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Remastered/definitive editions seem quite popular with publishers these days but the vocal side of the gaming community seem less thrilled. Gamers want new games on their new consoles rather than shiny versions of games they have already played that come at a higher price. Sales figures might just side with the publishers on this one though and I am one of the reasons why.
I’ll quickly cover the story as a refresher for those that have played it and a spoiler free summary for those that haven’t. The human race has been hit by one of those zombie type viruses that turn your neighbours into flesh eating rage machines. The world as we know it is turned upside down and it is a constant fight for survival against the virus and a lack of resources. The player joins Joel and Ellie on a journey through a zombie infested landscape.
The story is not unique by any mean but the overall package is just better than most similar games. The characters and voice acting is typical of Naughty Dog’s high standards on the Uncharted series. Joel may lack the charm and wit of Nathan Drake but he is a likeable character in a different way. Ellie could easily have been an irritating young teenager but is far from it. The chemistry between the 2 main characters is well done and the little touches really make a big difference for me. Joel will say things like “stay close” or “be careful” as instinctively as any adult would towards a child. If you stand Joel still for a minute then Ellie will start passing the time by balance walking along a kerb or whistling to herself. You wouldn’t notice these touches if they were absent but you certainly notice them when they are. It’s very well done.
Along the way Joel and Ellie will bump into other characters rather than just the zombie hordes. Some of the humans are friendly and some are anything but. The unfriendly humans add a twist to the survival and are quite different to the zombies.
The gameplay compliments the survival aspect. TLOU is a similar style to Uncharted but you won’t be freely dispensing ammunition like there is no tomorrow. In the current climate there may very well be no tomorrow but you are going to have to scavenge for supplies and ammunition is rare. Stealth is an essential approach; it doesn’t alert other enemies in the vicinity and conserves supplies for when they are absolutely vital. Bricks and bottles can be used to distract and stun, melee weapons can be used in place of guns and the bow and arrow is a perfect distance stealth weapon Joel will collect various odds and ends and these can be used to craft essential items such as nail bombs.
Joel has superhuman hearing and if you ‘listen’ then you can effectively see silhouettes through walls to aid the stealthy approach. Joel can take down enemies silently from behind with a choke move. The Survivor difficulty removes this listen mode which really intensifies the tension. I’m not normally one to bump up the difficulty but TLOU seemed to get even better on Survivor. The naming of the difficulty is spot on; if you reach the end you really will feel like you survived.
The stealth illusion can be broken at times by Ellie. Joel can be concealed behind some cover but the AI controlled Ellie won’t react quite as quickly and you just have to accept she is invisible to the enemies. It doesn’t spoil things by any means but it is noticeable.
Joel and Ellie visit a nice variety of locations and all are in a state of devastation; signs of previous struggles are everywhere. The environments are very atmospheric and do a great job of conveying what has happened. It’s all a bit grim and depressing but that’s the times Joel and Ellie are living in and Ellie is too young to know any different. There are some items to collect which can add further detail into the struggles that have taken place in the past; the desperation and despair is very evident.
The PS3 games was a 10 out of 10 for me. I enjoyed it so much that I played through again on the harder difficulty. I enjoyed that play through so much that… to cut a long story short, I got the platinum trophy and was proud of my achievement. After a 12 month gap, the prospect of playing through again appealed to me but is the PS4 version worth the extra cost?
The feature list for these remastered games always comes across as a sales pitch trying to convince us to pay more to play the same game on the new generation of consoles. TLOU comes with a 1080p facelift with higher resolution character models (ooo Joel’s beard in 1080p; sold!), upgraded textures, improved shadows and improved lighting. The frame rate has been boosted from 30 frames per second to 60 although it is unable to apparently maintain that 60 at all times. There is commentary for the game’s cinematic scenes where the creative director and writer, the game director, the actor who voices Joel and the actress who voices Ellie all get involved in a spot of chit chat. All of the downloadable content that was available on the PS3. This covers both multiplayer packs, the single player Left Behind content and harder than Survivor difficulty, Grounded mode. And how could I forget, a photo mode.
