GotG Round 3: The Walking Dead - Season One vs. The Last of Us

The Last of Us is incredible. I do not own a PS3.

I like games you can play.

I haven't played The Last of Us (it's on my short list when I inadvertently get a PS3), but I'll give it a vote over The Walking Dead simply because it's an actual video game and not a choose your own adventure novel with QTEs... which is of course absurdly reductionist, but I still think TWD is overhyped for as much as I enjoyed it.

@towersixteen:

Nobody insults great video games and gets away with it.

TLoU.

The Walking Dead may have great writing but it's just not my type of game. I've been forcing myself through 3 chapters, I just can't continue anymore. I'm sick of the gameplay.

I'll keep that in mind if I ever decide to. At the very least, though, I'll not worry about wearing suitable running clothes- if that's gonna be the BGM for the attack, I assume my enemies will be wearing baggy cultist robes and won't be super mobile. But maybe assumptions like that is how they get you?

@towersixteen:

So you wish for more urgent battle music? I can provide.

@video_game_king: Ahh, see, that's much better. But upon consideration, I think I might take the first one, and maybe take up shopping at Priests'R'Us. I sort of just realized I'm probably not the hero in this scenario, and with that second option, I would be well and truly fucked.

So close right now, but Walking Dead had better pull ahead.

(I don't want to have to cry over this game again)

The bars are even, as of this writing.

Hmm, it's at 50/50 even with my vote.

this will be the most decisive poll.

the better "game" is last of us.

I just voted and its tied 50% each. wowwww

Holy shit you guys, I think I just leaned the poll 51% in favor of Walking Dead, but it's awesome how close this is.

Both are fantastic games, but I think Walking Dead pulled off the zombie apocalypse fiction better than I've seen in any media whatsoever, so I have to give it the edge. Really a turning point in the way games are perceived, in my opinion

The Walking Dead was amazing but The Last of Us was on another level. I hope The Last of Us goes all the way.

Oh man. 400 votes and the difference is 1%. Couldn't imagine a better outcome. Anyway I went with last of us. The walking dead is incredible but with it's technical issues it kinda knocks it down for me.

I wish I could contribute to this decisive poll but I haven't played The Last of Us (probably never will unless it comes to ps4).

I OPT OUT

The Last of Us didn't delete my save game after completing the first chapter and force me to replay everything over again, nor did it make me waste hours on message boards trying to fix said save bug.

Honestly that alone is worth ranking TLOU over TWD. But I'll continue.

TWD is pretty good, better than the TV show by a country mile. I enjoyed Lee and Clem and bought into their relationship as Faux-daughter/dad.

But TLOU came out months after TWD. A game where you escort a young girl through the harsh zombie-filled landscape where dark and terrible things happen to loads and loads of people. And in the end you have to make a gut-wrenching decision. And not only is the "game" part better (TWD is still a game, its just a "different" type of game). It manages to outshine TWD by a considerable margin despite having a similar story and coming out after TWD was awarded with many GOTY awards (including here...almost).

This poll deserves to be close but probably not this close. TWD is fantastic. Yet TLOU is just that much more so. Considering the hurdles it had to clear before release it is even more impressive.

Well unfortunately TWD might win because it's a multiplat title. Sucks cause TLOU is one of the best games ever.

Oooooh geez this is a toughy. And I didn't expect it to be so close. Walking Dead for me because I thought the gameplay was too drawn-out and a real bummer in Last of Us, but they both had awesome stories, characters, and settings.

Well it's nice to see that the polls at least aren't broken... 51% + 50% = 101%

Well that's fair.

The Last of Us is categorically far and away the better game. It has more believable and better written/acted characters than TWD, and that's pretty much the only thing that TWD has going for it. Visually it was more impressive both technically and artistically in my opinion, had better voice acting and soundtrack, and the word gameplay hardly warrants mention. I find The Walking Dead to be wildly overpraised.

I really hope this is a case of people voting for a game because they think the other one will get all the votes, because if not.... wow, Giant Bomb.

My best game of last year and my best game of this year. The Last of Us it is.

@castiel said:

Agreed :(

Sigh, I doubt TLOU would have won the overall anyway, but considering it's my pick I hate seeing it lose this early.

ED: Though I will note that there's less than 10 votes in it, so these poll results could change overnight.

Damn, a 50-50 at the moment.

TWD had the better story by far, so I voted for that.

