The drip-feeding of details on Naughty Dog's The Last of Us continues this morning with a little more information about the game's main characters, the gameplay itself and story.
According to the mag, Ellie, the young girl seen in the debut trailer, is an orphan that was living in in a military quarantine zone. Since she has only known the world destroyed by the fungal outbreak she has a fascination with relics of the past such as books and CDs.
Joel, the bearded fella accompanying Ellie, is said to be in his late 40s and is a weapons and drugs smuggler who moves his cargo in and out of military-guarded checkpoints.
The infection that has reduced civilization to rubble can apparently transfer through the air, but requires a high concentration of infected spores in a relatively small area to do so. The military conducts scans at its checkpoints and those found to have signs of infection are executed immediately, making Joel's job rather risky.
Naughty Dog is creating a plot that is self-contained, so there won't be any loose ends should its new IP bomb.
The Last of Us opens with Joel attempting to smuggle Ellie out of a safe zone, having promised a dying friend that he'd escort her to safety. The relationship between the two characters is likened to those seen in Hollywood movies such as True Grit and Road to Perdition.
The dynamic between Drake and Tenzin in Uncharted 2 is specifically mentioned. Naturally things go a bit pear-shaped for Joel and the duo find themselves being pursued by the military.
Visually The Last of Us is said to be inspired by "Ruin Porn", a type of photography centred around capturing images of ruins that have been overgrown by nature
In terms of combat it looks like the game will be melee heavy. In GI's demo objects such as bricks and planks of wood are used to fight off enemies. Although guns will definitely be available, ammo for them will be scarce, but enemies will often fall after a single shot.
During combat Ellie is very vocal, when not swearing liberally she's shouting out warnings and constantly giving the player heads ups. Over time her combat proficiency also increases, but Naughty Dog doesn't go into much detail on what that entails.
Quizzed on an online mode, the game's director, Bruce Straley, admitted it is "going to have some sort of online component" and said: "we're working on a bunch of ideas, but we haven't nailed anything down. We definitely know it's going to be awesome."
Still not satisfied? Here's some more The Last of Us details.
Comments
11 comments so far...
rivariad on 6 Feb '12 said:
it'll sell s**tload if its comin from naughty dog, no info needed
Gambini on 6 Feb '12 said:
The more I hear, the more I can't wait to see gameplay footage! I just really hope they can differentiate the gameplay from the Uncharted Series otherwise all we'll hear is "herp derp, it's a reskinzzz unchartedzzz"
YouStoleMyKill on 6 Feb '12 said:
While im glad ND are putting some sort of online mode (reason to keep it after i get the platinum) I dont think it needs competitive multiplayer but I have said all along that it should have some sort of co-operative mode , because killing infected monsters / zombies and deranged human psycopaths is better with 1,2 or even 3 friends than doing it by yourself ... dead rising 2 and black ops zombies im looking at you
YouStoleMyKill on 6 Feb '12 said:
Oh and 1 more thing ... does this awesome online mode have a beta
zombiesinmyhead on 6 Feb '12 said:
The zombie apocalypse and contraband, two of my favourite things.
Online definitely needs a horde type mode, and something like Halo's Zombie could also be a hoot.
Barca Azul on 6 Feb '12 said:
Sounds very good, I hope expectation won't get the better of it!
TheLastDodo on 6 Feb '12 said:
They had me at the description of Ellie's character.
When the feck can I play this game?
ladycroft142 on 6 Feb '12 said:
In a game like this, the main focus should be a gripping single player experience with solid gameplay and an enthralling story. Online modes are fine in games, but only if it makes sense and to me an online component for The Last of Us is wholly unnecessary, but as it's an exclusive title it's undoubtedly a box Sony has instructed them to tick.
gmcb007 on 6 Feb '12 said:
Well said!
silent moose on 6 Feb '12 said:
I'd like to see them not go so set piece heavy and focus more on creating a deeper gameplay experience this time around. I felt like I didn't have much input in what was going on in uncharted 3 other than just making the story progress to the next scene, though its still much more of a game than heavy rain. A proper survival horror game would be good but im not holding my breath as accessibility seems to be at the forefront of everything these days.
TheLastDodo on 6 Feb '12 said:
It makes perfect sense, just like it does in Uncharted. You are accompanied with at least one AI partner for most of an Uncharted game so co-op is a natural fit for Uncharted and very likely The Last of Us.
If it's competitive multiplayer like TDM, CTF or your other standard CoD fare, well then you'd have a point.