a shocking and unnerving experience that horrifies as much as it entertains, but it’s also one of the landmark titles of its generation which really stretches the boundaries of how the word game should be defined.

Verdict: 9.5 out of 10

Out now for PlayStation 3

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