The Last of Us is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States. The Last of Us is played from a third-person perspective. Players use firearms and improvised weapons and can use stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated fungus. In the online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.
The Last of Us PS3 Game Download
Development of The Last of Us began in 2009, soon after the release of Naughty Dog's previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. For the first time in the company's history, Naughty Dog split into two teams; while one team developed Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, the other half developed The Last of Us. The relationship between Joel and Ellie became the focus, with all other elements developed around it. Actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson portrayed Joel and Ellie, respectively, through voice and motion capture, and assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with the development of the characters and story. The original score was composed and performed by Gustavo Santaolalla.
Following its announcement in December 2011, The Last of Us was widely anticipated. It was released for the PlayStation 3 in June 2013. It received critical acclaim, with praise for its narrative, gameplay, visuals, sound design, score, characterization, and depiction of female characters. The Last of Us became one of the best-selling video games, selling over 1.3 million units in its first week and 17 million by April 2018. The game won year-end accolades, including multiple Game of the Year awards, from several gaming publications, critics, and game award ceremonies. It has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.
Naughty Dog released several downloadable content additions; The Last of Us: Left Behind adds a single-player campaign following Ellie and her best friend, Riley. A remastered version, The Last of Us Remastered, was released for the PlayStation 4 in July 2014,[a] and a remake, The Last of Us Part I, was released in September 2022 for PlayStation 5 and is scheduled for release on Windows in March 2023. The game's success spawned a media franchise, including a comic book in 2013, a live show in 2014, a sequel in 2020, a television adaptation by HBO in 2023, a tabletop game by Themeborne in 2023, an untitled multiplayer game, and an upcoming tabletop game by CMON.
The Last of Us is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective.[1] The player traverses post-apocalyptic environments such as towns, buildings, forests, and sewers to advance the story. The player can use firearms, improvised weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. For most of the game, the player takes control of Joel, a man tasked with escorting a young girl, Ellie, across the United States.[2] The player also controls Ellie throughout the game's winter segment[3] and briefly controls Joel's daughter Sarah in the opening sequence.[4]
Though the player can attack enemies directly, they can also use stealth to attack undetected or sneak by them. "Listen Mode" allows the player to locate enemies through a heightened sense of hearing and spatial awareness, indicated as outlines visible through walls and objects.[5] In the dynamic cover system, the player can crouch behind obstacles to gain a tactical advantage during combat.[8] The game features periods without combat, often involving conversation between the characters.[9] The player can solve simple puzzles, such as using floating pallets to move Ellie, who is unable to swim, across bodies of water and using ladders or dumpsters to reach higher areas. Story collectibles, such as notes, maps and comics, can be scavenged and viewed in the backpack menu.[10]
The game features an artificial intelligence system by which hostile human enemies react to combat. If enemies discover the player, they may take cover or call for assistance, and can take advantage of the player when they are distracted, out of ammunition, or in a fight. Player companions, such as Ellie, can assist in combat by throwing objects at threats to stun them, announcing the location of unseen enemies, or using a knife and pistol to attack enemies.[11]
Players earn "parts" by marking or killing enemies, healing or reviving allies, crafting items, and unlocking the enemy lockbox. Parts can be spent mid-match on weapon upgrades and armor, and are converted to supplies at the end of the match; additional supplies can be scavenged from enemies' bodies.[14] Players also earn points as they play, which can be spent on weapons or skills to create custom loadouts.[15] Players could originally connect the game to their Facebook account, altering clan members' names and faces to match their Facebook friends.[16] Players have the ability to customize their characters with hats, helmets, masks, and emblems.[17] The multiplayer servers for the PlayStation 3 version of the game were shut down on September 3, 2019.[18]
