The Last of Us Part II Review (z4nid)
The Last of Us Part II is objectively a good game, no matter how you slice it. So why is it getting a thumbs down? Well, that's actually the main argument of this review.
The biggest shift that Part II did that made it so controversial, was the shift in tone. If Part I was dark enough for a lot of people, Part II broke barriers in what people thought was possible. But that's not my issue with it. It's the storytelling. It's something reminiscent of scrambled eggs. A mistake that at least the TV series is fixing.
The story is everywhere. It doesn't start at the beginning, it starts somewhere around the middle, then goes back to the past in flashbacks, then goes back and forth again and again. It's so convoluted, and I really can't see a reason why the writers set it up this way. Maybe they thought they were breaking barriers in storytelling - they weren't, in fact it was a mistake to write it this way, because it's simply not compatible with character driven narratives.
Part I in contrast, was a simple, linear, and deeply personal story about dealing with loss and moving past it. Part II, in turn was not even a story - it's just a cautionary tale about the dangers of revenge. The whole game plays like its trying to make a point, and that point is hammered again and again, almost to preaching levels. Part I wasn't trying to make any particular point about violence - it was simply understood by anyone playing, just by being in that world, that this is how things work now. And it does work, because it's simple. It's told through the characters eyes.
Part II, however tries to give you the perspective of two opposing sides, and that's the main flaw in my opinion. It's structured much like a dissertation. It's not about telling a story and making it into an emotional experience, it's about proving a point by examining the evidence. It's about making it as objective, and impersonal as possible.
But humans don't work that way. Part II dehumanizes the player in that regard, by making us hyper aware of what happens on both sides - a thing that is not possible for the characters. That just takes so much away in my opinion. The whole charm of Part I was developing this bias towards Ellie, which will make you as a player want to protect her no matter what by the end. This bias is what makes us human, and Joel was able to embody that perfectly. But here in Part II, it deconstructs any attachment you have with Ellie in favor of Abby, only to deconstruct it again and leave you with nothing, just to prove a point.
Part II was not supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be an experiment. It was too concerned with being revolutionary, that it forgot to be fun. It tried to break barriers in storytelling, and it ended up being a fiasco. Some people have commended the writers for taking risks with Part II, but players aren't looking for anything revolutionary, they just want to have a good time. That being said, Part I was pretty groundbreaking for a game that "played safe".
The only redeemable aspect of Part II was it's technical achievements. The game is unbelievably gorgeous, unfathomably realistic in it's depictions of everything, specially violence, and a complete leap beyond everything that was achieved with Part I. It just plays amazing. The combat, the exploration, the crafting, the stealth, the visuals, the motion capture, the voice acting, the soundtrack... it is simply a masterclass in every technical aspect.
However, unfortunately, that only serves to further exacerbate all the problems with the narrative. While its carcass shines in utter brilliance, it's rotten core is exposed and left to burn in the sun.