Info
Some time in the 21st century, a mysterious purple ray hits Earth, turning anyone touched by the light into a monster or zombie. With zombies roaming the streets, unaffected people lucky enough to have been inside a building when the ray hit are anxiously holding their collective breath, waiting for someone to rescue them. As The Last Guy, you are the survivors’ last hope to survive this global crisis.
Go forth and save!!
No of Players: 1
Released:2008
Review – by Keith Murray.
Survival Horror: it’s fair to say it’s a genre that has been done to death. Literally. The battle with the undead is seemingly one without end and without original ideas either. That is until now, with Japan Studio producing The Last Guy.
Embodying the classic maze approach of Pac-man with the mobile phone title Snake and adding dash of Nintendo`s classic series, Pikmin, The Last Guy is survival horror with a twist. Using Google Earth maps of real world locations, it immediately adds a level of interest that fictional surroundings might struggle to provide.
The premise is that the player has a set amount of time to find other survivors who are hiding in buildings dotted around the map and by pressing the R1/R2 shoulder buttons you can zoom in and out of the map for a more intricate view of the area. The X button brings up an infra-red scope which indicates if buildings are providing sanctuary for people in the form of a green shadow. If those seeking refuge see you they will dive out of cover and join you in your quest to save others. Once the required target is reached, they should be then ferried to the escape point where they will be picked up.
Standing in the way of this goal is a selection of zombies, monsters and a finite amount of time in which to rescue everyone. From slow moving one-eyed monsters or a large bug that will remorselessly track you down, these beasts scatter the survivors back into their buildings and cost the player valuable time as they have to round up their straggling posse. The dual shock rumbles as the survivors scream in panic, scuttling back to the safety of the houses – a nice touch.
The more survivors you have, the longer the train becomes and the more difficult it is to control. They can be encouraged to move faster by pressing the triangle button, but this has to be used sparingly as it doesn’t last forever. They can also be herded like cattle with the whistle command as you try to contain the ever growing population in a cul-de-sac, hoping to avoid any oncoming enemies.
Luckily there are power-ups which aid your quest. Apart from the standard increase in stamina, there is invisibility and the fantastic freeze, which stops all enemies for 30 seconds. While the Japan Premium version played is limited to only three levels, each an expansion on the same area, the premise is ripe for Downloadable Content to boost the number and hopefully the initial investment of only 500 yen (about 2.40 GBP) will be enough to encourage people to take the plunge.
Inventive and great fun, The Last Guy is a worthy inclusion to the ever expanding PSN library.