Ever notice that some of the most eccentric and offbeat games are also some of the most simply designed games? Think about it for a moment. Katamari Damacy's unique brand of rainbow craziness is entirely controlled with two analogue sticks and gives you one simple goal each round. Import classic Vib Ribbon has a rabbit bouncing along a wire while the player mashes on four buttons. Rez's journey into synesthesia overwhelms the senses but not player as they aim with a cursor and shoot with two buttons. The designers of these games realize on some level that their bizarre concepts require straightforward controls in order to enable players to jump in their world. In what could have easily been a convoluted mess, The Last Guy remains simple enough to grasp within seconds of picking up the controller and provides depth through different enemy types that can be avoided and lured around using different tactics. While this sounds like something that just about every game should be able to achieve, the balance and thoughtful level choices in this game are perfectly tuned.

Going from building to building, The Last Guy begins to amass a growing line of survivors behind him, eventually leading hundreds (even thousands) of people to safety. Fortunately for our hero, He's able to use a thermal optic view with the push of a button the lets him see where the biggest concentrations of people are hiding. The catch is that zombies, monsters and the other ghouls you'll face won't appear in this view, so you end up swapping between the views as you make your way around town. Each of the monsters has a specific set of movement patterns and behaviors that allow you to plan out your group's route back to the Escape Zone. This is where the game can get a bit tricky, as you try to keep everyone together while avoiding the attention of any fiends. But when the inevitable does happen and a monster strikes the trail of people, you'll keep everyone between you and monster cutting your trail down a bit. The game is over the second you run into any monster. In a Katamari-like fashion, each level comes with a time limit and survivor quota that needs to be met in order to progress.

The top down Google Maps visuals flavor the experience in really unique ways. Having been fortunate enough to have traveled to some of the places that The Last Guy takes players, it's only slightly bizarre to be familiar with an area before playing. It felt nice already knowing my way around Fisherman's Wharf. The level in Washington D.C. reminded me of my last visit there. Even the infamous Asahi Super Dry Hall (lovingly referred to as The Golden Poo) in Tokyo made an appearance. Seeing these locations again in this context was surreal and more than a little funny. While the game located clean, crisp and clear at 1080p, things quickly got ugly when I dropped it down to 480p. The Last Guy character is very tiny on the screen even when fully zoomed in and can get lost pretty easily. On lower resolutions this issue was even more prominent. It's still playable, but really takes away from experience.

I know that most people really don't enjoy hearing about what wasn't included in a game for a review, but the most disappointing aspect of the game was the complete lack of multiplayer options. Sure, it's called The Last Guy, but the gameplay just had a lot of moments that made we wish the there was a way that Ms. Game-Boy could pick a controller too. At 15 stages, this could have lent the game to more replay aside from leaderboard chasing. That said I enjoyed my time with The Last Guy. It's something a little different, even if it was just a bit on the short side. Because of the game's quirky nature it's another one of those titles that will have varying mileage depending on the player.