Naughty Dog released The Last of Us last year on PS3 to a lot of critical and commercial acclaim. There was even a period where the game was sold out in many New Zealand retailers. The Last of Us Remastered is the PS4 version which is the definitive version of the game released to date.
Before I begin talking about the differences between the two versions, I must stress that The Last of Us Remastered is a "buy now" if you have never played the original game before. The single player campaign is the best story I have experienced in a video game in a very long time.
The story is not cliched and the characters are complex and aren't exactly good heroes themselves. If you own a PS4, do yourself a favor and get The Last of Us Remastered as it really is a masterpiece in video gaming.
For those of you that have played the original game last year, The Last of Us Remastered has a few great new features that make this worth playing. First of all, the visuals are clearer and appear brighter than the PS3 version. The green vegetation and watery areas look great.
I would have to say The Last of Us Remastered could even be the best looking PS4 game to date. Pretty impressive since this is a remastered PS3 game after all. The full 1080p resolution will really shine better too for those that own bigger HDTVs. You won't see any jagged edges like you may have done playing the PS3 version.
One other big visual difference you will notice is the framerate. I was one of those people that couldn't tell the difference between framerates, but The Last of Us Remastered has shown me how much better 60fps can really be. Everything is smoother in 60fps as the characters do not stutter and panning the camera has no motion blur effect too. The game actually gives you an option to play it at 30fps, but I couldn't go back. 30fps is too rough and slow compared to 60fps.
Another new cool feature that has been added in The Last of Us Remastered is a photo mode. You can pause the game anytime during gameplay and take any breathtaking photo you see fit. You can either take the photo as it is or filter it up to make it look interesting. This includes making photos appear in black and white or even in widescreen to pretend you're taking a screenshot from a movie. It's an awesome feature for you to just ogle at how magnificent the graphics are in this game.
Naughty Dog didn't stop packing in lots of features as all of the DLC from the PS3 version is available straight from the PS4 disc. You get all of the extra multiplayer content plus the excellent "Left Behind" DLC that was released this year on PS3. The Left Behind DLC is a short single player campaign that let's you play as Ellie. It adds around an additional 2 hours of extra gameplay. Pretty generous since the main game is already roughly 13 hours long.
Overall, The Last of Us Remastered is a masterpiece that PS4 gamers should add to their collection. If you have played/owned the PS3 version, it's only worth getting if you are a diehard fan. It's not essential to own the PS4 version, but the PS4 version does look and play better than the original.
Verdict: 9.5 out of 10