Official Website
Platform: PlayStation 3

Genre: Line Action

Number of Players: 1

Support: HD 720p, PlayStation Network Compatible

In a digital landscape that is filled with far too many clones, consoles have been given a breath of fresh life thanks to digital downloads. I still don’t see this as being the “future” as some would like to claim that it is. Some of us still like having packaging and with game growing increasingly larger, it all comes down to hard drive size and the amount of bandwidth that you can get in your area, and let’s not forget some providers are now imposing caps and restrictions. The PlayStation 3 has seen some games that are twists on familiar methods of gameplay and some that are entirely different to such a degree that most can’t compare it to anything else. Now, we’ve all seen zombies on our consoles, but now they are being unleashed in a slightly different way thanks to The Last Guy.

So, what is The Last Guy exactly? It’s you, and at some point in the distant future the Earth is going to be run overrun with zombies . . . ummm . . . in a factional way. With the undead lurking everywhere, humanity, or what’s left of them, has taken refuge in major cities across the globe just waiting for someone to come and rescue them. That’s where your mission begins. You are a member of the United Rescue Force, or U.R.F, and your job is to round up the surviving humans and get them to rescue drops so they can be airlifted to safety. Zombies however happen to be making things difficult, even though you are a zombie yourself how apparently loves humans, and survivors across the globe are just waiting to be saved before it’s too late.

Undead or otherwise, I’ve taken quite a few zombie survival tests online, and even though they may be just for fun, I’ve always come out a survivor for one simple reason; I don’t help others. I’m not being selfish, but when the zombie apocalypse finally comes, we’ll see exactly who it is that survives and who ends up hungering for human flesh. As much as I’d simply enjoy sitting back and allow the zombies to have a feast, the game won’t allow for it, so saving humanity must be done.

The Last Guy plays as an overhead or top view game. Each of the stages is a map of a portion of a city taking you to places like San Francisco, Berlin, parts of Tokyo, and other locations in the world. Each map also has an area, sometimes more, where you can deliver the survivors to in order to wait for the drop ship which will take them to safety. Time is working against you as you only have so long in order to collect everyone not to mention that each stage also has a given number of people that must be rescued in order to progress further into the game.

To save the humans you will need to go from building to building where they will quickly files out and join you. As the number of survivors grows so does the line forming behind you and this is where things can get a little hairy. The longer the “train,” the more susceptible you and your followers are to being noticed by the zombies. They will never be devoured but they will run for cover meaning that you will have to collect them again. The only one who can take damage is you, and should a zombie attack, it is game over. There are also a variety of different types of zombies that you’ll encounter including a rather basic, garden variety that follows a very simple pattern, insect zombies that are fast and will cut through your ranks of human survivors, zombies that emit a cloud of gas that reduces visibility, and a number of other variations.

There are a few ways to make thing easier though. By pressing the X button you will switch to an infrared mode that makes seeing where the survivors are hiding easier, not to mention that you will easily see what areas you can move through on the map without hitting obstructions. It might sound like this is the best way to play the game, but infrared will not show the location of the zombies and that will leave you open to losing humans from your group. You can also “whistle” to call the humans into a group around you, something that will work to avoid detection or attack by nearby undead. You can also run to get by them faster as well as zoom in or out the map to get a better view of things.

But, there are still more concerns that you should have. You have a power bar which will be drained by gathering humans in a group or by moving quickly, but once again there are methods in which to overcome this. As your group grows larger and larger, your meter will be extended and give you more power to work with. However, if you get your humans to a drop point, your collection of survivor’s starts again and zero meaning that you will need to attract greater than the previous number of survivors if you want to build your meter up further. Stages also have icons to replenish energy as well as maximize your meter. This is taken a bit further by including other icons which make everyone in the group invisible for a limited time, will make smoke easier to see through, and even can teleport you instantly to the drop point.

The idea behind the game is one that comes across as being rather simply as far as the overall objective, but The Last Guy grows progressively more difficult as you find yourself pitted against more and more types of zombies. Some players will also want to try and maximize their escapees in order to obtain more points, plus each stage has V.I.P’s to be rescued which give a higher value. Any stage that you’ve completed though can be replayed again at any point so even if you just squeak by with the bare minimum needed.

The Last Guy isn’t really a game that is overwhelming to look at, but that’s not really the point. It doesn’t want to come across with a great deal of flashy, visual flair but instead, some addictive gameplay, and it does succeed very well at that. The maps though do look like your viewing Google Maps, minus the street view, and despite the original perception, The Last Guy actually is not using anything from Google at all in its graphics. If you’re viewing the game in infrared, you’ll simply see green dots, or masses of them, black areas which indicate impassable portions of the map (building, fences, etc) and light green segments which you can walk through. It’s probably not going to be bringing home any awards for outstanding achievements where graphics are concerned, but the blend of puzzle and action will be what keep most players involved.

The Last Guy is like many games found on the PlayStation Network since it goes for more of a simple approach and style of game play. It is very easy to grasp and get the idea of what needs to be done in each stage as well as what new threats you are facing. But again, it can get difficult as you push forward and though this leads to a bit of frustrating moments, I never found it detrimental but instead just the thing to keep me coming back and trying again . . . over and over and over again.
 

-mike-