Last week I reviewed The Last Of Us, and I still stand by my criticism. I think the gameplay itself is messy, and the plot doesn't acknowledge the monsters we're playing as. In fact, I'm annoyed that no-one's really debating me; since I by no means think that people who love the game are wrong. You can easily argue that we're supposed to feel this distance from the characters and look at the whole thing objectively. Also, if the gameplay adopted a more immersive, free approach a-la Half Life 2 then we probably wouldn't have got such excellent character development. Convince me, someone! I want to like this game!
Since my thoughts are still very much occupied by The Last Of Us, I thought it made sense to go ahead and play Left Behind, an expansion that promises to be a prequel detailing how Ellie became the person she was come encountering her during the main game. This seems a smart move considering that Ellie was by far the most interesting character, and in fact one of my favourite parts of The Last Of Us was when you play as Ellie.
Of course, this is a lie. Actually the game is split between that moment just after Joel is injured and a moment set a month before the main game where we explore Ellie's relationship with Riley; who is briefly mentioned right at the end of The Last Of Us. So if you were expecting the gameplay to be more stealth/interaction focused then nope. It's back to the hokey crafting system, bland cover-based shooting, generic arsenal, and pretensions of survival-horror. I do like how the AI has been improved so you can bait infected into attacking looters. It reminds me of Skyrim where I managed to completely break the game by using 'Frenzy' to make enemies fight each-other before using 'Invisibility' to sit there eating popcorn.
However, there was also one section where the AI completely bugged out, and somehow a group of clickers (who are blind) were able to see me through walls whenever I used the 'listen' mode. I was sitting completely still behind a sturdy piece of cover and yet I pressed R1 and suddenly everyone was alerted to my presence. But the cruel irony was that once I stopped using this mode and went back to the Thief style where I used my ears to work out where everyone was then suddenly the stealth sections became even more intense than they were before. So I suppose this glitch worked to the games favour. Naughty Dog can awkwardly pat themselves on the back.
The keyword here is 'moment.' This game is only about two hours long. This wouldn't matter too much, since this is only DLC, but the way the narrative is laid out it feels as though the prequel section has only just begun. The section where you do all the shooting reaches a satisfying climax and feels like one of the better acts from the main game. It starts off with some exploration, then some stealth, then a puzzle, then a series of encounters, then some straight-on action, then a breather, and finally a big action blow-out. This section doesn't really do anything outstanding, but it's at least solidly paced.
Meanwhile, the prequel section is nothing short of brilliance. It's by far the best part of The Last Of Us, and it's up there as one of the greatest interactive relationships in gaming. You know that the situation isn't going to end well, and that outside this little bubble Ellie and Riley journey into the world has fallen apart. What remains is slowly building the worlds biggest and most terrible pin to pop this one safe-space they find.
I should hate the gameplay in this section since it's mostly a series of mini-games, but they're such achingly cute games. There's a primal joy in them, and the fact you're playing as the likeable Ellie with the exceptionally well-rounded Riley. It feels as though you're playing Mario Party within a post-apocalyptic setting - and this works so much better than it sounds.
I like how you get a sense that Riley and Ellie once knew each-other well but something happened just through their interaction. They never really discuss where they stand, you merely see the equilibrium as they interact. I loved the moments where you can keep pressing the 'triangle' button to farm bonus dialogue, as each line reliably made me chuckle. The best part is going through the joke-shop and watching as the two try to understand this world that's been denied to them. This is also one of the only times where I've felt that this series wouldn't have worked as a movie, and needs to be a game. You actually play with the water-guns. You play in the arcade. You run up the escalator, then run down saying "I've gotta do that again!" I felt so elated stepping into the shoes of Ellie and running around an abandoned mall. In fact: is there an abandoned mall near here?
