I am not often a fan of survival games, or anything with a bit of stealth. That being said, I absolutely loved everything about The Last of Us. From off the bat I felt transported, like I was put smack dab in the middle of a beautiful yet terrifying waste land. It grabbed me from the second it stared all the way to the grand finale. It felt like I was in a place that actually existed. Everything felt alive and shockingly real. Following Joel and Ellie through their journey was tough, not so much in a game play sort of way, but more of a emotional journey sort of way. Naughty Dog has made something that made me care, which so often is not the case.
To start off, I loved the game play, from the action set pieces, to the stealth sections, to just walking around and experiencing the hidden depth of the world. Everything felt very fluid, and every time I walked in to doom and failed, I knew it was my mistake. It felt a lot like when I played Dead Space for the first time, just subtracting the horror for pure doom and gloom. The points where I had to sneak around and be all stealthy, also played wonderfully. I often avoid stealth game play, because I'm not very good, which I learned from tripping through all the Metal Gear Solid games. However, in The Last of Us I felt like I could do it, and I wanted to do it, because I cared about the characters in danger so much.
Now I don't want to spoil anything, because if you have a Playstation 3 you need to go out and grab this game. It is absolutely wonderful. Even the multiplayer which I didn't expect much from, has engrossed me for the past week, in a way that only Criterion driving games have. Making me come back night after night to save my group of survivors. Again, if you haven't picked this game up you need to, in my opinion I think this just may be the best game I've played this entire generation.