My PS3 strikes back: The games I missed out on !

So, yesterday I had the abominable, unheard of, never-to-be-mentioned thought of selling off my ps3 :O ! I know, I know, I heard them too as the Meta Soul of all gamers all over the world screamed so loud that every analog stick in the world trembled with rage, rumble motors or not ! I dwelled on selling it off and getting a Vita to play all the wonderful Ys games I never played on the psp. Memories of my time with Ys Seven came rushing through my gamer brain and along came teh tumultuous joyous goosebumps of time lost and hope of it to be found again ! See, the intentions were never bad, exchanging one joy for another , the greed for more gaming was the root cause of the thought of selling my ps3....however convoluted it may sound....:P Tee Hee !

So, what happened then? Did I forego my sense of gamerness and sell off my soul ? Did I do the unthinkable ? Am I proud owner of a Vita with my fingers sliding caressing over Ys games?


Well, lets say, the thought got me thinking about my times with the ps3, which were the best ever, no doubt. What it also got me thinking about are the games I never played on the ps3 and boy it turned out to be quite a list of really really good titles ! Even though I have played tons of games on my ps3, to the point that the poor thing died twice on me and I had to buy new ones, but I was amazed to realise that even after my exhaustive gaming time with the console, I still had quite a few great titlesthat I never really played before the ps4 arrived and swept me away with the 1080p crispness ! So, I decided to give my ps4 a very very well needed rest and turn my ps3 back on again for some good old revisit-a-thon ! :D


So, here goes a list of titles tat I want to play on my ps3, even as my ps4 library grows by the day and begs my time:

Final Fantasy XIII : The poster child of next gen back then which I completely missed out on when it finally released !


I have actually started this one already and boy am I amazed by the graphics, the music, the impeccable presentation and the unique battle system. having warmed up to RPGs over the years, I am enjoying this a lot currently !

Okami HD: I did play this one back in the ps2 era, but never really completed it.

 With the season of sales in full swing, I plan to buy this for the ps3 and see it to the sweet end for real for this time ! With the beautiful art style it has, one only needs an slight excuse to jump into Okami's world.

The Darkness: From the talented developers at Starbreeze, this is one title I always had my eye on but never really played it for some unknown reason !

The game has that very unique Starbreeze touch that continues to this day in the new Wolfenstien games made by the same devs, now called MachineGames. Also, apparently , the game has very unique storytelling moments which I would like to experince first hand. Hope I can get a copy soon, but its a difficult bet these days. Lack of a PSN version is a real bummer :( !

Max Payne 3: Max Payne was the game that thrust me into the business of games and game development but when Max Payne 3 was announced I just could not associate this new bald headed alcoholic to the legend that was Max Payne, the icon who changed my life.

It just did not fit and I never got even a tiny inclination to play this game. Now that quite a lot of time has passed and I have gotten over that gloom, I would like to give this title a try and check out what dpressed maniac has been let loose by Rockstar games.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: Whoa ! I know, this title here will throw a lot of people off balance as I am known as a hardcore MGS fan. I even have the game installed on my ps3, its just that .........I don't know, I guess I got too busy enjoying Ground Zeroes and replaying that tiny snippet to hell to come back into this game. This will be top priority after FF XIII, for sure ! Big Boss cannot be kept waiting ! We are the Homo Ludens after all !

God of War Ascension: This was one demo where my jaw never closed at all ! What a rush, what an amalgamation of brilliant visual ideas was this single piece of demo for the game that I was left asking for more RIGHT now ! I thikn the only reason I missed out on this might have been to do something with some Naughty Dog game and the fact that GOWA required a 35 gb download  and I was totally against discs at that point of time. Whatever may have been the reason, I really want to play this now and guess what, it even went free on ps Plus recently and my bad luck that I forgot to add it to my library and missed it ...........Waaaaaaaaaa ! I am searching for a cheap copy now !

Dragons Dogma: Considered a gem by RPG players all over, I really wanna get into it. I really wish they release a ps4 remaster of this one because from the time that I did spend in this game at one point of time, it really was asking for better hardware. I will keep this on the back of the list just to see if a remaster crops up. If not, then ps3 shall rev its engines again for this one !

