Yeah, so far it's somewhere between U1 and U2 for me. Like U1, it has more enemies and aggressive ones too (May be problematic later ?). Like U2, the set pieces are more interactive and gorgeous. But in U3, they add more interaction with the enemies during encounter too.
What I love is that in U1 and U2, all the enemies grow in difficulty, and in the end the lower enemy was a guy with kevlar and helmet, very difficult to kill. Here, there are also unarmored thugs from the start to the end, not all enemies dressing like a swat.
This is the only thing that has really bothered me in the game so far.
They kept changing her appearance before the release of the first game and then finally got it perfect, but now just before the release of the third game they go and mess with her again. She looked perfect during the Gamescom(?) demonstration too.
Really enjoyed it. Probably my favorite UC game. I normally take forever to beat anything, but this had me glued to the TV enough to beat it in 2 days. The only things I didn't like were too much crappy melee, lots of bullet sponge enemies and some of the rooms felt too small to really fight in. Do I really need 3 snipers, 2 padded armor guys, half a dozen regular guys, an RPG dude and a grenade launching asshole all trained on me at the same time in a tiny room? Just minor complaints though - this should end being my favorite game this year.
Finished it up. Just under 8 hrs on normal, UC2 was about 10 and a half first time on normal.
Overall, I'd rate it a little lower than UC2 after the first playthrough. I saw one comment from a review that I think sums it up compared to its predecessor. The highs are higher, but the lows are lower.
I'm going to guess that ND spent so much time and effort trying to top the big setpieces of UC2 (which I'd say they did) that they didn't spend as much time polishing the bits in between. It just didn't have UC2's flow and overall didn't feel as substantial.
It did have a better plot though. While the magical mcguffin stuff was largely similar the villains were better and more backstory to the relationships of Drake and his crew (it really is becoming a crew at this point) were much more fleshed out.
Edit: Just to repeat what's been said before, the lack of any bonus modes is fucking bullshit, what the hell Naughty Dog, what the hell?
Up to ch14. Like the story and dialogue, but the gameplay has serious flaws. The shooting is the worst part of the game. It's not just the controls; the ai is shit...and the shootouts are poorly designed with wave after wave of frustrating enemies. Grenades everywhere...ugh.
Puzzles are improved though. Hand to hand stuff is ok but very overused.
Hmm... I passed the entire location in Chapter 8 and beyond. I haven't seen them running between covers with no real plans yet. They usually move towards me, or open fire from far.
Since Nate also takes a few shots to kill, I also run towards them and try to melee them to death behind a wall or around a corner (to avoid fire). It's ok to melee more than 1 dude at the same time too.
I noticed that Nate is pretty good at it. In U2, the shotgun dude is near invincible if you try to melee him. The same goes for the shield guy.
But stealth is still the best though, to prune the numbers down before all hell breaks lose.
Yeah, I usually try to use stealth, but there are times where it's impossible. One specific sequence that I'm thinking of is (can't remember the chapter, so let's say spoiler up to chapter 8)
The fight in the courtyard of the french chateau, just after you get grenades, where you meet up with Sully again. They're already shooting when you show up, so stealth didn't seem to be an option. Maybe it's because they focus on two people on opposite sides of the courtyard, but I moved down form the high wall you start on into the courtyard and saw some spectacularly nutty stuff.
In general, I like the melee better than the shooting, so I use the "stun with the gun, then run in to finish them off" technique often, and find that as I run through some of the open areas, it causes the AI to go a little nutty sometimes.
Up to ch14. Like the story and dialogue, but the gameplay has serious flaws. The shooting is the worst part of the game. It's not just the controls; the ai is shit...and the shootouts are poorly designed with wave after wave of frustrating enemies. Grenades everywhere...ugh.
Puzzles are improved though. Hand to hand stuff is ok but very overused.
Yeah, I usually try to use stealth, but there are times where it's impossible. One specific sequence that I'm thinking of is (can't remember the chapter, so let's say spoiler up to chapter 8)
The fight in the courtyard of the french chateau, just after you get grenades, where you meet up with Sully again. They're already shooting when you show up, so stealth didn't seem to be an option. Maybe it's because they focus on two people on opposite sides of the courtyard, but I moved down form the high wall you start on into the courtyard and saw some spectacularly nutty stuff.
In general, I like the melee better than the shooting, so I use the "stun with the gun, then run in to finish them off" technique often, and find that as I run through some of the open areas, it causes the AI to go a little nutty sometimes.
