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I'll try keep spoilers to a minimum.
Reviews can sometimes be bias sometimes reviewers are paid off and sometimes reviewers jump on the hype train they are creating themselves and that's why i never trust mainstream reviews. But when The Last Of Us released back on the PS3 the reviews were right it was a work of art an emotional rollercoaster beautiful characters beautiful environments horrific enemies both human and beast. When they made this game the stars aligned perfectly and so a follow up would always have the weight of its predecessor to overcome. But honestly i never felt a need for a second game to me it ended perfectly but where there is money to be made how could they resist..... but where the hell is HALF LIFE 3
Anyway
In TLOU 2 we play as Ellie this time around at the beginning of her journey into adulthood. She is a young woman coming to terms with the faith of humanity exploring her sexuality and discovering the person that she will become. Ellie is a complex character she carries so much hurt and pain inside her she is fragile and on the edge of collapse but at the same time she is tough as nails maybe driven by the exact same things that make her weak are the things that make her so resilient. On her journey throughout the game we explore this more and more and we progress.
TLOU 2 looks great the environments are dark and dreary there is nothing light hearted about this game there are no moments of beauty everything is broken dirty and falling apart the feeling of mystery and death is everywhere. The game play is tight for the most part but the camera can be so frustrating it actually had be shouting at the tv so many times i had to turn the game off a few times or i just might of smashed my controller
For the most part the story is great and i didnt even mind all the flashback my main problem is the amount of downtime there is while playing the game. I understand building up the tension but this was just padding the game out. When the game came out first they said players should explore everywhere to find secrets and see get the full experience but honestly this was firstly forced on us and secondly it was just more padding to drag out the game. There are so many doors and gates that are locked just to make you go the long way and do long drawn out scenarios just to make you come all the way back just to walk through a door that was locked an hour before. Reading notes around the world is haunting showing the struggles the fear and horror people are living through or had to live through for their final moments but its not reward enough for the exploring you have to do.
The sexuality of Ellie was dealt with in a good way it felt natural and not shoehorned into the game not like the transgender situation which felt forced it wasnt expanded upon it was explored it could of made a great addition to the story but it was mentioned then talked about and then it was over it was absolutely pointless like it was thrown in to keep people happy saying oh look we are dealing with this when they didn't just pointless.
I deleted the game as soon as i finished it and i will honestly not play it again it's one of those one play through games because it felt like too much of a chore i actually just wanted it to be over. I would of enjoyed it more if it was a 10 to 15 hour game it just needed to be more to the point but it wasn't. I have other issues with it and other things i did enjoy but that spoiler territory so you will have to try and take something from this spoiler free review if you can.
I tried to play this on its own merits but thinking too much to the first game but i do think the name swayed most if not all the reviews i saw. If you want a spot of review of this check out ACG on youtube he summed this up perfectly.
One word to describe TLOU 2 would be "padded".