Released last summer for the Playstation 3, The Last Of Us was pretty much gaming perfection. Naughty Dog is infamous for releasing ground breaking and innovative titles but The Last Of Us was widely regarded to be their best game yet. With over 200 “Game Of The Year” accolades under its belt (including one from us) it’s understandable why Sony would want to bring this masterpiece over to the Playstation 4, and in doing so, the talented team at Naughty Dog has done a lot more than just splash on a coat of 1080p paint.
Thanks to the power of the PS4, The Last Of Us: Remastered runs in full 1080p at 60 frames per second, this is a considerable leap over the game’s 720p/30FPS origins. Remastered also boasts significantly improved character models, textures, lighting and shadows to help make this one of the best looking games ever released. The increased frame rate coupled with the enhancements of the Playstation 4’s Dualshock controller result in dramatic gameplay improvements that alleviates much of the frustrations found in the original game. Positioning your aiming reticule now feels buttery smooth and the Dualshock 4’s refined analog sticks and concave triggers makes pulling off headshots feel easier and yet more satisfying than ever.
Unless you’ve been living under a frozen rock for the past year, you probably already know what The Last Of Us is all about. If not, please hang your head in shame for a few seconds before consulting our original review. This remaster also includes most of the DLC released for the Playstation 3 game including all muliplayer maps, the unforgiving “Grounded” difficulty mode and the phenomenal “Left Behind” story chapter. Left Behind centres around Ellie and even gives us a glimpse of the life that she lived before she was bricking dudes in the face with Joel. Back then, those bricks were used to bust abandoned car windows as Ellie and her best friend Riley took full advantage of their youthful exuberance even while the world completely fell apart around them.
Another highlight of this Playstation 4 remaster is the inclusion of the brilliant Photo Mode first seen in inFAMOUS: Second Son. At any moment during gameplay, players can hit the L3 button to enter photo mode. From here you’ll be given full reins to rotate the camera, zoom in or out, and add custom filters, frames and special effects before sharing your shots with the world. Some of the results seen online have been truly remarkable and has had me glued to the Photo Mode thread on NeoGaf for the past few days. The Photo Mode also highlights the game’s stunning visuals and has me giddy at the thought of what Naughty Dog will bring to the table with Uncharted 4 and The Last Of Us’ inevitable sequel.
In short, The Last Of Us: Remastered is the same fantastic game that you probably played last year but with several refinements that make it look, sound and play even better! The improved frame rate, inclusion of the Left Behind DLC and all new Photo Mode increase our original review score from impressive 94/100 to an almighty 98/100.
This review was based on a review copy of The Last of Us: Remastered for the PlayStation 4 provided by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
