Saturday 2 August 2008

The Last Guy - PS3

Along with the magical PixelJunk Eden, most of my gaming time this weekend has been taken up playing the magnificent and utterly bonkers The Last Guy on PS3.

The Last Guy plays in a similar way to the mobile phone game Snake. However, rather than playing on a bland background, here, the action takes place on maps taken from real satellite images.

Due to an invasion of zombies, giant roving eyes and humongous insects, the citizens of Tokyo have taken to hiding in the city's buildings. As the heroic Last Guy, it's up to you to round these frightened folk up and lead them to safety - not easy when you have horrific hungry creatures on the prowl.



As you approach a building, the occupants flee on to the streets and join your growing group. As you have to get a set number of people to an escape point on a strict time limit, the real skill is knowing when to cut loose and run to safety. A train of too many people is likely to attract unwanted attention, but you'll struggle to meet the target by only leading a small group home.

To add to the challenge, five VIPs are scattered across the map, and it becomes scarily addictive trying to find each one. Power ups, such as the invisibility pellet, are also waiting to be discovered, while pressing 'x' also brings some help, as it displays a thermal image of the area, enabling you to see where the people are hiding - but not the monsters.



The development team have done a great job cleaning up the satellite images, and have also added cosmetic details such as water effects and birds flying overhead. As for the music, unfortunately The Last Guy only features one track, although it's a good one, and it will be stuck in your head for days. Sound effects are excellent, with members of the public screaming in terror one minute and whooping for joy the next.

The three levels are set in Japan, but from the looks of the trailer, other regions will have their own cities to run around in: Australia looks like it's getting Sydney, USA has San Francisco, while the UK will have London.

For only 500 yen, The Last Guy could be the bargain of the year.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm really surprised no one has taken more advantage of satellite imagery in games before now, especially the Clancy/MGS-type games. This one looks weird and wonderful - a bit like your new profile pic which, I have to say, has seen you looking better!