You can still use stealth on unsuspecting enemies even after all hell broke lose. I melee'ed a few dudes from behind in that part of the game. It's because the whole place looks like a large maze, so the AI will lose track of you too if you monkey around.
Up to chapter 20 now. Damn is this game the most difficult of the three. Every enemy encounter is grenade spam, armored shotgunners, and guys with riot shields.
What bugs me most however is that the AI knows its nearly invincible and therefore doesn't give a fuck that it's walking into the middle of a fire fight so that it can shoot at you with a shotgun at point blank range.
Instead of working from cover to cover, the AI knows that it's a bullet sponge and just sidles up beside you for the kill whilst other enemies throw grenades at you and fire RPGs.
You can still use stealth on unsuspecting enemies even after all hell broke lose. I melee'ed a few dudes from behind in that part of the game. It's because the whole place looks like a large maze, so the AI will lose track of you too if you monkey around.
Yep, sometimes you can even stealth-kill enemies that are aware of you. For example, if you are covering behind a corner, and a enemy comes rushing, you are able to stealth-kill him if you time well.
Or if there is an enemy behind a low cover, you can run to the opposite side of the cover and press square to insta-kill.
. Without looking at the actual save, 10 hours seems about right.
At about the 1/4 mark, the awkward gun mechanics seemed to subside a bit. Dunno if it got back to the U2 feel or not, and I really don't play many other shooters, but whatever was wrong fixed itself by the time I got to Ch 8 or so. The chapters leading up to that felt like trying to operate the reticule through sludge. There was a stark contrast between the shooting from the beginning and the end-game, so I'm not convinced it wasn't a design decision on ND's part.
Nothing in this world surprises me less than seeing Tom Chick give a lousy review score to this game. You wanted to skip the cut-scenes so you could get back to the fire-fights? Are you serious?! The guy has some legitimate gripes and articulates his points well, but he does so with a stubbornness with regards to what he thinks a video game should be that make it an impossibility for him to enjoy it.
Games can be linear and some people, believe it or not, prefer a guided experience. I think it's a player's willingness to be led that makes or breaks Uncharted's appeal. Nothing sucks more than encountering one of those sweet, scripted set-pieces like
the falling building
in U2 and screwing it up so you have to go through another time (or more) without the thrill of the surprise.
This game's strength is in its story and, more specifically, its characters. The puzzles were surprisingly good this time around and as a third-person shooter it was fun enough not to feel like I was suffering through the combat to get to what I really wanted. Dudes who weren't blown away by this have got a right to feel that way, but if you're going in with lofty expectations, at least have them for the right elements of the game. You'll enjoy your $60 purchase a lot more for it.
Up to chapter 20 now. Damn is this game the most difficult of the three. Every enemy encounter is grenade spam, armored shotgunners, and guys with riot shields.
Yeah, everyone is tossing grenades all the time. I think I killed half the guys in the game just by shooting a guy who was throwing a grenade. If you shoot a guy while he's throw he usually takes out a few of his buddies too. I think the combat would have been better without all the grenades.
Just finished Chapter 9. Naughty Dog has made another great game, but there seems like something is missing and I can't put my finger on it. UC2 was an unbelievable ride and I started the single player over as soon as I finished it the first time, but I don't feel the same about this so far. Why?
Just finished Chapter 9. Naughty Dog has made another great game, but there seems like something is missing and I can't put my finger on it. UC2 was an unbelievable ride and I started the single player over as soon as I finished it the first time, but I don't feel the same about this so far. Why?
Just finished Chapter 9. Naughty Dog has made another great game, but there seems like something is missing and I can't put my finger on it. UC2 was an unbelievable ride and I started the single player over as soon as I finished it the first time, but I don't feel the same about this so far. Why?
Well for me I've felt like the game really takes off after chapter 11. Everything before that felt like a lot of setup and exposition. It's slow but now that I've gotten into the meat of the game it has seemingly made the story and characters more interesting, the tension heightened, and so forth. Like I legitimately care about what's going on and I can't say I would shrug off one of these characters dying.
Just finished Chapter 9. Naughty Dog has made another great game, but there seems like something is missing and I can't put my finger on it. UC2 was an unbelievable ride and I started the single player over as soon as I finished it the first time, but I don't feel the same about this so far. Why?
