LogFAQs > #903193612

I draw a hard line between good writing and good storytelling. The Last of Us is well written, but it's not interesting. A story of two survivors trying to trudge through the post-apocalypse doesn't do anything for me. At least with something like Horizon you've got a unique spin on the post-apocalyse setting with the cybernetic/primitive hybrid, just for one example.

The combat was all stuff I'd seen before. Not to say it was bad, but there wasn't any major draw to the gameplay that I couldn't get elsewhere. It's far from the best third person shooter I've played. Movement options aren't interesting, gunplay doesn't have any unique quirks, the speed is relatively slow for my tastes, and so on. I feel like scavenging for supplies and crafting ammo is a very cumbersome mechanic that too many modern games implement as a way to add a smidge of depth (Tomb Raider, Horizon, The Evil Within) because the actual act of hiding behind cover, centering your reticule, and firing your gun (or bow) isn't at all interesting or engaging, and hunting for ammo is easier to program than designing enemies and encounters that challenge you to fight differently.

Basically, my complaint about all these types of games is "I've already seen this before; what's new?" And because I'm a gameplay first kinda guy, hearing the defense of "it's a new story" doesn't do much for me if I didn't already enjoy the gameplay in the original release. And with The Last of Us 2, I saw a whole lot of scripted gameplay, a whole lot of boring conversations between characters I don't care about, and that's about it. What was new? This was their first impression - their chance to hook me - and I guess I'm just not their target audience, because I wasn't impressed. It's a hard pass for me.