Eric C.

3.5/5 rounded up to 4 especially with the inclusions of the DLC. The story line and combat are good to very good. The game falls a part a little bit when putting too much time into the repetitive nature of the side quests. I finished all of the side quests headed into the second part of the game and started to get a little tired of the game. Stuck to most of the main story line moving forward and found it to be a more enjoyable experience. The free DLC is a very cool add on bumping up the score to 4/5 with free multiplayer and more missions. Pros: Combat - pretty fun to slice up your enemies using different sword stances, the few special abilities and the bow/arrow. Easily the star of the game. Voice acting - playing in Japanese, found the English voice acting to be much weaker and the game felt more authentic when using Japanese dialogue. The story is pretty solid. Cons: Repetitive and redundant side missions. Enemy AI is pretty bad. Enemies are fairly easy to defeat and wander around with no purpose at times. Also most enemies have their backs to you waiting to be assassinated making it much easier to do so. The fox and haiku's are at first cool but then lose their appeal the more they are done especially when all you get are a minor charm or headband. Some of the story telling tends to drag on with lots of dialogue that can not be skipped. The same sequences every time a mission ends or a you free a peasant. The transitions between cut scenes and game play could be handled a little smoother.

Play through the 1st AND don't go into it with expectations for how YOU as the player want the story to unfold. I believe thats the #1 problem with the poor reviews for the game AND the people being upset by certain social elements introduced. Anyway, on to the game. The Last of Us 2 is simply brilliant. The storyline is amazing and done as well as any Oscar winning film. The graphics, cinematography and "acting" are all top notch. The story takes you for a heck of a ride through its 30-40 hours. I don't remember the last time I was as invested in a game to finish and see how the story ended up. I went along for the ride and enjoyed almost every minute of it. My only gripes would be the lack of zombies and the very similar voices (maybe on purpose?) between Elle and Abby.