A little over a year ago, a few weeks before the launch of The Last of Us on Playstation 3, the expectation about the new title of N and his first step in the entire generation outside of the Uncharted franchise was capital. Could I survive the hyping? Would he live up to the adventures of Nathan Drake?
Now, days after the launch of the remastered version of the title for Playstation 4 all this is already more than answered and both the press and, more importantly, the public, have made it absolutely clear that The Last of Us is one of the games of the generation. And it is without inventing anything new, doing what is proposed very well (not without imperfections, eye) and taking a step forward in terms of maturity in the narrative, beyond deep and philosophical tones which film recent Christopher Nolan; It is possible that Joel and Ellie are one of the most credible and human protagonists that we have encountered throughout the history of the video game and there, in their relationship, lies the success of The Last of Us.
But going back to the past and, more specifically, a couple of weeks before the game hit stores, we found ourselves in a total ignorance of what the Naughty Dog game had to offer in its multiplayer side. Given the secrecy and the very scarce data that we found about this part of the game, many of us think that this would be nothing more than a purely face-to-face multiplayer section, without any ambition or purpose beyond beautifying and packaging the whole. But there was Nate Wells, one of the main people in charge of the study (not of the game, this time) to affirm that "the multiplayer of The Last of Us was going to be the best in history." Obviously, expectations soared and doubts multiplied in equal parts.
At the time, of course, I enjoyed the campaign of The Last of Us but, on the contrary and due to a good mountain of pending games that is still alive, I did not even try its multiplayer mode called Factions Nor did I later acquire the expansion focused on Ellie and her story before TLOU, Left Behind. Now, remastered version through, I have been able to enjoy the great little DLC focused on history and, in addition, I have been immersed in the Factions mode for an hour or another; enough to know that I am facing the multiplayer that has generated more disparate and confronted feelings. But, before entering the matter, for the impatient: it is not, nor does it come close to being the best multiplayer in history.
It is commendable, in any case, the study's effort to differentiate itself from the majority in its competitive aspect. But it is here, where Naughty Dog tries to step aside in pursuit of differentiation, when they back off.. The context that the study intends to give to a classic multiplayer (two teams fight for different objectives in three different modes) is a part, in my opinion, completely dispensable of it. To begin with, when one initiates said mode for the first time, they are forced to choose sides between the Hunters and the Fireflies; decision that, beyond mere superficial details, has no implication in later playable terms.
Once we have made our choice, we will verify that each game we play will be equivalent to one day in a week which, of course, will end after seven games. It will be on each of these days / games where we will have to focus on getting Parts and Supplies (50 parts equal 1 supply) that, once the game is over and regardless of our victory or defeat, will increase the population of our clan and they will serve so that, if we meet the target number, it does not fall ill.
Leaving aside the context that the Factions mode is intended to be given and focusing on the playable, one soon realizes that Naughty Dog's work in this regard is impeccable since, through tremendously refined control, a selection of well-balanced and differentiated weapons (this, although logical, is usually the main flaw in many competitive modes) and a much more leisurely, rather than slow, pace and approach than that of the Most of them know how to give TLOU's competitive modes a lot of personality.
We will have to play as a team, be cautious to the extreme and manage our (few) resources very well to be able to lead the jack to the water in each game of the three modes that, again, do not invent the wheel but work perfectly and that , yes, they can be somewhat scarce. As for the maps, they could be better exploited by adding more verticality but the level of these, in general, is remarkable both in detail and, more importantly, in design and planning.
Another of the strengths of the Factions mode is the customization and choice of the different player classes that we want to use: we have several predefined but also, more recommended, we can create one at our whim, adhering to the limit of equipment points that we can also increase as we get supplies. Each of the weapons or abilities (with improved versions to be unlocked) has a cost of points that limit our decisions, so if, for example, we spend 4 of the 11 available on a silenced rifle, we will have to be a bit more conservative to the time to choose skills. But beware that here come curves, not all of them are unlockable through hours of play and collection of supplies, but some, quite useful in general, are only accessible if we go to the checkout and pay their price in euros (they go from 0,99, € 1,99 to € XNUMX) and the same goes for a few weapons like the Flamethrower or the Specter.
It is, without any hesitation, shameful that after the disbursement of € 50 (RRP of the remastered version) for an edition that includes certain DLC of the multiplayer aspect, access to advantages and weapons is restricted, most of which are more destabilizing than those available with payment and that, at its launch for Playstation 3, were integrated into the map packs. It would be very different, logically, if we talked about a title free2play Nothing could be further from the truth. To the € 50 of the version for Playstation 4 (which, I repeat, includes downloadable content for the online mode) it would be necessary to add another 15 euros to be able to enjoy all the content included in the Factions mode (without counting here merely aesthetic content such as hats or masks). One thing is clear: this is not how you create a balanced and competitive multiplayer or, of course, "the best ever."
I think it is necessary to reflect on this point since it is still curious to constantly find news about the incursion of micropayments in certain games but, until today, I was not aware that the multiplayer aspect of The Last of Us included them . I repeat: we are not talking about a payment with real currency to skip the unlocking process, but rather that we are faced with advantages that only those who pay the corresponding price access.
And it is a capital shame since, as I write above, in the purely playable, in the approach of the games and their mechanics, the competitive mode of The Last of Us knows how to convince the player. He knows how to attract through a much slower pace in pursuit of a much greater strategy, he knows how to play with that scarcity of resources to give every moment emotion and, in short, he knows how to expose compelling and attractive mechanics. A pity that it is notably overshadowed by superficial elements such as an unintuitive packaging that does not add any value to the whole and some design decisions regarding improvements and progression that, without a doubt, play against it.
Absolutely agree with everything said.