We cover one of the chapters of the expected sequel to Naughty Dog, a specific section where we find part of each element of its playable offer.
We can already start talking about specific aspects of The Last of Us Part 2. The wait is being long and, the longer, the higher the expectations. Naughty Dog has promised us during these almost four years that they have in their hands their most ambitious game to date and, in a way, it is. In this advance we can speak of very little; In order to tell you long and hard, we will have to wait until June 12 in the Reviews. But here we go, with a few initial reflections before tackling the mission that concerns us today, an approximation of what the title is at a playable level and a reason to understand why The Last of Us Part 2 is a great product at a mechanical level .
What ends do the means justify?
The perspective of time ends up placing each work in the place it deserves, there is no doubt. Seven years have passed since Joel and Ellie entered our lives at the end of the PS3 life straight. Coincidence or not, a generational cycle later and on almost identical dates, we take control again to control that protagonist, once again to practically fire a console. Surely we are not the only ones who believed that this story could exist without a second part, but here we have it. It is then necessary to do our part and be open to risks, to changes. It is logical to expect improvements and feel that the hardware is used more than before. However, what we all want is, above all, to know how this story continues, such as when the new season of one of our favorite series arrives or when the author's new book that makes us dream is published.
The Californian study has already made us dream and, since the last thing we can do in this text is to approach the plot gutter, we are going to limit ourselves to saying that the setting design of this episode serves as a photograph of what Neil Druckmann's team wanted to do with a sequel. We will assess in a few days if the type is maintained throughout the game, if this fast pace holds with the passing of the hours. But this couple of hours, which are part of the initial knot, seem to be strictly created to answer the question of whether The Last of Us Part 2 has improved the gameplay of the first part. And it has.
The changes in Ellie; stage design, action and stealth
Let's put ourselves in a situation: Ellie has begun the search for her current life purpose, driven by revenge. Recent acts have impacted his life, that life that became quiet in Jackson. Friendships, concerns, entertainment, laughter. There is an interruption, a task that takes the Ellie of nineteen years to leave. Finding that character means getting closer to that objective, from which he hopes to obtain information. For this, a mission notably built and executed: stealth, action, shooting, hand-to-hand combat, tension, narrative load … What we could expect from the fraction of a video game candidate for demo.
Melee combat forces you to better measure distances. The so-called 'hitbox' has been reduced. Tap to calculate.
Ellie has changed, it is not just someone older, but a more seasoned, prepared and determined, more adult; with a swift and agile body behavior, which matches well with a somewhat more vertical and peripheral setting design. And we say this because, unlike previous Naughty Dog works, the reaction of the character we control to possible impacts is not only sideways and forward, but also backward. This is something that has already been seen in the trailers: we can fall face up and continue shooting, dodging or hitting. The elusive is not trivial, which is directly linked to a stealth mechanic designed along with the highest height of the grass. It is not always the best to hit, nor to shoot. Sometimes, simply, we must flee. Our trail is part of the game.
The first leg of the mission makes us experiment with the stage. Look to the sides. Look up, turn around, go back. There's no one way to get into that building, and fortunately the Naughty Dog era of overlighted visual references is over. You have to think and find a way to get in. What if you break that glass? Is it perhaps better to crawl out there? Let's try. This first stage of the mission has a clear reference: you have to follow Route 5 to get to the hospital. The game forgets to constantly present visual cues and encourages you to browse. You have buildings on the left and on the right; There are broken windows on both sides and stairs clamoring to be stepped on at both poles. You choose. Because this title is more reactive, it asks for more from the player to try, make mistakes, soak up the tension of the moment. We will have time to talk about smart sound direction, with many winks like mentioning the names of fallen enemies from their colleagues. The result, fortunately, is a sound that favors immersion, which gives us clues to identify possible non-visible opponents. It is more sensory, therefore, and you already know that we love it.
Animations are part of the gameplay. Great leap in this section.