Dark Souls : Yes Yes, I admit it T_T ! As much as a die hard Bloodborne fan I am, as much as I swear by the level design of Demons Souls and BB, I have not played Dark Souls and my soul cries for the heresy committed ! I feel deeply hurt for having not played it but having played Dark Souls 2, an unpure, non-Miyazaki game ! My heart cries for a Dark Souls on PS4, but considering DS3 is almost here, I do not believe we will ever see the original remastered for the ps4 ever, which is a massive shame cos I would pay full price for it anyday !

HAZE:  Yes, as much as it was hated, I liked the shooting in the demo a LOT !

The game has bad story and bad bad writing but I somehow feel it would be a very fun game to "play" and sadly I never got my hands on the full game. I really wish I can find an old cheap copy  but it is extremely hard to find considering no one has it anymore. Everyone seems to have rid themselves of it. Wish I can find one and try it out myself.

ICO: Shadow of the Colossus is all time favourite game along with MGS3,

but yes, I never really got to play ICO and I believe the ps3 version is the best way to go before The Last Guardian finally graces the ps4 and sweeps me off my feet again !

Puppeteer : The game where nothing is ever repeated, everything you see on screen is new ! I bought it very proudly only for the ps4 to wean me away again before I could finish it ! Honestly, the game looks so so so good that it could easily have been a ps4 launch title and wowed everyone while at it. I am coming back to wield those magic scissors again !

Tales of Xillia : Because : the amazing and unique Battle system !

I have the game purchased and installed , just waiting for the go ! If one can't have a Ys game on a system, one needs some kindof replacement, I am hoping this will be the one !

hmmm...this has turned out to be quite a long list, feels shameful in a way that I missed out on all of these during my time with the ps3 but OTOH, it also shows how solid and diverse a library PS3 has that even after begin a loyal and dedicated gamer for so long, there are still such beautiful gems ready to be enjoyed on a system that almost a decade on now ! Here's hoping I actually go past FFXIII and manage to play these games and am able to withstand the calls of my beautiful ps4 for the time being atleast !

Here's to the New Year and some Old Wines that are yet to provide the heavenly bliss of gaming !

Apocalypse : My new MP mode for The Last Of Us !

We all know that multi-player as well as single player DLC for The Last of Us is coming soon and all wise gamers have already bought the Season Pass for it. As my last article must have clearly shown you all, I am completely in love with this game and consider it the epitome of good game design. The game is so good that either I am playing it or I am always thinking about it.

          While on one of those daydreaming trips of  mine :) I came up with an idea for a fantastic  MP mode for The Last of Us which could retain the multiplayer flavour we love, but also give us a real feel of surviving the apocalypse while fighting with real people and not AI. How can we have the SP mode's world and add real people instead of the AI and have a "real" survival game? How it would really feel in the apocalyptic future with rare supplies, rival factions and the infected roaming the world !


 The result, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call the : Apocalypse mode ! :) It is not a co-op mode, it is not a horde mode...

...the rules are pretty simple :

Phase 1:

• 2 teams start at their basecamps A and B with limited set of 'tickets' or 'spawns', like say in Battlefield
• The players rush to pick up supplies from different areas on the map just like in Survival or Raid while fending off enemy players.
•  along with supplies, You also get "Parts" or "tickets " from these supply points now. The supplies belong to each player for crafting weapons but these "Parts" have to be deposited back into their base to earn more 'tickets' for your team. If you die while carrying them back, your teammates or the enemy players can pick them up again.
• The supply points are littered all over the map, just like in Raid or Survival and you scuttle between your base and the next supply point to gather tickets and supplies.
• You can have your team to defend you while only one guy does it, or all team members can scuttle off to different supply points to gather as many as they can.
• Do whatever you can , plan to get as much supplies and parts and prevent the other team from delivering the parts to their base to keep their tickets down OR just steal their parts and deliver to your base ! Team work gets rewarded.

