The VGChartz Ranking Game -- Uncharted 3 -- Results!

[Jay520]

I already gave score (8.7)

Single-Player

The Single-Player was great as expected, thought not as good as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Like many others said, the pacing felt weird. The game was also shorter than Uncharted 2, at least for me. The set pieces seemed less memorable than in Uncharted 2. I don't really care for the story, I rarely do in video games, so I could care less about it being weak or strong. All in all, I had a pretty fun time with it and I'm not completely dissapointed

The pacing of this game seemed off to me. I'll have to play it again to give specifics, but I must say the game did seem to take a long time to reach the more exciting moments. This slow build up was also present in Uncharted 2, but in UC3, there were moments were the game forced you to just walk around for a few minutes before anything actually happened. E.g. The drugged scene, the dehydrated desert scene, etc. I know some people like these chapters but it just seemed like a waste of time to an aleady short game.

The length of the game also contributed to the game being a weaker experience than Uncharted 2. In Uncharted 3, the game felt so short that once the pace finally started to pick up, which took quite a while, it seemed like it was over after three to four major scenes. The ending to the game seemed rather anti-climatic. I honestly don't really remember the ending much, to be honest. I finished the game in about 7.5 hours (on hard) and I don't know if I'll be playing it again anytime soon to beat crushing. I just don't feel like truging through the incredibly slow first half again. FYI, I replayed UC2 almost immediately after beating it.

The game did have it's highs, specifically the ship yard chapter. (I loved that scene. One of my favorites in the Uncharted series). Other than that scene and a few others, the game really lacked the number of memorable scenes compared to Uncharted 2. I don't know if I'm just jaded to Uncharted-type set pieces or if they really were limited. Maybe it's a bit of both. I just know that when I think of the best scenes in Uncharted 3, I can only think of a few. Though when I think back to Uncharted 2, I can think of many, and I haven't played it in months.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer seemed to receive much more attention this time around. This probably explains the lacking single-player mode. There were plenty of new elements added like power-plays, kickbacks, weapon mods, buddy system, etc. I really enjoyed it. It felt like a feature-rich mode that you can tell ND put a lot of work into. But even with all these new features, I still find myself going back to Uncharted 2 more simply because I enjoy the core gameplay mechanics more (I'll get to that later).

The new features like kickbacks, buddy-system, and power plays are all welcome additions to the series. They really add enjoyment to the game. The features I didn't like though is the weapon mods and loadouts. They really seem to give advantage to players who have played the game for a longer time. This may seem nice to some people, but I'm a firm believer in giving every player an equal chance in a one-on-one encounter, barring experience and skill of course. Overall, in terms of features, I would say UC3 trumps UC2, but still falls behind in the core gameplay IMO.

Gameplay

There were some pretty large changes to the gameplay here, specifically the recoil and movement. I know I loved these changes at first, they seemed to reward players for better aiming, but now I really find shooting to be a pain. The guns seem to have much more recoil than Uncharted 2 which makes aiming much more difficult. I thought this was an excellent change at first, but when I went back to UC2 I found shooting to be much more simple and fluid, while still rewarding players with better aim. Guns like the AK are very hard to control at mid to long range when shooting. The reticle seems to bounce all over the place. Maybe I just can't aim, but I found UC2's more simple system to be a lot less frustrating and more fluid and satisfying.

Another change was the addition of a sprint button. Much like the recoil, I loved this change at first. However, after spending time with it and comparing it with UC2's no-sprinting system, I found Uncharted 2 to be, again, much more simple, fluid and rewarding. The non-sprinting movement seems too slow, and sprinting speeds you up but sacrifices precision & the ability to aim. This can cause issues when trying to get your character at just the right spot to perform an action. I preferred UC2's system where the character could just move at a moderate pace without worry of moving too slow or running without precision.

I don't know why ND decided to add a sprint button and more recoil, but I wish they didn't. These are the main changes that really frustrate me when playing and these are the things that leave me playing Uncharted 2 more. These two changes really make the game less fluid leaving me with a ton of frustration. A level of frustration is present in nearly all my UC3 matches. Whether it's trying to aim the AK perfectly because the reticle is out of control, or failing to stop a sprint at just the right moment, or trying to rank up as a low ranking player against more experienced players with vastly superior weapons. I really don't see the need for these changes, but I hope other people enjoy them.

conclusion

So, overall, while still a very enjoyable experience, it did leave me with some dissapointment and a lot of frustrations. The single-player being a bit short on legth and action. The multiplayer being less fluid & simple. I really think the team at ND ran out of time with the game and had to rush a few aspects. (They did say they regretting their early announcement of the release date, so maybe they did have to rush it). Or maybe the split of half the team on TLoU left UC3 to be a little rushed. I don't know, just feels like it missed it's potential. I still loved the game though and thought it was great. Though it fell just short of excellence due to some changes to the core gameplay & small mishaps.

I know I've focused mainly on the negative, but that doesn't mean that the game was more bad than good. I just think people already know the good about the game, so I thought I'd give what people what they didn't already know.

Note: I've put in about 35 hours into the MP (rank 62) and about 7.5 hours in the SP.

Score is 8.7

Now, time for bed...