Was finally able to find a store that had this in stock. I played about an hour or two...not entirely sure, I've just encountered my first clicker. I'm really loving the game so far, though I was a little put off at first by Joel's motivation to take Ellie, but I have a feeling his motivation will change here soon.
Also, the opening scene is pretty brutal and tense. Who they have you start the game as was a very wise choice, emotionally speaking. That being said, I think the time jump was somewhat jarring - I ended the opening scene (funny how that is the word I chose over "level") with a strong emotional connection to Joel, but after the opening credits, so much time was skipped, and he's obviously changed quite a bit that I lost all emotional ties ND spent the opening making me feel with the character...to be honest, instead of wanting to know what happened to him and how he got into the crowd/business he did, I no longer care about Joel im sure we'll find out more as the game continues, but I think they could have handled the translation better - shown more or exposition of who he has become...we got a wonderful scene introducing who the character WAS, that they should haven given us a little more insight into who the character is NOW, instead of just tossing us into the middle of a revenge side plot.
I dunno, I just want to be able to identify with, or at the least understand the character a little better from the get go so that I care about what happens to him and why he's doing the things he's doing. Im not asking for all the answers - there's a difference between giving us enough info to care but leaving questions to be answered as the story unfolds, and introducing a character then BAM! look how different he is - doesn't Armageddon suck? The former makes me want to play so i can learn more because I care; the latter requires me to play to learn more, not because I care, but because I don't care and I want to.
But whatevs. I'm still highly enjoying the game. Gameplay feels like a highly polished Uncharted, which is to be expected, and isn't a complaint in the slightest.