Phase 2:

• After a set amount of time OR when all supply points have been looted,  the 'Apocalypse' begins and the infected arrive from two points on the map. Both teams get engaged in surviving the infected wave as well surviving each other.
• No supply points exist now. Use whatever supplies you have left from Phase 1 and loot what you can from dead bodies of the enemy team or the infected.
• Fight the infected, stealth kill them, bomb them, Do whatever you can and but keep an eye out for the enemy team too. Total survival !
• The team which survives till the end of the wave or has more tickets when all the infected have been wiped out, wins the round.
  

   We can have three rounds where in each round the Infected get more and more dangerous.

• First round : invaded by Runners.
• Second round: Runners + Clickers invade the match
• Third Round : Runners, clickers and two Bloaters !!

  Each team can go for either collecting stuff quickly and hiding from the enemy team, saving their tickets and bombs for the infected attack or making the other team weak by killing them off as much as they can and looting their supplies and tickets. But then, during fights, they themselves will also lose supplies required for surviving the Infected ! Multiple strategies are possible keeping each round fresh and unique ! The presence of the Infected and 'real world' rival people makes for the perfect "Apocalypse" survival experience possible in the world of The Last Of Us! :) Whatcha say !

Different Map features like hutments, natural landscape features like drop-offs can add to the survival fun while being pursued by the Infected.  This can be insanely fun :) !  This could be so much more than just a plain co-op mode against the infected or a tower defence stuff that every game seems to have now.

      The rules are simple and so is the implementation and I am really hoping  that instead of a straight up co-op mode, ala Uncharted, Naughty Dog listens and incorporates something like this it into the forthcoming DLC. If you guys have more suggestions on improving this or more maps designs, do put them in the comments!  Do Tweet it, like or G+ it and let ND hear ! ALso, if you haven't already, check out my previous article on the excellence of The Las of Us:

The Last of Us: A Masterclass in Game Design !

C'mon Naughty Dog, let the community design some maps n modes for you :) !

The Last of Us: A Masterclass in Game Design

…and I am back ! …after a week of being submerged in a world so captivating, soothing, disturbing, thrilling, challenging, intoxicating, mesmerizing and so magical that returning from it to the real world leaves me just wanting to go right back into it :)! I am talking about absolutely stellar game by Naughty Dog called The Last of Us ! Need I say more? Its time to dive in .......:)

The review scores all around had already prepared us all for a great game but the game’s geatness is far beyond what can be just measured by review scores or journalist reviews. This is a labour of love, a tale as much of the two protagonists as it is of the absolutely fabulous team of people who conceived it and brought it to life. Each and every room, scene, dialogue, expression and sound has a story to tell, and exists as a robust and independent entity supporting the other entities as aptly as possible. To find faults in this game is a waste of time, not because they are obvious or because there are none, but because that time will be much better spent in appreciating and learning from what the game has successfully achieved ! The game is what I would call a masterclass in game making and game design. Each level, each dialogue and each game mechanic has a specific and precise purpose and combined together they create a very specific mood which you cannot miss or not feel.

Since there are so many learning experiences in this game and each element interdependent on others , its difficult to put them in points, but lets try to list them in a bit of organized manner:

