The Last of Us Reviews Perfect Scores
The Last of Us reviews have begun, and we’re compiling all the scores here for your reading pleasure. You can check out scores aggregaters gamerankings and metacritic.
Eurogamer 10/10
At a time when blockbuster action games are sinking into a mire of desperate overproduction, shallow gameplay and broken narrative logic, The Last of Us is a deeply impressive demonstration of how it can and should be done. It starts out safe but ends brave; it has heart and grit, and it hangs together beautifully. And it’s a real video game, too. An elegy for a dying world, The Last of Us is also a beacon of hope for its genre.
IGN 10/10
PlayStation 3 isn’t only well-known for its number of exclusive games, but for the sheer number of quality exclusives. That’s what makes The Last of Us even more impressive, because not only does it join the ranks of Uncharted, Killzone, God of War, Infamous and more, but it bests them all. In short, Naughty Dog has crafted a game that impresses in virtually every way. The Last of Us is a true feat.
Its unrivaled presentation in particular sets the bar even higher than the Uncharted trilogy already did, and its writing, voice acting and layered gameplay combine to create what is very easily the game to beat for Game of the Year 2013.
Edge 10/10
The Last Of Us strips away the geek-centric fan service so commonplace in contemporary games. For every highbrow idea explored, developers seem compelled to throw in a lowbrow one to counterbalance it. The Last Of Us resists such compromises, and does so without disappearing up its own backside. Naughty Dog has delivered the most riveting, emotionally resonant story-driven epic of this console generation. At times it’s easy to feel like big-budget development has too much on the line to allow stubbornly artful ideas to flourish, but then a game like The Last Of Us emerges through the crumbled blacktop like a climbing vine, green as a burnished emerald.
Destructoid 10/10
There is more to The Last of Us than just combat and “emotional” story tropes. To touch on its setpiece moments, to detail its beautiful changes in pace, would be to spoil too much. It cannot be said enough, however, that Naughty Dog’s new best creation is complete, and when I say complete, I mean it to pay the highest of compliments. I do not want more from The Last of Us: I do not need more. As the last line was uttered and the credits ushered in the close, I was done. The Last of Us had achieved everything it needed to achieve in order to provide me with everything I wanted.
And it ended perfectly.
CVG 10/10
The Last of Us is a remarkable achievement, and one of those rare games that you never want to end as you approach the finale. It tells a moving story that will linger in your mind long after the credits have rolled, but never loses sight of the fact that it’s a video game, not a film. It’s a masterful marriage of storytelling and game design, and easily Naughty Dog’s finest moment.
Videogamer 10/10
The Last of Us isn’t just the PlayStation 3’s swan song; it’s the best exclusive on the console full stop.
Campaign finished in 15 hours.
GamesRadar 5/5
The Last of Us is the definitive statement on what the genre has achieved thus far. Made of wildly eclectic gameplay mechanics polished to a sheen, bound intelligently and movingly to one of the most affecting narratives in games, The Last of Us succeeds where so many pretenders have failed.
It combines DNA strands from across the genre, yet reworks and recontextualises them to become far more than the sum of its parts. Its storytelling is peerless, as affecting and multi-layered as it is grounded, underplayed and real. In terms of everything the modern action game has strived to be, The Last of Us is the full-stop at the end of the sentence, leaving no more to be said. Until next-gen. If this is our starting point for that, then the next five to ten years could be truly amazing.
OPM UK 10/10
“A work of art in which amazing sights and sounds fuel an emotionally draining, constantly compelling end of days adventure. This is Naughty Dog pushing the PS3 to its limit. Over to you PS4”
SFX 5/5
“Sometimes, you just have to cut to the chase: The Last Of Us is the pinnacle of traditional narrative storytelling in any interactive medium, and one of the finest games ever made.”
Next Gen Gaming Blog 10/10
Very few games have the power to engage you on both a gameplay and narrative level, yet The Last of Us does both with ease. There are several moments that will stay with you long after the credits roll. It’s that damn powerful. Not only does it breath new life into a genre, it redefines it and sets the benchmark. Put the fact that it’s a game to one side, The Last of Us is just an incredible piece of entertainment and another masterpiece from Naughty Dog.
God is a Geek 10/10
The Last of Us is astonishingly beautiful and utterly compelling in every way. Ellie and Joel are fantastic characters, and few other games can produce such edge of the seat moments whilst maintaining the level of near silence that this does.
TheSixthAxis 10/10
The Last Of Us offers an engrossing, impressively robust storyline and a set of characters that’ll remain with the player long after the credits flash by.
GamingBolt 10/10
Naughty Dog’s last PlayStation 3 game is discernibly the greatest offering of the current generation. The story touches the player’s heart and most importantly makes you feel wanted. You will grow to care about the characters and bind in with their emotions. The Last of Us is a sign of the video games industry coming to age.
Kotaku Yes
Art isn’t so much about the what as it is about the how. And The Last of Us, from its overfamiliar beginning to its shocking ending, reflects the courage of its makers’ convictions. It is a terrific feat of storytelling, design, art direction and performance. As it turns out, good things still reside within the house of cliché.
