The Last of Us - PlayStation 3

Naughty Dog's Grim Masterpiece

Matt Helgeson — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Video games mine post-apocalyptic themes so often that it's easy to numb to the sight of ruined cities. Often, the end of humanity is just a striking backdrop for yet another first-person shooting gallery. As a result, these epic onscreen calamities often feel rote. In The Last of Us, Naughty Dog brings the impact of the end of civilization home by narrowing its scope; it doesn't focus on the fate of the planet, but on a pair of survivors who band together to navigate the dangerous and emotional aftermath of a disease that has decimated mankind.

The Last of Us tells the story of Joel, a taciturn smuggler, and Ellie, a brash young girl. They are brought together by chance in the months following a global epidemic that has killed millions and left thousands of others wandering the country as sightless, feral "infected."

This duo's journey starts with a simple transaction. In exchange for a cache of weapons, Joel and his partner Tess are tasked with delivering Ellie to a group of revolutionary survivalists who believe she holds the key to a possible cure for the disease. It ends with one of the most complex conclusions I've ever seen in a game. In between, you experience a survival adventure that features both quiet beauty and brutal violence in abundance.

The concept of survival serves as the core of The Last of Us. Ammunition and supplies are scarce, and must be scrounged in deserted buildings or created from cast off materials through a crafting system. You constantly live in fear of both the horrifying infected - the vicious "runners" and twisted "clickers" - and the ragtag human sects that still roam the barren cityscape.

While most games sell the fantasy of superhuman powers, The Last of Us constantly reminds you of your vulnerability. Stealth is the key to your survival, as overwhelming odds often encourage you to remain in the shadows before leaping out to perform graceless executions with blunt instruments like shivs. If events escalate into melee or gunplay, you are forced into tense, harried battles that leave you breathless. While the game never lets you feel at ease during combat, the play mechanics - from stealth to the weapons - are solid. I noticed occasional AI lapses and some of the "trial and error" frustration that creeps into any game that relies heavily on stealth, but overall it's an impressive action game that distills the strengths of the survival horror genre into something that's both deeper and more accessible.

The combat is versatile enough to support a surprisingly competent multiplayer mode, which pits you in four-on-four variations on team deathmatch that emphasize deliberate guile over twitch shooting. It's an enjoyable experience, with a robust progression system, though it feels at odds with the sparse, emotional feel of the single-player game.

As strongly executed as The Last of Us is, it isn't for everyone. It's extremely violent; at points when I wondered if the on-screen carnage was overwhelming the fragile humanity of the storytelling.

Though Joel and Ellie's journey is grim, it remains rooted in one of the most poignant, well-drawn relationships I've seen in video games. The light, campy quality of the Uncharted series causes some to overlook Naughty Dog's brilliance at creating realistic, believable dialogue. Using its skill in service of The Last of Us's somber tale, the studio created another high mark for interactive storytelling. As Joel and Ellie's relationship grows, we come to know them as friends, giving each fight to save their lives real weight.

What's left unsaid in this game is just as important as the lines that are spoken. Naughty Dog frequently lets its haunting vision of a deserted countryside speak for itself, effectively and gorgeously conveying the loneliness that comes with living on after the end of the world.

The Last of Us is a deeply felt, shockingly violent game that questions what we're willing to sacrifice and, more disturbingly, what we're willing to do to save the ones we love. The conclusion offers no easy answers. You won't forget it.

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Naughty Dog Breaks Down The Last of Us Multiplayer

Matt Helgeson — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:23:00 GMT

Recently, we had a chance to speak with The Last of Us lead multiplayer designer Erin Daly about the game's unique approach to multiplayer. Also, Sony sent us some new multiplayer screenshots.

The Last of Us, in single-player, is far from a run-and-gun shooter. So, when you approached the multiplayer component of the game what was your philosophy of how you would weave that into the structure of The Last of Us?

