[E3 2012] Pistols and Pathos Abound
The Last of Us, Naughty Dog's latest, disarms showgoers with a strong sense of desperation and weight. We get a behind-closed-doors peek at a new version of the press conference presentation.
Published: June 7, 2012
A middle aged man and a teenage girl stand in front of an old movie poster on the side of what used to be a bus stop. As if the streets weren't littered with rusting hulks of cars and the remains of the Pittsburgh skyline wasn't riddled with endlessly coiling vines, the two begin to discuss the film, not unlike the way a father and daughter might.
Commenting on the man and woman featured in the picture, the girl asks, “Does he hack her up good at the end?”
“There's no hacking up of anyone. It's not that kind of movie. It's one of those 'teeny' movies.” he replies.
“Oh. Well then...who dragged you to it?”
“I...don't remember.” he lies, his voice heavy with loss and regret as he begins to walk away. “C'mon. Let's stay focused.”
When they aren't dodging violent scavengers or fighting off infected, this is what Joel and Ellie, the stars of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, do. They talk. They connect. They do what lonely humans thrust together by the near end of our species would do. They reminisce about things that allow them to feel a brief sense of normalcy. They try to remember, or forget, the people they've lost along the way.
Humanity. It's what drives every aspect of the experience in The Last of Us from exploration and traversal to combat and survival. You never forget that the characters you control, and kill are flesh and blood, just like you.
It really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Naughty Dog ended up being the studio capable of capturing this kind of nuance, and all without taking control away from the player for even a moment. This is the craft they've been honing for years now with the Uncharted franchise, and I could see evidence of their steady, practiced hand in every dusty corner of the ruins of Pittsburgh during my extended behind closed doors demo. Visually, this game is a marvel of dilapidation and devastation – replete with the kind of detail that PC evangelists continue to insist isn't possible on home consoles. But the real triumph isn't in the technical impossibility of what The Last of Us achieves, it's in how all the details, in both presentation and game play, come together to create an experience that is as exhilarating as it is authentic and affecting.
Take for instance, the act of sneaking up on and choking out an enemy from behind. For context, these men, known as “hunters”, have been stalking Joel and Ellie, trying to kill them for what resources they may have. While scavenging a flooded out hotel, our protagonists happen upon a group of them and are forced to defend themselves. After carefully shadowing one of them to an isolated room, Joel makes his move, wrapping one arm around his would be killer's throat, and the other cradling the the top and side of his head to apply pressure. The camera zooms in tight enough to give the player a good hard look at the face of the man they are killing, and I do mean hard. Both him and Joel are gasping with exertion, flailing about as they try to impose their will upon one another. The man grasps and claws frantically at Joel's arms, gasping for air and eventually fading away. It all happens slowly. Slow enough to really see what you, through Joel are doing. Slow enough to be uncomfortable.
Commenting on the man and woman featured in the picture, the girl asks, “Does he hack her up good at the end?”
“There's no hacking up of anyone. It's not that kind of movie. It's one of those 'teeny' movies.” he replies.
“Oh. Well then...who dragged you to it?”
“I...don't remember.” he lies, his voice heavy with loss and regret as he begins to walk away. “C'mon. Let's stay focused.”
When they aren't dodging violent scavengers or fighting off infected, this is what Joel and Ellie, the stars of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, do. They talk. They connect. They do what lonely humans thrust together by the near end of our species would do. They reminisce about things that allow them to feel a brief sense of normalcy. They try to remember, or forget, the people they've lost along the way.
Humanity. It's what drives every aspect of the experience in The Last of Us from exploration and traversal to combat and survival. You never forget that the characters you control, and kill are flesh and blood, just like you.
It really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Naughty Dog ended up being the studio capable of capturing this kind of nuance, and all without taking control away from the player for even a moment. This is the craft they've been honing for years now with the Uncharted franchise, and I could see evidence of their steady, practiced hand in every dusty corner of the ruins of Pittsburgh during my extended behind closed doors demo. Visually, this game is a marvel of dilapidation and devastation – replete with the kind of detail that PC evangelists continue to insist isn't possible on home consoles. But the real triumph isn't in the technical impossibility of what The Last of Us achieves, it's in how all the details, in both presentation and game play, come together to create an experience that is as exhilarating as it is authentic and affecting.
Take for instance, the act of sneaking up on and choking out an enemy from behind. For context, these men, known as “hunters”, have been stalking Joel and Ellie, trying to kill them for what resources they may have. While scavenging a flooded out hotel, our protagonists happen upon a group of them and are forced to defend themselves. After carefully shadowing one of them to an isolated room, Joel makes his move, wrapping one arm around his would be killer's throat, and the other cradling the the top and side of his head to apply pressure. The camera zooms in tight enough to give the player a good hard look at the face of the man they are killing, and I do mean hard. Both him and Joel are gasping with exertion, flailing about as they try to impose their will upon one another. The man grasps and claws frantically at Joel's arms, gasping for air and eventually fading away. It all happens slowly. Slow enough to really see what you, through Joel are doing. Slow enough to be uncomfortable.