So it breaks my heart that this part is only half of the game rather than all of it. Again: the section where you're gathering medical supplies for Joel is solid, but it just pales in comparison. More Ellie is always a good thing, yet there isn't a point for it to exist. It's only really there as a dramatic counterpoint between Ellie fighting for survival and Ellie playing with her friend. It's to make the moments where she finds joy and companionship more heart-warming whilst making the looting of rotting corpses more shocking.
Yet it doesn't even achieve this very well. Whilst the game tries to draw parallels between the two settings (they're both abandoned malls, both times the power needs to be turned on, both times you go up an escalator) there's too much of a distance between them. It's unsettling seeing Ellie on a merry-go-round one moment, and her stabbing men in the neck another. I was expecting us to see how Ellie went from a girl to a hunter, but this just doesn't happen. She's less aggressive in the prequel section, but she's still feisty and mature beyond her years. She's already the Ellie we know and love. There's no need to juxtapose her old self with her new self because she has neither an old nor new self. She's just a self. OK: sometimes that self is on a carousel and sometimes it's stabbing people, but there's actually no difference aside from what the game's asking us to do.
Though, I love the moment just after the final gunfight where everyone is dead and Ellie defiantly yells that anyone still alive should either run or "come get me." It's at once touching, shocking, and kind of pathetic. We realize that Ellie has become a teen-soldier...and it doesn't suit her at all. She should be in the mall with friends being a teenager, not in a mall shooting people whilst dodging zombies.
The game promises to confront that event that Ellie mentions in the main story, but whilst it shows that event; it doesn't show the fallout to this event - which was the one part I wanted to see. The phrase 'pleasant surprise' doesn't even begin to cover how elated I was at the section in the mall, but all throughout playing I was awaiting the bubble-bursting moment where there's some pay-off to this build-up.
And, yes, there is pay-off; but it's too brief and there's still many things left open. In any other game, the ending would be merely the start. When the credits rolled, I actually said "No!" because I was at the edge of my seat completely gripped and awaiting the next stage of the story. It feels as though there's going to be another DLC; which I would more than welcome, but I don't think that's going to be the case even though this is clearly part one of a two-part tale.
Also, right at the end a thing happens to both Ellie and Riley. They both act surprisingly mature about it, when in reality they would both completely freak out and would take a moment to come to their senses and figure out what to do. But because the game decides to wrap things up there, they immediately know and agree on what they're going to do next without comprehending the consequences; just like how Joel at the end of The Last Of Us unblinkingly decides to do a really terrible thing. Yet at least there we're left to debate if Joel will suffer any consequences or not.
I don't even know what the Left Behind in the game's title refers to. Neither Ellie nor Riley are left behind. I suppose Joel sits this one out, but he's hardly abandoned. Just like with the main game, I feel that development of this was perhaps rushed and so the game was forced to conclude at the point it concludes even though it's not the logical finishing point. It's like if Titanic ended just as the iceberg struck. We know what's going to happen, but we want to see how it happens and how the characters cope.
Personally, I would've made this a straight prequel. Begin with Ellie and Riley going to the mall, then carry on after the infected attack as they're driven out of the city. The game would end with Ellie beginning her journey back to the city once Riley finishes her character-arc. I would have the player start to walk along a road as the game slowly fades out. Yes, it would make the game longer - but it's not like Naughty Dog is a charity. They're only one of the most acclaimed and successful developers currently out there. I still have my copy of Crash Bandicoot...
If you're interested in Left Behind but haven't played The Last Of Us then I recommend playing The Last Of Us up until the part where you shift to Ellie's POV. Then play this before diving back into the main game. Because the question a developer should always ask themselves when making an expansion is: "If this was inserted back into the main game, would it fit?" If the answer is "yes" then it should either be put into the main game or else re-thought. If "no" then push ahead.
It's such a shame, because despite the pointless split-narrative, I really like Left Behind. At times it's amazing. This could've shot into my 'Favourite Games' list. As it stands, I still absolutely recommend it; and it's up there with BioShock 2: Minerva's Den and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - DLC that's actually better than the main game.