The 1080p facelift is hard to judge unless running the 2 versions side by side. The PS3 game is an incredibly good looking game and the improvements with the PS4 version aren’t blindingly obvious to me. I imagine the 12 month gap since I have played the PS3 version plays a part in that though. There were a few moments where I did suspect that I was seeing some extra detail that hadn’t been there previously. Visual improvements weren’t something I was actively looking for once I got absorbed into the game again.
I had read articles saying the improved frame rate meant it was hard to go back to the PS3 version. It isn’t something I have tried out but I can’t say it felt any different on the PS4. Again, there is a time lapse to factor in but at no point did it ever seem any different to what I remember of the PS3 experience.
The stand out inclusion from the above was the DLC and this is what clinched it for me. I would consider myself a bit of a TLOU fanboy but I’m not a fan of DLC and I didn’t bother with any of the DLC.
Left Behind is a good extension to the main story. It covers a bit of Ellie’s past as well as covering some of her actions during the timelines of the main game. Neither was entirely essential or added vital detail to the overall story but it still a worthy piece of DLC and well worth playing. Left Behind shows us a different side to Ellie where she was able to mess about with a friend and have a good bit of care-free fun rather than the Ellie fighting for survival that we constantly see in the main game. I’ve spent a fair bit of time with these characters and it was just nice to see Ellie acting her age for a change.
All of the extra maps are included in the remastered version which helps make the multiplayer mode feel fresh. The multiplayer is still one of the best online modes I have played. It is 4 vs 4 in small maps but the limited resources aspect from the main game adds some strategy. It is easy to spot the Call of Duty players galloping off to spray their limited bullets everywhere and they tend to be the ones to get killed first; a patient approach works best and it helps to stay with your team. There are 3 different game types and a bit of a story mode to go with it. The story is light but it does add an extra element of interest. Each match represents a day and the aim is to last 12 weeks. The story puts you as part of a group trying to survive and if you do well in a match and the group you are with can grow. You need to collect supplies to maintain numbers and health and killing enemies will help boost those supplies but you can have a poor performance and still collect enough supplies if you play sensibly. Other group members can become ill and die and if you lose your entire group then it is game over. To spice things up, the game throws some challenges every few days. You have 3 days in which to meet a target which again, adds a little something extra to the gameplay. The reward for these challenges can be an increase to the group but other challenges see you fighting to make sure your entire group is not wiped out. The task you perform towards the goal is chosen by you from an ample list and can either be general performance or specific to a weapon. Each time you use a task to pass a challenge the criteria attached to that task increases to make sure you have to branch out. It creates some tension to the play as it becomes more than just a mindless ‘kill the enemy for the sake of it’ game. As the weeks progress the challenge rises and the possibility of having to restart from day 1 becomes a worrying threat. I don’t tend to spend much time in online modes but I have spent an unhealthy amount of time with the online mode in TLOU.
If you have played the PS3 version then you know what to expect. As much as TLOU is one of my favourite games I’d find it hard to recommend playing this just for the improvements but it is a must play game no matter what version. And I played the PS4 version enough to get the platinum trophy to join the PS3 one.
10
I’ll quickly cover the story as a refresher for those that have played it and a spoiler free summary for those that haven’t. The human race has been hit by one of those zombie type viruses that turn your neighbours into flesh eating rage machines. The world as we know it is turned upside down and it is a constant fight for survival against the virus and a lack of resources. The player joins Joel and Ellie on a journey through a zombie infested landscape.
The story is not unique by any mean but the overall package is just better than most similar games. The characters and voice acting is typical of Naughty Dog’s high standards on the Uncharted series. Joel may lack the charm and wit of Nathan Drake but he is a likeable character in a different way. Ellie could easily have been an irritating young teenager but is far from it. The chemistry between the 2 main characters is well done and the little touches really make a big difference for me. Joel will say things like “stay close” or “be careful” as instinctively as any adult would towards a child. If you stand Joel still for a minute then Ellie will start passing the time by balance walking along a kerb or whistling to herself. You wouldn’t notice these touches if they were absent but you certainly notice them when they are. It’s very well done.
