LTTP: Uncharted 4 is a mediocre game that is really pretty.

I've just wrapped up my sub 6 hour speedrun for the trophy and got the plat and I cant help but agree.
The game feels impressive at first with its beautiful vistas and I was gripped by the story but once you start replaying it you discover there isn't that much meat on the bone.

There's just too much climbing in similar looking landscapes and not enough interesting action encounters. And ‘nearly' falling to your death as yet another stone comes loose or a wooden beam collapses only stays interesting for so long.

And when they do decide it's time for action the game throws everything but the kitchen sink at you and it's suddenly the hardest Uncharted ever ( looking at you Sunken Shipyard on Crushing )
 
Have to agree with others it was one hell of chore to get through. For me it was the gameplay, the same old since uncharted 2 with minor tweaks and additions. They needed to make the combat more exciting, drake is always discovering crazy stuff why not add some mystical ancient weapons to the mix? Nice graphics and banter wasn't gonna last long.
 
My GOTY 2016.

Fully enjoyed my time with it... even got Platinum... gunplay is so fun and I couldn't stop to play the story in the first play though.
 
Agree with the OP. The Uncharted games to me were always run and gun games, with fun/campy characters, and slight platforming/exploring and story. Uncharted 4 went heavy on story with longer platforming and added open world aspects. The characters went from fun to real people with semi real problems. I guess when Naughty Dog mastered the art of gameplay they had to tinker with aspects that didn't need any fixing. It's a classic "Too many cooks in the kitchen" scenario.
 
jsnepo said:
What was meh about the gunplay? I agree with the climbing part. There was no challenge in it.
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I am currently playing through UC4 "My Brother's Keeper" chapter and I agree with the OP.

Beautiful game but mediocre in almost everything else. The only interesting haracter is Elena. The idea of Drake, a treasure hunter taking on private ARMY is too ridiculous. I can suspend disbelief that he's Spider-Man, but not leaving a trail of 100 bodies behind him in every game.

Overrated, indeed.
 
zoodoo said:
By genre, you mean 3rd person? I hope not. The worst thing about uncharted is the gunplay.
t.
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I disagree. Nothing wrong with the core combat mechanics. In fact, adding the rope made it even better. Shooting is just shooting. Nothing really wrong with the shooting mechanics.
Weird how some people call that bad.

Worst part of the game is the useless boring endless pressing x to climb mechanics.
 
As a long time Uncharted fan I wasn't very impressed with what I played of Uncharted 4. Amazing graphics and tech but missing the gamplay so for me it was all fur coat and no knickers. Still quite a bit more to play on it though so I will give it another hearing after Nioh as that's the least I can do. Maybe OP chose the wrong one to play.
 
Can see where OP is coming from but I disagree, I liked Sam and exploring the Drake's childhood and the story I felt was pretty good. The gameplay was fun imo and aside from Scotland I didn't have issues with the pacing, when you get to
Libertalia
it's fantastic.
 
I completely agree and I also love CB and TLOU. I really don't get the series. Even at its highest point which seems to have been UC2. I hated the gameplay altogether, climbing, shooting, traversal. Everything felt wobbly, imprecise and repetitive. The charming characters and great setpieces are the only things I got out of that game. I don't even remember or liked the plot itself.

Sadly, in UC4 I even disliked the majority of the characters and their behaviour.

I'm really looking forward to TLOU2 and hope that ND will do something completely different instead of UC as of now.
 
Auto_aim1 said:
Game wasn't memorable at all. I guess because I don't find linear beautiful games impressive anymore. I had my fill of Uncharted after the third game so this felt more of the same and not exciting enough. The MP was great though.
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What does this even mean? Open world games only games that get any burn?
 
I really like the gameplay, but it just falls apart at higher difficulties. I've never found Naughty Dog to be very good at balancing that. The first three Uncharted games were ridiculous bullshit on Crushing, and this one is no better. The Last of Us is a much better game and it still suffers from that.
 
Fezan said:
It's not unpopular opinion. The gameplay in both tlou and uc4 is topnotch. Best in genre
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These threads that keep popping up once every week can give the impression that the reception of this game is mixed but UC4 winning GAF goty and user goty in almost every major gaming site puts this perception in it's place. I loved this game and consider it the best Uncharted and the best game of the generation I have played so far. Some people didn't like it as much but I am happy for the many more who shared my love of this game.
 
It bored me to death for the first couple hours, never went back.

I'll re-visit this summer when there is nothing else to play.
 
Cloukyo said:
For some reason the game is pretty popular here but honestly, the gameplay is super weak and it lacks agency of any kind.

Also the plot is just as shit as you'd expect from a AAA videogame.

It's the type of game I hope developers stop making tbh.