Erin Daly: The key of the process is really to capture that essence of survival and explore the tactical gameplay that you get in the single-player. You can use lots of different tools to accomplish your goals. It's not all about, like you said, running and gunning and having the best team. And obviously, in the multiplayer, PvP experience, it's really difficult to capture that. There's very few games that manage to achieve that kind of core-based tactical kind of feel and still be fairly accessible to a broad audience and still have a lot of core, kind of fun factor into it.

So obviously there's still some kind of core shooter gameplay in the multiplayer. If you want to, you can try to and play a run n' gun kind of game, but we really did a lot to try and ensure that the players who were playing more stealthily and playing more tactically would be at an advantage. We obviously leveraged a lot of the systems we had existing in single-player to manage that. So we had the crafting system obviously, the listen mode [a kind of "radar" view akin to Batman: Arkham Asylum's detective mode - Ed.] and then we layered a few new systems on top of that like the marking system, the radar- to really slow down the pace of the game. I think where the game really shines is in those little cat-and-mouse encounters where you spot the enemy and he spots you. You both know roughly where each other are, but you're not immediately shooting at each other because it's actually more of a tease to stay in cover, wait for the other guy to move first, and then try and pop out and shoot him. But if he's crafting - maybe he's actually preparing a bomb- he's going to throw a bomb at you or a Molotov or a smoke bomb or something like that. So there's just a little bit of those guessing games that can happen and we really tried to play those up and make sure we were delivering the essence of survival and tactics into the competitive space.

Talk about the marking and radar stuff because it does get to be a little bit of a cat-and-mouse game where you do have some information but it's limited.

Sure, I mean so our philosophy there was, like, we wanted to-just like you said- give you just enough information that you had an idea where the threats are. Because, obviously, threat detection is such an important part of the competitive experience. Especially when the lethality of the game is as high as it is- which it really needs to be to kind of deliver on the authenticity of this super-realistic kind of world, where it's a few gun shots and you're gone. So, it's kind of like we kind of need to strike a balance there between giving you some information about where the enemies are at and also forcing you to kind of move more slowly through the world.

So, what we do with the radar is: players show up on the radar when they're sprinting. That was a really big change we put in early on so that we could just slow the pace of the game down and force players to try and creep around a little more. And we put a range limit on that so if you're really far away from the battle you can still sprint just to get into the conflict, get closer to your teammates. But when you start getting closer to those battles, you start thinking, "Ok, maybe I should slow down a bit here 'cause if I'm moving quickly the enemy is going to hear me because I'm making these loud footsteps." That's the reason why you're showing up in the radar.

And then on top of that we added the marking system so that players who do spot an enemy but don't have enough time to shoot them can at least help their teammates mark them, get some parts for themselves with the in-game economy system and then give their team that awareness of where these threats are. On top that we kind of layered on a few other kinds of counters to that, certain survival skills you can equip to keep yourself from being marked. If you want to, [you can] make marking more powerful you can make it last longer or make enemies glow through walls, things like that. There are a few other little twists of that as you get deeper into the progression tree.

There's quite a bit in terms of stuff to either unlock 0r buy with the in-game currency. Talk about all the stuff there is to do in terms of load out and progression in the game.

Our philosophy was to create a really layered set of interesting choices for the player. So, the choice of, before you go into a match, what's your build going to be? And this is classic thing that exists in a lot of multiplayer games today. We really wanted to try and kind of take that to a little more of a kind of a RPG level by giving you a set of points to spend. And so what you do there is you start out with only load-out points and as you progress and gather more and more supplies you're unlocking more load-out points and those are going to let you equip more things on your guy to go into the game with. And so you've got your initial small firearm- pistols, basically. And then you've got your larger firearms which are the rifles and you can decide if you want to pick a more expensive rifle for example or one with a silencer that's going to cost you more load-out points. But the trade-off is that obviously you're giving up some of the survival skills because you won't have as many points to spend on those.

