The Last of Us SPOILER POST!!!!!

SPOILER ALERT! YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US! TURN BACK NOW! THESE SPOILERS NOT ONLY RUIN THE STORY, THEY ALSO REVEAL GAMEPLAY ELEMENTS THAT WILL RUIN YOUR ENTIRE EXPERIENCE WITH THE GAME! TURN BACK NOW!

     So, the thing I talked about so much in my review that ruined the gameplay and made survivor mode harmless is the fact that even in survivor mode, the game will magically provide ammo and health packs for you. If you are low on health and can't make a health pack or find stuff to make one, Ellie will give you one. On my first play-through this happened from time to time and I thought nothing of it, but I realized you can actually rely on this in my second run.

     You can also use all of your ammo in every fight, and your enemies will drop you more ammo when they die. They'll drop some if you have ammo left, but if you are totally out or close to it, they will drop you A LOT. Trust me, I did this many times, and it works every time. Use all your ammo in every fight without worry, you will get more.

     That doesn't sound like too big a deal as you still have to win the fights, and there is some challenge to that. But the entire point of this game is managing your resources, conserving what you have, and searching everywhere to get the stuff you need to survive. And if you try to do that, the game lets you, and that's great fun. But it's an illusion; the game doesn't generate ammo for you unless you need it, so if you ration your supplies, you won't even notice this effect. However, you can run through the whole game without searching for anything and still be fine, as the game will generate ammo and health as needed. I understand why this feature exists in normal mode, as you could get yourself into a permanently bad situation if the game had limited supplies. But to have so much dropped in your lap in survivor mode is crazy! Survivor mode would be amazing if there was a set amount of supplies and you had to manage them. That's not the case. You wouldn't even ever really get stuck even if you did run out of ammo as you can stealth your way through most situations. It would just be harder, which is what it's supposed to be. Once I figured out I would always have ammo, I didn't search around anymore and I was very careless with my ammo. In other words, I was totally disengaged with the whole concept of the game. Not good. At least I didn't figure this out on my first play-through.

     As for the story, I won't go into too much detail on my thoughts, but here are a few things to think about.

You can't tell me that Joel is in the wrong for stopping a little girl from being murdered. I don't care what the greater good is, he's not in the wrong. Now, he might be in the wrong for going on a killing spree to save her, but that's another story. It's wrong of the Fireflies to kill Ellie. I haven't seen anyone agree with me on this on a message board, but I'm sure someone out there must agree with me.

     The ending is subtle and non-conclusive, which is not something you see too much in gaming (except for cliffhangers, which are usually poorly done).

I'M ABOUT TO SPOIL THE ROAD A LITTLE NOW, SO BE CAREFUL! DON'T READ THE NEXT BLURB IF YOU DON'T WANT THE NOVEL/MOVIE “THE ROAD” SPOILED FOR YOU!

     I think the ending is better than The Road's because The Road seems to spring a little hope on you in the end. It was abrupt and didn't fit perfectly in my opinion, although it's still a decent ending. The Last of Us kind of leaves things in the status quo. Life is horrible, there will be no cure. That's how we started, and that's how we end. Joel and Ellie have each other, but there will probably be problems between them in the future, if they survive long enough to have them. That ending fits into that world better than The Road's ending fits into its world.