Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Review Thread - MC: 93 / GR: 92.70%

[Boutros]

Veknoid_Outcast said:

Boutros said:

I mean the gameplay is as good as it gets. Playing the multiplayer makes that obvious. The shooting mechanics are on point (unlike in Uncharted 3) and the climbing has been refined. Playing with the rope is super fun (again more obvious in multiplayer). The one thing I don't really like and feel is a step down is the cover system. I don't find it as responsive as previous entries. But apart from that I don't know how you could say the gameplay is not interesting. It's a third-person shooter after all. Also in singleplayer the driving is really well made. How many games motivates you to find a path with more grip because the ground is made of mud and is slippery? Maybe it's a detail to some but to me it stands out a lot from other games that have driving portions. Also the winch is a super interesting idea that if anything is under used in the game. The swimming is also fun and responsive. I mean I could go on but it's not true at all that Naughty Dog didn't invest time working on polishing the gameplay.

Whoa, whoa. I didn't write that Naughty Dog didn't invest any time developing the gameplay in Uncharted 4, or that it's uninteresting. I said that the gameplay is uneven and the production values are all-time great. If the gamplay was also all-time great, the game would be unstoppable.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed Uncharted 4 a lot. But I think you'll agree that Naughty Dog invested as much time and resources crafting a story and creating an engine as it did inventing interesting gameplay scenarios. I mean, that's what people expect from Uncharted.

The problem here is that movies and video games demand different things, and they don't always make good bedfellows. Naughty Dog is probably the best in the industry at weaving the two media together, but even they can't negotiate the difference every time. When a sequence unfolds according to a rigid script, it takes away from the agency of the player, which diminishes the gameplay possibilities.

Now, in terms of mechanics, you're right. Uncharted 4 is great. Shooting, moving, and climbing is all much improved since Drake's Deception. But gameplay is more than just mechanics. It's about how the player interacts with and experiences those mechanics.

Well you said "If Naughty Dog spent the same energy crafting interesting and involving gameplay, the game would be unstoppable".

And what I'm saying is that they've done that at least within the realm of possibilities. What you seem more troubled by are pacing issues. The balance between gameplay sections and cutscenes/walking sections. That's another issue. What I responded to was what you quoted from his review ("If Uncharted 4 played even half as good as it looked, it would be a masterpiece…"). He's strictly talking about gameplay here. And I don't think it's true that the game plays less than half as good as it looked for the reasons I gave.