And then, of course, you've got your survival skills. There's quite a few of those, and each of them have different levels of upgrades to them which make them more and more powerful. And then you've got your purchasable log which lets you decide if anything, if you want to carry something a special weapon you're going to be able to purchase in maps with the parts that you're earning. So that was our way of kind of giving players access to these power weapons which are really pretty big game features. But not making it so random like, you know, in many games they're just kind of spawned on the map and they're cycled on a certain time limit. We wanted to add a little more determinism to it and make it a little more intentional. So players who like really want to play, say, a run and gun play style can say, "Okay, I'm going to take a shotgun, and so when I have enough parts I'm going to be able to buy that shotgun in-match. And it's going to turn the tide for me."

Basically, both the main modes are sort of variations of sort of a team death match mode- Supply Raid and Survivor. Could you tell our readers about Supply Raid and Survivor, what they are, and what the differences are there?

Sure. So, our philosophy there was, even though we don't have a very big breadth of game modes, is to kind of go for depth over breadth and try and create a deeper game experience. Like we mentioned, a little more layered and there's more of that depth there. So, we focus on just a couple of modes which are somewhat similar to most of the team death match experiences but those are also some of the most popular experiences that players are after so our philosophy was how do we take those core experiences that players love playing but put them, and take them into our universe and make them feel more survivalist and more weighty in terms of the tension of the match? So what we created was kind of a twist on the tedium where you're just kind of- where each team has a certain number of reinforcements. And that kind of ties into the fiction that there's these kind of warring factions going on. There are the hunters, the Fireflies, [and] they're fighting each other and they have a limited number of guys to bring to battle. So as you're progressing through the match, you're burning through your teams' reinforcements. And when you're down to just like the last four, we give you a special notification that tells you that it's sudden death now, this is your last life. And if you get down to being the last one standing you get a special notification for that. And we actually do it, play it with a little of the game rules at that point to kind of savor that last guy and give him a chance to come back. So if you managed to get one of the item stashes if you're the last guy we actually give you more resources at that point and give you a chance to kind of try and pull from behind, and pull out a win for your team.

In the other mode, Survivor, that the mode that really best exemplifies the survivalist aspect of the game. Because you only have one life, it becomes much, much more precious. And we have notes in our focus tests, initially players just kind of running out and having these really quick rounds where everyone is just rushing and quickly killing each other off and the round will be over. And, as they play for a little bit they realize, "Okay, if I actually just wait a little bit and use listen mode and try and get to a couple stashes and craft some stuff I'm actually being really effective in taking out the enemy team." So we start noticing players playing a lot more craftily. And that was cool because that's really kind of the vibe that we're going for is that more tactical play.

What are some of the tactics and strategies and ways that playtesters have been playing the game that have evolved in ways that you didn't anticipate or just that you thought were interesting?

One thing we've noticed that is definitely one of our goals was to try and support the different play styles that you see there in multiplayer. Some players really like to hang back and be a sniper, so we wanted to make sure we support that playstyle well. That's why we added some of those extra marking abilities to allow players to hang back but still help their team a lot. And of course the purchasing system allows the snipers to, you know, sustain a perch if they're doing well enough they can buy enough ammo to keep firing. We had players internally who [said], "Yeah, I love playing sniper. And I like the fact that I can hold my perch off for a little bit and hang back."

We have other players who really like playing support. So we made sure to try and, as we were developing we were like, you know, "We don't have enough things to let these guys help their teams." So we had a revised system which is a really core part of the core gameplay to make sure that there was a lot of teamwork there in terms of keeping their team alive. We didn't have enough other systems so, the feedback from those players we decided to just try and add some other systems to kind of support that play style. So we added the gifting system which you can do through one of the survival skills you can equip- I believe it's [called] "crafting master." And if you equip the higher level of that skill, every time you craft an item it gives you a percentage towards a gift. And when you've crafted two or three items you've now got this gift item you can give to your teammates. And so you might be able to give your team a free Molotov or a free bomb or a free smoke bomb or a shiv or something. We also added the ability for players to actually heal their other teammates directly- even before they've gone down. So if you're trying to play support style you can basically earn a lot of parts and help your team quite a bit using those abilities and kind of hanging back. It's kind of like the medic class in Battlefield but it's a little bit different because you've got to think about whom to try and support using your crafting and healing on the fly.