• Building a bond with the characters using gameplay: The biggest marvel of The Last of Us is its ability to make you feel for and cry for the characters within its first 10 minutes of game time ! Yes, stories and games make you go through hours of cut scenes, tears and extremes to make you feel sadness or love for a character. Shadow of The Colossus made you feel for Agro, but it took half of the game to forge that bond. MGS3 made your throat choke, but it took the full game to set you up for that end scene but the Last of Us accomplishes it in 10 minutes ! How? I think the answer lies in the apt use of gaming medium itself. First of all, the very first character you play as is Sarah ! Not Joel but Sarah. Its a brief segment, but it makes the player instantly connect with her. Had she been just a cutscene character there would haven't been the same impact of her death on the player. They used the medium,the controller, the ability to be a character in a game to intensify the impact manifold. Also, you watch all hell break lose as Sarah, as a victim, but as soon as the fear or tension starts building up and you feel the need to act, as a gamer, they instantly shift you to playing as Joel, the Dad, the guardian. You carry her in your hands through the apocalypse. You feel the fear as Sarah but you act as her Dad, so you are the victim but the responsibility is also yours. That controller in your hand ensures you feel that whatever will happen will be a result of my actions. And you do it, you save her and take her away from harm, a satisfaction in your heart and then......the final punch arrives : Sarah isn't killed by the infected but by humans ! You saved her from the apocalypse only to be killed by a human!  Even the part in cutscene is handled superbly. You first see that Joel is safe, free from harm, only to realise that it means its Sarah who is hit ! The same feelings are re-invoked at the end by making you play again as Joel carrying his daughter in his arms again trying to save her from , not infected, but the humans again. There was no way I would not kill Marlene or the people in my way. There's no way I would let it happen again to my daughter ! The very beginning was preparing us for the end of the game. The point to note is that all of it was done using the strengths of gameplay as a tool. This was not happening in a long cut scene. Instead, the medium's strength,the ability to interact, was used to amplify every impact of the story. This, my friends, is wonderful Game Design and superb use of the strengths of a medium chosen to tell a story!
• Foreshadowing of gameplay mechanics: We all know about foreshadowing in stories and movies but ND has gone one step further with foreshadowing of gameplay mechanics. Every gameplay feature or mechanic that they expect the player to use or be familiar with in the next segment of gameplay or the next level is foreshadowed casually in the segment previous to it. They make sure the player is already aware of  the new feature before he is expected to use it or be aware of it. For example, before the boss fight with David, we were made to roam around in that same room without any danger and introduced to the broken cutlery on the ground. We walked over it , learnt that it makes sound and breaks stealth, but it was introduced in a non lethal environment where we can learn about it without any punishment. Later, when David tries to find us in that room we are already aware that we are supposed to stay clear of the cutlery on the ground removing any chance of failure due to lack of info. If you fail, then you know you were careless, you never feel cheated.. It might seem very simple but most games would just go by the "learn by death" mechanism rather than explain in it by incorporating it in gameplay in a previous section. Its a detail which dictates level design and hence, can happen only if it is incorporated in your roots of game design. Another example is the light stealth section when you just cross outside the wall, before the actual use of stealth against the infected in the downtown area. The whole purpose of that section was to inform you that outside the wall, the enemy is overwhelming in numbers and force. So learn to hide as much as you can. This could have been said in tutorial message, like in most games, or via an NPC dialogue but ND knows actions speak louder than words. What better way than to present a situation where the enemy isn't as deadly as what is about to follow, but it forces you into hiding. Every gameplay mechanic has a similar foreshadowing in The Last of Us. This is brilliant game design and shows amazing detail in planning levels and mechanics.

• The Goal is always in sight: Be it the Capitol building, the Bridge in Pittsburgh,the Radio Tower, the Science Lab in the University or the Hospital in Salt Lake, the goal of the level is always in sight whenever you turn a corner or come out of a building.
  
  Now this is a very small touch in game and level design but one which makes a huge difference. You are always aware of where you need to go, without the need of any UI message or an in-game compass. Not just that, you feel invested in the game all the time as you always have the goal in sight. Ok, thats where we are going ! and designing each level in such a way that every now and then you get a visual of your goal doesn't happen automatically. It means ND invested a lot of time and effort in making sure it happened every-time you jumped out of a building after scourging for supplies. At a time when developers put markers every 20m to keep the player guided in a linear mission, ND achieved the same without any obtrusive UI and it feels so natural that you might not even notice in the subtle way you are being guided around the level. And it isn't just limited to visuals. In the level where we wade through a snowstorm in David's camp, since the snowstorm made sure we weren't able to see anything, ND made sure the bells ringing loud in one the buildings provided you with an aural landmark, so that you could guide yourself in the snowstorm using the sound of the bells !
• Storytelling during gameplay:  Just like the opening sequence, ND uses gameplay moments to tell most of its story. A particular moment which stands out is how Ellie turns quiet and sullen after her encounter with David. When Joel and Sully reach Salt Lake city, Ellie doesn't respond to Joel's gameplay prompts as she is preoccupied and disturbed after what David tried to do to her. Joel has to go and talk to her to prep her up.Due to the fact that it happened during gameplay, it got noticed by the player and made an impact. Hence,the Giraffe scene that followed had a much greater emotional value as Ellie got back to her own self after that encounter.
  
