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Congratulations to Uncharted 4 for this impressive FW in our prestigious Trophy League. For those who have beaten it: What are your thoughts? Personally, Uncharted is my favorite series and this last game delivers another masterpieces and ends stroy-wise perfectly. It's a more grounded, intimate game, with more focus on the characters and their relationships. Gameplay-wise it has the biggest step up since 1 to 2, with tweaked mechanics and expanded or newly introduced ones. My only complaint is a big one however: I missed 1 or 2 more bombastic and ridiculous over the top action set pieces. There's no train or boat scene this time. This is why I don't know if it's the best Uncharted game yet. |
I can't tell you how many times I stopped to take an in game picture in Uncharted, especially towards the beginning of the games. The graphics are so gorgeous. Caution: SPOILERS ahead.
Doing something as simple as exploring Drake's house in the beginning of the game was such a fun experience. I explored every artifact and photo in the house, particularly enjoyed the wedding photos. Without memories of Uncharted 1-3 that scene wouldn't mean much, but with it, it was great to reminisce. Kinda got chills just seeing Elena waiting for Drake on the couch. Feels like I know these characters in real life and I truly care about them. Felt genuinely bad that Drake lied to Elena about the trip to Malaysia. Also did see one of the plot twists coming. Loved the Crash Bandicoot scene too.
As far as the new mechanics go I thought some of them like the pick axe added a nice dynamic to the climbing sections. Especially when you had to swing on a rope and then use the pick to grab onto a wall sliding down and hanging onto the pick in the process. Pretty damn cool. I did get a little tired of the overuse of the sliding mechanic during one level. Nate even comments how he still has gravel in his shorts after the last slide. Think the developer realized it was a bit overused there. Overall it was a good addition to Uncharted. Loved the levels with more open design (the jeep and boat) too and like how they borrowed the optional converstations from The Last of Us for extra character interactions.
Character development was excellent and I 100% agree that it was more intimate with a focus on their relationships. I thought the pacing between fire fights and puzzle solving/exploration/platforming was balanced well. In other Uncharted's I felt like i needed more of a break from combat at times. The only slight knock on the game I would have is that the main villain (without giving away names) wasn't the greatest of the series. Thought the supporting villian was very cool though. Loved the hand to hand combat and 2 v 1 fight there. And now that you mention it, I concur that it was missing that one huge "wow" level like the train level (U2) or plane level (U3). Maybe the closest stage was the E3 demo level. More than anything the graphics consistently wowed me.
I hope this won't be the last Uncharted game, but if it's the last starring Drake then it was a very fitting end. If I had to rank them I might go 2, 4, 3, 1. But 2, 3, and 4 are really neck and neck. I would give them all a 10/10 for the campaign. Because Uncharted 2 was the first to add more mechanics and improve over Uncharted 1 and b/c I played the multiplayer non-stop, I'd have to rate that first. I could easily switch 3 & 4, it's a tough one.
Finally I think it was the easiest Uncharted on crushing difficulty. Played on curshing for my first playthough and the only part I struggled was the first encounter at chapter 20. That checkpoint was very hard.