Along the way Joel and Ellie will bump into other characters rather than just the zombie hordes. Some of the humans are friendly and some are anything but. The unfriendly humans add a twist to the survival and are quite different to the zombies.
The gameplay compliments the survival aspect. TLOU is a similar style to Uncharted but you won’t be freely dispensing ammunition like there is no tomorrow. In the current climate there may very well be no tomorrow but you are going to have to scavenge for supplies and ammunition is rare. Stealth is an essential approach; it doesn’t alert other enemies in the vicinity and conserves supplies for when they are absolutely vital. Bricks and bottles can be used to distract and stun, melee weapons can be used in place of guns and the bow and arrow is a perfect distance stealth weapon Joel will collect various odds and ends and these can be used to craft essential items such as nail bombs.
Joel has superhuman hearing and if you ‘listen’ then you can effectively see silhouettes through walls to aid the stealthy approach. Joel can take down enemies silently from behind with a choke move. The Survivor difficulty removes this listen mode which really intensifies the tension. I’m not normally one to bump up the difficulty but TLOU seemed to get even better on Survivor. The naming of the difficulty is spot on; if you reach the end you really will feel like you survived.
The stealth illusion can be broken at times by Ellie. Joel can be concealed behind some cover but the AI controlled Ellie won’t react quite as quickly and you just have to accept she is invisible to the enemies. It doesn’t spoil things by any means but it is noticeable.
Joel and Ellie visit a nice variety of locations and all are in a state of devastation; signs of previous struggles are everywhere. The environments are very atmospheric and do a great job of conveying what has happened. It’s all a bit grim and depressing but that’s the times Joel and Ellie are living in and Ellie is too young to know any different. There are some items to collect which can add further detail into the struggles that have taken place in the past; the desperation and despair is very evident.
The PS3 games was a 10 out of 10 for me. I enjoyed it so much that I played through again on the harder difficulty. I enjoyed that play through so much that… to cut a long story short, I got the platinum trophy and was proud of my achievement. After a 12 month gap, the prospect of playing through again appealed to me but is the PS4 version worth the extra cost?
The feature list for these remastered games always comes across as a sales pitch trying to convince us to pay more to play the same game on the new generation of consoles. TLOU comes with a 1080p facelift with higher resolution character models (ooo Joel’s beard in 1080p; sold!), upgraded textures, improved shadows and improved lighting. The frame rate has been boosted from 30 frames per second to 60 although it is unable to apparently maintain that 60 at all times. There is commentary for the game’s cinematic scenes where the creative director and writer, the game director, the actor who voices Joel and the actress who voices Ellie all get involved in a spot of chit chat. All of the downloadable content that was available on the PS3. This covers both multiplayer packs, the single player Left Behind content and harder than Survivor difficulty, Grounded mode. And how could I forget, a photo mode.
The 1080p facelift is hard to judge unless running the 2 versions side by side. The PS3 game is an incredibly good looking game and the improvements with the PS4 version aren’t blindingly obvious to me. I imagine the 12 month gap since I have played the PS3 version plays a part in that though. There were a few moments where I did suspect that I was seeing some extra detail that hadn’t been there previously. Visual improvements weren’t something I was actively looking for once I got absorbed into the game again.
I had read articles saying the improved frame rate meant it was hard to go back to the PS3 version. It isn’t something I have tried out but I can’t say it felt any different on the PS4. Again, there is a time lapse to factor in but at no point did it ever seem any different to what I remember of the PS3 experience.
The stand out inclusion from the above was the DLC and this is what clinched it for me. I would consider myself a bit of a TLOU fanboy but I’m not a fan of DLC and I didn’t bother with any of the DLC.
Left Behind is a good extension to the main story. It covers a bit of Ellie’s past as well as covering some of her actions during the timelines of the main game. Neither was entirely essential or added vital detail to the overall story but it still a worthy piece of DLC and well worth playing. Left Behind shows us a different side to Ellie where she was able to mess about with a friend and have a good bit of care-free fun rather than the Ellie fighting for survival that we constantly see in the main game. I’ve spent a fair bit of time with these characters and it was just nice to see Ellie acting her age for a change.