  There are many more examples, like when Henry reveals his story during gameplay moments as we walk around in a suburban town. Also, the behaviour of Ellie changes from a talkative teenager to a more quiet survivor during winter to a grown up coming to terms with life and relationships by the end of the game. Another example is how Joel refers to Ellie as "the girl" during the initial sections of the game. It changes to "Ellie" during the mid and to "Kiddo" after their Father-daughter relationship gets cemented ! You can literally feel their relationship while playing the game !Also, the death of Tess doesn't happen in a cutscene, but during gameplay ! They could have simply extended the cutscene by a minute and added Tess's death and Joel teeth grinding histrionics into it, but instead , when the sacrifice of Tess became inevitable, they handed the control back into your hands. You were Joel, when Tess died ! You went over to the upper floor and peeked over the ledge to see Tess lying below. It wasn't just some character, it was you ! Whatever reaction that evoked in you , were yours. Had it been a cutscene, the reactions would have been of Joel, not yours, and hence the impact would have been lesser. These are small storytelling touches that add up to the masterpiece we experience in the game.
• Down-times were never so enjoyable: Most games, including ND's previous ones, use downtimes to provide breathers between heavy action sequences and I was expecting the same here, but boy was I in for a surprise ! The downtimes are the game here ! Yes, it is the combat segments that feel like they are there to provide break from the downtimes. We spend sometimes around 30 minutes without any action, scavenging for supplies and roaming the beautiful levels, but those are the times when the game's some of the best moments are.
  
  You soak in the environment , the game world and its stories during those serene times.Ellie would start talking to you about her and your past while you are exploring. At one instant I was inside this house and She and Sam sat down on the sofa and started talking, it felt so natural, so real ! Then there are times when we are prompted for conversations during these downtimes. Add to that the stories that are littered around in the form of notes you find in houses, settlements. Some of them were so moving that you actually felt you had just played a mini story inside the main game.For example, Ish's story, the settlement in the sewers where the mother killed all her children to prevent them from getting infected and left a note on the ground saying "They didn't suffer" for the Dad to find if he ever comes back ! To give him the 'comfort' that his children did not suffer in death! It was a chilling tale that was delivered during gameplay spanning around 30 minutes via notes, messages and children's drawings on the walls. There was even a hint in the next town that Ish might still be alive ! The exploration is full of stories and conversations you would just miss if you didn't have these downtimes in gameplay. Not to mention exploration is also always rewarded with collectibles! Me likes them shinies ! :)
• Razor sharp combat gameplay: 'Perfect' is the only word to describe the balance of gameplay in The Last Of Us. I played on Hard, with Listen mode turned off, and I always had just enough supplies to scrape by. Never had too much to feel confident and never too less to get stuck. Always barely surviving ! That shows how well the game has been play tested by ND and balanced accordingly. All the levels are open areas with multiple strategy options depending on what you have in your backpack at that moment.  If you have Shivs, time to go stealthy and grabbing people. If you have run out of shivs or can't stealth around enemies, there's the Bow, a fantastic stealth alternative. If you have run out arrows, which you won't as you can recollect them after a kill, you have the melee weapons, which can be upgraded for one hit kills. If you don't like stealth, there the whole arsenal of guns. Ammo is limited, but that can be overcome by crafting extra holsters for quick-swapping weapons. Change weapons quickly and you aren't out of ammo so soon. There's always a way to play. In fact, I found the combat as addicting as Demons Souls' combat. They are very different yet very similar in the sense that both have extremely well balanced gameplay, where if u pay attention, you can win any situation.
  