Just finished Chapter 9. Naughty Dog has made another great game, but there seems like something is missing and I can't put my finger on it. UC2 was an unbelievable ride and I started the single player over as soon as I finished it the first time, but I don't feel the same about this so far. Why?
Nah, I'm sorry, really didn't mean to, it was really like submit, hmm there's a spoiler tab next to the current tab, have I opened it twice? NO, fuck,fuck,fuck, hit edit as soon as I could, really hoped that it would go unnoticed but sadly it was available to you. Really hope you haven't read it all and stopped once you realized that there is more information than you have asked for. sorry
I finished it on Normal about 5 hours ago, brilliant story & amazing set pieces, holy shit. Absolutely one of the best games I've played. The only thing I really, really dislike is that they nixed the bonus modes for beating the game, wtf? I've been playing MP and co-op and I think I'm hooked. The Arena/horde mode is awesome, and the MP seems better than I remember from the beta & Subway promo...except the 3 shot + punch kills, but whatever. I think Dark Souls has a slight edge for GOTY for me so far, but it's damn close. Can't wait to see what the DLC will end up being, I think I'm just gonna bit on the season pass.
Uncharted 3 is like the best movie I've ever watched, except I get to play it! I'd buy a PS3 or PS4 just to play it. I'd gladly pay $60 a month to play a new Uncharted. No other franchise offers what Uncharted does. Amazing. Feels good man.
Yeah UC2 just started stronger, maybe that's it. Also I kinda liked that there hasn't been alot of shooting because it just seems off.
It's pretty amazing how cutscenes transition to gameplay btw.
Someone please help me with the globe puzzle, I'm stuck on it for the second day now. ;_; Am I fitting the light alongside the masses? Am I overlaying the masses? Is the beige part the land mass or the black part? And I can't find any shapes that resemble any of the lights.
This game's already out of the running for GotY based on this freaking puzzle alone. It's like the shitty statue-moving puzzle before the Master Sword in Twilight Princess. Ugh. Someone please help, I don't have time for this sort of poorly designed puzzle these days. It's even less fun than the shooting.
Someone please help me with the globe puzzle, I'm stuck on it for the second day now. ;_; Am I fitting the light alongside the masses? Am I overlaying the masses? Is the beige part the land mass or the black part? And I can't find any shapes that resemble any of the lights.
This game's already out of the running for GotY based on this freaking puzzle alone. It's like the shitty statue-moving puzzle before the Master Sword in Twilight Princess. Ugh. Someone please help, I don't have time for this sort of poorly designed puzzle these days. It's even less fun than the shooting.
Look for little stars on the globe to correspond with the light points. The two light points at a diagonal line should be the best indicator of where it will fit. The light fits along a coastline, but it's not the WHOLE land mass, which makes it more confusing than it needs to be, imo.
Uncharted 3 is like the best movie I've ever watched, except I get to play it! I'd buy a PS3 or PS4 just to play it. I'd gladly pay $60 a month to play a new Uncharted. No other franchise offers what Uncharted does. Amazing. Feels good man.
I feel the same way! Since we can't get a new Uncharted every month, anyone wanna recommend some other pieces of media in this vein? Other than Indy, of course. Firefly also feels very similar. Romancing the Stone feels a little too close to the bottom of the barrel, but I'd love some classic literature or comic books with this aesthetic too.
Look for little stars on the globe to correspond with the light points. The two light points at a diagonal line should be the best indicator of where it will fit. The light fits along a coastline, but it's not the WHOLE land mass, which makes it more confusing than it needs to be, imo.
THANK YOU! I didn't even notice those symbols. They blend in with the texture of the globe, just like how the symbol blended in with the castle in the stand-on-a-symbol-to-look-for-a-symbol puzzle. Man.
Well, now I can continue. This game will be a much smoother experience on a second playthrough when I know how the game wants me to play it.
Wow. Just beat the game... most amazing thing I've played all year for sure.
I didn't like Portal 2 that much, sorry :x
My completion time ended up being 9:00:22.
I enjoyed it fully, despite some minor issues with controls which were easy to get used to after a while. Characters, dialogue, locations... all amazing. The best console graphics BY FAR IN ANY GAME.
As far which game in the series I like better having finished UC3 now... honestly, I like all three equally. Uncharted is my favorite new series from this generation, and I've had a blast playing each and every one of them.
Letting it sink in for a bit, then I'll write some more detailed impressions. One thing I will say though, is play it for yourself. Don't let other people form opinions for you