All of the extra maps are included in the remastered version which helps make the multiplayer mode feel fresh. The multiplayer is still one of the best online modes I have played. It is 4 vs 4 in small maps but the limited resources aspect from the main game adds some strategy. It is easy to spot the Call of Duty players galloping off to spray their limited bullets everywhere and they tend to be the ones to get killed first; a patient approach works best and it helps to stay with your team. There are 3 different game types and a bit of a story mode to go with it. The story is light but it does add an extra element of interest. Each match represents a day and the aim is to last 12 weeks. The story puts you as part of a group trying to survive and if you do well in a match and the group you are with can grow. You need to collect supplies to maintain numbers and health and killing enemies will help boost those supplies but you can have a poor performance and still collect enough supplies if you play sensibly. Other group members can become ill and die and if you lose your entire group then it is game over. To spice things up, the game throws some challenges every few days. You have 3 days in which to meet a target which again, adds a little something extra to the gameplay. The reward for these challenges can be an increase to the group but other challenges see you fighting to make sure your entire group is not wiped out. The task you perform towards the goal is chosen by you from an ample list and can either be general performance or specific to a weapon. Each time you use a task to pass a challenge the criteria attached to that task increases to make sure you have to branch out. It creates some tension to the play as it becomes more than just a mindless ‘kill the enemy for the sake of it’ game. As the weeks progress the challenge rises and the possibility of having to restart from day 1 becomes a worrying threat. I don’t tend to spend much time in online modes but I have spent an unhealthy amount of time with the online mode in TLOU.
If you have played the PS3 version then you know what to expect. As much as TLOU is one of my favourite games I’d find it hard to recommend playing this just for the improvements but it is a must play game no matter what version. And I played the PS4 version enough to get the platinum trophy to join the PS3 one.
10
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Remastered/definitive editions seem quite popular with publishers these days but the vocal side of the gaming community seem less thrilled. Gamers want new games on their new consoles rather than shiny versions of games they have already played that come at a higher price. Sales figures might just side with the publishers on this one though and I am one of the reasons why.
I’ll quickly cover the story as a refresher for those that have played it and a spoiler free summary for those that haven’t. The human race has been hit by one of those zombie type viruses that turn your neighbours into flesh eating rage machines. The world as we know it is turned upside down and it is a constant fight for survival against the virus and a lack of resources. The player joins Joel and Ellie on a journey through a zombie infested landscape.
The story is not unique by any mean but the overall package is just better than most similar games. The characters and voice acting is typical of Naughty Dog’s high standards on the Uncharted series. Joel may lack the charm and wit of Nathan Drake but he is a likeable character in a different way. Ellie could easily have been an irritating young teenager but is far from it. The chemistry between the 2 main characters is well done and the little touches really make a big difference for me. Joel will say things like “stay close” or “be careful” as instinctively as any adult would towards a child. If you stand Joel still for a minute then Ellie will start passing the time by balance walking along a kerb or whistling to herself. You wouldn’t notice these touches if they were absent but you certainly notice them when they are. It’s very well done.
Along the way Joel and Ellie will bump into other characters rather than just the zombie hordes. Some of the humans are friendly and some are anything but. The unfriendly humans add a twist to the survival and are quite different to the zombies.
The gameplay compliments the survival aspect. TLOU is a similar style to Uncharted but you won’t be freely dispensing ammunition like there is no tomorrow. In the current climate there may very well be no tomorrow but you are going to have to scavenge for supplies and ammunition is rare. Stealth is an essential approach; it doesn’t alert other enemies in the vicinity and conserves supplies for when they are absolutely vital. Bricks and bottles can be used to distract and stun, melee weapons can be used in place of guns and the bow and arrow is a perfect distance stealth weapon Joel will collect various odds and ends and these can be used to craft essential items such as nail bombs.
