Sound I was in too much of a hurry to rate HBO Our last. While the first four episodes certainly caught my attention as a well-written and beautifully shot prestige TV show, I was a bit disappointed by the adaptation process that turned the game into a show. The show has, so far, omitted specific entertainment, memorable action sequences from the game. Well, with “Endure and Survive,” the fifth episode of the first season (but not the last) season of Our lastthe show has revealed that it’s not only capable of tweaking the action of video games, and in some cases it can do better with it.
Adapted from hit PlayStation 3 title of the same name, Our last‘ gripping, character-driven storyline that exists alongside tense, deadly, moment-by-moment encounters. The player, as Joel, must overcome even hostile humans and be infected with a combination of stealth, handguns, and rudimentary improvised weapons. In the first four episodes, HBO’s adaptation most have prioritized story elements, in some cases choosing not to recreate memorable action sequences or highlight unique, handcrafted props of the kind we’ve seen in the game. It makes sense for the television to focus on the actors and the story, but so far I’ve found the show lacks the key action component that I’ve come to love, not only while watching the game, but also from playing It.
Read more: Our last The program could be better if it behaves more like a game
there’s a reason Our last appear on our list best action games you can play this year. With a slower tempo than what you’d find in something like other recent Naughty Dog series, undiscoveredand the emphasis is on survival, Our last because the game introduces tight, tense action sequences throughout the story, reminding you that, no matter how much you feel under your control during the narrative pause, you’re also never really safe in its deadly world.. The action sequences are when the carpet is pulled away from you and you have to deal with a here and now situation. Mess up, and someone is about to die.
Our list of action games marks the sequel, Part II, is a bit more flexible, with more options for how you approach and react to different situations. But the sequel follows what the first game did so well: Those moments where, pardon the cliché, it all falls apart and you have to respond. Right away. It’s definitely action-packed tension, but damn, is it suspenseful.
Read more: 16 best action games you can play in 2023
While I will definitely trade the first game”upside down” penalty shootout at the “Bill’s Town” level for Beautiful story of Bill and Frank we entered episode three of the show, I’m starting to worry that the HBO TV adaptation will continue to skip over other, more explosive sequences instead of trying to transfer the immediacy of the in-game action to the screen. But here we are with the suburban sniper scene of episode five. This gripping scene not only interprets the action of the game exceptionally well, but does so with a narrative revision that makes the carnage even more intense.
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Read more: Our last Fans are making great Bill and Frank Fan Art
Just like in the game, Joel and Ellie teamed up with Henry and Sam. But this time, Henry and Sam’s situation is more urgent. Kathleen, the leader of a revolutionary force, obsessively wants to see Henry die for his role in her brother’s death. Like the game, Joel, Ellie, Henry and Sam must travel down an abandoned suburban street, moving from car to car to avoid being shot by a sniper who is observing the area.
The TV show has nothing to do with this scenario as it exists in the game. For starters, Joel does not face additional hostile forces as he approaches the sniper’s nest. And it becomes clear after Joel deals with the sniper that this individual belongs to the Kansas City revolutionaries (the game’s parallel version of these events takes place in Pittsburgh and no Kathleen or any of the revolutionaries introduced in episode four). This is one of the improvements the show makes over the original game, something its sequel has also worked harder to achieve: lending faces, complex engines, and the identities of the characters. villain.
Read more: The Last of Us Episode 4 Summary: Back to the familiar
But first we need to talk about the sound design in the sniper scene. Although the show had caught my ear before (the ambient music was particularly annoying but still made my satisfaction increase when Joel, Ellie and Tess up the stairs in volume two museum is one such example), I am unhealthily obsessed with the gunfire in this scene. The sniper’s precise and penetrating strike is followed by a second of silence that can swallow the universe, followed by a timeless whisper of air and sensual percussion hits to the torso. car and car window. Satisfying explosions mingle with powerful squeals, sharp shards of glass…heavy metal bands will spend their entire careers trying to deliver something beautiful and at the same time destructive power. This is happiness.
The sounds are as lovely as the special effects and creations of their own, but the effects really hooked me with the same intimacy I feel in video games—and especially something that the show This program is based on . The scene that mirrors this scene in a video game is an example, but the second half of The Last of Us Part II also has the same sniper scenario. The overarching movement with the threat of violence presses you back to be brought to life successfully on screen. But we are not done yet.
Just like in the game, Joel eventually makes it to the top of the sniper, eliminating the sniper and then having to get behind the range as hostile human forces move forward. In the show, the mob of enemies with no personality is replaced by the new character Kathleen on her quest for revenge, with her forces in tow. Joel had to do several needle-piercing shots, one of which was recreated from the game: Hitting a hostile vehicle operator, with the camera rotating behind the rifle’s own scope. And yes, just like the game, that car crashes into a house…a house that holds surprises.
Read more: Who are Kathleen and Perry in HBO’s Our last?
The TV show car changed direction and veered to the right. It crashes to the left in the game; This mirror image of recreated scenes seems to be a common element of the show. Joel and Sarah are flipped upside down on the couch in opening episode; Joel’s “I’m sure you’ll figure it out” line with Ellie asking her what the hell to do when he takes a nap in the first episode when he sees the couch he’s lying on flipped over to the other side of the room.
And though a bunch of infected people end up flooding the streets in the game, that’s completely different on the show. Here, the arrival of a horde of infected people from the underground serves as a reward for some great omens in the previous episode and earlier scenes in this season, where we learn that the previous FEDRA went after all the infected people underground as a way to “fix” the problem. Apparently this is something that will come up again to cause problems. And in this scene, once you see the truck crash into the house…you know what’s going to happen, and the arrogance that drove Kathleen to such extreme action will soon pay the price.
Smashing the calm madness in Kathleen’s short-sighted vengeance, the dump truck and the chorus of screams and roars from the mob of infected people it unleashes is a powerful release, frees us from the shock of trying to follow Kathleen’s justification for cruelty. We barely have time to digest the contours of her bloodlust as the infected’s long-buried rage engulfs them all, the great equalizer considers no one safe. and need not justify its rage and violence. At the end of this scene, I felt an instinctive urge to put down the controller and take a breath. Except no controller.
Episode five’s sniper scenario not only tweaked a key action sequence of the game, but also made the game even better. The rhythm is tighter, more intense. The narrative pulls you into what’s at stake in a much more satisfying way, and it earns the zombie mob scene. This is the kind of game sequence adaptation I’ve been waiting for on HBO’s show, and it didn’t disappoint. Until next time, I’ll go see if Whole Foods sells crows.