Latest Dev Diary Shows Joel's Resourceful Side

Jeff Cork — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:41:00 GMT

Items are limited in The Last of Us' post-apocalyptic world, and it's up to the player to make the best of those remaining resources. As a new developer diary shows, there's more to it than merely rummaging through drawers to find ammunition.

Joel is resourceful, and one of the ways that attribute manifests itself in the game is through its crafting system. Players can combine items to create new items. It's not a groundshaking innovation, but the video below shows that there's more to it than what we've seen in other titles. Several combinations can be used to create either offensive or defensive concoctions. For instance, the ingredients used to make a medkit also happen to be the same ones that Joel can combine to make a molotov. It's up to players to determine which items are likely to be most beneficial.

See how it works in the clip below.

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Naughty Dog has released several other videos in its dev diary series as well, which follow. For a look at how the team created the game's run-down wasteland, click the video below.

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And for an in-depth look at the game's infected enemies, watch this one.

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For more information on the Last of Us, including exclusive interviews and video features with the development team, be sure to check out our Last of Us hub by clicking on the banner below.

Naughty Dog Turns Our World Upside Down

Tim Turi — Fri, 17 May 2013 03:01:00 GMT

Yesterday, during a pre-E3 event in Santa Monica, California, I played through a newly revealed section of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us. The survival-based game is a road trip story starring two survivors in a post-apocalyptic world. Joel and Ellie are looking for a man named Bill – a loner out in Lincoln, Pennsylvania that owes Joel a favor. During my hands-on time with the game I got a feel for combat against the infected, nasty traps set by survivors, and improvised navigation past environmental obstacles.

Joel and Ellie find themselves in the woods on their way to the small town of Lincoln. Ellie is taken aback by the beauty of the woods, admiring the serene wildlife. Joel is less concerned with sight-seeing, and seems determined to find Bill before the sun sets. Their progress is halted by a high, barbed-wire fence blocking them from entering town. I climb atop a small building to get a better view. I spot the roof of another nearby building, but my attempt to leap the gap falls short. Upon further investigation I find a long, narrow board – just about the length between the two roofs. I pick up the board, carry it over to the small building, lean it up against the side, climb up the building, and pull the board up. I’m then able to lay the board between across the roofs for Joel and Ellie to cross.

Lincoln is Bill’s stomping grounds, and his mark is apparent. I hear an odd clicking as an infected comes sprinting around a corner, followed by a loud explosion. One of Bill’s tripwire traps blows the thing’s legs clean off. Further exploration of Lincoln reveals a number of rigged devices, some of which must be safely detonated by tossing a brick or bottle into them. You can set up your own homemade traps and lure the wandering infected into them as well.

One of my favorite moments in the demo involves sneaking past a handful of the fungal-infected humanoids. These creatures are in a sort of sleep-state when I come across them. I choose to leave them alone and crouch-walk safely past them. If I had been braver, I could have snuck up to them quietly, dispatched them with a melee weapon, and looted their corpses. These enemies’ senses are based on noise, so stealth is key.

My closest encounter with the crazed monsters involves one of Bill’s more successful traps. Joel is snagged by a snare after opening a door. A refrigerator acts as a counterweight, pulling him into the air by his foot. Both Joel and the camera are tipped upside down as Ellie struggles to cut the line. Infected encroach on the pair, and I have to gun them down from the disorienting angle. The reliable controls allow me to dispatch most of them easily, but one heavily infected mushroom head gets too close and instantly chomps down on me. I have better luck my second attempt. Ellie cuts me down and the duo finally cross paths with Bill.

