Promised myself I would stay out of Uncharted threads, but I'm bored so here we go.
The more I think about UC4 the more disappointing it gets, and the more disappointed I am with Naughty Dog and their approach. I'm not going to call Uncharted 4 a disaster, or say that it's the worst game in the series- I think they were going for a very particular style with Uncharted 4, and they've probably accomplished it. A particular style that's a response to complaints about the genre leanings of the first 3 games. A particular style that's a response to the response of The Last of Us: Left Behind. A particular style that goes deeper into grounded character building, and in turn attempts to ground the pacing for (MUCH) longer stretches as some kind of actualization of story through gameplay.
The problem is that I found this particular style to be boring, almost hilariously so when I finished the game and looked back on the chapter select. The non-combat sections are so uneventful. Sure the environments are beautiful, and how they're used as a way of subtly displaying where the narrative sits is cool, but there are precisely 2 moments, totaling maybe 45 seconds of game time, where a more unique platforming challenge is used in a high energy way, where a quick succession of all the moves and tools available created a kind of mini set-piece, a highlight to break up the monotony. Other than those, it's brain dead. And sure, you could throw this criticism back at the first 3 games, and you'd be right, but those games didn't shy away from the fact that they were rollercoaster third person shooters. Platfoming was a cooldown from the meat of the game, that being fairly lengthy high energy action scenes. UC4 has no meat. Or rather, UC4 attempts to make
everything meat, and in doing so ends up with a bunch of bread. Beautiful bread, but still.....bread. And bread gets dry after a while.
You can absolutely see how they got here, and it's a course that runs directly through The Last of Us, but the DLC to that game is the germ from where Uncharted 4 came. The Last of Us is actually much more tense and high energy for longer stretches, throwing in a number of different encounters just for the sake of encounters, because that's a game that, after the opening hour, is paced on the highs and lows of tension and intensity. Sure once in a while you'll get a pacing beat that relies solely on whatever narrative checkpoint you just hit, but even those feel more in concert with the gameplay pacing than Uncharted 4. No, UC4 isn't "The Last of Uncharted."
What it is, is "Uncharted: Left Behind."
What they started pushing even more with Left Behind was game design where the "whole" stands on a level playing field. That means that combat pacing beats and/or set-pieces aren't the dominant factor in pacing anymore. Now, each of these "interactive story moments" is a pacing beat as important as any encounter, as any set-piece. There are no more classic action game lows. Everything becomes a bigger part of the experience. You can see this in how much time and energy they've spent in fleshing out these interactive story moments, from the picture booth and costume store in Left Behind, to Drake's attic and the flashbacks in UC4. No longer is "experiencing the story" just pushing forward through dialogue, but instead you're completely dropped into the story, including all the mundane parts of it, just to prove a point.
Ok, so that's fine, right? A more fleshed out experience where you control more of the game. Well..... it would be fine except for this lingering vibe that Naughty Dog has listened to the criticism of Uncharted being a shooter. In removing the classic action game lows, they're also gone away from the more traditional highs, slashing enemy numbers in an attempt to make combat feel more logical within the game's pacing. "You only encounter enemies when the story needs it" is a common sentiment here. Ok, so, again, that's fine right? Game design is maturing, devs gotta try different things. Well...... it would be fine if the platforming sections were anywhere near engaging, or if they were trying some big and crazy ideas with the puzzles, and now I'm starting to loop around back to my initial complaint.
So this ramble is my take away from Uncharted 4. I
get what they're doing, but I don't like the way it's put together. I miss the stretches of classic action shooter game design, where combat ideas are introduced and fleshed out in a sequence rather than abandoned for more walk + talk, and numerous moments of downtime where you're left to stew in whatever the last cutscene or interactive story moment was.. Where momentum is built and retained for long stretches. Where you can feel each sequence building toward the next all in service for some big flashy period on a sentence, rather than the awkward start and stop fits we see in Uncharted 4. If they can find a way to marry long action scenes with this new approach I'd probably love it, much in the way I love Wolfenstein: The New Order even with its lengthy chunks of non-shooter gameplay, but Uncharted 4 is not that game.
This and No Man's SKy a few months apart though....woof.
Ok, this is the last time, I promise.
