The Last of Us has real heart, but not much else

I sincerely think this website should not be featured in Metacritic.

I would argue people would pay 60 dollars for dialogue and cutscenes if it was interesting. They pay 20-30 for movies. This is 5 times the length of most movies.

Surely you played the game correct? Certainly much more than moving the joystick forward. Despite what you may think of the genre, this was one of the best 3rd person shooters mechanically in a very long time.

Also, games are much more than just games now. Production values and *digital* cinematography are important to modern day games, especially ones with a story to tell. Roger Ebert said games would never be art, I'd say the past few years have been proving him wrong.

If it was a widespread problem, people would let them know. The majority of people don't seem to have any problem with the gameplay.

Not the best AI, Ellie was standing out in the open, and I swear to god, the AI was looking directly at her and it didnt react. Ive seen better AI, Lost Planet, Definitely every Halo Game. Unreal Championship. There are tons of better AI than this game.

Made games real??? He made games real by nerfing gameplay for more cinematics than anything. The most interaction you get with its games are just button commands. This game is a game that I'd rather watch for the story than be forced to play through it.

When the fuck did he say it was a shooter lol. He spoke the truth and your only rebuttal was to tell him to play COD LMAO

What game do you think deserves such raving accolades

I think a Pedo-Bear meme is appropriate for this game.... Joel is only after snatch

Well deserved.

The gameplay is stale... Great story, but the astonishing samey gameplay of a. 3rd person shooter that we experienced a million times before, ruins an otherwise amazing game. The problem with story driven games where gameplay is secondary or not a priority at all is the game has no redeeming qualities after you finish the campaign. The MP was ok, but that only holds it's charm for a week.

While I'm playing TLOU i'm all like "OMG GOTY" but after it's finished, I have no desire to play it ever again. That's TERRIBLE replay value. That's a hefty investment ($60) for a short 13 hour game. I want my games to last A LOT longer.

I feel you and I agree. The problem with story driven games is you only play it once. Once the campaign is over, that game you dropped $60 on is now completely worthless after the short 13 hour campaign is over with.

Had Naughty Dog put gameplay as the top priority and made it more of a sandbox, you could stretch the value past the 30 hour mark

I agree on the story, but the gameplay is stale as heck. It does nothing new..... That's terrible gameplay.

Take the guy in your name. Mario concentrates on the fabulous gameplay. Once you finish the campaign and the credits roll, it's still fun to go back and replay levels. TLOU is story driven where the campaign is amazing while lasts, but after that, the game is going to collect dust for eternity.

Gameplay is value added by making the game replay able. $60 is a lot of money to drop on a 13 hour investment of time.

why is tom chick the one that always ends up reviewing Sony exclusive games only to score them bad? I go to metacritic and 99% of the time his reviews are at the bottom. And then the few times I've seen him enjoy a game it's some mediocre garbage like Need for Speed... I just don't get his criteria to review games.

But what I do find most surprising is how he can keep reviewing games when he seems to hate most if not all of them. I mean, if he doesn't like video games then why is he wasting his time doing it? This guy has flopped some of the most incredible video games ever made, so I really don't think his reviews are ever gonna be that valuable to anybody.

The gameplay is pretty solid on this game. The production values are excellent, the story, the voice acting, and the game itself is a blast to play. I don't get all of the issues people have with it. This reviewer is just a twit.

Ugh. Why is this click bait review still on Metacritic? It's getting to be a common problem from aggregate review sites (Rotten Tomatoes being the most obvious) and needs to be stopped. It isn't fair to the integrity of the game to be posting low scores just to get more views on the site. Tired of it.

I dont know what game this guy was playing, but the gameplay in TLOU is brilliant! The combat has such a sense of danger and brutal realism that other games just don't. The aiming with the guns is shaky and heavily affected when you are hit or have been sprinting etc..
The melee combat has more contact and satisfaction than any other game like this ive played.

And its consistent throughout.. not remotely 'struggling' to find its identity.
Watching this game as opposed to actually playing it is the biggest mistake you will ever make!

seems like this website is full of assholes and ive been reading a lot of your reviews, and my resume is you're all sony haters, i can't believe you said this to the last of us but gta v gave almost a 10, gta v was crap in all terms, never compenetrated characters, a boring and never matched storyline (the ending was good but ive have seen that in many movies), empty map and many places almost never used in the storyline, and many many stuff i can say, but guess what, this crappy website is shit

This review is garbage. Attention-seeking garbage.

I've never heavily indulged in video games. Occasionally I'd play Halo or NBA 2k or The Walking Dead, but it consistently bores me after a short period of time. This game, though. Holy mother of god. THIS game had me sitting on the edge of my seat, going from tears to laughs to austere to every other emotion you could think of. I lost sleep over this game, and I usually can't stand gaming for more than 1-2 hours at a time. Anyone who deducts 40 goddam points because minorly awkward controls and AI that isn't flawless is just looking for attention.

Tom, I don't know you, but I do know this review is 100% for attention (the negative kind). Congratulations, because you succeeded too. But no one in their right mind plays through the scene with Sam's death, or David's attack, or Joels rescue mission, and gives this a 60. It's simply not morally possible. I deduct 5 points, tops, for gameplay flaws. That's it. End of story. Thanks for trolling, but im leaving your site now, and I won't be returning.

All I hear about AI is that they didn't see Ellie so there for its bad, but im afraid you just really don't understand what bad AI is, because its not bad AI if they've been programmed to purposelly not see her, so if anything it means the AI is working perfectly, doing what they've been told, being the best AI they can be, and being better at their job than you had originally thought. I think an apology is in order.