Joel’s gas-masked contact blasts a few infected and beckons them to follow. A frantic chase through alleyways and building interiors ensues. Bullets and health supplies are limited, so standing my ground isn’t an option. Throughout the demo I had plenty of opportunities to craft melee weapons, like a pipe with scissors taped to it or Molotov cocktail. I also found a few medkits. It’s not enough to endure a full-on infected assault, however.

In addition to item crafting, players can find tools, supplements, and other resources that can permanently upgrade Joel and his equipment. Supplements can steady his aim or increase his health. Tool kits and constituent parts can be used to create extra weapon holsters or improve the damage of weapons. I didn’t have an opportunity to dive deep into these systems, but Naughty Dog says players can carry their upgrades and gear over into a new game-plus.

Bill, Joel, and Ellie eventually reach safety. Without skipping a beat, Bill handcuffs Ellie to a pipe and holds Joel at gunpoint. He begins roughly checking the two for the signs of a sprouting infection. While Joel tries to calm him down, Ellie pulls the pipe loose and whacks Bill. After a brief scuffle the three cool down. Joel calls in his favor with Bill. They need a car, and Bill agrees to help them get one running. My hands-on time with the new demo ends here.

My path through Lincoln was just one route among a variety of options. Depending on your playstyle you could aggressively clear out the infected or sneak past them all. Upgrading Joel and his equipment is also influenced by your tastes. Do you want to invest resources into melee combat or firearms? Naughty Dog has packed The Last of Us with tons of options while delivering an engaging yet bleak story of survival.

Watch the entire 2012 PAX Prime gameplay demo here.

New Developer Diary Shows Off The Environment

Kyle Hilliard — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:16:00 GMT

The latest developer diary for Naughty Dog's The Last of Us looks at the environment of a collapsed plague-stricken world. Alongside Ellie and Joel, the environment is one of The Last of Us' most important characters, showcasing beauty and destruction all at once. At least, that is what Naughty Dog wants players to think while they explore and look around.

Along with many interviews with Naughty Dog's assorted artists, you also get a look at some gameplay, and see just how much work goes into creating a dilapidated apartment.

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The Last of Us is coming to PlayStation 3 June 14. Be sure to check out our Last of Us coverage hub, which contains all kinds of features for the game, by clicking the banner below.

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See What's At Stake In This Extended Commercial For The Last Of Us

Matthew Kato — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:37:00 GMT

The cost of survival is high in The Last of Us, and this extended version of the commercial for the game sets the tone.

This excellent trailer shows us the toil the outbreak has taken on the characters, talks about how Joel and Ellie got connected, and puts some of the game's gory action into context.

The Last of Us comes out for PlayStation 3 on June 14.

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Avoiding The Infected In The Last Of Us

Matthew Kato — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:54:00 GMT

The first episode in a series of developer diaries for The Last of Us talks about the Infected and their origins.

Certain kinds of Infected use echolocation like bats to find their targets, which makes silence golden in the game. The video also talks about how the Infected virus spreads among humans.

The Last of Us comes out for the PlayStation 3 on June 14.

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For more on the game, take a look at this recent gameplay trailer or click on the Hub below for access to our exclusive cover story features.

Naughty Dog Debuts The Infected Horror

Jeff Marchiafava — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:30:00 GMT

Previous demos of The Last Of Us have centered on the danger that Joel and Ellie's fellow survivors present as the pair scraped their way through the dangerous streets of Pittsburg. All the while, a more sinister threat has loomed in the distance, seen only in glimpses until now. Our newest look at the game has the protagonists on the outskirts of Boston, and unveils two of the infected enemy types – and Naughty Dog handed the controller over to me to experience the terror first-hand.

Joel and Ellie are accompanied by a new character, a middle-aged woman named Tess. Tess is Joel's partner in crime; the two make their living by supplying weapons and items to the black market inside one of Boston's oppressive, military-controlled quarantine zones. In this instance, Joel and Tess have been hired to smuggle Ellie out of the city to the Fireflies, a resistance group trying to establish a new society that isn't run by a brutal police state.

