Packed with breathtaking gameplay, staggering depth and a vivid presentation, there's no game like it this generation.
The main campaign will take you a few good hours to get through (longer if you engage with Ellie in conversation – which you should, just to see the growing bond between the two), and you can always venture through again on a harder difficulty, just to see how much harsher it gets. But no matter what difficulty you're on, you need to be prepared for the challenge in The Last of Us. No enemy goes down easily, and you'll need to stay on your toes to avoid getting shot or ambushed. The behavior engine here is nothing short of awesome, even though guards can be a wee bit "stupid" at some points, running into a room where you just fired shots from.
In addition, the Factions multiplayer is quite good. You can play in either two modes – Supply Raid or Survivors – and both really present team-based options that will have you working closely with your friends, or whoever you're matched up with. Supply Raid is the more difficult of the two, as you have to use a number of shared lives while fending off against enemy forces. But Survivors is great as well, where four-on-four battle for all-out survival, and one mistake takes you out of the match – no respawn here. The main story mode has the better focus, but multiplayer is fun for those who can't get enough stealth kills.
Where Naughty Dog truly excels with The Last of Us is in its presentation. You thought the Uncharted games were fantastic? You have no idea how much the team excels here. The look of a post-humanity Boston is startling, whether it's the plant life that has taken over high-end property or the military walking around like they own the place. Each turn presents something mind-bogglingly new to gaze upon, and the environments are built to challenge, but not completely overwhelm you. Case in point – if you find a higher platform and need to reach it, it'll take just a few seconds of looking around in order to find the answer. Some push-button prompts could've been better, but that's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of the game's marvelous design.
