It’s been some month after all. With both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One releasing on time in the States and Europe, along with the reviews for both hardware and titles coming in, I think I’m thinking of extending my Sony fanboy ranting for the next couple of seasons. No I’m not interested in the Xbox One, thank you(LOL micro-transactions)! And take your Skype chat away too! 2.1 Million PS4 copies sold worldwide, ‘nuff said! Ryse: Son of Rome didn’t ryse as I expected out of a Frank Miller’s 300 inspired video game, Dead Rising 3 looks Undead Nightmare on customized bikes and trucks, and the least we say about Fighter Within, the best we can do about it. Knack has been hit badly on the other end too; I had high hopes after the Knack E3 Conference especially. Killzone will stay legendary whether it gets appreciated or not. And going by my R&D of the Killzone: Shadow Fall Multiplayer, it seems people actually love it despite the complicated match settings.
But it is not Killzone: Shadow Fall, inFamous: Second Son or my deep resentment for a corporate killer of Microsoft’s standards that made me sway my mind. To put it this way, for me it was destiny to jump from PS3 to a PS4. And the debate was settled on November 19th, 2007, that legendary day when the legendary Naughty Dog released their most epic franchise till date –Uncharted, with Drake’s Fortune. Did I say THEIR most epic franchise? I’m sorry, it is THE MOST EPIC FRANCHISE that has ever come to any given console, ANY. To me, buying a Sony console is currently equivalent to that single Naughty Dog game that will flip me over for the rest of the year. It happened with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, happened again with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (also debuting the franchise’s first multiplayer events) and lately with Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. This was all okay until I felt a trickle of tears down my cheek and my heart beating faster than usual when I was playing the best ever SP story from Naughty Dog, The Last Of Us.
Let’s first settle the odds of the current The Last Of Us and its possible sequel for the next gen. The Last Of Us came in uninvited for many, as I expected the game to be a gala of adventure like Uncharted. Instead, it was so humane, so raw that it hardly felt like an animated video game. When the credits roll down, you hit the emotional roller coaster and feel bad about wrapping up the game so quickly. The Last Of Us is brimming with chaotic scenarios, fantastic thematic references and voice acting and a terrible desire to move on to the next chapter. The one thing that Naughty Dog has prevalently done in these two titles is to completely fill it up with cinematic experiences, pure soundtrack and make it feel anything but real. If Joel and Ellie carried forward the story of The Last Of Us, Gustavo Santaolalla (from the Motorcycle Diaries and Babel fame) reassured that the pandemic sent out vibes at every turn and corner. When Joel rescues Ellie from the Fireflies, the story basically draws an official closure, but if you’d look at the hints, it may have just begun. Especially when the soundtrack that ND uses in the Credits Roll is called The Path (A New Beginning), name wise identical to Cormack McCarthy’s The Road and hinting a New Beginning.
The Last Of Us was partly inspired by the McCarthy novel, but it wasn’t the real deal, it was the beginning. The Path lies ahead, the infection is going stronger, Ellie is still alive, so what can the road ahead bring? Apocalypse and the age of the infected means one thing, and one thing only, survival. Someone gets to live a little longer, while the other one dies. McCarthy’s novel ends with the man surrendering his revolver to his son and succumbing to his death at the end of the journey, hope Joel is not going the same direction! We’ve come so far with the duo. The love between Joel and Ellie has also shown to just blossom, I’m sure they will grow a lot closer to each other and will complement each other’s losses in the possible sequel. Naughty Dog has almost repeated the Nate and Sully relationship with Joel and Ellie and my fanboy instincts tell me there can’t be The Last Of Us sequel without their repeated chit chat.
In The Last Of Us sequel, I expect at least a passage of ten years, with new breeds of infected mode and a slightly sensible but Lara Croft-like Ellie. That means Joel will grow ten years older, hmm, but if Hershel can at that age, I’m sure 50 is the new 30! Both the voice actors, Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson did a fantastic role, and I really want them to extend their voice to the sequel. We are yet to get a glimpse of the story mode DLC of The Last Of Us current generation, that features Ellie’s initial days as a survivor with a friend that looks like Riley from The Last Of Us comics. And to stretch this feeling further, who knows, maybe The Last Of Us Part 2 may be succeeded by a movie version of The Last Of Us, it’s all over the news!
The Last Of Us is probably the best exclusive game out for the PS3, but in my honest opinion, they will have to prove a lot in the future with at least 3 solid stories relaying back to back like the Uncharted series. Uncharted is pure fun, it is the reason why you should call your friends over and flaunt your moves on your console. Amazing jaw dropping environment, stupefying story driven plots and real history doing the rest of the bit. It is the adventure game that deserves to stay exclusive no matter how many petitions are filed. It’s like “If you want to taste Uncharted, you need to work hard son, become a PS fanboy”! Uncharted has given us Nathan Drake and evil baronesses like Kate Marlowe, Uncharted has juggled between adventures and love triangle plots, and above all Uncharted has etched memories with each chapter.
So when the teaser came out for the next gen Uncharted, I was stunned. I was attending seminars in Pune when the news hit me like a bullet and I was screaming from the inside. The voiceover in the teaser, the theme of immortal revenge and that Uncharted return, it was way too much! My brain was raging with the drum beats and trumpets from Nate’s Theme 3.0. And that clearly tells a lot about me and Uncharted. I don’t care for people who call it the most overrated game ever. All I can do is, shed a tear in the name of ignorance. I have sat through countless adventure games, starting from Tomb Raider to Ubisoft’s iconic Far Cry series. But there is something in Uncharted that completes a gamer’s purist hunger. And repeatedly games have tried to dig in and replicate the Uncharted moments in their video games, for example Assassin’s Creed: IV Black Flag has this Mayan side adventure that looks and feels like Uncharted.
Even though The Last Of Us has kicked my emotions with loads of teardrops and the multiplayer Factions still looking fresh in every new match, it is Uncharted that I am so effin’ crazy to get my hands on. Like one of my good friends put in, it is THE ONLY REASON why many people like them will get a Playstation 4 in the first place. For me, PS4 is a pilgrimage, Drake is the GOD. I simply cannot wait to get inside one of those breaking carriages, ducking signal posts and blowing up choppers, I simply cannot wait to get to unravel a deep fort, ruffling up the undead and a few insects chasing us down to the oblivion. But it is my opinion. What’s yours? Should The Last Of Us Part 2 come first or should the effin’ Masterpiece – Uncharted? Hit the comments section below.
I’d leave you out with one of the killer tracks from Uncharted: Among Thieves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT0jWD-WbOA
