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On Uncharted 2's 10th anniversary, its developers look back on the making of a perfect sequel

Geki-D

Banned
And it also has the worst story in the series.
As much as UC3 was ultimately a good game, I agree with this. The plot was a massive step down. It's not that it didn't make sense overall but it was clearly an afterthought to the set pieces. Talbot is by far the worst offender, I remember after the game came out people were confused as fuck about how Talbot just vanishes after he hits Cutter with that dart so they asked Amy Hennig on Twitter, wondering if there was a supernatural element there and she just said the guy had military training so it is what is is. In other words don't think too much about it.

Still, the plane & ship are still probably 2 of the best set pieces to ever grace a game.
 
The only thing that bothered me was how generic the evil Russian bad guys and their leader were, as generic and stock as it gets, they really couldn't have come up with something better?

If you look at the concept art for the game you can see the original idea might have been Drake going up against the Chinese military, which would have made more sense given the theme and setting and also been a lot more interesting, but I guess it was changed for political reasons.

Other than that it's a classic though.
 

Larxia

Member
no supernatural elements in the game
What? I'm confused, isn't that in Uncharted 3 where you fight against fire demons or something? I remember ennemies with heads on fire lol.

Personnaly I'm not a fan of this series, it looked amazing, and it does get you really hooked, it's nice to go through and the screenplay is fantastic, but........ the gunfights are wayyyy too tedious and boring for me, it's so repetitive, it never ends, especially in 3 where it was the worst (I didin't play 4), it's just way too much, I really couldn't take it anymore near the end of 3.
 

Hostile_18

Banned
What? I'm confused, isn't that in Uncharted 3 where you fight against fire demons or something? I remember ennemies with heads on fire lol.

Personnaly I'm not a fan of this series, it looked amazing, and it does get you really hooked, it's nice to go through and the screenplay is fantastic, but........ the gunfights are wayyyy too tedious and boring for me, it's so repetitive, it never ends, especially in 3 where it was the worst (I didin't play 4), it's just way too much, I really couldn't take it anymore near the end of 3.

Drake was drugged by Talbot. It's only a small portion of the endgame.

I love every entry. Playing them all again recently I felt they all held up really well. The graphics on a calibrated OLED are amazing, even the first game with its lush jungle island setting.
 
Uncharted 4 was the 1st in the series that had no supernatural enemies at all. People expected ghost pirates or something, but no, Druckmann had to remove them.

That UC3 Djinn fight near the end was tough as nails on Crushing, BUT there were power weapons lying around and if you made careful use of your ammo, it was definitely doable.

PS3 Uncharted games have this old school gameplay philosophy where you get hidden power-ups, but you have to explore a bit to discover them. I guess most people don't do that. They treat it like a straight line to the end, like a movie as they say. To each his own.

Another chronic complaint I hear all the time (and it's what ultimately destroyed UC2 MP 1.04) is the "bullet sponge" one.

NPCs are bullet sponges ONLY if you go for bodyshots. They're easy to take down with headshots (some power weapons like the Dragon Sniper and Desert-5 are 1HK). Conclusion: if you're a skilled marksman, it's not that bad as people claim it to be. Headshots require more skill than bodyshots, so this definitely makes the game more challenging.

I understand if someone is not a big fan of shooters (let alone 3rd person ones), but these games were highly immersive for me back in the day. UC4 less so, since they changed Amy's recipe more than they should. Gameplay (aiming) could be improved with the DS4 gyroscope, since apparently many people have trouble aiming with the analog sticks (especially if they come from PCs). Gameplay criticism is fine, as long as you can offer constructive criticism (which most people sadly don't do).
 
C

Contica

Unconfirmed Member
Probably the most overrated game of all time.

It's not very good. Particularly the shitty enemy encounters annoyed the hell out of me. Enter area, kill enemies, new wave of enemies flood into the exact same positions of the previous enemies, kill them, next wave, maybe soon you'll be allowed to continue.

Garbage.

Climbing and story was fun though. Except for the supernatural elements that just felt like they were shoved in there just because.
 

Ellis

Member
Pacing, enemy encounters, set pieces, atmosphere, perfect Indy-esque story. The game is quite frankly sublime.

Uncharted 2 is Naughty Dog's own Resident Evil 4. It's utter perfection.
 

