ethomaz on 07 February 2014
The titles says everyting...
The AMAZING DLC for GOTG The Last os Us is TWO hours long... the $40 Ground Zeroes not.
What did you thing about that?
MORE ABOUT THE DLC (GAF INFO)
$15 (US) - Next week store update
FIRST IMPRESSIONS (GAF AGAIN)
| EUROGAMER Left Behind takes some two hours from beginning to end, and in that time I welled up once, while thinking to myself that Naughty Dog has done it again a couple times more. It's an expansion as brave and thoughtful as the original, retaining the quality of Joel and Ellie's story and enhancing it in subtle, moving ways. Left Behind introduces a new weapon type - but we'll let you discover that for yourself - as well as a new flavour of combat, with the infected now able to clash against non-infected foes while you wait in the shadows. It's a fitting addition when you're playing as the physically weaker Ellie, and introduces a new layer of strategy to the combat. "The only reason we discussed it is because we thought there was so much demand for it," explains Druckmann. "The thing with Ish, I think it's one of those things that's better left to the imagination - everyone has a different idea of what he looks like, how old he is or how he'd behave. It felt like we'd take something away from that by fleshing it out. Even in the DLC we actually had at one point a note that we wrote out that you'd find that continued Ish's story. It was a really moving note about him and his relationship with Susan, but it felt too much like fan service, too much of a coincidence that you'd find this note." Riley and Ellie's relationship, as told across the two hours of Left Behind, ends up as convincing - and as emotionally powerful - as that between Ellie and Joel. It's a different dynamic, and a different type of bond, but again it's one forged through mechanics as much as it is through the perfectly pitched cut-scenes There are sweet moments throughout Left Behind, as well as tragic ones. Some of that tragedy won't come as a surprise to anyone who's played through the original to its conclusion, which makes Naughty Dog's decision to have Riley's story at the centre of its expansion all the more brave, and all the more strange. "Before we committed to this side story, we challenged ourselves and said, is this a story worth telling, because people already know how it ends," says Druckmann. "Is there anything new here, and is there any other insight I could gain from this? And it's not so much about how it ends. It's about this journey, and seeing the impact the relationship has with Ellie and how deep it went. It felt like a new insight into who Ellie was." |
| IGN While there is fighting and gunplay in Left Behind, what it readily emphasizes is a steady, slow, and thoughtful examination of a long-abandoned mall. There are surprises – awesome, story-bending surprises, in fact – but by-and-large, this once-bastion of commerce outside of Boston’s quarantine zone is the DLC’s main focus. Actress Ashley Johnson does a great job of jumping back into the character of Ellie, a character PlayStation gamers absolutely adore not only for her smart mouth and surprisingly adult demeanor, but for her moments of vulnerability and her inability to fully comprehend what the real, pre-pandemic world even was. You get more of that here, though there’s an edge taken off of her because we see her largely through the lens of someone who hasn’t yet been bitten by the Infected or met Joel. Her world hasn’t yet been turned upside down. Johnson’s performance is commendable, and so too is that of newcomer Yaani King, who -- in her first mo-capped gaming role – provides the yin to Ellie’s yang. The two girls’ interactions with one another made me a believer in their friendship. Everything is tangible between them. There’s true emotion there. Their back-and-forth is arguably as interesting to listen to as Ellie’s and Joel’s. Still, The Last of Us’ plot and narrative-driven nature is alive and well in Left Behind, and that’s the best news fans could possibly hear. So much is jam-packed into a few short hours that it’d be impossible to go over it all. And even if I could, I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprises stuffed into it. All I’ll say is this: there’s every reason for you to be excited about Left Behind, especially if you want to learn more about Ellie’s origins while getting a haunting – albeit brief – glimpse back into her world. |
| VG247 “While making the full game I was writing The Last of Us: American Dreams graphic novel with Faith Erin Hicks, which tells the story of how Riley met Ellie and how Ellie started to change because of that,” explains Druckmann as he recounts how Left Behind came into existence.“There has always been that gap between the comic book and the main campaign and we had some ideas about how those gaps would be filled in, but the finer details weren’t there. “As soon as the opportunity came up to do another The Last of Us chapter to flesh out the story we were really drawn to the idea of filling in those gaps. The challenge then became about making the characters and story feel like they could exist by themselves – whether the characters have their own arcs that feel real within this story and, maybe more importantly, whether this gives you more insight into who Ellie is and why she has made certain decisions.” “The challenge that we constantly give ourselves is how we use video game mechanics and interactivity to get you to better relate to these characters,” says Druckmann. “With Left Behind specifically it was about how we, even outside of combat, build mechanics and scenarios, and sometimes minigames, that build and demonstrate the bond between Ellie and Riley. “That was a big challenge.” “In some ways the shorter length has made it a more difficult story to write,” Druckmann continues. “We could really take our time with Joel and Ellie because we saw them over such a comparatively long period in their lives, we could really flesh those characters out. “With Riley, seeing as Left Behind is a couple of hours long, it was more a case of working out the most efficient way for us to get you to buy into who she is and buy into the relationship between her and Ellie. “That was actually a really big challenge and it took a lot of iteration on the dialogue and interactions to get that feeling right. Really, it was iterated on a lot.” “Even with the main The Last of Us we went past our comfort zone when it came to having so few combat encounters,” Druckmann discusses when probed about the scarcity of Left Behind’s combat. “No one complained that there wasn’t enough combat, though, so that gave us confidence. “With Left Behind we wanted to push that concept even further and have even fewer combat encounters and see how people react to that… see if they still like it and whether or not it still works for them. |
