Book #30: The Art of The Last of Us

[thistlechaser]

The Art of the Last of Us by Naughty Dog Studios (Author), Rachel Edidin (Editor). (Credit listed as appears on Amazon page.)
(Book received for free for review from Diamond Book Distributors.)

I don't play many video games. WoW aside, it's been years since I last played a "real" video game -- one that requires skill at jumping, eye–hand coordination, ability to figure out puzzles, etc. I love them, I happily watch walk throughs and reviews and such, but I'm old and slow and thus they tend to be more frustrating than fun to me.

All that being said, an "The art of..." book is perfect for me. (Well, perfect-perfect would be me hiring someone to play the games while I watch, but that's not exactly reasonable.)

The commercials for The Last of Us really caught my eye. It seemed like a game with a great story, and I was wondering how I could experience more of it without actually trying to play it myself. Perfect timing to review this book!

I love it so much! It made me want to play the game even more! The art was so beautiful and in some cases I could barely believe it was hand (or computer) drawn, it looked like a photo. Lots of background info about the story and the development production as well.

If you like games, you should check out this Art of... book. One small warning: There are what seem to be giant spoilers in it, so play the game first and then check it out.

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Side note: I know my review/non review post ratio has been wacky in the last week or two. All these graphic novels are so quick to read. I find I like "real" (normal, whatever -- "traditional"?) books better though, so this will likely be the last of them, unless something catches my eye.

Also, this book falls under the umbrella of "Book #30", the catchall for books too short for me to usually count.

Comments

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

Check and see if there is a playthrough of the game on YouTube! That's how I watched all the Metroid games that are shooters, because I hate shooters and love Metroid. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm going to do that tonight! A comment (below) confirmed it would be a good match for me story-wise. :D

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

The Last of Us is dark as hell. You'd love it. The voice acting is also top-notch, and it's a very interesting story to boot! If there's a Let's Play of it or something out there, you may very well get a lot out of it."

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Eeee, that's great to hear! I'm going to check youtube tonight. :D

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

I really expect you to get into the Let's Play videos - great way to see games you don't have a a chance to play. The Walking Dead games were outstanding to watch too, and I recommend the Penumbra & Amnesia games if you like horror.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they seem perfect for me! And thanks for the recs, too. I hadn't heard of Penumbra & Amnesia before.

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Oooh, this is totally going to be a present for grysar at some point, along with the game. It's really not my type of thing, but it's definitely his.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Woot! I bet he'll like it! I flippped (er, scrolled) though it again after posting this -- even on second viewing, there was so much to see!

Make sure to tell him to play the game first though. There were major spoilers in the book (I suspect what's the biggest twist in the game was spoiled).

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it'd probably be a game as Christmas present, book as birthday present sort of thing.