Digital Spy 5/5
With a hauntingly beautiful game world, stunning visuals, and a wide variety of ways in which players can approach combat, The Last of Us is another exceptional game from the team at Naughty Dog.
PushSquare 10/10
An assured, touching, and engrossing adventure, The Last of Us represents a watershed moment for the medium. The unlikely bond that blossoms between the title’s two lead characters is both heartrending and poignantly paced – but the release delivers much more than captivating cinematics. This is a meaty slice of survival action that masterfully depicts the horrors of life in a post-pandemic setting. The conclusion may feel a little hurried, and the multiplayer somewhat surplus to requirements, but this is still an essential tale of survival that will consume you quicker than a cloud of contaminated spores.
Giant Bomb 5/5
The Last of Us is not simply Uncharted with zombies, but it couldn’t exist without Naughty Dog having made Uncharted first, either. It’s a dark adventure, one rarely filled with laughs or joy. There are bitter pills to swallow along the way, and nothing is taken for granted, not even characters. People live, people die. Sometimes it’s fair, sometimes it’s not. It’s still a zombie game, but a sobering one. Take a deep breath.
Empire online 5/5
“The Last of Us is not just the finest game that Naughty Dog has yet crafted and an easy contender for the best game of this console generation, it may also prove to be gaming’s Citizen Kane moment,” “a masterpiece that will be looked back upon favourably for decades.”
Gamereactor 10/10
This is a masterpiece: play it as soon as possible.
Machinima 10/10
Overall, multiplayer is light on modes and it may not expand on the core story-driven experience, but it’s still a thoughtful addition to a superbly executed package.
Cheat Code Central 5/5
The Last of Us is one of the best games I have had the pleasure to play in my life. The graphics are gorgeous and believable; the soundtrack is pure audible gold for the ears; the story and actors deliver in a way that it should become industry standard. However, there is one thing The Last of Us does better than many games out there–it treats you like an adult. It doesn’t hold punches; it doesn’t try to hide away from hard issues; it is just what it is. You are not a stupid gamer, and Naughty Dog realizes this and therefore doesn’t treat you like one.
Adam Sessler(Rev3) 5/5
One of the finest games I have ever played.
The Guardian 5/5
The Last of Us is visually arresting, mechanically solid, maturely written and by turns heart-rending, tense, unnerving and brutal. Check your ammo. Grab your shiv. Just try your best to stay alive.
Examiner 5/5
The Last of Us delivers a lasting experience that will be spoken of for years to come. It shows people why there is still plenty of life left in this current-generation console and why PlayStation still has some of the best properties in the industry today.
Digital spy 5/5
With a hauntingly beautiful game world, stunning visuals, and a wide variety of ways in which players can approach combat, The Last of Us is another exceptional game from the team at Naughty Dog.
However, it’s the studio’s ability to make this past-pandemic world and its contrasting cast of characters feel so believable and credible that really makes The Last of Us stand out from its peers.
Digital fix 10/10
The Last of Us is the last outing for Naughty Dog on the PlayStation 3 and there is no finer way to exit the stage of this current generation than with the performance of your career. Bravo and encore.
GameInformer 9.5/10
The Last of Us is a deeply felt, shockingly violent game that questions what we’re willing to sacrifice and, more disturbingly, what we’re willing to do so save the ones we love. The conclusion offers no easy answers. You won’t forget it.
EGM 9.5/10
Naughty Dog has crafted what’s probably their best game yet—a game that serves as a fitting end to the generation that’s made projects such as The Last of Us realistically possible.
GameSpot 8/10
Thrust in a lawless world, you feel the ache of a society gone to seed. The Last of Us stretches on for hours, forcing you to endure the suffocating atmosphere and unrelenting despair that citizens of this world have become accustomed to. And that time spent navigating the desolate wasteland draws you deeper inside. You read letters from people who have long since disappeared, meet groups who have created a rickety social structure to help them survive life’s many threats. Most important of all, you watch Ellie grow. From feisty warmth to beleaguered exhaustion, her many moods are always twinged with a grounded levity. Her uplifting nature stands in sharp contrast to the people and events surrounding her, compelling you to protect her, shepherd her, and cherish her. The Last of Us is a singular adventure that looks the downfall of humanity in the eyes and doesn’t blink.
Polygon 7.5/10
There are hints of a nuanced message in The Last of Us, but convention wins out too often to easily find them. Naughty Dog commits to a somber tone that affects every piece of the game for better and worse. It achieves incredible emotional high points about as often as it bumps up against tired scenario design that doesn’t fit its world. Survival in the post-apocalypse requires compromise, but The Last of Us has given up something vital.
Other perfect scores:
- ibtimes 10/10
- PS-Lifestyle 10/10
- Digital Spy 10/10
- Digital Fix 10/10
- Post Arcade 10/10
- speciogames 10/10
- PS-Nation 10/10
- Giantbomb 5/5
- Techdigest 5/5
- TheMirror 5/5
- Telegraph 5/5
- Gameblog 5/5
Thanks NeoGAF
