Review Summary
Ghost of Tsushima has a distinctive aesthetic, after all, but it’s only skin-deep. The core game underneath that alluring exterior is a pastiche of open-world game design standards from five years ago; it lacks a real personality of its own. Ghost of Tsushima offers a lovely world to explore, and there’s value in that, but it should have been so much more than a checklist of activities to accomplish. ​

Review Summary
​It's desperately frustrating, because I maintain that Ghost of Tsushima is still, largely, quite fun. The problem is it's an easy, breezy, lite beer kind of fun - the kind that Sucker Punch is known for, after all - and the blanket genericism of it just doesn't sit well against such a po-faced tone. It's another game fallen victim to the palatability blender, coming out the other side as a slightly formless smudge of every genre, without a mastery of any. Going back to Ghost of Tsushima's roots, as an American game inspired by the comics and the movies of Japan, in a way it's quite apt. It's what happens when you want to pay homage, but don't want to add anything new of your own. It's Hollywood.​

Review Summary
​Ghost of Tsushima is pretty as heck – sporadic capturing left me with almost 50 GB worth of screenshots and short video clips to sift through – but, at its core, it’s just another open-world game. I found myself audibly sighing every time I crested a hill towards a mystery objective only to find another fox to follow or another haiku to compose. These diversions, while unique at first glance, proved to just be busy work as time wore on. I was so strong by the end of the game – filling up every skill tree is easy if you ignore the main story and just explore for a bit – that I didn’t even bother using stealth tactics for the last third. I don’t think I even died after the first few hours. There’s so little to get excited about in Tsushima once the initial wonder of the wind physics and lush environments wears off that the only thing that kept me going was my own innate desire to fill out the entire map. And that can only hold someone’s interest for so long.​

Review Summary
​Ghost of Tsushima is a joy to play and a joy to behold. Sucker Punch has crafted one of the most memorable open world games of this generation, buoyed by an immensely satisfying combat system and an engaging, dramatic story. Unlike many of its open world peers, it's a refined and focused experience -- gripping and immaculately presented at its best. A fitting first-party swansong for the PS4.​

Review Summary
​I want The Last Of Us II to be more than the experience I had. It’s a visually beautiful game that feels distinct to play, and the story it tells and how it tells it, at the most basic level, certainly pushes the edges of what games have done before. None of those accomplishments elevated or redeemed it for me. Like the nature consuming Seattle, or the outbreak consuming humanity, its ugliness overshadowed everything else.

Review Summary
Like the original Last of Us, some people are going to come away underwhelmed, but the story beats and the characters driving them are the main draw. Part II doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it gives us a lasting glimpse of a unique broken world full of broken people that's worth visiting time and time again.​

Review Summary
By the time I finished The Last of Us Part II, I wasn't sure if I liked it. It's a hard game to stomach, in part because so much of who Ellie is and what she does is beyond your control. She is deeply complicated and flawed, and her selfishness hurts a lot of people. At times, the pain you inflict feels so senseless that it can leave you numb. It's all messy and bleak and made me profoundly sad for myriad reasons, but the more I reflect on it, the more I appreciate the story and characters at its core. I wanted almost none of it to happen the way it did, and that's what's both beautiful and devastating about it.​

Review Summary
The Last of Us 2 is a masterful swansong for the PlayStation 4, and arguably the finest, most accomplished project Naughty Dog has ever embarked on. It’s far more than a traditional sequel, taking the original’s core message and expanding upon in ways that will be looked back on as brave, ambitious and undeniably controversial. 

But the impression it leaves behind is palpable, and one I hope future blockbusters will aspire to replicate. Its approach to diversity, mechanical execution and unwillingness to hold the player’s hand even in its darkest moments build to a closing chapter that will leave you in stunned silence. ​

he Last of Us: Part II is not for the faint of heart. It relishes in making the player feel extremely uncomfortable at times and it takes the post-apocalyptic brutality of its prequel to new heights. However if you can brave it through the emotional, graphic storyline, then wow, this game is truly sensational.

In The Last of Us: Part II you play as Ellie, a 19-year-old girl who was unfortunate to be born a few years after a fungal illness ripped apart humanity. This a tale of revenge after a traumatic event drives her to hunt down, in an attempt to kill, the people who turned her life upside down. She must wind her way through the remains of Seattle killing any infected or enemies that stand in her way. It is a gripping and powerful continuation of The Last of Us, which it is useful to have played beforehand in order to fully understand the characters and occurrences in this sequel.

Naughty Dog have made some substantially bold moves in the production of The Last of Us: Part II’s storyline. Henceforth the controversy that surrounds this game. I must say that, when playing, after a few of the cutscenes, I had to just take a step away from the game and process what had just happened. When you get such an emotional attachment to a game, as you do in this one, you know it’s good and The Last of Us: Part II is definitely nothing short of that. It is a beautifully crafted, emotional story of revenge that will leave you lost for words. It didn’t let me down and it never gives in.

The graphics in this game are astonishing. The environment and everything that it contains are eloquently detailed. I was playing on a standard PS4 and it was as if i was playing in 4K. Textures look intricately meticulous and landscapes look quite frankly incredible. This is particularly important due to the amount of time spent outside in-game.

The character detailing is equally if not more impressive. All of the characters, especially Ellie, look so realistic and life-like and I guess that’s a big contributing factor as to why the player gets such an emotional attachment with each of them. There is a small part in the game where Ellie peers into a mirror and makes different faces, and it’s not even a cutscene. The animations in this game a second-to-none, to a point where it feels like the developers are just showing off!

The Last of Us: Part II is not strictly open-world, yet some of the levels are large and complex, resulting in the game not being hindered by this. Exploring each level is certainly a good use of your time and there are many collectibles to pick up and read on the way. I highly recommend just doing a little bit of exploration now and then as it can really add to the story. Still the The Last of Us: Part II is a linear game where you cannot go back to a previous area. This therefore removes any illusion that this could be a sandbox title.

In terms of game mechanics, it is very stealth-based, much like its predecessor. However stealth becomes smarter with an array of different enemies and also a skill tree where you can unlock different skills that alter your combat style.

Summary
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This games story is somewhat controversial but i believe that it is essentially faultless. I was gutted at some of the happenings after getting so attached to the characters in The Last of Us: Remastered yet, for me, that just added to my emotional engagement in this game as i wanted revenge as much as the protagonist. It is an original, gripping thriller and it is a game of which there won’t be anything quite like it again. The gameplay is brilliantly fluent and the visuals are phenomenal, however at points, for most, the brutality may be a bit too much. I loved playing this game for the full 30 hours and i feel like it is a credit to Naughty Dog’s relentless hard-work.

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