'The Last of Us' review: Survival horror thrills

"The Last of Us" isn't exactly original, but it feels fresh. After successfully mining the likes of Indiana Jones for the "Uncharted" series, Naughty Dog sets its sights on subdued survival horror that's a mix of "The Road," "The Walking Dead" and "Children of Men." Squint your eyes and it looks like they've cast Josh Brolin and Ellen Page as father and daughter figures Joel and Ellie.

The setup is familiar, even well-worn: Twenty years after a fungal pandemic has left society in tightly pocketed shambles, Joel and Ellie have to make their way across the country while dealing with soldiers, gangs and infected "zombies." But Naughty Dog has shown an uncanny talent for translating a cinematic experience into an interactive one, effortlessly flowing from one crisis to another in a way that quiets their predictability. The prelude, in particular, slips from the mundane to the terrifying so quickly that you're still hoping for the best, even as things go very, very bad.

The first 10 minutes give a sense of not only how the pandemic transforms the world but also the main character. If we frequently wondered how happy-go-lucky Nathan Drake could kill hundreds of henchmen in the course of a treasure hunt, there are no such questions with Joel, a broken and hardened man who, in his own words, has "been on both sides" of an ambush. This doesn't make the up close and personal violence any more palatable, but it does go a long way in making it less grim as his relationship with Ellie develops.

Providing a context for the violence also makes it all too easy to slip into conventional, if polished, combat. This despite the fact that victims of the fungus are shambling horrors best avoided. Prolonged effects of the disease include strange growths covering the face, leaving the victims to make strange chittering noises as they blindly move about. The mechanics of Joel simply crouching down and listening to hear where one might be on the other side of the wall feels both tense and appropriately back to basics.

But the instinct, at least in how I'm playing, is to run toward the danger instead of away from it. Too much time is spent crafting shivs from bandages and broken scissors; it's too satisfying not to sneak behind someone and use them in the worst possible way.

And when attempts at stealth go wrong, as they often do with human enemies, there's always use of an upgraded shotgun or revolver, though there may not be enough bullets for either. You'll often die going commando, but it feels too fulfilling the times you succeed.

Still, the narrative leans toward flight over fight at the right time. Where another game would build up the presence of an armed humvee for a protracted boss battle (complete with a conveniently placed RPG and unlimited ammo, natch), the payoff here is to run, run, and run some more, even when there's no more road.

There's only one way for this to play out, but the moment is thrilling and desperate enough to keep you going until the bitter end.

The Last of Us: Developer: Naughty Dog. Publisher: Sony. Platform: PS3. Rating: Mature.
