If I remember correctly, doesn't God of War: Ascension come with access to a demo for The Last of Us? I would be a liar if I said the reviews haven't partially sold me on this game, but I was wondering what people who have played the demo have to say about the game. Also, does anyone know if the demo will be available to the public without purchasing God of War?

Yes, I played it. It was pretty tense and hard during fights but I really enjoyed it. No the demo won't come out for people without God of War.

Thanks. I realized I had a few games to sell, so I just picked up God of War Ascension from Gamestop (doing a "7 day rental") and played the demo for myself. Graphics are as impressive as ever, but the combat is tricky. The actual game will do a much better job with tutorials (all Naughty Dog demos have this same problem), so I didn't quite have a good handle on the controls until the last 30 seconds of the demo. But when I did, it was some of the most intense gameplay I've experienced in a while and the melee combat is grotesque to say the least. Definitely picking it up on Friday, especially since the campaign supposedly clocks in at 17 hours.

Supposedly -- which I doubt. Maybe if you want to collect all of the collectibles then sure.

@ollyoxenfree: That's the fear really. Several reviews have made reference to that number being the length, but in my experience with Naughty Dog games, that seems unlikely. I'm as skeptical as you are. I would just be happy if it clocked in at around Uncharted 2's length. But if it is longer, than more power to Naughty Dog, I suppose.

I played it at FanExpo and it seemed decent

Are you saying that you bought a used game from Gamestop intending to abuse their seven day return policy? If so, that's pretty messed up.

@jjweatherman: That's precisely what I'm doing, but it wasn't my idea. The cashier at GameStop told me to. I'm not even kidding. She just said, "Listen, one of the guys around here beat that game in one night, it's pretty short. Keep the receipt and return it in the next 7 days. They can even give you cash back." First time an employee has ever told me to flat out abuse a loophole. Probably the most bizarre thing that's ever happened to me in a GameStop.

@thatguywiththedeepvoice: Not a very good place to work; cheers for screwing over the worst company ever, get that cashier a medal.

Well, it's not like they'd have any reason to hold that information back; they'll get their crappy minimum wage check from the corporate overlords either way.

Sanctioned or not, that situation would still make me slightly uncomfortable.

The clerks have always told me if I didn't like a game or it breaks to return it within 7 days for a full refund.

I've returned many a games because I hated them after the first 5 minutes. I guess buying/returning it for a demo is less sinister?

@somedelicook: I'll be honest, I've returned some games simply because I didn't enjoy them, but that rarely happens. Last time I can think that I returned a used game to GameStop in the seven day period was for Final Fantasy XIII. I've done it before for other games as well (I'm looking at you Mirror's Edge...), but I try not to do it too often. The other part of the story I forgot to mention is that the cashier and I started talking about it and she mentioned that she knew a family of customers who did it every week. That's a bit excessive in my opinion, but if my local store doesn't care, I guess it's not stopping any time soon.

they said on the first playthrough.

Whenever I buy a used game at my Gamestop the employees tell me to beat it within 7 days so I can return it. I've played a lot of used games from Gamestop but I don't think I've ever paid any money for them.

Nah.

Yeah man, pretty tense shit.Impressive for a AAA game.

It's game demos' Citizen Kane moment. But seriously the game seems really exciting despite the demo being incredibly short. The atmosphere is really good and the combat is tense. I also think I might just play the whole game on hard based on the demo. Hopefully that doesn't end up being a mistake.

Why are people such fucking pansies?

Jesus Christ who cares, if Gamestop has a problem with it, they can change the policy.

How is the AI on the girl? and is she actually voiced by a girl or a woman in her 40s pretending to be a young girl like Clementine? Are there no talented young actors to fill these roles? I guess its performance captured in this title.

@funkydupe said:

How is the AI on the girl? and is she actually voiced by a girl or a woman in her 40s pretending to be a young girl like Clementine? Are there no talented young actors to fill these roles? I guess its performance captured in this title.

1. Apparently, the AI is fine at getting out of trouble and helping you. They've made a shortcut and when you're in stealth, Ellie won't be detected by enemies until you break stealth yourself and it sometimes sticks out due to minor pathfinding issues, but that's a reasonable thing to do. Especially since apparently when you get caught, that no longer works and she's actively participating in combat as a distraction and helper, which also extends to the fact that she can die, so it's not like Elizabeth in BioShock Infinite where she simply doesn't exist and pops up behind your back all the time to throw you a coin.

2. Ellie's voiced by Ashley Johnson, who is 29 years old. She does a great job at acting and her voice has a reasonable pitch, so she does sound like a 13-15 year old.

It's actually hard as fuck to find anyone who could fit the bill when it comes to young actors due to numerous reasons. Voice acting is kind of a separate craft from physical acting. You have to be good enough to do motion capture, which also has to be theatrical enough. You need a distinct voice, which most kids lack, especially if they are girls. There's the problem that 13 year olds grow and change, imagine that voice breaking halfway through production. Finally, most kids are managed by their parents, who can object to a ton of shit - while there are cool ones, like the Fannings or Chloe Moretz's parents, it's not actually that easy.

I mean, from A-list child actresses I'd say only Chloe Moretz would manage to pull it off and look how she looked and sounded like in Kick-Ass and how she does now. You need reliability in this and a kid can rarely provide that.

@ghostiet: Money!

I really can't get over the fact that the Last of Us demo is ONLY for people that bought GoW. That's CRAZY! it seems to go directly against the confidence shown by Naughty Dog and Sony getting the game out early (albeit E3 had something to do with that) and the embargo lifting so early (again I'm sure E3 played a part in that, too).

But they made a demo! the demo works! instead of using it to maybe gain more interest, and sell more copies they decide to lock it behind a failing franchise to get more sales for that instead! Where is the logic? Even after all the good things Sony announced at E3 it's business decisions like that that make me not wanna get another console...I bet i will eventually end up with one...Still annoys me though.