Enslaved / TLOU: Left Behind

Enslaved Post-Martem / TLOU: Left Behind

Enslaved Final Thoughts

The need to publish this post has felt like the headband atop Monkey’s neck. Soooo before I jump into that ending, let’s discuss everything after say mid-way. The game introduces Piggy, who ends up being my favorite character. They actually built someone you like, and empathize with (though Piggy “testing” Monkey against that Rhino thing was super weird). Piggy was a sensitive, lonely guy, and to have him right next to Monkey’s rippling, muscled body, with little to no personality, felt a little odd. I’d rather be Piggy ending up with Trip than Monkey.

Getting through the game felt like a chore. The puzzles weren’t particularly difficult and the platforming was non-existent, thanks to a miraculous engine that allows me to press A anytime during a run towards a jump. When we picked this game, we knew it wasn’t gonna be for the gameplay. It was going to emanate from the story.

So did the story do a good job…maybe. I liked the characters, I thought the idea of a lush apocalypse was cool, but annoying things kept popping in the way. Why didn’t Monkey have a shirt!! It’s so bizarre. We keep harping on it, but when you have to play 10 hours looking at this guy jump around metal and water and bridges and industrial complexes, you’d figure he’d want some sort of coverage. Just think of him making jumps onto a metal platform, and his bare skin hitting the platform with all that force! The characters aside from Monkey are legitimately interesting. I would have loved to have learned more about Trip and her father, as well as why Piggy really respected and loved that family. Women portrayal in action games have been analyzed of late, so it is interesting to see how Trip is portrayed. She’s definitely strong, and I feel the ending shows just how strong she really is.

About that ending. It’s the Matrix. You’ve seen that movie right? Well, I feel this game is that. Just with different people. It was kind of a let-down in that it was about 5 minutes long and super bizarre, but I feel as if the whole journey of the game let us brace for that kind of misstep. I just feel that there was no cohesion or catharsis for the viewer other than the Pyramid was set up by some nebbish dude who wanted to take people away on this dreamscape. It reminded me of Batman Forever where Jim Carrey’s Riddler creates this thing that sucks people’s brain images and places them in some fantasy land.

I feel like this game just did it, and hence why my post is so jumbled. Would I recommend this game to others, no. Am I glad I played it, I don’t know. I just felt mind-fucked for 10 hours into thinking this is a high quality game, but with a rather hollow soul.  ONTO THE NEXT GAME.

The Last of Us: Left Behind.

               Remember when you’re a kid, and it’s September and you see all your friends after a super short three months. You have so much to tell them about, but bringing it up makes you feel sad that you aren’t living it again? That’s what I felt about The Last of Us. This game and its story made me happy to tell people about, but super sad cause it was over. I was mixed on the idea of DLC, cause it normally feels shoehorned.

That thought went away about 25 seconds into the DLC as we are given the details about how Ellie saved Joel after he was impaled. While playing the game, we completely gloss over that fact, since we’re now given the ability to play as Ellie! But in this DLC, we are given the reason why Ellie basically goes on a suicide mission to save her friend. It’s cause of Riley. She lost her friend while Ellie lived, and Riley taught Ellie some valuable lessons that helped explain Ellie and Joel’s relationship (and maybe why she accepted Joel’s lie at the end of main game).

The reason why was cause she learned from Riley that holding onto the people you love will make you do anything for two seconds more. It could be me holding onto my memories of the Last of Us. I will play this DLC just to get two seconds more. I’d even take pictures of me and the DLC in a photo booth. DLC be acting all silly, me trying to work on my Zoolander face. Then we’d kiss.

When I heard it was going to be a prequel, I was disappointed. I wanted Ish, Bill or a Firefyl story to help build the world. The Last of Us, if it taught me anything, shows that it’s not the world that matters, but the people we need to survive that ultimately tell our tale. I’m torn on recent news of the potential of a sequel. Should anymore be said of this story? To be honest, the sequel will be made. It’s all a money game, and the sequel for TLOU will make gobbles of money. It’s worth the investment from Sony’s POV, so they will throw whatever they have to in order to get this done.

When I actually played the DLC, for that brief second it brought me back to the summer.

Next Game folks?? Let’s use your next posts to list some contenders.