When the map opens more: jumps, verticality, experimentation
All in all, little by little we are also seeing the will of the Californian team for wanting to be a little Uncharted at times, which we do not know if it will eventually fit into the adventure or not when we advance further. Risky (or seemingly impossible) jumps and an Ellie determined to be the quintessential Lara Croft on PlayStation. It is an SUV and feels good at the controls, a character whose mechanical design has been polished to the maximum, much more than Joel in the first part; more like what Chloe Frazer was in The Lost Legacy, only stronger and more angry. Anger accompanies the personality of an Ellie driven by revenge, sometimes by the vesania that produces the pain of scars refused to close.
Sometimes we can choose to reach a specific point based on jumps; in others, it may be better to explore a bit and take useful resources at the risk of encountering one of the enemy factions or infected beings. Everything has a price because entrepreneurship carries risks. The Last of Us Part 2 is also risky in its structure, repeating patterns from the first part in this chapter when drawing some of its interior maps. Places with a multitude of rooms, corridors to advance, boxes to cover us …
Bullets must be counted well, because they are not abundant; you have to be careful with the resources, because they are scarce. And you have to play with noise to distract enemies whose artificial intelligence has been polished to have more movement patterns and be more hostile. We say that it is daring in its structure because it has not changed too much compared to the 2013 work and this may not like it if it ends up repeating itself too much. It was an interior stage design that worked, which also worked in some of the most remembered phases especially in Uncharted 3 and Uncharted 4, while in the presentation of exterior environments it reminds us more of The Lost Legacy.
How the voltage is transmitted has improved, it has given a generational change because it takes full advantage of the hardware capabilities of the PlayStation 4 —PS4 Pro, in our case, with HDR activated to check if there was any kind of positive effect on the lighting and the play of tonal contrasts. There are more elements on the screen, more destructible components. The cadence of the weapons, the weight of the bullets or the precision when using firearms are clearly improved. It is still not one of his biggest concerns (it is not his greatest asset either), but he maintains the type throughout the stretch.
The tension of the moment, an atmosphere infected with uncertainty
We have told you that in The Last of Us Part 2 you have to run a lot, and that's how it is. At a certain point, after having chosen whether to draw or see more blood than desired with the occasional struggle with Stalkers and a spectacular scene with cinematic overtones, we entered a calmer moment, where the direction of the game becomes aware of what important is to give those changes of rhythm to breathe. We are closer to the goal, but it remains to cross a huge park where you are invited to be stealthy, to cross a lush terrain without being seen, heard or felt. It is a challenging stretch, we must say, it requires a lot of patience to do it properly; but it is at the same time very rewarding. It is also here where we see the true graphic performance of the chapter, with a spectacular balance of light and shadow accompanied by the animations of the bushes, sensitive to the passage of air.
Very good in this regard, without a half-done texture. We do not know exactly what the months of delay in the title will have taken advantage of beyond the bug fixes, but the product that has come into our hands is polished and well finished, without jerks or problems. We have played this section several times until getting through it without a single loss, something that the title itself encourages you due to the design of the stage, especially considering that impacts such as that of the arrows are consuming life little by little unless we let's start it manually. Details that are the mark of the house.
Now it is time to enter the hospital even with a heart at one hundred, but how he has addressed the player at this moment throughout the chapter lasts long enough not to saturate. Again, emphasis on stealth. It's time to explore the stage and find a way to infiltrate the place without being seen. At the end, we move through the ventilation ducts. It is here where we must show stealth casualties more than ever, when we must take advantage of all the glass bottles and bricks to mislead. Finally, the time comes, with an Ellie gnashing her teeth and an encounter, with the heroine holding a gun. Background music is over.
"Remember me?"
A second can change everything.
The Last of Us Part 2 is meeting our expectations on a playable level, with great stage design and polished, enhanced Ellie control, fun to play. Now it remains to be seen if the game is capable of achieving excellence as a whole, maintaining the level with the passing of the hours, connecting all the story lines correctly and, above all, how it brings us to that point. The shadow of his own past is very long. See you on June 12 in the Reviews.
We have made these impressions through a digital code supplied by PlayStation on a PS4 Pro model.