Joel has superhuman hearing and if you ‘listen’ then you can effectively see silhouettes through walls to aid the stealthy approach. Joel can take down enemies silently from behind with a choke move. The Survivor difficulty removes this listen mode which really intensifies the tension. I’m not normally one to bump up the difficulty but TLOU seemed to get even better on Survivor. The naming of the difficulty is spot on; if you reach the end you really will feel like you survived.
The stealth illusion can be broken at times by Ellie. Joel can be concealed behind some cover but the AI controlled Ellie won’t react quite as quickly and you just have to accept she is invisible to the enemies. It doesn’t spoil things by any means but it is noticeable.
Joel and Ellie visit a nice variety of locations and all are in a state of devastation; signs of previous struggles are everywhere. The environments are very atmospheric and do a great job of conveying what has happened. It’s all a bit grim and depressing but that’s the times Joel and Ellie are living in and Ellie is too young to know any different. There are some items to collect which can add further detail into the struggles that have taken place in the past; the desperation and despair is very evident.
The PS3 games was a 10 out of 10 for me. I enjoyed it so much that I played through again on the harder difficulty. I enjoyed that play through so much that… to cut a long story short, I got the platinum trophy and was proud of my achievement. After a 12 month gap, the prospect of playing through again appealed to me but is the PS4 version worth the extra cost?
The feature list for these remastered games always comes across as a sales pitch trying to convince us to pay more to play the same game on the new generation of consoles. TLOU comes with a 1080p facelift with higher resolution character models (ooo Joel’s beard in 1080p; sold!), upgraded textures, improved shadows and improved lighting. The frame rate has been boosted from 30 frames per second to 60 although it is unable to apparently maintain that 60 at all times. There is commentary for the game’s cinematic scenes where the creative director and writer, the game director, the actor who voices Joel and the actress who voices Ellie all get involved in a spot of chit chat. All of the downloadable content that was available on the PS3. This covers both multiplayer packs, the single player Left Behind content and harder than Survivor difficulty, Grounded mode. And how could I forget, a photo mode.
The 1080p facelift is hard to judge unless running the 2 versions side by side. The PS3 game is an incredibly good looking game and the improvements with the PS4 version aren’t blindingly obvious to me. I imagine the 12 month gap since I have played the PS3 version plays a part in that though. There were a few moments where I did suspect that I was seeing some extra detail that hadn’t been there previously. Visual improvements weren’t something I was actively looking for once I got absorbed into the game again.
I had read articles saying the improved frame rate meant it was hard to go back to the PS3 version. It isn’t something I have tried out but I can’t say it felt any different on the PS4. Again, there is a time lapse to factor in but at no point did it ever seem any different to what I remember of the PS3 experience.
The stand out inclusion from the above was the DLC and this is what clinched it for me. I would consider myself a bit of a TLOU fanboy but I’m not a fan of DLC and I didn’t bother with any of the DLC.
Left Behind is a good extension to the main story. It covers a bit of Ellie’s past as well as covering some of her actions during the timelines of the main game. Neither was entirely essential or added vital detail to the overall story but it still a worthy piece of DLC and well worth playing. Left Behind shows us a different side to Ellie where she was able to mess about with a friend and have a good bit of care-free fun rather than the Ellie fighting for survival that we constantly see in the main game. I’ve spent a fair bit of time with these characters and it was just nice to see Ellie acting her age for a change.
