Every once in awhile a game comes out that changes how video games and, by extension gamers themselves, are perceived by the rest of the world. The change started with the original Mario Brothers, it showed that games can hold a decent story. Then the popular science fiction game series, Halo, showed that that story can extend past the video game into books and now The Last of Us has changed the genre once again.

The Last of Us is an intense action, drama game that surrounds the characters of Joel and Ellie. Thrown together by hopeless circumstances these two unlikely heroes must work together to travel across America. Joel is 47 years old and has lived through an apocalypse and Ellie as a 14 year old girl who has never known anything different.

Created by the renown studio Naughty Dog, the creators of games like the Uncharted series and Jak and Daxter, The Last of Us has a very interesting twist. The game involves a kind of infection called Cordyceps. This infection, which actually exists but only infects insects, has evolved to infect humans. The disease grows on the brain and turns them into a mindless zombie.

One of the few problems with the game is that the enemies are easy to manipulate by doing certain things. For instance there were many times when I was right in front of one of the human enemies without him seeing me. The game had glitched and even though I was sitting right in front of him, he still didn’t see me.

Other than that, the game plays amazing. The melee in particular is very brutal and is one of the reasons that this game earns its mature rating. No matter how good the mechanics of the games are, the story is where it really shines.

The game takes over the course of a year. The world is left in ashes after an outbreak of Cordyceps infects over half the population.

For the most part you play as Joel taking a little girl named Ellie across what is left of America because she is immune to the Cordyceps. You are trying to get her to a group of people who call themselves the Fireflies.

The Fireflies are a group of people who are against what remains of the federal government. They work to try and overthrow the government. Throughout the year Joel and Ellie grow together as a team.

Okay guys, here is where we get into spoiler territory so beware, below is the end of the game.

SPOILER:

The game ends in one of the only ways it could without being disappointing. After finally making it to the Fireflies, Joel learns that the only way to make a cure from Ellie is to remove her brain and study the infection. They need to figure out why she is immune but of course this operation would kill her.

After all they’ve been through, Joel is not ready to just let Ellie die so he storms the Firefly base and kills everyone. Eventually you find Ellie in a medical bed knocked out, you take her and leave.

After Ellie wakes up, Joel lies to her. He tells her that she is not alone, there are other people that are immune and that the Fireflies are working to get a cure from one of them. Ellie is not sure whether or not to believe him and she makes him swear that what he said is true. He swears and the game ends.

The reason this is such a good ending is because throughout the game Joel becomes a bad guy. He, to save a girl who he considers his daughter, kills the last chance to save humanity. This dramatic conclusion is why this game is so good.

The The Last of Us is rated M for mature audiences and is available at most local stores.

For more reviews, read the Aug. 20 article, Fantasy book gives way to enticing storyline.