The Last Guy (PSN)

Okay, this is a seriously weird game. And it’s from Japan. Hey, how about that?

There hasn’t been too much info on the internet(s) about The Last Guy, so you might not be too sure what it’s all about. This is going to sound weird no matter which way I spin it, so here goes: you control a little man running around a series of what looks like Google Maps. Zombies and other foul creatures are roaming the streets (due to a purple beam of zombifying light from outer space), and it’s your job to round up the (thousands) of survivors and lead them to the rescue zone, where a flying ship thing comes to pick them up.

Doesn’t that just sound so weird that it’s awesome? The gameplay is actually somewhat similar to the old Snake games on cell phones – as you collect more people, they follow you in a longer tail, making it easier for zombies to catch up and eat them. But on the other hand, you get bonuses for having more people follow you at one time, so it’s a risk/reward situation.

There are also a bunch of powerups scattered around the map, and strategic collection of these is essential in the later levels if you want to survive and collect the necessary people. There are also a number of different enemies, from lumbering zombie things to fast spider things, which make your job difficult.

The game is viewed from a top-down perspective (obviously, what with the Maps and all), and it all looks a bit strange seeing tiny little people running around photos of actual cities. Unless you have a big HD TV, except to be squinting somewhat as you navigate through parts of Sydney, Stockholm, Tokyo, and San Francisco.

So it’s weird, but is it any fun? Well, kind of. Once you get past the sometimes jarring nature of the presentation, the Snake-like challenge is entertaining enough. Balancing the lives of those you’re rescuing with the need to fill a certain quota keeps things pretty frantic. But I can’t help wondering what it would have been like with more traditional graphics, whether 2D or 3D – would things have fitted together better? Or would it have made the game blander and less interesting?

Either way, you’ve got to wonder whether the gameplay will hold up over the whole game. We didn’t have more than a few levels available to us, but what we did see had some variety, but possibly not enough. Still, it’s encouraging that Sony is releasing these kinds of quirky games on their service – it’s nice to see something different.

Try downloading the demo and see if it’s to your tastes – it’s certainly not something for everyone. Keep it locked to NZGamer for the full review soon!

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