It isn't that Last of Us is a bad game, it is that it just isn't much of a game at all. The story is good but the "gameplay" is almost non existent if you really think about it. It's a film mascaraing as a game, I don't mind games like RPG's that focus less on combat and more on story but at least give me some choices. Last of Us is totally linear in the levels and story. Playing on harder difficulties just results in wasting more of your time with no real benefit since the only point of the "game" is to see the cut scenes. That being said media like this is subjective so I see both sides, this was also the first naughty dog game I played and I really didn't know I was getting into a interactive film instead of a game where you actually have skill involved. Even games with bad combat (a lot of rpgs) have skill in the way you create your character and define their attributes, Last of Us is just walking your self through a movie (albeit a interesting and good one). You said it your self, "experience", that is what it is, it's not a game.