  If I may compare, I find The Last of Us' combat more rewarding and engaging than Demons Souls'. Tackle one enemy, run, hide...find something...craft ...tackle another, run....hide...wait ...LOU combat is also long drawn and tense like Demons Souls. One wrong move and your chances of survival go down exponentially. In fact, if you don't run often you won't find the supplies that are required to make it through. Running away is an integral part of the combat system, which itself is a unique mechanic. Demons Souls' combat is more about memorising and dodging correctly, whereas LOU combat is more about finding right moments for crowd control and using what you have to your advantage in a split second decision. The sudden fights and the panic decisions that ensue are so unique to The Last of Us that they provided some of the most memorable moments I have had in games. In Demons Souls fights tend to have a pattern whereas in LOU no two fights play out the same ! The magic of LOU is indeed fantastic !You are never stuck and you are never overpowered either. Kudos to the designers who could manage such a balance and could produce such an unpredictable AI. OH, and the perennial decisions: Molotov or Health Kit? Shiv or a nail bomb ? the thrill is amazingly well balanced.
• Stellar sound design aides gameplay: The amazing sound design supports the gameplay perfectly. I chose to play without the Listen ability, which meant I had to rely on sounds to make out enemy positions. Many a times it was only the sound that provided me information about my next move. Whether to turn this corner or not. Should I go upstairs or stay below. Each decision was aided by perfect audio information. The gameplay could have fallen apart if the audio processing was not precise as it is now.The fact that I could easily complete the game without the Listen mode, shows that the sound feedback is perfect in this game. Every little sound made by the enemies provides proper positional feedback even on a stereo headset. On a 7.1 channel headset, the experience is sublime !  The thunder in Downtown, the sounds of nature in Lincoln, the eerie underground Infected levels and the open spaces, all resonate with a perfect audio cues.Add to that the surreal sounds by ND and the music of Gustavo Santaolalla, this is one unforgettable aural experience.
• The little details, Crafted with Love: I won't talk about the details in the characters faces or models but the little touches like moving clouds. Yes, its not a big deal, but even though we could see these were just skyboxes, the 2D clouds subtly and slowly move if you care to look up and just gaze at them :) ! Ellie tells you little jokes if you care to linger around her. Also, the fact that Joel protects Ellie by shielding her body with his own, whenever they crouch in cover during gameplay shows extreme attention to detail. 
  
