The Last of Us Remastered sets new standard for rereleases

We already know The Last of Us is a fantastic game. Even if you've championed the game on PS3, though, the PlayStation 4 "Remastered" version is well worth experiencing.

All of the content you've come to expect from the saga is here, including the full single player campaign surrounding Joel and Ellie, the additional DLC featuring the side chapter Left Behind, and the Factions multiplayer. It's the full package, with a few supplementary purchases for your multiplayer character offered on top. They're completely optional, and cosmetic at best.

So what makes Remastered worth buying all over again? Perhaps the biggest reason is that it feels that much better to play on PlayStation 4. Not that the controls on the PlayStation 3 version were lackluster, by any means. However, with Remastered, the game feels a little bit more at home on the DualShock 4. Obviously, firearms should be sparingly since you only have so many bullets to deal with, but the comfort is a little better than having to use the PS3's awkward triggers.

Throw in the ability to quickly tap the Share button should you execute a particularly nasty move with Joel, such as snapping some poor fool's neck or creatively taking down a foe with a well-timed bullet, and you have something that feels like a nearly entirely new experience. Again, it's familiar, but in some ways new.

Obviously, the newly remastered visuals play a huge part in Remastered's success as well. The game now moves at a fluid 60 frames per second speed, and sacrifices very little in the detail as a result. Some of the shows are slightly off, and the ever-so-slight glitches do pop up every now and again. Regardless, Naughty Dog really went all out to make the game look like a next-gen experience. The frame rate performance can also be locked in to 30 FPS, if you prefer something along the lines of how the original game performed.

This sounds like gushing, but it's well deserved. Naughty Dog busted its hump on The Last of Us Remastered, even while being waist deep in development on Uncharted 4: A Thief's Tale. Almost everything feels like an improvement, and the presentation fits right in with the PS4's best. If you've never played the game before, this is the way to go. And even if you have, well, you need to re-experience it. Naughty Dog may have just set the new standard on how "ports" should really be done.