The Last of Us Remastered Review (PS4)

The Last of Us marked the swan song of the PS3 console last summer, delivering a stellar gameplay experience that managed to overcome the small capabilities of the old Sony device and delight millions of fans from around the world.

While many thought that The Last of Us Remastered for the PS4 was just a quick cash grab from Sony to squeeze in extra profit from the popular title, others were delighted to experience the game with much better visuals and with all the DLC, not to mention the prologue expansion, in a single package.

The result is a pretty polarizing product, but certainly one that new PS4 owners, especially those who didn't have a PS3, have been waiting for for quite some time. Does it deliver an improved experience over the older version or should The Last of Us remain on the PS3? Let's find out.

Visuals and Sound

As opposed to regular reviews, I'm kicking this one off with arguably the most important aspect of The Last of Us Remastered – the visuals. Naughty Dog worked hard to improve the textures seen in the PS3 game, not to mention the character models, the animations, and much more.

The result is a pretty good-looking game, especially when compared directly to the previous edition. Character models are less blurry and way more detailed. Textures have a better quality but there are still a few issues of pop-in. One extreme case happened during the opening section, where a porch morphed into existence while I was stepping on its invisible structure.

The 60fps framerate is definitely the most noticeable improvement. The whole game feels more responsive, and barring a few drops here and there, when more enemies are on the screen, there's no reason to go into the options menu and turn on the 30fps lock.

Shadows and objects still suffer from aliasing, as it seems that the remastering process still hasn't managed to implement a decent form of anti-aliasing, so expect jagged edges on both 30fps and 60fps modes.

The soundtrack is still quite impressive and the voice acting from Joel (Troy Baker) and Ellie (Ashley Johnson) are stellar, to say the least, making their characters feel alive and real during their many adventures.

The Last of Us Remastered has vibrant visuals

Story

I won't reiterate the points I made in my original The Last of Us for PS3 review. The gist is that The Last of Us has a believable story that manages to avoid cliché moments and is filled with believable characters that see all their will tested by a grueling environment and other nefarious people.

The Last of Us Remastered adds as part of the standard package the Left Behind downloadable prologue, which charts the adventures of Ellie before she met Joel. The side story fleshes out her character and puts it on equal grounds with that of Joel in terms of depth and personality. It also fills in the gaps about a few loose ends and should certainly satisfy those looking to have all the answers.

Gameplay

Gameplay in The Last of Us Remastered hasn't changed all that much. There's the same emphasis on third-person action, and during confrontations players can choose to go on different routes. From the traditional shooting, just like in Naughty Dog's previous Uncharted games, to stealth and brawling, many encounters can be pursued in various ways.

Bear in mind that, to reinforce the idea of the post-apocalyptic environment, resources are scarce and crafting is the key for success. Joel and Ellie need to ensure they have the tools needed to survive and to eliminate foes, from regular human bandits to infected monsters and the deadly clickers.

It's often better to sneak around and avoid any unnecessary combat, so that you can save your resources, including the very precious bullets. Playing on higher difficulties, such as the Grounded one that was patched into the PS3 version after release, makes resource conservation crucial in actually succeeding and surviving.

The remastering process, however, still hasn't eliminated all the problems that affected the AI behavior in the game. Human opponents will still be quite observant of dead bodies and will immediately chase you down despite sticking to the shadows or at least in cover. The infected and the clickers are also rather adept at tracking down the player, even on the normal difficulty level.

Hand-to-hand combat is also a bit finicky, especially when other characters, like Tess, try to help. The result is your fists and punches clipping through the other character, leading to some amusing glitches.

Exploration is still good, as The Last of Us Remastered still emphasizes teamwork and the use of tools, such as ladders or planks, to get around the environment. The level design is the same, but there are quite a lot more things to admire throughout it.

Small tweaks and enhancements have been made by Naughty Dog to take advantage of the DualShock 4 controller. This time, the crafting menu can be opened using the touchpad and certain sounds can be heard via the built-in speaker.

Last but not least, like with Infamous: Second Son, a special Photo Mode has been added, through which players can tweak all sorts of settings to produce the perfect image of the game.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer mode in The Last of Us Remastered features all the different DLC packs and expansions released for it since the original's debut in June of 2013. These include new maps, a fresh mode, not to mention plenty of customization items. All of them serve to add more depth and plenty of reasons for players to stay engaged in the online mode.

However, it still suffers from the slightly erratic hand-to-hand combat seen in the story and your mileage may vary. The matchmaking system is also plagued by lengthy loading times, but right now Naughty Dog is focused on solving them as fast as possible.

The Last of Us Remastered photo mode in action

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion