games website "The End of America" detailed review: The best God of the year finally came out

Recommended audience: All PS3 players

Summary: As a die-hard fan of SCE, you may not know Ken Kutaragi, you may not know Kazuo Hirai, but you must not know the "naughty dog" this loud golden sign.

From PS, PS2 to PS3, Naughty Dog has contributed three influential game series to three generations of playstation consoles - "Wolf", "Jack and Dusty", "Uncharted", especially the latter, Naughty Dog with its amazing technical strength and creativity for the vast number of players to bring a visual feast comparable to Hollywood movies.

With the end of the "Uncharted" trilogy, the adventure of Drake has come to an end for the time being, and when the current era and the next era console alternate, the player's attention to Naughty Dog studio is once again floating on the surface, is it again to create a sequel to "Uncharted" or rebuild a new portal?

In fact, this question has long been answered, as early as the end of 2011 "Uncharted 3" game, players found a naughty dog's next exclusive game related Easter eggs, the same year, SCE officially announced the existence of this game, which is when players began a new round of speculation and expectations.

With the passage of time, nearly a year and a half has passed, Naughty Dog at 1 o 'clock this morning (Beijing time) finally for the non-majority of players (only previously pre-ordered God of War: Ascension players can enjoy this trial in advance) unlocked the trial of the Rest of the Apocalypse, then the Naughty Dog's blockbuster works can bring us what shock and change, will it reach the height of Uncharted 2 that year?

Let's get into this review.

"The Last Of Us", translated as the last of the last, but this review still takes the most common translation - the end of the United States. The game has several focuses - the emotional interaction between the two people, the horror of survival, and the effect of the environment on the person.

The so-called "emotional interaction between two people" is because the absolute protagonists of the game are Uncle Joel and girl Ellie, who will help each other in the process of fighting and solving puzzles.

As the party controlled by the AI, the girl's behavior will also give different support in the future game according to the habitual actions of the player uncle.

"Survival terror" is relatively easy to understand, the game takes place in the end-time environment where human beings are infected by fungi, and as the end-time theme that emphasizes the depth of connotation, the most terrible thing is not the monster that swarms, nor the helpless and painful environment of lack of resources, but the so-called human heart.

"The influence of the environment on people" has always been a trademark of naughty dogs, from the "Uncharted" series we can see that, in the past games have emphasized the "influence of people on the environment", that is, the player controls the character in the game environment according to the process of progress, the player seems to be confined to the small scope of the game maker.

In the game of Naughty Dog, we will find that the producer has planned a world with many possibilities for the player, and the role that the player will play has to survive and take risks in this world, and accept the rules of the game in this world. Your every move will be affected by the environment of this world, and all the behaviors you make in the game seem so real. This may be the magic that naughty dogs unleash on us.

Back to the trial, the trial officially unlocked at 1 o 'clock in the morning on June 1, is it naughty dog for the majority of players sent children's gifts?

However, after the end of the countdown, it is a variety of error codes and a large area of PSN paralysis, which can also be seen that players are keen on this game, but keen to return keen, half an hour later, PSN continued paralysis transformed into all servers stopped service maintenance, in addition to a few lucky players successfully entered the download interface at the end of the countdown. Most of the rest of the players have to wash and sleep.

However, in the morning, all players can download, and after downloading about 2 gigabytes of trial play, they can successfully enter the game. The game's flow is so short, so outrageously short, that it basically doesn't reflect those three priorities.

The trial should be the opening of the game, at this time the relationship between the uncle and the girl is still relatively indifferent (one of them in climbing the low wall uncle after helping the royal sister Tess in the side did not give a hand to the girl), and the game trial is basically the uncle in the front, the royal sister to protect the girl hidden, so the "two emotional interaction" is not well reflected.

"Survival terror" is more reflected in the infected people who are like chicken blood, and other survivors have not met for the time being. "The impact of the environment on people" is quite a lot, which is specifically manifested in the expressions and words and deeds of the game characters, and the specific plot is not revealed here, so that the player can try to find out.

In conclusion, after the first 15 minutes of normal difficulty, my conclusion for this trial is: the picture is great, the atmosphere is full, the camera is mature, and the authenticity and gameplay are perfectly integrated.

But if the rest of the game content and the trial compared to no more new things, then I can only give the "expectations are too high, some disappointment" conclusion, but surely naughty dog will not be so three board ax, and from the game before the various promotional videos, the content behind the game is still very worthy of our expectations, I believe naughty dog will not let players disappointed......

From this point of view, the game in the promotional video has actually reached a very high expressive force in the picture and sound effects, and the plot and character portrayal can feel the depth. From the game experience, although it requires meticulous thinking and planning, it is also full of tension, and the whole atmosphere is also drifting with a real sense of the end times. (This review score will be graded according to the content of the demo version, attention! This score does not represent the final full game score!)

Introduction to the game -- 9 points

The story has an apocalyptic theme, but it is very different from previous games of the same genre.

The two protagonists have strong personalities and will do whatever it takes to survive. Although there are mutated monsters in the game, they are also the main cause of the apocalypse, but most of the battles in the game are launched with humans.

The game tries to explore the psychological fluctuations of human beings in difficult situations, highlighting and amplifying the mental activities of the protagonists. The story of the game takes place in the post-apocalyptic United States, where infected humans have become terrible monsters due to the spread of viral fungi.

There are very few uninfected people, and those people are either in military-administered immune zones or in a weedy, desolate, apocalyptic America. In the game, players will play as a survivor named Joel, a middle-aged man with gray hair who will do anything to survive. And the other character is a little girl named Ellie.

The two men survived together in Pittsburgh and headed for Pennsylvania, but it is unknown what brought them together. Like the Uncharted series, the game's genre is third-person shooter (I'm guessing the engine is the same), but guns are rare in an apocalyptic world.

So the game makes less use of guns and relies more on hand-to-hand combat. Naughty Dog also revealed that players will control Joel in the game, while Ellie will be controlled by an AI, and that story mode will not be available online.

In SUMMARY: The setting is still the familiar apocalyptic setting, but we can see the production team constantly emphasize the human rivalry, and in the various promotional films we see more of the uncle and the girl fighting against the human survivors, and we see a flashback where the girl aims a gun at the suspected mutated uncle, Is this an homage to the Walking Dead in video games?

2. Game screen -- 9.5 points

This test scene takes place in Boston, Uncle and royal sister together on the road to escort the girl to the designated safe place, which is the scene.

Tess will guide Joel and Ellie along US 90 from west to east. This road, built in 1957, is more than 3,000 miles long and is the most famous highway across the United States.

After confirming the direction, the three men decided to explore and walk forward. In this scene, collapsed buildings and debris covering the surface of various green plants, abandoned vehicles everywhere also show us the panic and defeat of human beings in the disaster at that time, so that players feel very shocked.

As soon as it shows us the tragic and desolate feeling of the endtime environment, think about how many buildings were here or row upon row of tall buildings, cars like running water like dragons, and how many buildings are in the rain in the blink of an eye.

The weather effect of this time is stronger than "Uncharted", and the impact of the environment on the characters is more real and rich, for example, the uncle's action under the current is not like other games, I am not immobile, but subconsciously raise my hand to block the rain.

And the uncle is very meticulous in many movements. Joel could climb onto the roof of the car or cross between neighboring car roofs at any time. Walking, climbing and other gestures are very real. Getting wet in the rain has a different skin and clothing appearance than wading through a tunnel or swimming.

Then three people into the building, began to see human and infected bodies, although the girl was surprised but did not express too much panic, here you can carefully observe the girl and royal sister before the dialogue tone and expression, but these are also the focus of our observation in the future.

These AI-controlled NPCS are no longer intelligent robots that can only hide or cold carry out tasks, but a flesh-and-blood character, they can cry, they can laugh, they can be moved, and they will be afraid, although these are not the focus of the game, but it is these details that let us feel the difference between 3A masterpieces and ordinary games.

Then uncle can turn on the flashlight, while showing us a new dynamic light and shadow ejection technology, the light will not only produce a projection, but also diffuse from the surface of the object to the surrounding environment, in accordance with the real optics to produce a more realistic effect.

The rest of the environmental detail shows off Naughty Dog's strengths - cutting-edge engine technology, excellent art, and diverse Settings.

Finally, those ugly infected people, the modeling of these monsters is really delicate, close to see ugly, with a mushroom head to frighten people, really want to use a rifle to stab their mouth parts to give a few shots.

Summary: The picture is still very smooth and visually no frame tear. The whole scene is very detailed regardless of the distance, accompanied by the natural rain effect, the overall picture quality is very high.

3. Game music/sound effects -- 9 points

There is not much background music in the trial, and it is also the kind of traditional horror games that suddenly appear continuous music effects when entering a tense situation, and move the heart with the controller vibration and exciting game rhythm.

The sound is very real, whether it's using glass bottles to create movement to attract the infected or using sticks to slap bricks directly in their faces, everything is very real.

Because the sound in this game is a very big influence factor, some infected people need to rely on the sound to catch up with the protagonist, and the protagonist also depends on listening to the voice, so a powerful stereo or headphones are essential.

Bottom line: Remember, your voice can make or break you.

4. Game operation -- 9.5 points

Last Days in America is a third person action adventure game, L3 analog joystick to move, R3 analog joystick to adjust the perspective.

The arrow keys can select weapons and materials, and the right side of the current transplant can select all secondary weapons, such as various pistols, the down side includes shotguns and Molotov cocktails, and the up side contains medical Fanny packs and other paraphernalia, such as sticks and knives.

The X button is for climbing and jumping, △ for picking up objects, △ for crouching or rising, and △ for punching or using melee weapons. L1 and R1 are aiming and shooting respectively, holding L2 is running, and R2 is entering the auditory mode (Joel can identify the location and movement of known or ringing enemies and infected people through hearing within a certain range, so that it is more convenient and effective to make plans.

If the infected person or the enemy did not make a noise or were far away and very hidden, and Joel did not see and find it at this time, it would not appear in the hearing detection.

When I press R2, the picture turns gray, the enemies outline it with white light, and the wall becomes less of an obstacle, allowing Joel to hear the sound and identify the location). In some special actions, the key position will have a special arrangement. For example, when an enemy is captured in the rear, it is put down by clamping its neck to suffocate it, and it is directly cut its throat with a knife. There are also items thrown, similar to Gears of War parabolic throws.

There is a compulsory battle and a non-compulsory battle in the trial, the compulsory battle is more difficult, the number of infected people is large, the movement is fast and difficult, my own way of fighting is to run while playing, because the end of being surrounded by monsters is only a dead end.

Shoot to kill is not a good idea, because it will attract more infected people. That's why melee attacks are the best. Fortunately, in the battle scene, there are wooden sticks, brick glass bottles, etc., which can be picked up at any time to shoot at the enemy.

Whether it is firearms or cold weapons, the striking sense is great, the action is smooth, with different scenes can use different striking skills, supplemented by dynamic blur effect, full of smoothness!

Here again, and this is also one of the aspects that impressed me in the trial, everyone has played the game, picking up items from the ground for their own use is absolutely not a few, and some are directly simplified to run over and automatically pick up, just like the item is automatically adsorbed to the player. Others need to stop and make a bending motion to indicate that they have picked up.

In The Last of America, players pick up these items as they go. For example, in the non-compulsory battle, the royal sister had to teach the player to use sound to draw away those blind infected people, in this scene, the royal sister and the main character of the line of people hiding behind the cover side carefully, and then very smoothly lift the hand to the top of the glass bottle and throw away the infected.

Don't underestimate this simple move, which keeps the overall rhythm of the battle from being disrupted by the "stop-pick-continue" template. For another example, in the last compulsory battle, my playing method was to go around in circles and break one by one. When picking up the tiles on the ground, I also made the action of "bending down to pick up and then running upright" in the rapid movement. Uncle did not stop in the process of picking up and would not be caught up by the infected person.

Summary: Details determine success or failure!

5. Game Style and System -- 8.5

Game style is two words: real. The careful construction in the face of the sense of reality gives it a strong sense of terror and oppression. Ellie is currently ineffective, but in the future, Ellie will learn to use a gun, just like Tess does now, to help Joel destroy infected people or enemies.

In terms of the use of guns, because it is a game with a real feeling, it is different from the previous gun feeling of Naughty Dog, and it is more thick and heavy, especially when using the revolver, the recoil is larger.

At the same time, if you are aiming at an infected person who is running fast, it is mostly difficult to effectively aim at the head or even the torso. So even though shooting is a decision that needs careful consideration, automatic pistols have less recoil, but relatively little power.

The game system we can temporarily play in the demo includes collecting materials to build weapons, leveling up skills, and collecting data (like Tomb Raider 9......). Explain the game's backpack system, in the game progress to a certain part will receive a similar formula, in the backpack menu to view their own materials, automatic synthesis.

For example, if you collect batteries, you can reload the flash. With scissors, tape and sticks, you can transform them into barbed sticks, and you can also make knives out of picked up tape and sticks.

You can make a Molotov cocktail with bottles, alcohol and explosives. All weapons built will have a certain durability, which will break down after a single use or period of time. This is something that needs a lot of attention.

In addition to the lockers, drawers, tables and other places where we usually put things, human bodies often have some kind of supply near them. In addition to supplies such as cloth, empty bottles, wounds, etc., bullets are lucky.

By gathering a few essential items for survival, you can make some very practical and vital supplies. If you get a bullet, you have a better chance against the unexpected. The skills part is not enough material to upgrade in the trial, it is a pity, I asked a lot of gay friends, there is no one can upgrade......

The collection section has collected some human remains, including a report from a special Forces member who was in charge of the evacuation, and it is very grim. There are also recordings, diaries and valuables that shed more light on the world at the dawn of the disaster.

Summary: The trial version of the game system highlights are not outstanding, it is easy to remind players of Tomb Raider 9