EDIT: I also didn't find the game to be very pretty. The fidelity was high, but everything looked like wax and there was little creativity in the locales imo. I mean, what would stop me from just watching a movie instead?
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Yeah, and popular with critics, gamespot readers (their goty), eurogamer readers (their goty), ign readers (their goty)...why do so many people have to be wrong?:)
 
Seems to me that the story ends up being somewhat divisive in these UC4 threads. I guess it depends on what you're coming to the game for.

I personally thought it was the best plot and story of the year. It really is about all the interpersonal relationships between the characters. For me, the story is entirely about the moments like when they're playing Crash on the couch at home, or when you're trekking back through the jungle with Elena and you get the sense that your marriage really might not be okay.

And I think all the graphics tech, facial animation tech etc work in service of making those interactions feel very human and very believable.

Maybe some of it has to do with age too; I'm fine with most video game plots being about stopping some terrible force or saving the world or w/e, but what UC4 does with interpersonal relationships (the same way TLoU did) is something that is way more connectable to me as a person. I'm 30 and in a long term relationship, so it's way easier for me to connect to UC's more subtle, relationship based story than a lot of the supernatural nonsense they've done in the past.

Concerning the gameplay, i agree with most folks saying it's "serviceable." I think they're really between a rock and a hard place. From a purely gameplay standpoint, i'd much rather play something like ME:A (or honestly most other "non realistic" third person shooters) because the combat is so much more engaging. You have more options, and more tactics available. I'm not arguing that UC4 isn't the pinnacle of the series in terms of combat, but i would argue that that's not an awfully high bar. It's just never what I came to the series for.

I get why OP might not like a lot about the game, but hands down my GOTY last year.
 
pixellated_man said:
These threads that keep popping up once every week can give the impression that the reception of this game is mixed but UC4 winning GAF goty and user goty in almost every major gaming site puts this perception in it's place.
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Yes, because of these awards our opinions are clearly wrong, obviously.
 
I really liked the gunplay & the convoy chase sequence was pretty badass but it probably has some of the worst pacing in a TPS that side of Max Payne 3. Long sections of this game are a total slog to get through. Like, they have mechanics in this game that can make the simplistic platforming more engaging but they barely utilize them in any meaningful or interesting way like the rope, sliding & the pick. The platforming only gells well with the combat and that aspect is dialed back to an absurd degree.

Like UC1, I don't I'll bother replaying UC4 in the future. It took me like weeks of forcing myself to finish this game that I got through.
 
Videogames (or shall we call it 'interactive entertainment') is about the experience, and that can vary in many ways, from a more pure gameplay-focused experience, to a more cinematic experience with less focus on the actual gameplay.

The Uncharted series does well because of good Indiana-Jones style stories, witty scripts, good voice acting, graphics, animation, environmental variety, etc. It's the whole package that makes it what it is. But if you are more of a pure-gameplay kind of a person, or hate cut-scenes, then clearly it won't be for you.

But it's high up there in its own genre. I didn't particularly care for The Last of Us, but not because it's a bad game, just because it didn't do it for my tastes.

That said, I was one of the few that really loved Heavy Rain - despite the lack of 'gameplay'. But I also love games like Axiom Verge at the opposite end of the spectrum.

I just love the variety. It wasn't too long ago that every other game was another FPS.
 
I'm not allowing myself to get too excited for Part II because of Uncharted 4, and unfortunately that presentation of the Uncharted expansion didn't give me high hopes either.

It's a shame, but what can you do. A lot of people are clearly happy with the direction they're taking their games, so all I can do is just accept they're not for me anymore.

AJ_Wings said:
I really liked the gunplay & the convoy chase sequence was pretty badass but it probably has some of the worst pacing in a TPS that side of Max Payne 3. Long sections of this game are a total slog to get through. Like, they have mechanics in this game that can make the simplistic platforming more engaging but they barely utilize them in any meaningful or interesting way like the rope, sliding & the pick. The platforming only gells well with the combat and that aspect is dialed back to an absurd degree.

Like UC1, I don't I'll bother replaying UC4 in the future. It took me like weeks of forcing myself to finish this game that I got through.
Click to expand...

Did you ever play the Uncharted 1 remaster? It's now my favorite in the series.
 
RedlineRonin said:
Seems to me that the story ends up being somewhat divisive in these UC4 threads. I guess it depends on what you're coming to the game for.

I personally thought it was the best plot and story of the year. It really is about all the interpersonal relationships between the characters. For me, the story is entirely about the moments like when their playing Crash on the couch at home, or when you're trekking back through the jungle with Elena and you get the sense that your marriage really might not be okay.

And I think all the graphics tech, facial animation tech etc work in service of making those interactions feel very human and very believable.

