due to its violent nature the game attracts people who normally don't play games with somewhat interesting story, atmosphere and characters so they easily get amazed by these attributes. seriously thats all there is behind the hype. for me it's a good game but nothing special.

It's similar to the Uncharted series but the pacing and the way you play the game is entirely different.  The game is around 18 hours or so long and it's no joke.  Sometimes, over the course of 18 hours the game can feel repetitive at times in terms of what you're doing (Stealthing, gathering, surviving)  but the game keeps you fresh with new areas, new locations, new gameplay aspects.  (What game over 8 hours have you played  that doesn't feel repetitive at times).  The story and the way the story is told is fantastic. The first thirty minutes of the game is truly an exhilerating time and really sets the tone for a great story.

It's slightly over-rated by some people who are saying it's the 'Best game ever'.  I wouldn't say that, but I would say it's certainly in the running for game of the generation. It's story was really good and easy to follow (Unlike MGS4) and actually had some serious depth and emotion to it (Unlike Uncharted). It effectively navigated and married the survival horror/action adventure/stealth/role-playing/drama genres into one game and did it seamlessly.  It's not an easy game, multitudes harder than Uncharted (Even on Normal mode).  I haven't started newgame+ yet but I'm sure the top difficulty will be brutally hard.

You won't understand the game by watching 'Youtube' videos -- Slimebeast.  You won't be involved in the game.  I've never watched a game on youtube that was 'fun', and I'm not sure why anyone would expect that.  You won't enjoy the game by switching on and off with your friend. (Who even does that?) -- especially if you didn't play during the final stretches of the game.   You wouldn't alternate turns of playing a Final Fantasy game and then skip most of the second half of the game and actually enjoy the game.  

You play the game and need to engross yourself into the game. It's just like any game with a viable story, the people who don't 'get it' are usually the ADHD type of gamers that half way play it or skip cut scenes or simply don't pay attention,  which removes almost 75% of the things that make the game special.

How can you say all of this without even playing the game? First you mark the story off as "just another zombie game". Then you say the AI is bad. You haven't played the game yourself. You've only watched someone else play it, if that. How about you go watch someone play a few games you enjoy on youtube for 20 hours and see how much fun that is? I'd say not so much. Games are to be played, not viewed on youtube.

You must have missed this part, so I'll repeat it.

Unfortunately I have neither unlimited time nor unlimited funds, so I cannot personally experience every game that comes out. I pick and choose which ones I want to play. In order to get through this selection process, I have to form an opinion of a game before I play it.

The story bores me, and it's the main hook of the game. I don't have to strangle a guy with quick-time events or shoot a well-intentioned "enemy" to know I don't care about the story.

Again, I put more faith in the opinions of my friends than I do a bunch of journalists and, no offense, you guys.

You can say I just don't like it or it's not for me and it's my loss. I'm not trying to take away from your enjoyment of the game. It's clearly at least an 8 or 9 out of 10, very well-made. Very high-quality.

I know that my opinion is an unpopular one, and that's why I insist on sharing it. I want people to know that this game is NOT for everyone, I want them to see that it has REAL flaws that detract from the experience. Most importantly, I want people to consider that it just might not be the Game of the Year. I want everyone to put real thought into what this game does differently from other games, and to think about the construction of the game itself instead of just how they felt while playing it. I don't want a repeat of last year, when quite a few outstanding games were glossed over because they didn't have enough zombies and feels to really capture peoples' attention.

You must have missed this part, so I'll repeat it.

Unfortunately I have neither unlimited time nor unlimited funds, so I cannot personally experience every game that comes out. I pick and choose which ones I want to play. In order to get through this selection process, I have to form an opinion of a game before I play it.

The story bores me, and it's the main hook of the game. I don't have to strangle a guy with quick-time events or shoot a well-intentioned "enemy" to know I don't care about the story.

Again, I put more faith in the opinions of my friends than I do a bunch of journalists and, no offense, you guys.

You can say I just don't like it or it's not for me and it's my loss. I'm not trying to take away from your enjoyment of the game. It's clearly at least an 8 or 9 out of 10, very well-made. Very high-quality.

I know that my opinion is an unpopular one, and that's why I insist on sharing it. I want people to know that this game is NOT for everyone, I want them to see that it has REAL flaws that detract from the experience. Most importantly, I want people to consider that it just might not be the Game of the Year. I want everyone to put real thought into what this game does differently from other games, and to think about the construction of the game itself instead of just how they felt while playing it. I don't want a repeat of last year, when quite a few outstanding games were glossed over because they didn't have enough zombies and feels to really capture peoples' attention.

lmao. From "the plot is too predictable" to "you have no emotions" -- that's a reasonable jump to make.

Claiming that Dark Souls doesn't have a story pretty much caps off any interest I might have had in discussing stories in games with you.

The Last of Us certainly "creates" emotion. It manufactures emotion the way a kid puts together a LEGO set, following all of the instructions brick-by-brick until he has the exact same model as everyone else who bought the set.

Of course I should know better than to feel anything less than absolute reverence for the most-hyped game of the year. God forbid the story and gameplay might be uninteresting to me, I should stop playing video games because I'm clearly a robot with no emotions.

There's a difference between weird AI and bad AI. The Last of Us is an example of the latter. And yes, bad AI does bother me, and I think I have a right to be bothered by it.

Unfortunately I have neither unlimited time nor unlimited funds, so I cannot personally experience every game that comes out. I pick and choose which ones I want to play. In order to get through this selection process, I have to form an opinion of a game before I play it. I know I must be blowing your mind with this concept. I have reasons for not being interested in playing The Last of Us, and I have laid them out here. Come the end of the year when the game is sweeping all of the GOTY awards because of my feels bro, I will again have to point to these reasons when people tell me I have to play this game, and I expect much the same reactions.

You haven't played the game. You have a Pokemon avatar. I think its safe to say you have no right to be judging this game this harshly. You're being way too critical. Here's a thought: keep your opinions to yourself. Unless you've played the game, your opinions on the game are irrelevant. Sorry.

The bold... reviewers must not normally play games? Most people on this site normally don't play games? What?

i ment: don't play games with interesting stories and/or characters. and most reviewers these days easily get blinded by a hype as well because let's face it, gameplaywise are both bioshock infinite and and the last of us nothing groundbreaking. and for 10/10 scores gameplay should be special as well.