The Last of Us, the post-apocalyptic shooter for the PlayStation 3 was arguably one of the best games to be released last year. People loved the characters and the world Naughty Dog created. Now just over a year after its initial PS3 release Sony computer Entertainment has released The Last of Us Remastered, an update version of the game for the PS4.

The most striking feature of The Last of Us Remastered is how much more pretty the game now looks. When the game was released on the PS3 the game was pretty pleasing on the eyes, but the new PS4 version blows the graphics of the PS3 away. First and foremost the game now runs at 1080p up from the originals 720p, but Naughty Dog just didn’t up res the textures as the game’s lighting and models have been re-done. Below is a comparison video between the PS3 (left) and the PS4 (right) versions of The Last of Us (please note the PS4 footage was captured at 30fps).

Another additional feature is the ability to unlock the game’s frame rate. You now have the option of locking the game at 30 frames per second (fps) or unlocking it and playing through at 60 frames per second. This is a very nice touch and is something rarely if ever seen in a console game. To get the game to run at 60fps players will not be avail of the improved shadow quality, which is only available when you enable the 30fps lock. When you switch from 30 to 60 for the first time it can feel a bit jarring and unnatural on the eyes, which did cause me to feel a bit sick. Although when playing at 60 I did notice that characters moved more seamless and lifelike.

While most of the new features are to make the game look better Naughty Dog did add a “Photo mode” to the game. This photo mode is similar to the one in Infamous Second Son and allows you to easily and quickly take and edit a screenshot. To use Photo mode you need only turn it on and from there you just press L3 to take a take a photo of what you are doing, be it looking into the distance or posing with a clicker. After you take a photo you can alter the photo by adding a colour filter and frames among other things. I only had a short go with the photo mode, which was only made available after the release of the game’s day one update, but I did manage to create the photos you see below.

For those wondering if it is worth buying The Last of Us again the new PS4 version include all of singe player and multiplayer DC released on the PS3 version. This includes: The Left Behind, a single player prequel chapter and eight multiplayer maps from the Reclaimed Territories and Abandoned map packs. If you were to buy all the additional game content you would be around €30, which is about 3/4 of the price of The Last of Us Remastered.

In terms of gameplay and story nothing has changed from the original release, which is why I haven’t really talked about either one, but I will give a brief rundown of the story. The basic premise of The Last of Us is that the world as we know it has ended after a powerful spore based outbreak has infected and killed a large number of the human population. The remaining humans live in a post-apocalyptic world trying to survive in large protected areas as the infection continues to spread and turn people into mindless zombies who have only one purpose, spread the infection. In the game we follow two characters Joel, a man who lived through the beginning of the outbreak and Ellie, a young girl who only knows the world as this apocalyptic horror story. Joel, who is a smuggler, is tasted with taking Ellie beyond the safety of the walled city and into the lawless wilderness where he is to deliver her to a group called the “Fireflies”. Joel and Ellie’s mission is wrapped in danger with the two having to avoid the infected and the lawless gangs that have appeared beyond the walled cities. What The Last of Us creates is a terrifying vision of the future where morals mean nothing and only the strong survive.

To create a sense of danger the game requires you to manage your supplies as healing, ammo and other essential items are tough to come by. With ammo and healing items being rare the game forces you to use more stealthy tactics as you have to spend a good amount of time waiting for enemies to move out of sight before moving on.

For a more in-depth look at the Last of Us, please check out my review of The Last of Us for the PS3.

Conclusion

Score: 9.5/10 (excellent)

The Last of Us Remastered is a visually stunning experience. The new additions and alterations makes it a must buy for PS4 owners, however if you already own the game on the PS3 I don’t see a need to buy it again, unless you really like the updated graphics and photo mode.

Pros/Cons

+ The ability to play at either 30fps or 60fps.
+ Textures, lighting and models have all received a major improvement
+ The new photo mode is fun time sink
+ All released DLC included

– Playing at 60fps did make me feel unwell for a short period of time

Developer	Publisher	Genre	Rating	Platform	Release date
Naughty Dog	Sony Computer Entertainment Europe	Action/Adventure	18+	PlayStation 4	August 1, 2014

For more information on The Last of Us Remastered, visit https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/the-last-of-us-remastered-ps4.