We’re on to the second season of HBO’s smash hit The Last of Us, a show that’s become a crossover success among gamers and non-gamers alike. I’m conflicted about this, because on one hand, I loved the story of The Last of Us games and wanted everyone to experience it. On the other, it was my special little thing and now people I don’t like love it, which makes my tummy feel rumbly and my eyes wet.
For the most part, I feel they’ve done a passable job translating Joel and Ellie’s journey to a different HDMI input of the same screen. However, as a gamer, there are certain things I’ve noticed didn’t make the jump, and things that were, to me, a huge part of the experience of playing The Last of Us.
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Joel and Ellie have navigated any number of abandoned buildings and businesses. Yet, for the most part, they open and explore less than one-quarter of the rooms they pass. Who knows what tools, weapons or even Easter eggs could be in those ignored rooms?
Sure, most of them are probably locked or empty, but I’d like to see what’s inside of them, and in the game, I could. I’m not asking for much, just for them to briefly open the door and then to rotate the camera inside so I can check for points of interest.
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Closely related to the first, and what makes it so glaringly inaccurate. Despite both Joel and Ellie being tough and resourceful characters, I’ve counted almost exactly zero bindings, blades or rags picked up. Their inventory (represented in the show by backpacks) must be woefully empty.
Worse yet, they don’t seem to care. For example, after the ambush in Kansas City in Episode Four, I think it would have been more true to the game if Ellie and Joel had spent 15 to 20 minutes checking the shelves and back rooms of the laundromat for alcohol and sugar.
3They Don
’ t Upgrade Their Weapons
In the latter part of Season One, when Joel and Ellie begin to struggle in combat situations, I couldn’t help but shake my head. Again, this is where a little more awareness of their surroundings, like a gamer would have, could have helped them out.
Seeing as this is set in the TLOU universe, I know for a fact that the environment is scattered with weapon parts — weapon parts that even an amateur gunsmith like Joel could be using to upgrade the fire rate and reload speed of his weapons. Based on the TTK of the enemies in the show, they do seem to be playing on Easy, but that would just make them all the more effective.
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I don’t consider myself a god gamer by any stretch of the imagination (though I have beaten most of Dark Souls), but I’m far from a scrub. Even so, I died several times per mission during the game, and so far, neither Joel nor Ellie has died a single time in the show. This is really taking me out of it, especially given their poor tactics, use of cover and aforementioned god-awful preparation.
Could the show be based on the extra-easy “Story” difficulty? I suppose so, but if that’s the case, it’s a huge missed opportunity. Without any threat of death, there are no stakes at all, and the show doesn’t require the actors to display skill. It would be more rewarding if they, at least during the harder boss battles, died a few times.
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Mark works in the office with me, and he’s a Green Bay Packers fan. He bought the jacket that Joel wears in the show, and he made a joke about The Last of Us when we got mushrooms on our team lunch pizza and it made me so mad I had to go break a glass bottle in the parking lot. To make it worse, he asked me who the guy on my Crash Bandicoot T-shirt was.
Uh, hello, Mark? Maybe you should have a little respect for the history of the TV shows that you’re, and I quote, “really getting into.”
