I think the game looks awesome and is not downgraded. I wish Naughty Dog never released the E3 teaser so Uncharted 4 could be appreciated on its own merit. It is going to be an awesome looking game and an even better playing game.
I just don't think the lighting and shaders in the E3 teaser and game play footage is on the same level even if they are both running in realtime. To me the gameplay footage is missing ambient shadowing and self shadowing, which makes Drake look flat. As others have suggested, this might be because of art direction.
The only thing that I don't understand if the E3 teaser is realtime, why didn't Naughty Dog just use the word "realtime" for the E3 teaser? Everybody knows that word. Nobody would be trying to read between the lines and jump to conclusions. Forget all the technical discussions. Why do they use the same language as the prerendered Last Of Us reveal trailer?
.
If Naughty Dog really got it running in real time at 60fps with near perfect AA, incredibly high shadow maps, and the highest quality shaders, why are they using weak language like "captured" or "in engine real game level running on a real PS4." What the heck does that mean? Just because you use the word real doesn't make it realtime even if you say real twice. Why does ND's own PR avoid stating realtime. Why confuse it with the same language in the Last Of Us reveal trailer?
Wouldn't it be more impressive to say "realtime," like they did for the gameplay footage?
Simple right? One simple word-
realtime. The most powerful word in our industry. Wouldn't that eliminate Digital Foundry,one of the most respected technical experts in our industry, from writing that it is not the graphical leap we were led to believe. Wouldn't it eliminate that silly before and after picture? Wouldn't it eliminate this discussion? Weird.
I think it is a bit unfair to Naughty Dog to try to guess what is going on. We will have to wait for this to be answered when the real game comes out. Next time, Naughty Dog just say "realtime" , not real in engine very real realistically real captured footage on a real PS4 with perfectly real lighting. I only kid.
Really this
time.