All of the extra maps are included in the remastered version which helps make the multiplayer mode feel fresh. The multiplayer is still one of the best online modes I have played. It is 4 vs 4 in small maps but the limited resources aspect from the main game adds some strategy. It is easy to spot the Call of Duty players galloping off to spray their limited bullets everywhere and they tend to be the ones to get killed first; a patient approach works best and it helps to stay with your team. There are 3 different game types and a bit of a story mode to go with it. The story is light but it does add an extra element of interest. Each match represents a day and the aim is to last 12 weeks. The story puts you as part of a group trying to survive and if you do well in a match and the group you are with can grow. You need to collect supplies to maintain numbers and health and killing enemies will help boost those supplies but you can have a poor performance and still collect enough supplies if you play sensibly. Other group members can become ill and die and if you lose your entire group then it is game over. To spice things up, the game throws some challenges every few days. You have 3 days in which to meet a target which again, adds a little something extra to the gameplay. The reward for these challenges can be an increase to the group but other challenges see you fighting to make sure your entire group is not wiped out. The task you perform towards the goal is chosen by you from an ample list and can either be general performance or specific to a weapon. Each time you use a task to pass a challenge the criteria attached to that task increases to make sure you have to branch out. It creates some tension to the play as it becomes more than just a mindless ‘kill the enemy for the sake of it’ game. As the weeks progress the challenge rises and the possibility of having to restart from day 1 becomes a worrying threat. I don’t tend to spend much time in online modes but I have spent an unhealthy amount of time with the online mode in TLOU.
If you have played the PS3 version then you know what to expect. As much as TLOU is one of my favourite games I’d find it hard to recommend playing this just for the improvements but it is a must play game no matter what version. And I played the PS4 version enough to get the platinum trophy to join the PS3 one.
10
I’ll quickly cover the story as a refresher for those that have played it and a spoiler free summary for those that haven’t. The human race has been hit by one of those zombie type viruses that turn your neighbours into flesh eating rage machines. The world as we know it is turned upside down and it is a constant fight for survival against the virus and a lack of resources. The player joins Joel and Ellie on a journey through a zombie infested landscape.
The story is not unique by any mean but the overall package is just better than most similar games. The characters and voice acting is typical of Naughty Dog’s high standards on the Uncharted series. Joel may lack the charm and wit of Nathan Drake but he is a likeable character in a different way. Ellie could easily have been an irritating young teenager but is far from it. The chemistry between the 2 main characters is well done and the little touches really make a big difference for me. Joel will say things like “stay close” or “be careful” as instinctively as any adult would towards a child. If you stand Joel still for a minute then Ellie will start passing the time by balance walking along a kerb or whistling to herself. You wouldn’t notice these touches if they were absent but you certainly notice them when they are. It’s very well done.
Along the way Joel and Ellie will bump into other characters rather than just the zombie hordes. Some of the humans are friendly and some are anything but. The unfriendly humans add a twist to the survival and are quite different to the zombies.
The gameplay compliments the survival aspect. TLOU is a similar style to Uncharted but you won’t be freely dispensing ammunition like there is no tomorrow. In the current climate there may very well be no tomorrow but you are going to have to scavenge for supplies and ammunition is rare. Stealth is an essential approach; it doesn’t alert other enemies in the vicinity and conserves supplies for when they are absolutely vital. Bricks and bottles can be used to distract and stun, melee weapons can be used in place of guns and the bow and arrow is a perfect distance stealth weapon Joel will collect various odds and ends and these can be used to craft essential items such as nail bombs.
Joel has superhuman hearing and if you ‘listen’ then you can effectively see silhouettes through walls to aid the stealthy approach. Joel can take down enemies silently from behind with a choke move. The Survivor difficulty removes this listen mode which really intensifies the tension. I’m not normally one to bump up the difficulty but TLOU seemed to get even better on Survivor. The naming of the difficulty is spot on; if you reach the end you really will feel like you survived.
The stealth illusion can be broken at times by Ellie. Joel can be concealed behind some cover but the AI controlled Ellie won’t react quite as quickly and you just have to accept she is invisible to the enemies. It doesn’t spoil things by any means but it is noticeable.
Joel and Ellie visit a nice variety of locations and all are in a state of devastation; signs of previous struggles are everywhere. The environments are very atmospheric and do a great job of conveying what has happened. It’s all a bit grim and depressing but that’s the times Joel and Ellie are living in and Ellie is too young to know any different. There are some items to collect which can add further detail into the struggles that have taken place in the past; the desperation and despair is very evident.
