The Last of Us: Remastered – Factions MP

Originally published 2015

 

Factions MP is the multiplayer mode in The Last of Us, and like its single player counterpart, you’ll find yourself shooting, sneaking, crafting, hiding, fleeing, and vaulting over rubble like a dystopian gymnast. There are three team modes of play: supply raid (players respawn in real time when killed until your team runs out of reserves), survivors (round based combat), and interrogation (gain intelligence from enemies and then crack open their safe). Players select a mode, a load out (weapons and abilities), and an optional booster that they may have earned during previous sessions. (For example, cheaper purchasable ammo or a starting upgrade to their primary gun.) And no, you won’t find any zombies in any of these modes — more on that later in the article.

What Makes it Great

In no particular order, let’s start by talking about some of the reasons that make Factions MP such a satisfying experience.

That feeling you get when you shank an enemy

Nothing beats the satisfaction of creeping up behind an oblivious enemy that you have been tracking across the map, grabbing hold of them, and driving a shiv into their neck. It’s the ultimate insult.

Challenges add a layer of complexity

Every so often a challenge is presented to the player, which are divided into negative and positive outcomes that impact your camp, such as a hunter attack that you try to negate or new survivors that are looking to join you. The player has to decide how they want to complete the challenge, selecting from a list of options. For example, X downs with Y weapon, heal X teammates, or perform X special executions.

The game modes keep things diverse

Three modes of play keep things fresh. Perhaps you are in the mood for an all-out brawl with quick respawns. Then supply raid is your mode. Or maybe you are in the mood for a slow and strategic team based game with friends, in which case survivors is your mode. 

Endless load out combinations

Load outs are essentially templates that you draft by combining weapons and abilities. You have a finite amount of load out points, which are used to arrange your gear — customization is entirely up to you (with the exception of weapons and abilities that cost real cash, if you don’t want to spend the money that is). If you prefer a stealthy approach then a bow, covert training, and a silenced pistol combine well, as the bow and silenced weapons don’t show up on the enemy radar when fired. Others may go for a support role, opting for the ability to heal teammates and spot enemies from afar. 

Your load out will indirectly affect how you use the parts you collect in battle (essentially currency) to purchase upgrades to your weapons, armor, and purchasable weapons. For example, some players save parts for a purchasable weapon, while others use their load out points on abilities, skipping a purchasable, and instead use their parts for weapon upgrades. I’ve tried a lot of load outs, and at the time of writing this, this is my favorite: revolver, silenced tactical shotgun, agility 2, and covert training 2. I find that having a silenced primary is essential to your survival, as it allows you to get the necessary shots off to get a kill without giving out your location. The revolver is a solid compliment to the shotgun since it has the versatility to work both short and long-range, which the shotgun lacks. Agility level 2 means silent movement as well as the ability to walk, climb, and crawl very quickly, and the speed it provides cannot be overlooked in a game like this. Covert training level 2 pairs quite well with agility 2, as it allows you to crouch walk without appearing in the enemies listen mode. As a bonus, it starts you with a shiv at each spawn.

The needs of your camp take you out of your comfort zone

Every player has their own camp of survivors, and as you play your camp will grow in size, thus needing more supplies to stay well fed and free of sicknesses. One way to gain supplies is to down or execute enemies, and then collect the loot they drop. But sometimes raiding their body isn’t that easy, because the battles can be hectic, so you can’t easily go rushing over to your fallen target in the open. Thankfully, your radar marks the locations of supply drops, so you can strategically return to them before the game ends, and collect them safely. 

As a tip, when you have sick and hungry survivors, use a boost that you collected from completed challenges in order to give yourself a tactical edge in your next supply run. Avoid the urge to waste boosts when they aren’t needed, unless you have a hefty surplus.

Players automatically communicate

Automatic communication is one of the many elements that adds depth to this game. The character voices not only contribute a layer of ambience, but also serve a role in communicating out essential information. If a teammate is shot down and needs help getting back up, he will shout out “I’m down!”. If you dig into your backpack to craft something, your player will ask those nearby to watch his back. Out of ammo? They’ll yell about that too. And from all this, you’ll discover that these situational phrases allow for interesting team-based gameplay without the need for everyone to be chatting over a microphone.

Properly balanced maps

Every multiplayer map is well thought out and fine-tuned for a solid balance. The arrangement of cover and the map sizes keep the action moving quickly without being too chaotic, whereas the placement of supply boxes often force the player to take the risk of exposing themselves. (And that’s a good thing for balance and gameplay.) Health kits are a bit too easy to come by, especially considering you can also craft them, but that doesn’t disturb the flow of the game. Best of all, there aren’t any overpowered camping spots, and due to the nature of load out points, you see a strong diversity of weapons being selected.

Minor Gripes

No game is perfect, and the issues I’m listing out are pretty trivial as far as multiplayer games go. 

Unintentional targeting

Every so often I find that I am inadvertently targeting the wrong enemy, which leads to my demise. Here are a couple of examples:

• An enemy is standing with his back to me, primed for a shiv attack. Next to him is a downed enemy, waiting for his assistance. I run at the standing foe, and click triangle to execute the shiv attack. But instead my character initiates a special execution against the downed opponent, because it is the same button to trigger this type of attack. This leaves me vulnerable to the standing enemy, who easily kills me.

• Again, another standing versus downed enemy scenario. A standing enemy is healing a down enemy, attempting to get him back on his feet. I rush in and swing my melee weapon, aiming for the standing opponent, but hit the downed opponent. Once again, the standing enemy kills me, as I am unable to fight the two in the order I had intended.

Rough bullet collision

Occasionally, I will be firing through the window of a dilapidated car or between the railings of a stairway, and my bullets will fail to penetrate through them. In a game where every shot counts, a missed opportunity like this will often turn the table for the enemy.

Wish list

Everyone’s a critic, I know. And there’s only so much time, resources, and budget to work on a game. But whatever, we can dream, and this is what I wish Factions MP could add in:

• More maps - What better way to preserve the longevity of a multiplayer game than adding in more arenas? There have been multiple rollouts of maps over the years, so there’s always hope that there will be more.

• Zombies - For a single player game to have so many zombies it is disappointing that there isn’t one multiplayer mode with some of the fungus-infected creepers. What if you took supply raid and made it so that every now and then a zombie meandered into the map, diverting the attention of the players? 

 

Summary

All in all, Factions MP is a solid multiplayer experience with enough variety in weapons, modes, challenges, customization, and tactics to keep each game fresh and fun. It’s an addictive experience that will have you pumping your fist when you pull off an incredible feat.