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Over the next two weeks we'll be bringing you our pick of the games of the generation. Today we're looking at The Last of Us, Naughty Dog's masterful and melancholy action game that took the formula started with Uncharted to its peak. The scene opens on the hero of the piece. It's 2007 and Naughty Dog, a peppy developer with a flair for character-driven platform games, has set out to make it big in the land of the (PlayStation) free. A confident debut with Uncharted is followed by a blockbuster hit of a sequel; Naughty Dog is on a roll and making it look easy, but then there's the smallest of stumbles. While the third in its whizz-bang Uncharted series is accomplished, it lacks the impact and creative highs of its predecessors; it's becoming harder to ignore the highly-polished rails on which this ride is run.
But wait, there's an eleventh hour twist! The introduction of a new project deep into the console cycle looks set to determine whether our hero's legacy is one of glory or a tale of what might have been. Plumbing depths that some doubted the old dog had, The Last of Us is presented to the crowd. Stunned silence is followed by rapturous applause. Cut to Naughty Dog; a deep, steadying breath, a modest smile and a single nod of the head. Fade to black.
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