Out of interest, what makes you think that? The Last of Us had themes ("What does Us mean?") and characters with estabilished backgrounds acting based on their past experiences. I love The Walking Dead but a whole bunch of it comes off as "We were doing this AND THEN THIS THING HAPPENED" with little real narrative or thematic ties. Like for example almost all of Episode 4.

Not to mention "Station Wagon Man"

Indeed.

No joke, anyone who votes for The Walking Dead is DUMB. The Last of Us had some of the best online multiplayer of this generation. The story was also waaaay better.

I actually didn't mind Station Wagon Man (although most of that is probably how enjoyable the performance was), but I mean just look at Lee and Clementine as developed characters and then look at Joel and Ellie. It's barely comparable.

The Walking Dead was way more interesting and had better characters.

I've played both games, voted for TWD (the horror!). I really liked TLoU's story, but I liked TWD's story even more. I was never really a fan of the combat in TLoU, and near the 1/3 of the game it began to feel like something I just had to get through to get to the next story cutscene. I've never played the MP in TLoU because, come on, that's not what I came to this game for (and I barely play any MP to begin with).

This is a great match up though, I'll be happy with either game winning.

@lackingsaint: Wait, are you saying Lee and Clementine are the more developed characters or Joel and Ellie are?

EDIT: Ah, I see from your earlier post you're on team Joel and Ellie. Good choice.

How is this so close?

The Last of Us deserves all praise because its central theme, as delivered by its premise and its conclusion, is worthy of literature, it's the only game ever to achieve that in my eyes, and I wouldn't count on it happening too often either.

This is a theme worthy of cutting edge movies and books, but it's in a game, so sadly a lot of people who would appreciate it won't get to experience it, and sadly a lot of people who did experience it, don't appreciate it.

Even if you didn't enjoy the game, surely this achievement - bursting out of a culture that celebrates stories for suggesting nothing beyond a reaffirmation of basic personal morality - deserves to take precedence.

ARG! Why must you make me choose between these two this early! Two of the best narrative experiences this generation with amazing characters and atmosphere coming out of the wazzoo. Both are absolutely wonderful games, but just remembering the giraffes has tipped my vote to The Last Of Us. I really wish this contest was coming much later on as neither of these deserves to go out so early.

If you vote for TWD I think you'll look back and know you made the right choice :P

The last of us simply because the gameplay felt really intense and the story/presentation was better. TWD was nearly perfect but that last act was weak while TLOU never had a point were it felt weak.

*Votes for Walking Dead.

? Clementine will remember that.

I was emotionally invested in Walking Dead. I wasn't in the Last of Us. Themes mean nothing if you don't care.

I really don't think The Walking Dead was very good, whereas The Last of Us is my game of the year for 2013 so far. I hope it takes it.

Come on The Last of Us!

TLOU matches up with everything TWD has to offer, and then trumps it with hands-down better gameplay that fits perfectly with the tone and the themes of the game. It also has an awesome multiplayer which I still play regularly to this that has upped its replay value significantly.

The only thing TWD has over TLOU is its raw emotional impact which made me feel things I've never felt as much in playing a video game. Although I only shed one tear at the very end, the game had me reeling throughout every tough choice and heartbreaking circumstance. I don't plan on ever going through it again though. It's certainly a unique experience.

In the end though, TLOU delivers both the emotional resonance and the compelling gameplay that makes it my personal GOAT. Glad to see the results being really close though (51% to TLOU when I voted!), as I believe both games deserve all the praise they get.

Both very gritty post apocalyptic stories but i liked the Last of Us just a bit more and damn that Winter chapter was intense.

@cold_wolven said:

Winter in TLOU (especially after the ending of Fall) is up there with the all time best sequences in video game history (imo of course).

ED: I'm SO happy TLOU has taken the lead, it's doing very well for a single-platform exclusive.

Hot damn is this poll close though - only 10 to 15 votes in it.

Last of Us does EVERYTHING that the walking Dead did, but better.

The Walking Dead. No contest. Not even for a second.

@joeyravn said:

Responses like this make me wish I could turn off my analytical side and not predict every single story beat of the first two episodes of TWD well before they happened.

Sortof ruined my enjoyment of the whole series :(

I can't imagine being able to easily pick a game over TLOU, hot damn.

I really like both, I enjoyed the narrative of both equally but I had way more fun playing TLOU.

Both are important achievements for the medium in terms of story-telling.