The Last of Us Left Behind

How the PS3 ever pulled of these visuals I will never know. Naughty Dog dipped into a pot of gold and came out with gorgeous disaster for the world of 'The Last of Us.' While the settings of 'Left Behind' are enclosed and, somewhat disappointingly, devoid of naturalization, they're still impeccably detailed and, as a result, ripe for exploration.

And simply put, the cutscenes are worthy of a full-length film.

Again a model of perfection in voice acting. Ashley Johnson returns as Ellie, imbuing in the character both wisdom and loveable goofiness. Then you have Yaani King as Riley, a bit more hardened and successfully fulfilling a role of knowingness and charisma as a model to Ellie. It's a testament to both the writing and the talent of these two actors that you immediately understand a loving history between the two friends, and that perhaps there's more than just friendship boiling underneath.

'Left Behind' makes a very clear distinction between when you're supposed to fight and when you're supposed to watch and listen. That's a flaw. The greatest strength in 'The Last of Us' was its devotion to creating cinematic moments in gameplay, whether through Joel's carrying of his daughter in the original outbreak or the simple menace of a well-armed foe. By design, 'Left Behind' severely lacks this cohesion. At the mall a couple of moments almost break the mold, like when Riley imagines for Ellie a working arcade game, the player actually inputting commands to Riley's direction. It's a great moment among just a few that really use the controller in your hands to tell the story.

Beyond that, the tempo for this DLC episode holds it back just enough to keep it from equaling the original game's level of execution. Still, fans of Naughty Dog and 'The Last of Us' have received an extension of the story so good, it might have served as a stand-alone movie.

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