The Last of Us

Despite the series finale of Breaking Bad airing two nights ago (it was perfect, no more needs to be said), I thought that I'd shake things up a little bit and talk about something slightly different for once: video games. Watching my roommate drive, shoot, and otherwise rampage his way through the new Grand Theft Auto V has got me thinking of the last video game I played, and I feel like this blog is as good a place as any to talk about how great it was.

By no means am I a huge video game nerd; they've just never been "my thing." I'll buy 2-3 games per year, get bored with them, and then come back to them a while later, always wanting to get my money's worth. (with a new game costing $60, can you blame me?) Like most other forms of media, I appreciate games for the stories they tell, which is awesome since games seem to getting more and more cinematic as we move into the newest generation of video games consoles.

All of this brings me to the last - and arguably best - video game that I played: The Last of Us. Made by developer Naughty Dog - the same team that made all three of the wonderful, Indiana Jones-esque "Uncharted" games - The Last of Us was a PS3 exclusive and basically ended up being the console's swan song. I bought the game when it first came out in mid June, played it for two or three weeks until I was done, and haven't played a single game since. I'm not sure why, entirely; other friends who played the game enjoyed it so much that they immediately started back at the beginning. It's like part of me knows that I'll never find a game that will be able to top this one, and I don't want to disappoint myself by even trying.

Let me back up a little bit. The majority of The Last of Us takes place about 20 years in the future, when America is overrun by a deadly virus that transforms people into horrifically mutated, mindless zombie/plant hybrids. If George A Romero and Al Gore had written a horror movie together, this would be the outcome. After the most emotional, devastating 15 minute opening scene in videogame history, you play as Joel, a survivor of the virus. Joel is eventually given the daunting task of escorting Ellie, a 14 year old girl with a pretty huge secret, across the ravaged country and into Colorado. Lots of shooting, puzzle solving, and throwing bricks at zombie heads follows.

While the gameplay is phenomenal and obviously such a huge aspect of the medium (not to mention shockingly violent), the story is what made me fall in love with this game. I've seen action movies before, and I've probably seen every apocalyptic, end of the world film that there is to see, but never has one effected me as much as the The Last of Us. The whole plot revolves around the relationship between Ellie and Joel; she's the spunky, mature-for-her-age upstart, and he's the grumpy, "I'm too old for this shit" father figure who, coincidentally, lost a daughter when the virus first broke out. As the game goes on, the two begin to warm up to each other, and this is shown through the smallest, subtlest of actions ("subtle" is a word that more video game developers should really learn).

Through the entire game, I remember trying to figure out how it would end; surely the two travelers would find a cure to the virus and live happily ever after as "father" and "daughter." Roll credits, eject game, move on. But here's where Naughty Dog threw us a curveball. (Spoilers to follow. Don't say I didn't warn you) Towards the end, you find out that Ellie holds the cure to the entire virus. Awesome, right? Wrong. To get this cure, the doctors in Colorado have no choice but to shut down her brain, which will, of course, kill her. "Ok, it's sad, but I guess I can deal with Ellie dying if it means saving the whole country," I thought.

Unfortunately, Joel and I were thinking two different things.

Unable to deal with the death of Ellie, who is perhaps the only person he has really become attached to since his daughter died almost 20 years ago, Joel goes on a rampage, mowing down guards and doctors (all good people) in order to reach his young friend. The worst part is, you - the player - are forced to go through with all of this, unable to do anything but watch as your fingers control Joel doing these terrible deeds. At the end, Ellie has no memory of what happened, and Joel lies straight to her face, not telling her of the things he did to save her. She says "promise me that everything you've said has been true." He promises. She looks at him, knowing that he's lying, and says "ok." AND THE GAME ENDS.

It's ambiguous, it's bold, and it's a damn near perfect ending for a game that has been so bleak and sad throughout. There's no "boss battle," no zombie drama, just a boldfaced lie and the acceptance of it by another. It's about the line between doing something for love and doing something for yourself. You sympathize with Joel, and yet you end the game with a knot in your stomach. It's the reason why I haven't bought a video game since, and it's absolutely one of the biggest arguments that can be made for video games as an art form (not only because of the story, but also because of it's gorgeous graphics that focus on nature reclaiming man made objects and cities, something that I didn't even touch upon). It may not have any strippers or hallucinogenic alien-fighting sequences like this year's other huge video game, but I think it deserves even more praise and should be lauded as one of the best video games not only of 2013, but of all time.