Escape from the city requires cutting a path through a partially collapsed building. As I turn on my flashlight to survey the area, Tess points out a mutilated corpse next to an adjacent doorway. The building is overrun with the infected.

The survivors have mapped out the complete life cycle of humans infected with the deadly, cordyceps-like fungus, and each stage serves as a different enemy type. Runners are in stage one of the infection, and as their name suggests, they're fast on their feet. Clickers are in stage three of the infection, and trade speed for considerable strength. Clickers have been completely blinded by the infection, and instead rely on echolocation to identify targets. If you hear a clicker's distinctive call, you had better be behind cover.

My first encounter with the infected aptly demonstrates their deadliness. While Tess and Ellie hang back behind cover, I run into a pack of runners and my action game sensibilities get the best of me. Shooting the first enemy alerts the other two to my presence – before I know it, the six bullets I've scavenged thus far are gone. I sprint out of the room in desperation, knocking my attackers out of the way only to run straight into a fourth runner in the hallway; mashing on the square button pries him off of me, but not before being brought to the brink of death.

I blindly run through a maze of rooms, sliding over desks and bouncing off of doorways as I attempt to lose my attackers. I finally duck behind an overturned cabinet and take stock of my situation. A lone runner wanders into the room and this time I manage to sneak up behind him and slowly choke him out as the camera slowly pans and zooms in to highlight the brutal action.

After scavenging a few items from the environment – including a helpful-looking two-by-four – I try pushing aside a cabinet that's blocking the exit, but the noise sends the remaining infected scrambling to my location. The first runner goes down with a few hits from my new melee weapon, but the others are close behind him. I run back into the darkness, retreating to the room where I was first ambushed. I scavenge a few more bullets off of the corpse I killed earlier, and grab a nearby brick as the pursuing runners burst through the doorway. I down the first one with my two-by-four, but it breaks in the process, and I'm forced to use precious handgun ammo on the final attacker.

Joel calls out to Tess and Ellie, telling them the coast is clear. After looting some more items, I stop to examine the simple but incredibly helpful crafting system.

Unlike most crafting systems, items looted from the environment feed into several generic categories, so you're never looking for a specific item to complete a recipe. After looking over the options, I craft a health kit, a Molotov cocktail, and upgrade a baseball bat I found moments earlier. Opening the crafting menu doesn't pause the game, however, so you want to make sure you're in a safe place before restocking.

I continue through the dilapidated building until I come upon an open office teeming with clickers. With my upgraded bat in hand (which now has a pair of scissors taped to the end of it), I sneak my way into the hall, only to bump into a runner feeding on a corpse. I take him down with a single, gruesome blow of my bat, but a clicker kills me with equal lethality; the camera zooms in to show the deformed creature pull back a mouthful of skin and tendons from my neck just before the screen goes black.

During my next attempt, I use a new ability Naughty Dog calls "listen mode." By holding down the right trigger, Joel is able to identify nearby figures and footsteps through walls and objects, while moving at a greatly reduced pace. I also take advantage of the bottles and bricks strewn around the environment to lure enemies out of the way, but severity of the situation quickly becomes apparent; the room is a maze of desks and cabinets, and the terrifying calls of clickers echo all around me as they grope in the darkness for my location. I find a shotgun and three shells by one desk, but using it would be suicide given the odds.

A tense game of cat and mouse unfolds as I zigzag through the room, always one misstep away from certain death. None of the action feels scripted, and there is no clear path through the environment. Unlike last time, Ellie and Tess have been at my side the entire time, effortlessly navigating the environment and avoiding enemies as I scour the darkness for a way out, a reassuring sign that Naughty Dog has crafted competent AI for the characters accompanying Joel.

