papersleeves
Member
So it's been more than 5 years since Uncharted 4 came out. I had some gaming time to spare and I've decided to revisit Uncharted 4. Last time I played the game was back in June of 2016 (according to my last save files). I remember really liking the game, but I didn't really had any time left back then to replay through it on harder difficulties like I did with Uncharted 2 or 3. Prior to starting a new game a week ago, my recollections of it was that the story was great, the graphics were amazing, the gameplay and combat improved upon previous entries and that it was an all-around great game. I remember that game did not however had the same impact on me as Uncharted 2 did. Maybe it was just Uncharted fatigue back then since I had recently played the Nathan Drake Collection few months before, maybe it was because deep down I thought it wasn't as great.
Now that I just finished my replay though, wow. Boy does this hold up very well graphically speaking for a 5 years old game. The graphics are frankly still amazing. Lots of details no matter the environments, amazing lighting, especially during interior sections, great animation all around, fantastic real-time cutscenes, etc. I honestly could go one talking about all the little details that make this such a spectacle to play/watch.
Uncharted always was a bit "monotone" in its shooting, but there has been improvement over the time. Uncharted 2 got some nice sections with more verticality near the end of the game. Uncharted 3 doubled down on that aspect, providing more options during gunfights. Uncharted 4 then followed Uncharted 3's path with even more verticality, more environments providing more options. The gunplay still feels a bit monotone but I guess I can see how they tried to improved it over the releases and it shows, though still far from perfect.
Something I noted this time around is that the climbing sections have been greatly improved in Uncharted 4. You can't just hold the stick to a direction and wait for the character to move to said direction until it's over. In U4, you need to actually point Nathan's hand on which spot you want him to reach and get to. This provides more interactivity in those sections, which to me felt very welcome, especially since U4, like every Uncharted games, has lots of those sections.
Nathan always has been the luckiest/unluckiest (depending on how you see it) guy in the world when it comes to climbing stuff; No matter what he touches / climbs on, it seems it will always get destroyed the second he passes through. This is typical of Uncharted. That said, I found it rather funny that in Uncharted 4, there are many moments you expect things to break but nothing actually happens; even the characters themselves are surprised about it!
Gotta say that I really loved the chemistry between all the characters, especially between Nate and Sam, more than the first time I played the game.
Still, I'm just as shocked as I was back then that Nate never actually said anything about his brother to his wife during all these years. This feels like a tackled-on story to me. At least Helena actually reacts to this situation in a proper way, what you'd expect someone to say after such a revelation ("I don't know you, who the fuck are you").
All in all, I simply loved replaying this game in 2021. There were many sections that I remembered being very impressive in my memories but reliving those sections actually made them even more impressive than what I recollected before.
Truly a great spectacle. I prefer it to TLOU 1 & 2.
Edit: One thing I wanted to say. I replayed on a PS5 coupled with a LG CX OLED TV with HDR enabled. I suspect that means it was running at 1440p like it would on a PS4 Pro. Back then I played on a 1080p Panasonic Plasma tv on a regular, old PS4. I don't know if it's me, but it seems like back then the performance were rock solid, like an unbreakable 30 fps. This time around, it felt like I got quite a bit of moments where I thought it wasn't quite hitting a proper 30 fps. I would notice this most of time while panning the camera. Backward compatibility issue perhaps? Never actually played the game on my PS4 Pro so I can't really compare.
Now that I just finished my replay though, wow. Boy does this hold up very well graphically speaking for a 5 years old game. The graphics are frankly still amazing. Lots of details no matter the environments, amazing lighting, especially during interior sections, great animation all around, fantastic real-time cutscenes, etc. I honestly could go one talking about all the little details that make this such a spectacle to play/watch.
Uncharted always was a bit "monotone" in its shooting, but there has been improvement over the time. Uncharted 2 got some nice sections with more verticality near the end of the game. Uncharted 3 doubled down on that aspect, providing more options during gunfights. Uncharted 4 then followed Uncharted 3's path with even more verticality, more environments providing more options. The gunplay still feels a bit monotone but I guess I can see how they tried to improved it over the releases and it shows, though still far from perfect.
Something I noted this time around is that the climbing sections have been greatly improved in Uncharted 4. You can't just hold the stick to a direction and wait for the character to move to said direction until it's over. In U4, you need to actually point Nathan's hand on which spot you want him to reach and get to. This provides more interactivity in those sections, which to me felt very welcome, especially since U4, like every Uncharted games, has lots of those sections.
Nathan always has been the luckiest/unluckiest (depending on how you see it) guy in the world when it comes to climbing stuff; No matter what he touches / climbs on, it seems it will always get destroyed the second he passes through. This is typical of Uncharted. That said, I found it rather funny that in Uncharted 4, there are many moments you expect things to break but nothing actually happens; even the characters themselves are surprised about it!
Gotta say that I really loved the chemistry between all the characters, especially between Nate and Sam, more than the first time I played the game.
Still, I'm just as shocked as I was back then that Nate never actually said anything about his brother to his wife during all these years. This feels like a tackled-on story to me. At least Helena actually reacts to this situation in a proper way, what you'd expect someone to say after such a revelation ("I don't know you, who the fuck are you").
All in all, I simply loved replaying this game in 2021. There were many sections that I remembered being very impressive in my memories but reliving those sections actually made them even more impressive than what I recollected before.
Truly a great spectacle. I prefer it to TLOU 1 & 2.
Edit: One thing I wanted to say. I replayed on a PS5 coupled with a LG CX OLED TV with HDR enabled. I suspect that means it was running at 1440p like it would on a PS4 Pro. Back then I played on a 1080p Panasonic Plasma tv on a regular, old PS4. I don't know if it's me, but it seems like back then the performance were rock solid, like an unbreakable 30 fps. This time around, it felt like I got quite a bit of moments where I thought it wasn't quite hitting a proper 30 fps. I would notice this most of time while panning the camera. Backward compatibility issue perhaps? Never actually played the game on my PS4 Pro so I can't really compare.
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