A major motif of the game is that "life goes on";[23] this is presented in a scene in which Joel and Ellie discover a herd of giraffes, which concept artist John Sweeney explained was designed to "reignite [Ellie's] lust for life", after her suffering following her encounter with David.[24] The Infected, a core concept of the game, were inspired by a segment of the BBC nature documentary Planet Earth (2006), which featured the Cordyceps fungi.[22] Though the fungi mainly infect insects, taking control of their motor functions and forcing them to help cultivate the fungus, the game explores the concept of the fungus evolving and infecting humans,[b] as well as the direct results of an outbreak of this infection.[22]
The relationship between Joel and Ellie was the focus of the game; all other elements were developed around it. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson were cast as Joel and Ellie, respectively, and provided voice and motion capture performances.[29] Baker and Johnson contributed to the development of the characters;[30] for example, Baker convinced Druckmann that Joel would care for Tess due to his loneliness,[31] and Johnson convinced Druckmann that Ellie should be stronger and more defensive.[30] Following comparisons to actor Elliot Page, Ellie's appearance was redesigned to better reflect Johnson's personality and make her younger.[32][33] The game's other characters also underwent changes. The character Tess was originally intended to be the main antagonist, but the team found it difficult to believe her motives.[34] The sexuality of the character Bill was originally left vague in the script but later altered to further reflect his homosexuality.[31]
The Last of Us features an original score composed primarily by Gustavo Santaolalla, along with compositions by Andrew Buresh, Anthony Caruso, and Jonathan Mayer.[28] Known for his minimalist compositions, Santaolalla was contacted early in development. He used various instruments to compose the score, including some that he was unfamiliar with, giving a sense of danger and innocence.[3] This minimalist approach was also taken with the game's sound and art design. The sound of the Infected was one of the first tasks during development; the team experimented with the sound in order to achieve the best work possible. To achieve the sound of the Clicker, they hired voice actress Misty Lee, who provided a sound that audio lead Phillip Kovats described as originating in the "back of the throat".[35] The art department took various pieces of work as inspiration, such as Robert Polidori's photographs following Hurricane Katrina, which were used as a reference point when designing the flooded areas of Pittsburgh.[36] The art department were forced to negotiate for things that they wished to include, due to the strong differing opinions of the team during development. Ultimately, the team settled on a balance between simplicity and detail; while Straley and Druckmann preferred the former, the art team preferred the latter.[37] The game's opening credits were produced by Sony's San Diego Studio.[38]
The Last of Us game designer Ricky Cambier cited the video games Ico and Resident Evil 4 as influences on the game design. He said the emotional weight of the relationship needed to be balanced with the tension of the world's issues, stating that they "wanted to take the character building and interaction" of Ico and "blend it with the tension and action of Resident Evil 4."[39] The team created new engines to satisfy their needs for the game. The artificial intelligence was created to coordinate with players;[40] the addition of Ellie as artificial intelligence was a major contributor to the engine.[41] The lighting engine was also re-created to incorporate soft light, in which the sunlight seeps in through spaces and reflects off surfaces.[40] The gameplay introduced difficulty to the team, as they felt that every mechanic required thorough analysis.[31] The game's user interface design also underwent various iterations throughout development.[42]
The Last of Us was announced on December 10, 2011, at the Spike Video Game Awards,[43] alongside its debut trailer.[44] The announcement ignited widespread anticipation within the gaming industry, which journalists ascribed to Naughty Dog's reputation.[45][46] The game missed its original projected release date of May 7, 2013, and was pushed to June 14, 2013 worldwide for further polishing.[47] To promote pre-order sales, Naughty Dog collaborated with several retailers to provide special editions of the game with extra content.[48]
Downloadable content (DLC) for the game was released following its launch. The game's Season Pass includes access to all DLC, as well as some additional abilities, and the documentary Grounded: Making The Last of Us;[49] the documentary was released online in February 2014.[50] Two DLC packs were included with some of the game's special editions and were available upon release. The Sights and Sounds Pack included the soundtrack, a dynamic theme for the PlayStation 3 home screen, and two avatars. The Survival Pack featured bonus skins for the player following the completion of the campaign, and in-game money, as well as bonus experience points and early access to customizable items for the game's multiplayer.[51] Abandoned Territories Map Pack, released on October 15, 2013, added four new multiplayer maps, based on locations in the game's story.[52] Nightmare Bundle, released on November 5, 2013, added a collection of ten head items, nine of which are available to purchase separately.[53] 2ff7e9595c
Comments