When the trailer for The Last of Us dropped during Spike TV's Video Game Awards a few weeks ago, the Internet was immediately abuzz with the potential displayed in this PS3 exclusive game. With a Naughty Dog lead designer stating that The Last of Us would "raise the bar for other video game designers" in terms of storytelling, it looks like the stage is set for a perfect game. Let's look at all the other details of the game and figure out what we'll be dealing with.

The Story So Far

What we know so far from the initial teaser trailers of riots and ant fungus and other leaked info is that a global pandemic has eclipsed the world. Some sort of fungus that was initially only troublesome for insects has spread to humanity. This fungus infects the host when the host breathes in the fungus's spores. The fungus then spreads to the brain and takes over the host's body.

In the subsequent trailer revealed at the VGAs, we see two survivors Joel and Ellie (looking like Nathan Drake and Ellen Page, respectively) as they battle against other survivors and people who have been infected by the parasitic fungus, who are now fast-moving zombie-type things with fungus growing out of their heads. Yep, that sounds just about right.

The trailer has a very "I Am Legend" vibe to it with the city overgrown with plants and the only other video game I can think of that compares as far as trailers go is "I Am Alive" and that's another one that's not even out yet. Both look like they're taking a different tack on the post-apocalyptic theme in that their environments are brutal and oppressive. It doesn't look like you'll be carelessly diving into combat; you'll be struggling just to survive. Kind of like Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," which was made into a movie a couple of years ago. This is what post-apocalyptic games should be like and I'm looking forward to that kind of challenge if indeed that's what we get.

The Aesthetics

As you can see from the trailer, this game just looks beautiful. The trailer also promises that it was "captured directly from a PlayStation 3 system" which is nice. Far too often, we get CG trailers that look nothing like the game's gameplay. Yeah, maybe the cutscenes look nice, but that means nothing ultimately, as you'll spend far more time playing the game than watching cutscenes.

Let's hope that the gameplay in The Last of Us looks as good as the trailer. We all know it's possible, as games like Batman: Arkham City and L.A. Noire have shown us, so really there's no excuse anymore as long as your studio has the money to make it happen. Gameplay and cutscenes should flow together seamlessly, I say.

What About Gameplay?

So far, we know nothing about the gameplay besides the fact that it will be third-person. First-person games are overdone nowadays, for my taste, so this is welcome. Beyond that, it's described as a survival horror action-adventure game. With there being two main characters, I only hope that complete online co-op will be available. Although co-op is getting more and more popular, many designers take the easy way out and don't include it, but it can be done without sacrificing the story. Here's hoping that the story they create leaves the way open for co-op.

Keep Up the Good Work, Naughty Dog

The hype is already pretty strong for The Last of Us and Naughty Dog is guiding it, so it's on their heads if it doesn't turn out great. They've even put little teasers into Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception for crying out loud! Some of the designers from that franchise are working on The Last of Us, so we should all have pretty high hopes. Of course, there will be naysayers as soon as the game comes out, but by and large if the developers stick with what they have so far The Last of Us should be awesome.

What do you think about what you've seen so far? Does this game have potential to turn into a great franchise or will it fall into obscurity?

The Last of Us is due to release late 2012/early2013.

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