  Not to forget all the small colour ques to guide the player through an environment, like yellow always means explorable area. Also, the movement of Rats always shows you where to go next! The state of the dead bodies you find always dictates which kindof enemies you will find in this area. When an enemy strangle Joel, his nose starts bleeding and the blood spreads on his face. When Joel kills an enemy, his blood spreads n the shirt and the stain grows. Also, when you switch on your flashlight, the FOV changes just a bit, objects appear just a bit closer, to give you an better illusion of things being more clearer than before !The amount of little details in unbelievable ! I am not even talking about the absolutely sublime ambient lighting and the real-time GI cast by your flashlight.Whether the player notices it or not, these details are always there for him to immerse him in this world. To make him suspend his disbelief. These small touches, little details show the developer's attention to detail, dedication to the experience and the love for the medium they are working with. One feels honoured to have played such a gem of a videogame !:)
• A Masterclass of story telling: The prologue itself is a masterclass in revealing the plot.I will just recap how the apocalypse was revealed to us in the prologue. First a phone call indicating something is wrong. Then a newspaper report about an infection, then a TV report about something wrong(nothing about infection), an explosion right outside the windows,Sarah is scared now, Dad is missing and then finally we see a infected enter the house! Now that we know there's an infection,we are shown the magnitude of the problem increasing as we ride in the car and then later we are thrust right into it running and screaming only to realize that it is not the infected who the story is about, but it is the humans...as it is a human who kills Sarah, not any of the infected ! In an indirect way the game makes it clear right at that moment, that this is a story about humans and their decisions, not the infected. A typical video game would show a TV report showing zombies rampaging the streets and be done with the introduction.But then would it be the Last of Us :) !Also, something people might not have noticed, that after every tense or heavy situation, the game always changes the mood to relief and puts a subtle smile on your face ! That is fantastic to experience: to smile right after a major tragedy! For example, when Joel gets wounded badly, the screen fades to black with a sense of dread about what will happen to Ellie now ? But the very next moment, after a pause , you see bright snow-scape with Ellie trying to hunt a deer. Like a child you run after it here and there, smiling at this play of life. Yes, life is back, the fear of death faded away the story moves forward :) ! Similarly, after the dreadful encounter with David, as Ellie weeps and reveals that David tried to abuse her, the screen fades away and we are left with a dark sense of an innocence lost to this dark brutal world. But the very next moment, after a pause to let us feel the pain, the screen comes back to life with the bright colours of Summer ! :)  Life is back and our goal is near, the Salt Lake city! The story telling was special in yet another way too: no one was a hero here, and no one a villian, the whole act of "Winter" was to showcase that our every heroic act towards Ellie was as villainous as any other enemy we encounter on our way. The entry of David in the story showcased the cruelty of our "Heroics" and made us see the other side. It also foreshadowed the 'end' of the story where Joel turns into a villian for the whole mankind while being a hero as a Dad. No one was a hero, no one was a villian. Yet we saw every journey with empathy and concern. We invested in every character as much as we invested in Joel and Ellie.
• Subtlety : I believe that was their keyword for the whole game! Except for the brutality of violence , everything else is done in the most subtle way possible. The acting is subtle, never over done, not in the case of a death scene. Take for example, Sarah's death or Tess' death. No emotion was overdone, yet we grasped the weight of the situation. The dialogues are short and subtle. Subtlety also seeps into the hints provided during gameplay. They are never loud, just subtle enough to be noticed. Characters talk bare minimum during interactions, yet convey a lot. The music , the fantastic music, is so subtle and minimal that it sets the whole game apart from anything else we have played before it. ND lets players' minds fill the gaps while providing just enough information to spark the imagination ! The best example for this point is the end of the game : Single-handedly the most mature and subtle end to a game ever. Very suggestive, sets your mind on fire and simply and gracefully fades away while leaving you thinking while a smile of satisfaction, as well as , "how long will this lie hold?" spreads on your face slowly :) ! Naughty Dog sure had the guts and the talent to bring this end to life in such a convincing way.

This is a game where I found myself watching the whole of the credits to honour the people who gave me such an amazing experience ! This is a game I found myself replaying the moment I finished it ! This is the game of which I will be telling my kids about , one day ! This is a game I will keep playing till I imbibe all that Naughty Dog has put into making it ! This game is my masterclass of Game Design ! :)

and while I leave you, to my mind springs a prose about The Last Of Us :

A tale was woven and a world sprung around it ,

A life was stolen and another lived without it,

An Innocence was lost, another hadn’t found it,

As a story unfolds, there’s a fire, gather around it,

A tale was woven and a world sprung around it !

A Journey review

My review of Journey is just this:

' It made me re-experience my whole life in just 2 hours... '

 Birth, the innocence and joy, youth, trials of life , the impending inevitable loss of body and beyond ! I am sure everyone must have had a different experience with Journey, to me, somehow it reminded me of my whole life in 2 hours ! Without any events in the game, or minimal events, lets say, it managed to make me feel every emotion or feeling I have had since childhood to now and how I feel of the life ahead ! The feeling I had at the end really felt that I have just been through my whole life and I just knew at the end that there will be nothing at the end of the light but a rebirth, it is life. But there was no expectations and no frustrations at that point ! The feeling of getting satisfied or being in a state where achievements don't matter before reaching the end, the feeling of having accomplished something without getting a reward, is exceptionally difficult to be conveyed to someone. Journey did that to me . This is something I have felt only when I meditate regularly, but a game ,an experience did this to me......is just exceptional ! Jenova Chen knows what he is doing too well. For me, it is ....life encapsulated in 2 hours !

It is just ........needs to be played and played in one sitting ! I hope everyone has a unique experience of it !

Beautiful, blissful and sublime ! 

For the first time since "Shadow of The Colossus" I have felt so mesmerized by a game ! Very short but exceptional ! Not just aesthetically, but even technically the game is marvel. I won't spoil anything for you, just play it and feel good...it has made me proud to be a part of this gaming culture again ! :)