Salvation comes in the form of a ladder in an adjoining room at the far end of the complex, but a final clicker stands in our way. Throwing a bottle to distract it would run the risk of attracting the other enemies we've managed to sneak by. I desperately weigh my options, but there is no time – another infected is approaching Tess from behind and she's forced to open fire. I quickly switch to my shotgun and take down the other clicker, as Tess shoots down her assailant. The three of us move to the ladder, but more infected are streaming into the cramped room; we have no choice but to make a stand.

I use the last of my shotgun shells on two more clickers and effortlessly switch to my bat to take down an approaching runner. More clickers appear, and Tess proves the better marksman as I take a few wild shots with my remaining revolver bullets. I hurl my one and only Molotov at two infected climbing through a broken window, who collapse to the floor in flames. Tess shoots down the remaining creatures. The three of us capitalize on the ensuing moment of silence and climb the ladder.

I take one more look below. The rush of surviving the standoff is dampened by the realization that I've used all of my supplies and ammo. I contemplate going back down for the few glowing items lying at the base of ladder, but decide to push on.

Naughty Dog has proven itself a master at creating tense setpiece moments in its games, which translate particularly well to scripted demos. My hands-on time with The Last Of Us only has me more excited. The world feels alive and loaded with details, the characters are engaging and believable, and the gameplay is a tense mix of stealth, strategy, and explosive action.

This preview originally appeared in issue 240 of Game Informer.

Fungal Enemies Featured In The Last Of Us Gameplay Footage And Screens

Tim Turi — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:52:00 GMT

Naughty Dog first spilled the beans on its post-apocalyptic action game, The Last of Us, in one of our exclusive cover stories. Since then, the developer has been quiet about how protagonists Joel and Ellie will interact with the fungus-infected enemies of the game. This new gameplay footage and batch of screenshots shows off more of the mushroom-headed foes than ever before.

Watch the trailer below for a glimpse at the tension and suspense that comes with creeping through a dark building filled with the fungal enemies. Beware, the video contains harsh language and gore.

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For an even closer look at the game, check out the gorgeous screenshots in the gallery below. The Last of Us arrives exclusively on the PlayStation 3 on May 7, 2013.

Watch The PAX Prime Demo Of The Last Of Us

Jeff Marchiafava — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 19:55:00 GMT

This month at PAX Prime, Naughty Dog showed off the riveting, behind-closed-doors E3 trailer of The Last of Us. If you weren't at either event, you can now see the full 16-minute demo here. We promise you it was worth the wait.

I only saw the public demo Naughty Dog showed for The Last of Us at E3, so this one was completely new to me, and serves as a stark reminder for why PS3 owners are so excited for the game. While the environmental puzzles look like standard fare, Naughty Dog has done a remarkable job of humanizing Joel and Ellie's enemies, which makes the already visceral combat even more brutal.

I'm still amazed at how dynamic all of the animation seems – we'll have to wait until we get our hands on the game to see just how orchestrated these live demos are, but so far the game is looking great.

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For more of The Last of Us, check out the trailer Naughty Dog showed at Gamescom.

From Mo-Cap To Finished

Joe Juba — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:40:00 GMT

Gamers know that most of their favorite characters begin as actors in a motion capture studio. The process isn't simple, and involves several artistic passes to create what we ultimately see on the screen. In this new video for The Last of Us, Naughty Dog shows the progression from beginning to end.

It's impressive, though not exactly jaw-dropping. If you want something less technical and more dramatic, you should probably watch the latest trailer instead. You can also check out a new batch of screens below.

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The Last of Us Continues To Impress With Gamescom Trailer

Matt Helgeson — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 20:08:00 GMT

It's getting to the point where we couldn't be more excited for Naughty Dog's The Last of Us. However, that shouldn't stop you from watching this gripping new trailer, which shows protagonists Joel and Ellie fighting for their lives to Hank Williams' classic country song "Alone and Forsaken."

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Last Of Us Trailer Reveals New Character

Jim Reilly — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:50:00 GMT

A new trailer released by Naughty Dog reveals a new character in the Last of Us called Bill. We don't know much about him,other than he wears a gas mask. The video shows the trio escaping an infected and later figuring out a plan to repair a car to get out of town.

