HBO turned the story into unmissable television.
So why does it feel like somethings missing?
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Most of the population has been infected by aparasitic fungusthat transforms its victims into killing machines.
But in this brief moment of repose, Ellie spots a relic of a more civilized era.
The answer is obviously yes.
Before it premiered in January, critics had already crownedThe Last of Usthebest video-game adaptationever made.
Attempts to imitate gameplay directly have yielded almost universally ridiculous results (the nauseatingfirst-person-shooter sequence fromDoomlurches to mind).
To answer it,one would first need to know what a video game is.
Its that we presume to know what kind of art they would be.
The first is merely a lack of attention; the second is a genuine error of judgment.
Indeed, the feeling of helplessness is the whole point.
And its true: As a game about difficult moral choices, it gives the player none.
There are no plot decisions, no dialogue options; there is no open world.
Its protagonist, after all,alsodoesnt want to be one.
WhatThe Last of Usdoes let you do, as often as you would like, is die.
In itself, this is unremarkable.
The need for a death mechanic is almost as old as video games themselves.
Ellie yells, but soon the girls are slotting in more quarters, bribing death with pocket change.
(I guess you want to die again?
purrs your ex-girlfriend inHadesafter murdering you for the eighth or ninth time.)
What distinguishesThe Last of Usis thewaythe player character dies.
But in the video game, Joel actuallydoesdie over and over.
This was the games masterstroke.
This only a video game can teach.
But youll still have to spit out the bones.
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