Eye on E3 - "The Last of Us" (PS3)

So after an exhausting scrutinizing of the latest and greatest titles that will be showcased at E3, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and leak one of the more impressive games to you 3 days after the Expo has ended. Your welcome.



This possible little gem is called The Last of Us, and it's set in the US so perhaps that is a little pun there? Oh developer Naughtydog (of the Uncharted series), how clever and inappropriately named you are. But drunkenly selected developer names and game titles aside, this adventure/shooter/survivor looks pretty damn impressive and in-depth. The attention to detail and physics appears to be pretty top notch. The graphics are pretty, and dealing with enemies looks engaging and challenging.

Fresh off the disappointing single player campaign in Mass Effect 3, I am currently on the rebound, and if Last of Us has a decent story then I will probably be driven right into its loving arms. Now yes, it has no release date save for an ambiguous "2013," but I usually stay on the rebound for a long time, as few games can live up to my high standards to swoop up and sweep me off my feet and treat me right. The last time I was in a serious relationship was with ME3 and I got my heart broke. I loved ME soooo dearly...that I will probably be vulnerable for some time. It took some serious bro talks with Chet, during which we did not make direct eye contact and mostly conversed in a series of grunts and high fives, for me to realize just how deep ME3 had cut me.

No matter. It's time to look at and focus on the future. The Last of Us, as I mentioned, is set in the US -specifically beginning in a Boston quarantine zone. You play Joel, a black market dealer and protector of 14 year old orphan Ellie (not yet explained). Upon escaping the quarantine, your enemies are the survivors (people who are not infected) and the infected. The virus that has apparently infected human beings in this story is apparently not a virus at all, but a fungus - based on the horrifying parasitic variety that produced the infamous "zombie ants" captured in the popular BBC documentary, Planet Earth. I'm glad that the writers decided to go with this theory, because it adds a lot of legitimacy to the "how did these brain eaters come to be" question (I'm sorry but no, I don't buy that everyone in the world is just addicted to bath salts. Seriously, just shut the fuck up about bath salts already). Too often this part of the story is ignored, (zomg o noes I woke up one day and them zombie mahfuckers erewhere!)

All in all I'm pretty impressed with what I've seen so far and it'll be exciting to watch it as it develops toward its release date on some day, at something o' clock, 2013.

Well that's it for now. Keep checking in as Chet and I bring you our favorite picks from E3 (or don't check in because, let's face it, were both lazy pieces of shit).

Cheers!