Just a quick warning, there are minor story spoilers in this post!!
My wife and kids picked this up for me yesterday for Fathers Day today, got a chance to play the first hour so far and my thoughts presently are AWESOME!!
Within the first 10 minutes, viral outbreak, escaping from the town which ends up leaving you in a car crash and your daughter with a broken leg, running through the streets trying to escape from the infected only to be stopped by a soldier who then proceeds to shoot at you and inevitably killing your daughter with you getting a narrow escape.
This opening REALLY sets the scene and chaos of what is happening. A few points in this opening sequence had me on the edge of my seat literally, panicking looking for where your brother is to follow him, stopping for a second to look which way to go while an infected chews on someone mere feet away and then getting chewed on myself due to that brief stop.
First thoughts, it reminds me of The Walking Dead with the way they done the outbreak.
After the opening scene and the start credits the setting propels you 20 years ahead, your location can best be described as the remains of a town with heavy Police type state with public execution of those infected by Biohazard teams. This bit actually reminds me of City 17 from Half Life 2 with the soldiers everywhere, checkpoints between districts and the likes.
Here you make a run for it as a resistance group known as the Fireflies blow up a patrolling APC, so you head off to your first proper mission with a woman names Tess to get a shipment of guns back from someone who has sold them to the resistance group when they are yours. Head through an underground / basement level, search everywhere to scavenge parts, ammo and medkits. High point here was only starting with 4 rounds for your gun, the peak ammo in this section was 10 rounds and that was it to get by.
You meet your first infected here due to someone dying in this basement when is decomposing and spewing out spores which can cause infection. You then enter a big open room, and you sneak up on one infected and silently take him down, Joel your main character has acute hearing so you use that and you can track movement of enemies whilst using it (similar to Hitman Absolution / Deus Ex when you activate the tracking and can see them through walls etc)
Make your way silently across the room as there are another 2 infected chewing on a corpse. Get your few extra rounds of ammo and now have to take these 2 out. There is no 3rd person shooting mechanic as such, every shot has to count and you also have to be aware of what you are up against. 10 rounds, 2 enemies, 3 shots roughly to take 1 down. 1st shot fired they run at you, fast and are on you, I found unarmed works better here.
Then onto the area with the guy you are after, crawling with guards, you REALLY need to use stealth, you get spotted the enemies will actively search for you, so you have to move around from cover to cover and break line of sight. Gun control isn't overly tight, you aren't a top marksman, very limited ammo, you have to think on your feet or you will end up dying if you try to play as a third person shooter.
After sorting the problem with the guy and your guns you start following the leader of the resistance, she wants me to take something out of the city. On completion of this you will be paid and gets your shipment of guns back...........I can see where this is heading, the something out the city is no doubt going to be the young girl you see in the adverts and on the cover etc
Naughty Dog have created a believable world in this game, they are one of my favorite developers regardless and I am a huge fan of Jak & Daxter and Uncharted games. Within the first hour the story alone has drawn me in, this is an amazing achievement with sound and visuals also, Uncharted always pushed the bar higher, as did God of War from Santa Monica Studio. The Last of Us though sets it even higher on a system that is going to be 2nd in line in Sonys line up later this year, like many have said, this is Naughty Dogs swan song and final salute to the PS3 before moving on to the PS4.
Awesome game, love it