The Last of Us Part II - Special Edition (PS4)

There’s always such a buzz when a Naughty Dog game comes out, and despite the furore that went on before its release this one was no different. Perhaps suffering from the curse of most sequels, it seems to be missing its mark with a contingent of its target market, which is a real shame, as there’s a truly amazing and quite unique experience here that, if allowed, should truly thrill the single-playing, narrative driven fanatic.The general consensus seems to be: gameplay, good; story, bad, with the performance and graphics being universally lauded as exemplar.And they are truly impressive, like nothing else I’ve seen. Like every ND game, it all feels a cut above; an experience that you just don’t get with most other games. From the character modelling to the presentation and execution; environments that feel authentic; combat that is unforgiving and brutal; it all feels visceral and actual, gratuitous, yes, but never unnecessary, as it carries us along its adventure with emotional intensity, high-octane moments, and an insightful story.All of these constituents are implemented in an innovative way, being brave enough to thrill us one moment, and devastate us the next, the intensity made tangible by some of the most believably nuanced and subtle expressions rarely seen on console, showing off amazingly natural movement and contact between the characters.The story is bold at times, and ND really did allow some brave decisions, which - in my opinion - all pay off... eventually, but you need to give it time; this isn’t just a big story thematically, it’s a big, long game, and it does demand the time to truly appreciate it.It’s also been called messy, which - when compared to the first game - is true to an extent; it’s a wider story than the first, showing off a lot more world and the different factions within it; and it plays around with the time line, jumping between different moments in a four year period. I never really thought of it as messy though, and thought it showed how good and well crafted the writing was, making present day travails more impactful when juxtaposed to earlier events.I’ve heard it criticised as not being fun (narratively speaking) and the critique is not without cause: the story is bleak, the denouement comfortless, but that in no way makes it bad story, just a different one. Shirking the happy ending is a brave decision, but it’s a story about loss; about people being taken from you and the concomitant revenge, encapsulated by these two young women, who are more alike than, sadly, they ever find out.This tragic theme allows ND to make you truly hate a character, then later makes them the protagonist, and forces you to change your opinion, so much so that some confrontations in this game, for me at least, really made me question who was the “bad” guy, and who actually deserves the vengeance they have so tirelessly sought, and if such justice ushers redemption, does it bring peace, or is it just another poisoned chalice, one that erodes the memories of better times with the people we’ve lost, or even in the way that we remember them, whether it be singing a song they loved, or the ability to play the guitar...A word on the menus: the level of tinkering available is impressive, from custom difficulty options (you can make combat practically impossible but stealth a cinch, or mess around with the level of resources or how aggressive your allies are); auto-aim and the strength of auto-aim; infinite breath under water; ledge guard (warns you if you’re going to get hurt when falling); traversal assistance; invisible when prone; enemies that don’t flank, and.. it goes on and on, allowing you to craft a truly unique experience whilst playing.If it’s not clear by now: I loved this game. Is it perfect? I don’t think I’m qualified to say, but objectively speaking I cannot understand the hate it’s received. I can’t help thinking opinion may have been coloured by all the negativity and nonsense prior to release, from which I steered well clear. It’s sad so many players’ experience of this game has been tarnished, and I hope they give it another chance in the future, some time when the hate for this game isn’t so fashionable. It deserves that, at least, because love it or hate it, it’s like nothing seen before, which is why I think The Last of Us Part 2 is the first of its kind.

Firstly, I'll start with points related to the Special Edition. The steelbook is great, featuring the likeness of Ellie on the front and a 'mystery' character on the back (her appearance is story-related so no spoilers revealing who she is). The artbook was great, showing how different character models changed during development, and the digital extras were good too.Now for the actual game. Gameplay is great and similar to the original game, with emphasis on managing your inventory, crafting items on the fly and really thinking about how to approach a combat situation. The need to gather items for crafting makes you search every corner of your environment looking for what you need (there were some issues where I had maxed my inventory of one item, but struggled to find other ones I needed, but that just makes you learn not to waste resources and stops you from using just one tactic in battle - e.g. using molotovs every time). There were some combat situations where I messed up straight away and ending up just shooting everything, which is great that I could recover that way, but then seeing all the rooms and cover spots in the area made you realise there was a great stealth opportunity I lost, but this didn't happen every time. Also, there are two enemy types (humans and infected), and there are times where they are mixed, meaning you can pit the infected against the humans and just watch them fight, which is amazing, but there weren't many opportunities to do that, which was a bit disappointing.Graphics are stunning, making you want to stop what you are doing and take in your surroundings (even when most of what you'll see is just overgrown weeds/grass in urban areas). There were some glitches with cut-scenes starting with a character in an incorrect pose (e.g. standing up, then snapping to lying down), but these will be picked up in patches, and nothing immersion-breaking.The campaign for me was about 30 hours long, which takes into account searching every area for loot and taking my time with combat encounters - could be completed as quickly as 20 hours if you rushed through.Now for the story, which as you may guess is a divisive topic for some fans. Not to sound elitist or patronising, but it seems that a lot of people missed the point of the whole story and were just annoyed about the major incident near the start of the game. Compared to the last game, the story is bleak and ends on a sour note, so if you aren't into that type of story you may be put off, which is fair enough. However, the majority of negative reviews are just complaining about 'SJW' and 'gay agenda', which is nonsense. Like I mentioned above, a lot of people just can't get over what happens at the start of the game.In essence, the story is about revenge and how allowing yourself to be completely overwhelmed by pure revenge will destroy you and make you lose sight of why you are looking for revenge in the first place. One character moves on from their revenge and becomes better for it, the other is consumed by it and loses pretty much everything.Obviously, many of the negative reviews are justified if the player genuinely didn't enjoy the game, but make sure to read their points and make your own mind up - don't miss out on a great game because a few toxic members of the gaming community can't accept any sort of change.