"The pipe came with us. The scissors didn't."
We knew that The Last of Us was going to be violent, but it's not until we went hands-on that we realized how creatively violent it would be. We played a level set in the small town of Lincoln, running into a variety of plantzombies and killing them in as ruthless a manner as possible. Here's how.
The first enemy we saw blew up via a explosives set by Bill, the paranoid handyman we were looking for. The next one we took care of ourselves with a bow, sending an arrow sailing through the sky, right into its head. We continued on, moving a plank over a gap between buildings to pass. Platforming isn't as climby as it was in Uncharted, so we needed to actively make our own path to get from point A to point Z. The next zombie caught us off guard, leaping into our path and grabbing us. We pushed him off by pounding square, then bashed him with a pipe that with scissors taped to it. The pipe came with us. The scissors didn't.
Then we smacked a guy with a brick, then another guy with our pipe, then we got strung upside down (damn you, Bill's traps!) and shot a bunch of enemies in the head. The final one was smashed with a baseball bat we found, but it took a few hard, loud, brutal swings to finish him off. We still don't know how The Last of Us will turn out, but we do know one thing: it's going to be bloody. Very, very bloody.
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The lighting effects throughout the demo were fantastic.
Crafting was easy and useful, giving us reasons to search every nook and cranny of the world.
Elli talked all the time, constantly talking about the situation and giving us information.
Wait, did we say useful information? We meant singing and asking us questions.
Bill helped us, but he was reluctant about it.
These are "Clickers," and they're a pain to take down.
This is a "Hunter," and they can be scary as hell--especially in numbers.
Joel's melee, when he doesn't have any weapons, is a punch to the face. Effective.
...and he's going to punch a lot of enemies in the face before things are finished.
Joel can stomp on downed enemies, too--you know, to save his fists for more punching later.
Joel's flashlight is attached to his chest, so you don't need to worry about juggling it and a weapon.
Taking human shields is effective against other human targets. Against ravenous monsters? Not so much.
It's worth searching everywhere for items in the post-pandemic world.
Holding down crouch enters "listening mode," which allows you to identify nearby dangers.
The overgrown world looks beautiful and depressing.
Don't be surprised if some areas are totally empty--most places have already been ransacked.
Bill's town is full of dangers, but some can be used to your advantage.
Bill's trap caught Joel here, and Ellie needed to save him--a nice change of pace.
Hand-made weapons play a major role in The Last of Us.