Maybe some of it has to do with age too; I'm fine with most video game plots being about stopping some terrible force or saving the world or w/e, but what UC4 does with interpersonal relationships (the same way TLoU did) is something that is way more connectable to me as a person. I'm 30 and in a long term relationship, so it's way easier for me to connect to UC's more subtle, relationship based story than a lot of the supernatural nonsense they've done in the past.

Concerning the gameplay, i agree with most folks saying it's "serviceable." I think they're really between a rock and a hard place. From a purely gameplay standpoint, i'd much rather play something like ME:A (or honestly most other "non realistic" third person shooters) because the combat is so much more engaging. You have more options, and more tactics available. I'm not arguing that UC4 isn't the pinnacle of the series in terms of combat, but i would argue that that's not an awfully high bar. It's just never what I came to the series for.

I get why OP might not like a lot about the game, but hands down my GOTY last year.
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I kinda agree with you in the sense that age has something to do with it. Also there is this thing where some people are gameplay purist and give little to no care for narrative weight, to them it is a game and it has to fulfil all the requirements of what a game should do. I feel like those type of people are better off going for games likes Mario and Zelda because those cater more to the gamey side of things. If you look at Adam Sessler for example, he would prefer something like Uncharted because the gameplay isn't the main bit, it is one of the many bits that come together as a whole. Such type of consumer fits a certain profile of the adult gamer who is probably married, have kids and that is the kind of thing Uncharted 4 focuses on. The game had that whole Drake the husband vs Drake the pirate theme going all the way through
 
Absolutely fucking loved Uncharted 4. Sorry you didn't OP. That sucks. I've played through the campaign 3 times now. My game of the generation so far.
 
Don't agree at all. Was my top 3 game for last year and likely my GOTY as well. Absolutely phenomenal experience that was fantastic to play through.
 
Gbraga said:
I'm not allowing myself to get too excited for Part II because of Uncharted 4, and unfortunately that presentation of the Uncharted expansion didn't give me high hopes either.

It's a shame, but what can you do. A lot of people are clearly happy with the direction they're taking their games, so all I can do is just accept they're not for me anymore.
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Exactly. I love the direction ND is taking with their games, but I understand why many people reasonably don't, like you.

It only becomes an issue when people start shitting on a game because of it.
 
It has some very strong highs in terms of set pieces, and visually it's consistently amazing, but I did find it a bit of a chore to play.

I'm glad I played it, and overall enjoyed the ride, but I was kind of glad when it finished and came away from it feeling the same as I did after 3; that I'm totally OK if they never make another one of these.

No moment in the game made me smile more than the section where Drake and Ellie are on the sofa playing something else. Without spoiling it, I think that says a lot.
 
What a JOke some of these complaints!!!! people are never happy with anything.


Games that are this well executed are far in between, just be happy they exist. Finally, the majority loves this game and the kind of entertainement it brings to all of us.
 
I loved the first three but thought 4 was a really boring, weak video game, with awful combat and minimal actual gameplay. Hoping the Chloe spinoff feels closer to the others, but its severely weakened my faith in Naughty Dog.
 
Ehhh that's really stretching it, OP.

The end of UC4 is the best of all of them. The graphics and locales are also the best (minus UC2's mountain/train section).

I'd say: UC2>>UC4>>>>>UC3>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>UC1.

TLoU is better than all of them, IMO.
 
XGoldenboyX said:
What a JOke some of these complaints!!!! people are never happy with anything.


Games that are this well executed are far in between, just be happy they exist. Finally, the majority loves this game and the kind of entertainement it brings to all of us.
Click to expand...

Ok.

I'm sorry for criticizing Uncharted 4, I'm so happy it exists!!! :D

Yay!!!!!!!!!!
 
Bumhead said:
It has some very strong highs in terms of set pieces, and visually it's consistently amazing, but I did find it a bit of a chore to play.

I'm glad I played it, and overall enjoyed the ride, but I was kind of glad when it finished and came away from it feeling the same as I did after 3; that I'm totally OK if they never make another one of these.

No moment in the game made me smile more than the section where Drake and Ellie are on the sofa playing something else. Without spoiling it, I think that says a lot.
Click to expand...

Agreed. UC3 left me feeling meh.

In terms of that scene you me mention,
I was pissed because on my last life, I jumped to the final platform and could see the goal, but for some reason, I fell anyway.
 
Tosyn_88 said:
I kinda agree with you in the sense that age has something to do with it. Also there is this thing where some people are gameplay purist and give little to no care for narrative weight, to them it is a game and it has to fulfil all the requirements of what a game should do. I feel like those type of people are better off going for games likes Mario and Zelda because those cater more to the gamey side of things. If you look at Adam Sessler for example, he would prefer something like Uncharted because the gameplay isn't the main bit, it is one of the many bits that come together as a whole. Such type of consumer fits a certain profile of the adult gamer who is probably married, have kids and that is the kind of thing Uncharted 4 focuses on. The game had that whole Drake the husband vs Drake the pirate theme going all the way through
Click to expand...

