THE LAST OF US PART 2 REVIEW

THE LAST OF US PART 2 REVIEW BY KIMMIE

DEVELOPER: Naughty dog FORMAT: PS4 This text will include spoilers

Wow, where to start with this one...? There are a couple games out there that have changed gaming--Super Mario bros with its game play, Half-Life with the storytelling, and so on. One such game is The Last of Us with how it forces players to think about good and evil.

STORY TLOU 2 takes place four years after the first game. Joel and Ellie now live in a small town called Jackson. After a wet night, Ellie is woken and told that that she is late for patrol with another young woman named Dina, who it turns out she kissed last night. So, things are a bit awkward between them. Gameplay starts after that cutscene, and you are introduced to the town and a short how-to for how the cover system works is taught via a snowball fight with Dina. Here we also learn things are frosty between Ellie and Joel. Then you ride out together for the patrol. We are introduced to a new character named Abby, a big strong woman who, together with some friends, is after a certain man. The story then starts to jump backward and forward in time. It starts off like a simple revenge story but soon develops into something else. I will not go much farther into it because this is something you have to experience yourself. The overlying theme revolves around the meaning of right and wrong, and just because something is right for you doesn’t mean that it is the right thing, and that violence feeds more violence.

GAMEPLAY The gameplay has been upgraded since the first game in every way. Everything is really heavy - every shot and swing is noticeable. You can fall over if you are hit. I feel like they have ramped up the gore a couple of steps too. The blood and wounds are so much more noticeable and the sound an enemy can make when you hit them makes you feel sorry for them with realistic facial animations. One thing that is not super great is the melee combat. It doesn’t lock-

on to the enemy, which in hectic situations can make you swing your axe or hammer in the air several times. The pace is sometimes a bit off. But the weapon upgrade system is still fun. You need to look everywhere you can to find parts both for upgrades for weapons and to build stuff, as well as vitamins to upgrade your own skill points. You need to look in places like shelves, cabinets and safes

DESIGN The theme of the world could not be more fitting in this time and age—a civilization that has collapsed because of a sickness, in this case fungus spores. The worst monsters are not the infected, but other humans. Most of the game takes place in Seattle, where nature has started to take back the land so almost everything is overgrown, and buildings have started to collapse. There are also signs of other groups living in the city via old documents you find and graffiti and actual signs. It is also really interesting to listen to what enemies are talking about. They are calling each other by name and talking about random things.

IN CONCLUSION I liked it overall, despite the gameplay issues mentioned. Because this is an asexual magazine, I want to mention a couple of content warnings: This game has sex references and nudity and also some drug use.