The Last of Us Part II

The Review

*WEE WOO WEE WOO* SPOILERS AHEAD! *WEE WOO WEE WOO*

If you haven’t played or finished The Last of Us Part II yet and care about spoilers…don’t read any further! If you’ve finished it or don’t care about spoilers…keep on keeping on through the rest of the review!

After having its release pushed back, twice, and a story leak that rocked the gaming community, The Last of Us Part II for the Playstation 4 has finally arrived! Its predecessor, The Last of Us, is one of the most beloved games of the last decade and one of the best selling games of all time, so you can probably imagine that the anticipation surrounding this sequel was pretty high. But based off the Metacritic user score you might be lead to believe that this is the worst game to ever exist as people who are angry over plot details have trolled the site, leaving zero ratings, potentially without ever playing, or at least finishing, the game. 

The Last of Us Part II picks up pretty much where the first one left off as we get a brief recap of the ending of The Last of Us where Joel (Troy Baker) saved an immune Ellie’s (Ashley Johnson) life at the expense of the rest of the planet being left without a vaccine to the Cordyceps fungus that’s taken over. No one in their new home of Jackson knows about this outcome but Joel, his brother Tommy, and eventually Ellie, but it’s the main driving force for everything that happens in this game.

We’re introduced to Abby (Laura Bailey,) who’s got arms I can only imagine were gained through steroid usage, and the rage to go with that theory. She’s on a mission to fuck someone up….and that someone is Joel. See Abby used to be a Firefly, and we eventually find out that her dad was the doctor set to perform the surgery that would have killed Ellie but saved the world. Bet you can guess why she’s upset. 

So, just two hours into the game we lose everyone’s favorite grump dad to Abby’s killer golf swing (I’m so sorry, the pun was there and I had to) and Ellie is set on a course for revenge. 

The rest of the game follows Ellie as she makes her way through Seattle for three days searching for Abby and the rest of her crew but just as you think they’re about to finally have it out…surprise! Character swap! And you realize you’re barely half way through the game.

So what are my thoughts on The Last of Us Part II?

First of all, this game is fucking beautiful. There’s a scene in the back half on a farm over looking the field at sunset that was so pretty I had to take a picture of it. The fire looks incredibly real and they make the blood act and spread the way blood would actually do. The game took us 27.5 hours to finish and honestly it could probably take longer had we really stopped to admire all of the details that went into it.

The gameplay is similar to that of The Last of Us. Ellie and Abby both have their own perk trees and weapons to upgrade as well as the ability to craft health kits and an array of explosive items. The controls are familiar from the original game except now you get to jump! All willy nilly! Whenever you want! Going prone is also a new mechanic that is so helpful when you’re surrounded by enemies and thisclose to being spotted. I did a whole fight laying down. It was amazing.

As for the story, where it seems a lot of the controversy surrounding this game is coming from, I loved it. I’m not sure what everyone is so mad about. Cause your favorite character died? If you thought Joel was going to be alive through this whole game then you obviously don’t understand basic storytelling. The way he went out was brutal and sucked a lot but what exactly would have been the point of this game without his death? We followed Joel. We finished his story. Ellie is young and has a complicated relationship with her father figure who is suddenly and violently taken from her. That is the story worth continuing to tell. 

The pacing of the story itself does feel a little off at times. There’s a long part where Ellie is exploring Seattle on her own where there are no plot points to be had for the longest time. Then comes the surprising turn as Abby where you play through her events from the same three days right in the middle of the game. It’s abrupt. It’s infuriating. But it adds a whole new dynamic to the game. Do I think the way they broke up the story right at the climax kind of takes you out of the momentum? For sure. But after finishing the whole thing it makes a lot more sense.

The player and Ellie are both so focused on vengeance against Abby that when we are forced to play as Abby, to see her struggles over the same three days and the way she gets wrapped up in the lives of Lev (love him, probably my favorite newly added character) and Yara, you start off being annoyed. Why do I have to play as this bitch? She killed Joel! I hate her. But then you're with her for so long and taken away from Ellie's story and her anger that you start to feel like, maybe it's not worth it anymore?

As for the final fight scene between Ellie and Abby at the boats, the whole thing feels forced and stupid on Ellie's part. Abby doesn't want to fight anymore. Ellie's gotten her ass kicked every time she's tried to fight Abby. Abby has obviously suffered at the hands of Ellie and Tommy for what she's done plus a little extra at the hands of a Santa Barbara group of survivors. By this point, it's over. Time to move on.

And in the end, her need for vengeance has left Ellie facing her biggest fear we learn about in the first game. Being left alone. Will she start to heal and learn how to thrive or fall deeper into a lonely pit of self destruction? Guess that’s a question to be answered in The Last of Us Part III.

Overall, the story is emotionally charged. They make you feel the need for vengeance and then they wear you down so you just don't care about it anymore. All the hate being lobbed at this game doesn't feel deserved or universally agreed with by anyone who has actually made it all the way through. 

I give it a solid 10 for both gameplay and story. Including all of the cutscenes and the amount of exploring you’re bound to do, The Last of Us Part II comes in at just under 30 hours of play, which is honestly enough on its own to be worth the $60.00 price tag.

If you’ve made it through this review you’ve probably finished the game or watched someone else play through it on Youtube so I want to hear your thoughts! How angry were you when it came to Joel? Did you cry? Did your thoughts on Abby or Ellie change as the story went on? Should they make a The Last of Us Part III and if so, what should that story focus on? Fill me in on everything in the comments below!