Exactly.

And I still think those games are really important too! I really enjoyed the tens of hours I spent with Dragon's Dogma, I think it can easily be argued that game is completely and entirely propped up by it's gameplay, while virtually every other aspect of it is mediocre at best. There is totally value to games that just do one thing or a couple things really well.

I think UC in general is in a really tough spot. When you hang your hat on the narrative I just described that's really grounded in reality, you're actively making it difficult to do new and interesting things in the gameplay, because that also has to be grounded in reality. You can't just go and add power like mass effect or jump jets. I think the grappling hook helped, but at the end of the day it was serviceable. There were parts where I genuinely thought to myself "I kind of wish i could just skip some of these gameplay sections to get to the next story beat."

Now, it's not an impossible problem to solve, just a difficult one. I thought the gameplay in TLoU was a lot better. Materials, crafting, bigger focus on stealth etc. So it's possible, but if you're ND, you can't just do that or you start to bleed your games together that are supposed to have unique identities.

I hope they don't feel obligated to make another UC. Four was a fantastic send off, and I would love to see ND take their tech and do something completely different. Similar to CDPR going from W3 to CP2077; I want to see ND go to space, or do something medieval. Just something different.

E: The other thing that I think is worth calling out, is that I played each one around release. I get why people would be burned out if they just went through the whole UC collection and then on to 4; that's a lot of TPS gameplay in a short span, but I think i enjoyed them more because it was generally years between each one for me.
 
It didn't do anything for me, but I only played about half of it. Graphically it dazzled, but it felt like I was in a rinse and repeat formula of exploration and action.

I wouldn't call it mediocre though. If that's you're idea of mediocre then I'd love to know what's average?
 
Have to agree, from my perspective Rise of the Tomb Raider was a better game in that category in general. Such a underrated game.
 
Now that it's had time to sit, looking back at it, I'd have to say that it was the least fun game in the series. I still enjoyed it, thought the story was great, but it was just a good game, not great. I wouldn't call it mediocre tho. still way above average.
 
I thought it was the Uncharted formula perfected and the closest I've come to playing my favourite movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. I absolutely loved the game. I just wish there was less climbing and more combat, because the gunplay is fucking ace.
 
WanPisu said:
The Uncharted games are mechanically simple games with cool setpieces, locations and engaging stories.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that simple. When compared to other third person shooters, UC4 gives you way more options. Gears is never more than a cover shooter for example, but the more, open vertical level design in UC4 with a character that can stealth, climb, swing, roll, jump, shoot and melee creates more compelling combat sandboxes than other games in the genre. If anything, I think the combat is very much underrated.

Acquiescence said:
I thought it was the Uncharted formula perfected and the closest I've come to playing favourite movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. I absolutely loved the game. I just wish there was less climbing and more combat, because the gunplay is fucking ace.
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Truth.
 
Acquiescence said:
I thought it was the Uncharted formula perfected and the closest I've come to playing favourite movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. I absolutely loved the game. I just wish there was less climbing and more combat, because the gunplay is fucking ace.
Click to expand...

Felt like the game they were trying to make all along.
 
Gbraga said:
I'm not allowing myself to get too excited for Part II because of Uncharted 4, and unfortunately that presentation of the Uncharted expansion didn't give me high hopes either.

It's a shame, but what can you do. A lot of people are clearly happy with the direction they're taking their games, so all I can do is just accept they're not for me anymore.
Click to expand...

It seems like Naughty Dog listened to all the people complaining that the gameplay was rubbish and how the shooting should be reduced. Which is a shame for me because I've always loved the shooting in Uncharted.
 
dr3upmushroom said:
I took a break from the series after being disappointed with the first UC, and after all the hype about every entry after that I decided to finally play the fourth one.

Honestly, I'm still baffled as to how ND never was able to capture the same gaming bliss that they have had with CB, Jak and TLOU.
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So, you are telling me that you never played Uncharted 2 and 3?
Because maybe you should play those also. Trust me, it will redeem the franchise.

Funny thing: When I was playing Uncharted 4, it reminded me constantly of The Last of Us.
And that brother you never knew you had, one of the two most annoying sidekicks in a videogame for me personally.
The other being Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite.
 
Devil said:
Yes, because of these awards our opinions are clearly wrong, obviously.
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Where did I say those opinions are wrong? I was putting those opinions into context, which - read this carefully - is that the dissenting voices are in the small minority as evidenced by all those critics and readers (including GAF) goty awards. These threads can give a skewed impression because of how frequently they pop up.

You follow me fam?
 
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