The Last of Us (PS3)

[Darmonde]

I'm curious what difficulty he played. Naughty Dog games should never be played on anything less than Hard, and the fact they lock the highest difficulty continues to piss me off.

It really depends on the game and the kind of experience you want, I think. I think the higher difficulty in this game would have made him hate this even more- even more time dying, memorizing patrol routes, hearing the same NPCs talk while waiting, less shooting (ammo), more stealth.

[Diff-chan]

Some people don't like some games.

[FirstBlood]

Did he really just ask why some drawers were empty?

[Cowutopia]

There is nothing I like less than staring at my screen memorizing patrol routes.

And the story is the most cliched piece of garbage I have ever seen. I guess it's provocative because a 14 year old says fuck a lot.

It's drowning in tropes. It doesn't have an original thought in its head.

But whatever. The production value is certainly up there, playing it isn't any fun at all.

[Cowutopia]

And yes, when you have exactly 3 places to look in every empty house it's a huge waste of my time. It's almost more boring than looting in fallout 3.

You want to immerse me just put stuff where it makes sense.

Here is a safe. You can't open it. Walk 10 feet through the level...now you can open it. Why?

There are so many thin gameplay decisions here.

Honestly the uncharted games were pretty boring to play too, but at least they were funny because they are ridiculous instead of trying to be so serious, and never bogged down by lackluster stealth. I shot my way through pretty much every level in those games. If I hadn't I wouldn't have finished those.

[Cowutopia]

The nohighscores review kind of touches on a lot of things I feel about the game. I don't dislike stealth games (batman, thief, mgs series) and I don't dislike zombie games.

Ellie is the best videogame sidekick so far, I think. For the most part. She still wonks out around corners but is invisible.

The enemy activity seems really inconsistent.
I wish there was something adding actual pressure. Maybe you got bit and it takes a week for people to turn and you're racing the clock yourself? And Ellie has to put you down if you don't make it? That would be cool. Something to force you to make quick decisions.
The game falls into a pattern very early on, and there are hardly any scares once a zone is cleared.
I mean I could go on and on. It's just a really bland gameplay experience with exceptionally poor gunplay. At least the arrows show you where they are going to land.
Enemies don't react to corpses either, it seems.

I like some things about it. I like brick stun/melee kill. I like how solid the hand to hand combat feels (even though it's nowhere near as excellent as, say, Batman's). I like upgrading my guns. I like that it takes a while to switch guns out, so if you go in with the wrong thing you are behind when you are trying to adjust. I like the molotov cocktails. But these set arenas of pathed wandering guards are just SO BORING.

The best part has been when you are hanging upside down from the trap. Even then, what...they give you unlimited ammo and send way too many enemies at you? Why????

[A Robot Bit Me]

I'm curious what difficulty he played. Naughty Dog games should never be played on anything less than Hard, and the fact they lock the highest difficulty continues to piss me off.

I haven't played any of their recent stuff aside from Uncharted 2, but the Jak and Crash Bandicoot games were pretty tough on Normal.

[Yoshi]

You're exactly right. I should have specified the recent stuff.

[MechDeus]

I don't remember the first Jak game having any difficulty to it and trying the harder difficulties in the Uncharteds just dragged them out. I haven't played Last of Us so maybe that's the one to finally break the trend (and some people who I trust to not be terrible at games say it is, so I'm giving it the benefit of doubt), but they're a very style over substance company so I certainly wouldn't have bothered if I was Cow.

[Darmonde]

I haven't played any of their recent stuff aside from Uncharted 2, but the Jak and Crash Bandicoot games were pretty tough on Normal.

I'm actually playing uncharted 1 on the highest difficulty and it's just stupid. I think locking it at first is probably the right decision. It's just there for dumb people who want all trophies or enjoyed the game enough to want to master it or 100% it.