The Last of Us Part 1 is a dazzling but unnecessary remake ★★★☆☆

Who wants to know if The Last of Us Part 1 worth playing can read the reviews of the game The Last of Usfrom 2013. Or even better: the reviews of The Last of Us Remasteredfrom a year later.

The Last of Us, The Last of Us Remastered and The Last of Us Part 1 are three faces of the same game: the original, a technical update and update 2.0. All three tell the story of teenage girl Ellie and her troubled companion Joel and their trek across an America as they are ambushed by zombies and survivors with less fresh intentions.

In 2014, questions were raised about the new, ‘remastered’ version of The Last of Us, a game that hadn’t even been out a year at the time. The same questions arise again The Last of Us Part 1which appears nine years after the original and eight years after the remaster, but still cannot escape the hint of superfluousness.

And then you shouldn’t open their mouths to some gamers about the price tag that comes with it The Last of Us Part 1 hangs. Sony is counting on a cent for the game after 80 euros. That is asking the top prize for an old game in which a lot of cosmetic innovation has been put in, but from which a large part has also been demolished – the possibility to participate in online competitions for up to eight players in the game’s settings.

Short life

It’s the trick of games: they quickly become museum pieces. Not because they are so special that the Rijks or the Stedelijk include them in their collection. But simply because the hardware – the equipment – ​​to play them is no longer for sale.

Thanks to digitization, films and music have eternal life. Games as the only digital art form are not. The bits and bytes are often still there, but the PCs and game consoles for which they were programmed no longer exist, or they only exist as collectors’ items. A console like the PlayStation and the Xbox lasts an average of four to six years, then there is already a new model, with new technology.

There are games that escape the dung heap of history. Studios and publishers then release a performance using the new technology. More pixels, more polygons, more power.

That doesn’t always happen just because the games are so fantastic. A remake, remaster, enhanced edition, definitive edition, director’s cutor whatever other term the marketing department may come up with, is sometimes simply an easier way to make money than making a whole new computer game.

Classic

Friends and foes agree on one thing: if there is a game that we want future generations of gamers to be able to play, it is The Last of Us. The title is not without flaws, but is definitely a classic.

The game appeared in 2013, less than ten years ago, but in game terms that was an eternity ago. The PlayStation 3 no longer exists: Sony stopped production in May 2017. threatened The Last of Us thereby losing us forever?

Well no. Because already in 2014, Naughty Dog The Last of Us Remastered out, a version performed for the PlayStation 4. However, that game also works very well on the youngest generation of Sony’s game console.

In fact: the Remastered is part of a welcome pack of games that Sony has been offering for two years to PlayStation 5 buyers who also subscribe to its online service PlayStation Plus.

Despite the improvements here and there, The Last of Us Part 1 is largely a new lick of paint over an old game. The contrast with the version for the PlayStation 3 is dazzling; the difference with the Remastered version gives a sense of redundancy.

The controls of the game are almost the same in all three versions: everything is added together and subtracted, Part 1 doesn’t play much different. That Naughty Dog speaks of a ‘remake’ is incomprehensible. Except for gamers with a visual, auditory or motor handicap: the studio has applied all kinds of tricks that let this group get more involved and enjoy the game.

Part 1 seems to be a ‘cheap’ way (for Sony and Naughty Dog) to show what technical muscle display the PlayStation 5 is capable of. Who The Last of Us – the original or the remaster – has already played and sees nothing in a reacquaintance can Part 1 leave it on the left.

Those who haven’t played the game yet and are lucky enough to get a PlayStation 5 with Part 1 the best execution of a blockbuster. It may not be worth every cent of the asking price of 79.99 euros – but it is a lot of cents.