The Last of Us is due out in 2013 for PlayStation 3.

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Previewing The Alternate Theater Presentation

Bryan Vore — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 02:28:00 GMT

Naughty Dog takes a more stealthy approach through the derelict hotel in this eyes-on new demo.

If you watched Sony's stage presentation via streaming, you saw Joel and Ellie's violent trip through a flooded hotel. In a behind closed doors theater presentation, Naughty Dog showed off the same area, but with a completely different approach and went farther into the level.

The first difference we saw when they were walking around the initial area was a new conversation between the pair concerning an old movie poster for Dawn of the Wolf. It seems that if the player stops and looks at it, Joel and Ellie will kick off a chat. Ellie seems confused as to why people would enjoy gory entertainment since she's so used to it in everyday life. Joel brushes it off as a "dumb teen movie."

They continue inside and spy a ladder up on some scaffolding. It's highlighted in a strange glow that makes it stand out as a goal/interactive object, yet it also mildly breaks the otherwise stark realism of the game. They search around and find a laundry cart and Joel rolls it over and boosts Ellie up. She pushes the ladder down. Joel grabs it and moves it over to another area they need to go and climbs up. It seems like he can move and place it anywhere so we wouldn't be surprised if Naughty Dog used this to hide stashes of supplies or secret collectibles.

Once they get up to the new area, a group of survivors start searching the place. Joel grabs an empty glass bottle and tosses it into an open window to distract them. One of the guys goes to investigate and the pair moves to another room. Joel sneaks up behind another guy and chokes him out. Next they enter a bathroom and two long-dead corpses in the tub. Joel scavenges some bandages out of a drawer and grabs a metal pipe off the ground outside. They move up to the next floor and look for an exit when they hear some coughing.

Another patrol starts searching this floor as well and Joel decides on a more offensive tactic. He picks up a brick and smashes the hell out of a man's face. Another guy sees it and darts off to warn the others. Joel pull out a revolver and lets off a few rounds, but the guy ducks away. Out of nowhere another goon tries to grab Joel from behind. He prompts the enemy with the gun to shoot Joel while he's got a hold of him. Joel quickly reverses the hold and the attacker is shot instead. Then Joel shoots the man with the gun. He flanks around and catches another enemy off guard. He throws a glass bottle at his head and dashes at him with a metal pipe. After a brutal beatdown, this guy is most certainly dead.

The final scavenger tries to escape and Joel chases him with his gun. After missing a few times it seems a little too quiet. Joel creeps through the hall calling out to the goon. Out of nowhere he springs out of a doorway and tosses a Molotov cocktail at Joel but it just misses and ignites the wall next to him. As Joel stumbles away from the flames, the man charges. Joel pulls himself together quickly and shoots him down.

Ellie joins up with him and they move toward the abandoned elevator shaft. It creaks menacingly as they jump down onto the roof of a car. Joel boosts Ellie up to an open elevator door and as the camera zooms in you can see a sizable gash on Joel's face that is seeping blood. The moment he gets her up the car gives out and Joel falls with it a few stories. When it slams into the bottom of the flooded shaft, Joel bounces violently off the top and splashes into the water. He manages to swim back to the surface to the sounds of Ellie calling out his name. He says he's okay and flips on a flashlight to wade further into the darkness. The demo fades to black here and we're left to wonder what happens next.

Be sure to check out The Last of Us' collection of E3 2012 screens and a trailer.

Ambushed

Matthew Kato — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:23:00 GMT

The latest trailer for The Last of Us shows the game's dangerous world and how some survivors will stop at nothing.

The ambush scenario, which we detailed in our cover story (issue #227), not only highlights the kinds of situations Ellie and Joel will face, but also the group AI of their enemies.

For more on the game, be sure to click on the banner below to check out all our exclusive online content for our cover story.

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