Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Mike Repella

Super heroes, zombies, giant insects, aliens, giant eyeballs, infrared vision, satellite maps and hordes of helpless people to rescue. If you thought all of those things couldn’t possibly be combined to make a fun game then you haven’t played The Last Guy.

Developed by the strange minds at Japan Studio and published on the Playstation Network, The Last Guy offers a truly unique gameplay experience that will remind you of the first time you tried games like Katamari Demotchi or Parapa The Rappa.

The game is played from an overhead aerial perspective so you are not zoomed in close to the action. Instead each level was created using real aerial photographs that were then translated in to extremely detailed and accurate representations of cities like London, Sydney, Asakusa and many other cities. The map areas themselves range in size, but most of them are very large and represent several square blocks of the world’s major cities. The graphical detail is impressive and on first look one may think they are using real satellite images, but closer inspection will reveal that the game world is in fact not just a picture back drop and is instead actually being rendered by the graphics engine.

The characters in The Last Guy are all very small. They are made of polygons and you never really get to see an up close view of them. Instead they look like ants on the screen. Despite their small size Japan Studios managed to throw enough detail into the zombies, the bugs and the civilians that you can tell them apart.

The sound effects, announcer and music in The Last Guy all have a very charming Japanese flavor. The game sounds very much like a typical arcade game with loud over the top announcements, citizens who scream when zombies get near, zombies who growl and an announcer who will encourage the player on. Each level starts with the announcer screaming “Go Go Go” and it’s actually quite fitting for the overall feel of the game.

Overall the sound and music was designed to make you feel like you are playing an arcade game and the developers have succeeded.

The controls in The Last Guy are very simple. You use the analog stick to move the hero around the map, the X button is used to sprint and the O button is used to call survivors into a huddle around the hero. You can also zoom the map in and out failry easily. That’s pretty much it. There are no complicated camera controls, no multi button combos to worry about and no button mashing.

Your mission in The last Guy is simple. You play as the Earth’s appointed Hero who must travel to the remaining cities and rescue the last survivors who are hiding in buildings, trees, warehouses, stadiums, etc. and you have to take them to a designated safe zone.

Standing in your way are zombies who roam around the map, giant insects who run really fast, giant eye ball type zombies, whaling banshee zombies and several other monster types who want to kill all remaining survivors.

Each level has a time limit and the player is tasked with escorting a set number of survivors to the safe zone within the time limit. The player can see where survivors are hiding and the number of survivors by using infrared vision to detect their heat signatures. The problem with this power is that you cannot see the zombies while using infrared vision.

Once the hero finds survivors he must touch them in order for them to join him. The more people the hero touches the longer the line of people waiting to be taken to the safe zone gets. It’s very typical to have a line of 400 plus survivors following the hero around a level. The challenge comes in when the zombies get near. If they touch a survivor then the person will run for the nearest shelter. A mess up will often result in you losing several hundred survivors from your established pack.

The hero himself has a health bar and contact with zombies will drain your health. The player also has a stamina bar that allows him to run with survivors and huddle them close to him to avoid the zombies. Careful use of the stamina bar can mean the difference between completing a level and failing.

Scattered throughout each level are power ups. They range from stamina refills, to warp points, time stoppers and invisibility.

At the end of each level players are awarded points based off of the number of survivors they rescued. Each level also has a couple of V.I.P. survivors hidden in them that award extra points. Players can then go online with their scores and compare them on a global ranking list.

The game starts off fairly hard, but once you progress through the levels and learn some of the gameplay tricks you will be able to go back to previous levels and easily rack up new high scores.

The Last Guy is available on the PSN for $9.99. That’s not a bad deal when you consider that there are 14 levels, plus a couple of unlockable levels. The arcade feel will also keep you coming back to replay levels in order to try and find all the V.I.P.s and get a new high score. The one thing that could have improved the replayability would have been the inclusion of Trophy support, but at this time the game doesn’t offer it.

The Last Guy is billed as a zombie survival arcade action game. I would call it more of a monster movie survival arcade action game. Don’t expect a rip-off of Romero’s zombies, instead you get Japanese style fast moving giant monsters looking to ruin your day. The gameplay is very fast and you will have to develop a strategy to complete most of the levels. The unique idea to base each level on real aerial photography and subsequently mapping out each city as accurately as possible is fresh and will remind you of other quirky Japanese games.

At just $9.99 anyone who loves zombies, weird Japanese games, arcade games or even giant eyeball alien games owes it to themselves to check out The Last Guy.

Gaming Trend Score

86

1. Graphics: 80
2. Audio: 90
3. Controls: 90
4. Gameplay: 85
5. Value/Replay: 85
6. OVERALL:86