When The Last of Us was first released in 2013 on the PlayStation 3 it quickly cemented itself as one of the best looking games of a generation. In addition to its visuals, which still hold up today, thanks to its PlayStation 4 port, which released a year later, it was one of the best narratively-driven games on the consoles.
It served as the perfect swansong for the PlayStation 3 and would still hold up as a singular game without the need for a sequel. This is thanks in large part to the emotional gut-punch served up as part The Last of Us’ ending. Thankfully, The Last of Us Part II more than lives up to its legacy but let’s take a look at five reasons it’s better (and five reasons it’s worse) than the original game.
10 Worse: Excessively Long Cutscenes
As stated, the visuals are absolutely incredible and it’s easy to forget that one is playing a video game when the cutscenes are playing. However, there is a significant amount of time spent watching instead of playing which will absolutely frustrate some gamers.
While it’s not Metal Gear Solid excessive, there is no getting away from the possibility that the game will put off some players, even those who enjoyed the original game. The first game’s cutscenes never felt like they outstayed their welcome but, in the sequel, it can really have a negative impact on the pacing.
9 Better: Beautiful Graphics
The environments look breathtaking, from the convincing way foliage reacts with the characters to the water effects and the way it splashes around their feet. Even the attention to some of smaller details, like Ellie tucking her hair behind her ear, brings a certain realism that even some of the early PS5 games will have trouble matching.
8 Worse: The Story’s Pacing
It’s not just the cutscenes that slow things down to crawl but the game’s execution of its storytelling in general. Many gamers may find themselves wanting the narrative to hurry along which is a problem when the gameplay takes a back seat to the story.
On a critical level, the story, narrative, and characters are excellent and it is mind-blowing how good everything looks. However, the pacing and sometimes plodding cutscenes can undermine what is otherwise a benchmark in narrative storytelling in videogames.
7 Better: It’s Emotionally Challenging
Those who have played the first game will remember just how impactful and emotionally driven the scenes where Joel decides to rescue Ellie from the operating table were. The Last of Us Part II takes this up quite a few notches and humanizes Ellie’s enemies in a way that no other game has come close.
In most narratively driven games, the heroes and villains are usually pretty straight forward. However, the sequel lets the player see the world from the perspective of her enemies to get a sense of their own often justified motivations making her acts of violence that much more disturbing.
6 Worse: It’s Lost The Element Of Surprise
Whether one wants to admit it or not, The Last of Us series is for all intents and purposes zombie games. The infected do have some behavioral characteristics that set them apart from other games in the genre due to their stages of infection.
However, the stages of infection are so strictly locked into the game’s story and lore that it leaves very little room for surprise when it comes to the horror aspects of The Last of Us Part II. There is a brand new enemy that has been introduced in this sequel and one can’t help but wonder why Naughty Dog didn’t introduce more scary creatures.
5 Better: An Amazing Cast Of Diverse Characters
Being title developed by Naughty Dog, The Last of Us Part II the dialogue, voice acting, and the script are all fantastic. This is also helped by the fact that the game’s world is filled with so many diverse and believable characters right from the start.
Even some of the lesser non-playable characters in the game look and feel just as memorable as the main cast and are beautifully captured. While it does create some padding in the story, playing the game from different perspectives helps build a more believable world and allows for better character development overall.
4 Worse: Not Everyone Will Accept Ellie’s Ruthlessness
Ellie is quite different from how she was in the first game and many gamers will have a lot of trouble accepting this fact. She’s more ruthless than Joel ever was and kills with the kind of ferocity that that would make James Earl Cash from Manhunt blush.
However, it’s not so much the killing which can look disturbing in itself, it’s what seems like a lack of empathy that Ellie has for her victims. ‘Victims’ is the keyword here, because the game has done such an amazing job of humanizing the characters. Unfortunately, this can often make the player feel like they are participating in a horrific act that they have no say in.
3 Better: Ellie’s Character Development
It’s true that Ellie has been hardened to the point where it seems like she has a complete lack of empathy towards her enemies. However, to dismiss her actions as cold or even hypocritical would be to do her character a disservice.
Ellie’s way of dehumanizing her enemies from a moral perspective is more in line with someone disassociating their actions as a form of survival and the repercussions of a traumatic event. Her quest for vengeance puts her at risk of becoming a monster herself but considering everything she has been through this only serves to make her character more believable and relatable no matter resentful the player may be toward her actions.
2 Worse: It Feels Like A Season Of The Walking Dead
The first game in The Last of Us series had a way of making the player feel like they were interacting with a box set drama. It has all the emotional highs and lows that one would expect from a great series with relatable and realistic characters.
Unfortunately, despite still having great characters with realistic motivations, The Last of Us Part II has very few high points beyond the opening scenes when players are introduced to Dina. There’s no escaping the feeling that the sequel feels like a (better) spin-off from The Walking Dead TV series complete with its overly depressing style of storytelling and character switching.
1 Better: World Building
The developers, Naughty Dog, have created a believable and terrifying post-apocalyptic world in the sequel. Its predecessor has laid the groundwork for its amazing world but The Last of Us Part II has really taken it even further.
Their recreation of Seattle really does feel like a world that was once lived in and completely oblivious to the horrific destiny that awaited it. The remnants of a lost society lay scattered all over what once a bustling city full of life. Abandoned supermarkets with ‘Employee of the Month’ posters, deteriorated children’s bedrooms with posters of their heroes on the walls, and collectible items with their own stories to tell akin to the notes and videos found scattered in the Resident Evil series. It helps create a world that feels bigger than the sum of its parts.
NEXT: 5 Things Devil May Cry Did Better Than Resident Evil (& Vice Versa)
