Brandon Sully

The gameplay was well improved on the first! The story was loaded with holes. It takes Joel, an aware, battle hardened survivor, and turns him into a noob that never would have made it out of his hometown with Tommy, let alone endured a trek across the country through the last of Us world. This was very confusing as other characters didn't get the same dumbing down that Joel received. Outside of the poorly written iteration of Joel, the game seems to deliver on many fronts and was still a joy to play, and had all the pieces to be amazing. I personally believe they missed the mark with a beloved character by choosing a "let's change this person so they fit the story I feel like writing, not change the story to accurately reflect the characters" mentality that leaves, I'm guessing, many fans of the incredible first game stunned. Such small changes could have made this game another home run. Bummer.