d21lewis said:
There are some games that I love with all of my heart but I can admit that they aren't perfect in every possible way. Some people tend to love a particular game so much that they can't stand to see ANY criticism of it at all. It's like a parent loving their kid.
I just read the whole exchange between M.U.G.E.N. and Rol and, even though I wasn't involved, I started feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing. Weird. Anyway, I was born a Nintendo fan. In the 90's, I became a Playstation fan. Right now, I'm an Xbox fan. Before all of that, I'm a fan of gaming. Just putting all of that out there so that nobody thinks I have any biases or an agenda.
Uncharted's platforming isn't platforming. Prince of Persia's platforming isn't platforming. Enslaved's platforming isn't platforming. Tomb Raider's platforming isn't platforming. They're jumping puzzles. The challenge comes from knowing where the developer wants you to jump. If you figure that out, you can't die. Timing barely plays a part in all of this.
In order of platforming skill required, it's:
1. Prince of Persia--a series that I've owned every game in since 2003 but is my least favorite on this list
2. Tomb Raider--owned every game in the series since '96
3. Uncharted--own both
4. Enslaved--own and enjoyed despite its problems
On one end of the spectrum, you have Enslaved. A game that absolutely will not let you die. You can only jump where the devs want you to jump. Still a great game in my opinion but you can see the problems with that. On the other end is Prince of Persia--with all of its wall running, rope swinging, bar grabbing, etc. It's the closest thing I've ever seen to "gaming parkour". It's complicated and beautiful. Tomb Raider falls in the middle with Lara's grapple and more extensive move list and Uncharted falls towards the Enslaved territory with the "Restart exactly where you died", "sometimes you can't jump where you want to" mechanics.
Uncharted isn't the best platformer. I personally don't even think it's a very good platformer (That's obviously not what ND's goal is with this game), with its simple jumping puzzles (ie: climbing the totem or that ice cavern--didn't die once.) That doesn't make it a bad game. Of all of the games I listed, I'd pick Uncharted over any one of them. It has great gunplay (again, not the best, imho), great characters, amazing graphics, some one of a kind set pieces, great pacing, etc. It's game of the year material. Still, just because you love it doesn't mean that it's automatically the best in every aspect. Otherwise, Red Dead Redemption would be the best TPS, ever--and as much as I loved that game, it isn't perfect in everything it did, either.
I'm not on anybody's side of that whole exchange. Just putting my two cents in. Sometimes a different perspective is needed. I've said all I have to say.
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