The PS3 games was a 10 out of 10 for me. I enjoyed it so much that I played through again on the harder difficulty. I enjoyed that play through so much that… to cut a long story short, I got the platinum trophy and was proud of my achievement. After a 12 month gap, the prospect of playing through again appealed to me but is the PS4 version worth the extra cost?
The feature list for these remastered games always comes across as a sales pitch trying to convince us to pay more to play the same game on the new generation of consoles. TLOU comes with a 1080p facelift with higher resolution character models (ooo Joel’s beard in 1080p; sold!), upgraded textures, improved shadows and improved lighting. The frame rate has been boosted from 30 frames per second to 60 although it is unable to apparently maintain that 60 at all times. There is commentary for the game’s cinematic scenes where the creative director and writer, the game director, the actor who voices Joel and the actress who voices Ellie all get involved in a spot of chit chat. All of the downloadable content that was available on the PS3. This covers both multiplayer packs, the single player Left Behind content and harder than Survivor difficulty, Grounded mode. And how could I forget, a photo mode.
The 1080p facelift is hard to judge unless running the 2 versions side by side. The PS3 game is an incredibly good looking game and the improvements with the PS4 version aren’t blindingly obvious to me. I imagine the 12 month gap since I have played the PS3 version plays a part in that though. There were a few moments where I did suspect that I was seeing some extra detail that hadn’t been there previously. Visual improvements weren’t something I was actively looking for once I got absorbed into the game again.
I had read articles saying the improved frame rate meant it was hard to go back to the PS3 version. It isn’t something I have tried out but I can’t say it felt any different on the PS4. Again, there is a time lapse to factor in but at no point did it ever seem any different to what I remember of the PS3 experience.
The stand out inclusion from the above was the DLC and this is what clinched it for me. I would consider myself a bit of a TLOU fanboy but I’m not a fan of DLC and I didn’t bother with any of the DLC.
Left Behind is a good extension to the main story. It covers a bit of Ellie’s past as well as covering some of her actions during the timelines of the main game. Neither was entirely essential or added vital detail to the overall story but it still a worthy piece of DLC and well worth playing. Left Behind shows us a different side to Ellie where she was able to mess about with a friend and have a good bit of care-free fun rather than the Ellie fighting for survival that we constantly see in the main game. I’ve spent a fair bit of time with these characters and it was just nice to see Ellie acting her age for a change.
All of the extra maps are included in the remastered version which helps make the multiplayer mode feel fresh. The multiplayer is still one of the best online modes I have played. It is 4 vs 4 in small maps but the limited resources aspect from the main game adds some strategy. It is easy to spot the Call of Duty players galloping off to spray their limited bullets everywhere and they tend to be the ones to get killed first; a patient approach works best and it helps to stay with your team. There are 3 different game types and a bit of a story mode to go with it. The story is light but it does add an extra element of interest. Each match represents a day and the aim is to last 12 weeks. The story puts you as part of a group trying to survive and if you do well in a match and the group you are with can grow. You need to collect supplies to maintain numbers and health and killing enemies will help boost those supplies but you can have a poor performance and still collect enough supplies if you play sensibly. Other group members can become ill and die and if you lose your entire group then it is game over. To spice things up, the game throws some challenges every few days. You have 3 days in which to meet a target which again, adds a little something extra to the gameplay. The reward for these challenges can be an increase to the group but other challenges see you fighting to make sure your entire group is not wiped out. The task you perform towards the goal is chosen by you from an ample list and can either be general performance or specific to a weapon. Each time you use a task to pass a challenge the criteria attached to that task increases to make sure you have to branch out. It creates some tension to the play as it becomes more than just a mindless ‘kill the enemy for the sake of it’ game. As the weeks progress the challenge rises and the possibility of having to restart from day 1 becomes a worrying threat. I don’t tend to spend much time in online modes but I have spent an unhealthy amount of time with the online mode in TLOU.
If you have played the PS3 version then you know what to expect. As much as TLOU is one of my favourite games I’d find it hard to recommend playing this just for the improvements but it is a must play game no matter what version. And I played the PS4 version enough to get the platinum trophy to join the PS3 one.
10