Fbh

Gold Member
I replayed it last year through the Nathan Drake Collection and I still think it's the best in the franchise.
It has an enjoyable plot, fun and varied locations, the best pacing with a solid combination of action, platforming and just enough walking and talking. And, maybe most importantly, it still has some of the best big setpiece moments in gaming. It really nailed the feeling of actually making the player a part of these big scenes while a lot of other games (even current releases) often feel like they make a lot of the cool stuff happen around the player but fail at making you feel like an active part of what is going on.

Also, at least the remastered version still holds up really well visually. It's no longer up there with current AAA titles but it honestly looks better than plenty of current games.
 
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Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Huge improvement over the original, which I felt was genuinely mediocre.

My only complaint: I wish they would not have bothered with deathmatch. They gave us a great survival mode and a great 3-man co-op so I would've liked for them to have put more content in those areas than waste time with a generic pvp that is maybe fun for a couple hours. Co-op is where its at for cover shooters.
 
Huge improvement over the original, which I felt was genuinely mediocre.

My only complaint: I wish they would not have bothered with deathmatch. They gave us a great survival mode and a great 3-man co-op so I would've liked for them to have put more content in those areas than waste time with a generic pvp that is maybe fun for a couple hours. Co-op is where its at for cover shooters.
I guess you didn't play Plunder? That was the definitive Uncharted PvP mode.

Nothing wrong with PvP modes, they require minimal resources. I think you confuse programming (netcode) with artistic work (MP maps copy-paste assets from the SP). Never understood this argument TBH.

FYI: it's Christophe Balestra that wrote the netcode himself. He's not an artist, but a programmer.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I guess you didn't play Plunder? That was the definitive Uncharted PvP mode.

Nothing wrong with PvP modes, they require minimal resources. I think you confuse programming (netcode) with artistic work (MP maps copy-paste assets from the SP). Never understood this argument TBH.

FYI: it's Christophe Balestra that wrote the netcode himself. He's not an artist, but a programmer.

The one where you carry around that relic or whatever, I remember it. Was at least more fun than the deathmatch, I'll admit.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
The one where you carry around that relic or whatever, I remember it. Was at least more fun than the deathmatch, I'll admit.

Yeah, it was essentially CTF. CTF modes are always more fun than standard DM, at least to me.
 
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Yeah, it was essentially CTF. CTF modes are always more fun the standard DM, at least to me.
I prefer Objective modes too (they also had modes like King of the Hill, Chain Reaction etc.), but it seems the majority prefers Deathmatch, no matter the game (CoD or Uncharted).

I guess it's because TDM requires less brain power (just kill people) vs objective (kill people + protect the carrier + capture the idol). :p
 
I still don't know if 2 or 3 is better - but I tend to give an edge to 3 because of the boat and harbor scenes, I was so amazed by their visuals and physics, they're just amazing. The whole desert section (with the plane fight) had me gasping every step of the way as well, I could not believe the intensity of the game I was playing back then.

I won't talk much about Unchrated 4, it starts too slow and has only one set piece worthy of the Uncharted name (the chase scene).

The PS4 re-relases at 60fps are just bliss.
 

anthraticus

Banned
I tried one of these games (maybe it was 1 or 2.....don't remember) and it was enough to make me never wanna play one again.

And I loved the Indiana Jones movies.....at least the first 3 anyway.
 

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
I'm gonna start Uncharted 2 tonight for the first time with the Nathan Drake Collection, hope to enjoy this one.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I still don't know if 2 or 3 is better - but I tend to give an edge to 3 because of the boat and harbor scenes, I was so amazed by their visuals and physics, they're just amazing. The whole desert section (with the plane fight) had me gasping every step of the way as well, I could not believe the intensity of the game I was playing back then.

I won't talk much about Unchrated 4, it starts too slow and has only one set piece worthy of the Uncharted name (the chase scene).

The PS4 re-relases at 60fps are just bliss.
I like 3 better. The pacing is better with less enemies and few more puzzles and set pieces. And 3 still looks much better
UC2 is great but it's shooting after shooting after shooting. At least ps4 remasters are GREATLY rebalanced and better to play
 

TexMex

Member
Legendary status. I remember picking it up at midnight, and playing it all night. Lightning in a bottle.
 
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