The Original Was Amazing – This One is Even Better

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The Last of Us became a generation defining title when it launched last year on PlayStation 3, and many would go even further to say that it was instantly one of the best games of all time.  Statements like that are hard to argue against when The Last of Us is now the most awarded game in history by critics.  I fall right into that camp: before playing The Last of Us for the first time, I had never considered a game to be worthy of a 10/10 score.  As immersive as a game may be, as beautiful as it may look, or as gripping as the story may be, I’ve always believed that there will be enough problems to keep games off of the perfect score pedestal.  The Last of Us shattered that belief.

The Last of Us: Remastered is the exact same game the original was a year ago.  However, it also includes all of the DLC, was upgraded to run at 1080p and 60fps, and includes a photo mode that lets players act like they are using Instagram in the game’s post pandemic setting.

What all of this meant for me is quite simple — The Last of Us: Remastered instantly overtook the throne of best game I have ever played.  Sure, I will never get the first playthrough reaction again because I know what is going to happen, but does that take away from just how incredible this game is?  Absolutely not.  Recently, one of the writers here at Middle Of Nowhere Gaming made a bold claim that The Last of Us actually gets better the more you play it, unlike most other games.  And you know what? He is completely right; it really does.

Just how much better could a remastered version be?  Well, let’s talk about just how beautiful TLOU: Remastered really is.  If you played the original on PlayStation 3, you will immediately be able to tell the difference just by watching the opening cutscenes.  Joel and Sarah look much sharper than they used to, and the camera moves around like it’s a feather floating on the wind.  Do you think I am sugarcoating or exaggerating?  I’m not.

However, even though Remastered looks and feels exponentially better than its source material, there are minor hiccups here and there.  One problem I ran into was that I felt motion sick each time I had to sprint during the first hour or two of the game.  I am by no means a tech-genius, so I can’t say I understand exactly what affects the change from 30fps to 60fps can have on people, but it made me feel sick several times.  But it’s not all bad!  If you decide to stick it out with 60fps instead of locking it back at 30 you will almost certainly grow accustomed to it with time.  It took me about two or three hours to finally shake the feeling.  On top of that, 60fps makes the gunplay so much better.  The combat felt faster and tighter — something that Naughty Dog’s gunfights are not usually known for.

The only other issue I had with the graphics was the occasional glitch where people would run through walls, get stuck running in place, etc.  This kind of thing happens in just about every game if you look hard enough, so it should be taken lightly because it didn’t happen often.

Naughty Dog’s decision to add a photo mode to TLOU: Remastered was a very smart move.  What better way to show off all the hard work and dedication the team put into this game than adding the ability to snap awesome photos of the many incredible sights/scenes found in the game?  On top of this, they added the option to add filters to each photo you take, making it feel just like Instagram.  We live in a society where the masses are hungry to share, like, and comment on as much content as possible; Naughty Dog knew this, and it’s why it was such an important addition.

All of that said, the best part about Remastered may be that it includes the Left Behind DLC and two multiplayer map packs for less than the original price when when the game was released WITHOUT the extra content last year.  Left Behind is a heartwrenching flashback story about Ellie that players will now be able to play whenever they want (preferably after beating the main story). The multiplayer maps were really fun to play on, especially since it runs much smoother graphically now than it used to.

The Verdict: 10 out of 10

The Last of Us: Remastered is by far the best game I have played on PlayStation 4 so far, and I now consider it the best game I have ever played.  If you still only have a PlayStation 3, the original version will suite you just fine, as it still holds up incredibly well.  However, if you own a PlayStation 4, you are doing yourself a disservice by not playing the Remastered version.  The graphics are so noticeably better that you will see the difference right away, and the additions of the photo mode and all of the DLC make the package seem criminally underpriced.  Do yourself a favor and get this game.  You’d be hard pressed to find a prettier game that also has one of the best stories ever told in any format.

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Courtney Osborn is MONG’s Founder and Editor in Chief.  You can follow him on Twitter, Twitch, and IGN.