Third person shooters; games that focus heavily on shooting, as opposed to platforming and puzzle solving. If they wanted to really be different maybe they could have taken away the combat altogether. Would you say there are more games where combat is the focus or where platforming and puzzle solving is the focus?
If they want to add RPG elements and semi open world, fine. The big problem is the reduced emphasis on puzzles, and the semi-open world is hampered by the severe amount of handholding and scripting going on. The game compares mostly with Arkham Asylum, with much fewer puzzles, harder to get lost, and less interesting combat because you just snipe or shoot everyone.
I would say there are lots of games that focus on platforming and puzzle solving and lots of games that focus on shooting, but very few games that do BOTH, whether they focus more on shooting, platforming or puzzle solving.
I haven't played it yet, but the dozen or so reviews I read all praised the action elements. Even the Machinima review said the action was well done.
I wouldn't personally classify Uncharted as a third person shooter. It's more of an action adventure game to me. It definitely influenced a lot of games in terms of scripted sequences, linearity and trying to be cinematic. I'd put things like Gears and Max Payne in the third person shooter bracket.
Again, I haven't played this yet, but the Arkham games have very few real puzzles, and nothing that sounds like the optional puzzles included here. I'd put those firmly in action adventure too.
I guess the disconnect between you and me, is that I've always seen both games as action adventure, with one a bit more towards the action end of the continuum, and the other a bit more towards the adventure side. What I see as a slight shift along that continuum you see a flipped bit tantamount to a complete change of genre.
I see a game that has the things I expect to see in a Tomb Raider game. I just see a bit more action that I'd expect and a bit less platforming and puzzle solving than I'd expect. It still looks like a fun adventure in the kinds of environments I prefer the series to focus on (which it hasn't always done to the degree I'd like). It still looks like a Tomb Raider game. Uncharted was never so different as to avoid the Dude Raider tag early on, because there are plenty of similarities between both games. Tomb Raider 2 had way more action than Tomb Raider 1. Tomb Raider 3 had way fewer tombs than Tomb Raider 1. I still enjoyed them.
We're not going to agree, obviously because our perspectives on this are completely different. But I still see plenty of platformers on the market. I still see plenty of action adventures. I still see plenty of third person shooters. So I look at that, and I shrug.
