Well I played the first hour or so. From a cinematic perspective it is absolutely stunning, gripping and moving.

I hate to be that guy but I have to say it would have been nice if I did more than just hold up for about an hour. I hear all these things about excellent intro, to me an excellent intro is one you actually play. Something like RE4 has one of the greatest intros ever, the village is a masterpiece of a level. This is a great interactive movie.

That said the core stealth action mechanics feel incredible. Just the right amount of intensity mixed with perfect controls that make you feel vulnerable but allows for quick actions. I am sure the game will be fantastic. I was a bit disappointed that a entered an area filled with chest high walls.  Obviously you have to take cover and fight. I would think the "best game this gen" would not have such cliche level design. Just a minor gripe really, all that matters is how the stealth plays out and it seems intense as hell

PS4 PORT  PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT PS4 PORT

I am four hours in and am really enjoying it now. At first I was left scratching my head wondering how this game got such great scores. You walk, walk, push crap, walk. when you finally get into combat its pretty basic stealth. You dont have many options, you can move around and throw something, that is about it. Enemies walk in basic patterns and humans dont care about dead bodies of their friends. Other stealth games are better at stealth. Then you have the whole "survival" aspect where you have limited ammo and health, well the ammo doesnt matter as fists or melee weapons are the best weapons in the game, meaning you basically have infinite ammo. So those looking for a survival horror experience will be disappointed.

So what is Last of Us, I was left wondering about that until I got into a battle with some runners and clickers and my plans went to hell. That is when the game came alive. When your stealth fails you have to frantically make up strategies on the fly while you run for your life. These moments are amoung the most intense moments I have ever experienced in a game. Pure stealth is kind of boring and very hard, you are supposed to mess up cause that is when the brilliance comes through.

I see that I am getting some new weapons and upgrades so maybe the stealth parts will evolve but honestly I dont want to never be seen. The fun comes from being caught. Its sort of like MGS in that regard in that messing with certain areas over and over is a blast.

I still worry how this kind of gameplay can hold up for so long. It seems there is little else to the gameplay, its just a stealth action game. Walk, stealth, walk, stealth. Naughty Dog doesnt do bosses, I doubt there will be any gigantic epic action sequence like in the Uncharted games. So what can break up the repetition in a game that is supposed to be 15 hours long?

gamingeek said:

"When your stealth fails you have to frantically make up strategies on the fly while you run for your life. These moments are amoung the most intense moments I have ever experienced in a game. "

Can you expand a bit on this? What happens exactly?

Let me describe an encounter. This is one that I was dying a ton of times. Its a room filled with runners, enemies that see and a clicker, one that does not (goes by sound) but has insta kill. So I stealth killed two runners that were off to the sides.  I still had two left and the clicker, these guys had a rotation where almost always one was watching the other. I found a gap and started to hide behind a piller as the guy walked around it. I was going to make my move when it saw me, screamed which alerted the clicker. I quickly started smacking it with my 2X4 till it died and heard the clicker right behind me. AHH so I took off but the other dude was waiting around the corner, I could go back into hiding cause the runner now had me in its sights. There was a spot where I could climb so i did, the runner followed me up I shot him a few times, it went down. The clicker is now climbing I wait for it to get close and jump down and go full speed into a hall and stop. Now this guy cant see me so I go quiet and it walks around and I manage to stealth kill it.

The kills are brutal, all context sensitive so if you are near a wall you will bash their heads in, near a desk you will slam their heads down and so on. The camera zooms in to get a super close brutal view of the action which also serves to disorient you as you are so zoomed in there is no way to tell if something is right behind you so when the camera resets you usually have another right in front or behind you, thats when you have to run the fuck out of there.

I admit, it took a few hours before I really got into this game. Now, the time is flying by as I play it. I love how each infected encounter makes you think three to five steps in advance on how to tackle everyone in the area. And if you're not exploring every room, you are missing out on so much. Item and scrap collection really enhances this game.

gamingeek said:

Qtes? One button icon pops up? Can you choose what items to smash people on? Are the enemies zombie or monster like at all?

Melee is all done by mashing square, if you are close to something he will use the wall or desk. You can choose melee weapons to use, they break quickly though. Believe me you won't have time to pick an item to smash you just improvise on the spot. These things are rentlless, you could be in the middle of punching one and another will tackle you into a wall where you have to struggle to get away all while as clicker closes in on you. While all this is happening your partners as fighting too so they could help you out of get caught up themselves. Don't worry they don't die unless you don't help them when they are captured, you hav plenty of time to help them.

What is a clicker?

Are these infected like RE4 Ganados?

travo said:

More like the ones from Left 4 Dead.  They don't work together, just run at you if detected.

I haven't played LFD. So running zombies?

I think I fear the humans more than the infected.  At least with the infected, there's some predictability.  The human AI is great, though they can be blind at times as well.