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Uncharted 3 |OT| All Developers Dream, But Not Equally

Lord Error said:
Someone forgot to tell him that Sjintoki already gave it 3/10, so he was trying to undercut the wrong score. Race to 1/10 continues.

0/100, I award Uncharted 3 no points, and may god have mercy on its soul
 
Completed this in two sittings to kick off my reading week. What a fantastic game, definitely worth the media blackout I put myself through.

The inclusion of memes was also highly amusing to me. Especially as my mother didn't understand what was so funny about Cutter tripping balls.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Lord Error said:
I really don't get why people (who haven't played the game yet) seem to think that a negative reviews for this game need their own thread, but when for example Entertainment Weekly gave it an 'A' yesterday, would anyone even give a second thought thinking that needed its own thread?
People love to focus on the negative.

Anyway, I disagree with that review. but to each their own.
 

StuBurns

Banned
tigerin said:
LOL not my own son. anyone with a brain can tell uncharted 3 is not below average. 4/10 is just killing it.
I would say anyone with a brain can understand the concept of evaulating a piece of entertainment without having it's production quality dictate a score. That's what every other medium does. An album doesn't automatically get above 5/10 because it's cut on on ProTools at a high bitrate, a film doesn't automatically get a 5/10 because of a 4K scope 7.1 version being issued. UC3 shouldn't automatically get above a 5/10 because you think it's pretty.
 

Toski

Member
Jocchan said:
Some of the shootouts felt a bit like "let's put some pieces of cover here and there, and throw everything including the kitchen sink at the player". They were open ended and gave you a lot of freedom, but they didn't feel as tight and carefully crafted as the ones in UC2.
I think a lot of this is due to the lack of hitstun on the enemies. I hit an armored dude with the grenade launcher and they didn't flinch. He kept coming at me and shooting that shotgun.

There is also the endless enemy spawn, where do these people come from? Drake kills as many people stand in his way. The airport level has you fighting the whole damn base and no one stops the plane?

I wonder what the combat scenario designer was thinking.
 

Kritz

Banned
A WILD OPINION APPEARS

I didn't think Uncharted 3 was very good, but I still liked it. It seemed like the first half of the game was practically played for you. The puzzles were boring and far too obvious, the numerous - though identical - chase sequences rarely demanded input from the player, the combat was inoffensive at the best of times... but uninteresting and weightless. The platforming, if you could call it that, was dumb and guided to the point where you could probably define it as a rendered cutscene. So, there were a lot of issues.

As I played more of it, I eventually just hit what I assume were the multiplayer maps filled with bots. It's funny that the first break from linearity in Uncharted 3 were large, circular combat arenas sprinkled with unalert bad guys who would set off even more hidden baddies to come join in if ever they spot you. Then at some point the game got really hard. Even on normal, I ended up stuck in about three spots where I just died over and over. It was usually due to the face-shielded enemies ganging up on me, and not having a weapon equipped that was very well versed at headshots - not that the aiming system really helped with even the more accurate guns. But all the same the game's difficulty spikes are pretty vicious, especially after coming from the rather placid opening 8 chapters.

There was also far too many repeated mechanic novelty scenes, from the
melee only fighting arenas to the spider waves, to just reusing set pieces from Uncharted 2, like the horse / truck cluserfuck thingy.
At that, the
massive fighting dudes that were re-textured and thrown at you every third act and got really, really bland by the end
.

(Pretty much spoiler town up the butt:)
The game also fakes out nearly every plot point it has. From Drake and Sully dying at the start, to every other character having their own "I'm dead" "I'm alive!" moments. From Charles pretending to kill the gang but then turning on Boss With A Suit, Elena leaving in the jeep, Sully dying again, fire monsters, Sully being trapped by the pirate. All of it just ended with "HA! GOTCHA!". It really seemed like such a lazy way to try and add drama to the story.

Finally, I don't think the Woman Boss Lady had a fitting end. She suffocated in sand. Like, what? C'mon. At least give an otherwise decent villain a cool death. Have her die ironically by drinking the water she'd fought to control everyone else with, or something.

I found a lot of the animations to be really awkward and bad, too. Not really the animations themselves, but the transitions between them. When you move near walls or NPCs, Drake freaks out in all kinds of ways. He switches between so many different dynamic animations it ends up looking real amateur-hour. I suppose while I'm on the topic of graphics, this game used waaaay too many pre-rendered cutscenes. And during
the desert scene, I'm not sure if textures didn't load for me or if the dunes were supposed to look like a single flat colour during that wide, long overhead rotating shot. They didn't look that great when you were playing Drake from the usual perspective, either - up close it looked fantastic, but if you look past to the nearest mountain, texture quality drops so dramatically
.

Like, I'm not saying everything was shit. Because only about... half of the game is. The story was... okay, the graphics were pretty good for a console, the character interactions and voice work were amazing. The world is really interesting and it's so easy to get sucked up into the fiction, and the
non-combat early missions
remain the highlight of the game, even if
some people seem to find them supes boring
. It's a really good game, even if it isn't the best Naughty Dog have done... or the best Uncharted game they've done.

So; puzzles, combat, platforming, a few story problems aside... oh, um.

what the fuck was with that shitty deus ex machina with the horse people? That was fucking stupid.

Also, the fuck happened to Charles and Chloe?

So; puzzles, combat, platforming, a couple more story problems aside, Uncharted 3 wasn't bad. Ain't no 4/5, but it's not too much worse. Someone let me know when the cart racer's announced.
 

tigerin

Member
Shurs said:
Tom Chick is a freelance writer. He has written for CGW/GFW, 1up, Crispy Gamer, Game Spy, GamePro and a bunch of other places.

He's legit.

get back to me when he starts writing for EDGE, game informer, game trailers, EGM, and some other legit magazines/websites. not some websites or magazines people don't give a damn about. there a reason why he's a freelance writer and stayed as a freelance writer.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Kagari said:
People love to focus on the negative.

Anyway, I disagree with that review. but to each their own.
There's really no need for you two to be so passive aggressive. It's god damn childish. If you want to call Shurs out, at least do it by name.
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
tigerin said:
LOL not my own son. anyone with a brain can tell uncharted 3 is not below average. 4/10 is just killing it.
Anyone with a brain can also tell that liking something or not is completely subjective. Both tens and fours are equally valid as long as they honestly express what the reviewer feels about the game.

Also, a score is just a number. What matters is the review coming before it, and to be honest, while I would certainly give the game a much higher score myself, I do agree with many of the points he raised.
 

-Amon-

Member
EatChildren said:
It's got nothing to do with that, but the patronising, demeaning tone you use to express yourself and belittle people who don't share you're enthusiasm.

There's some kind of truth in your sentence, i have to admit and agree with that.

However my argument started not as you express it. I sad i feel sad for the people who don't appreciate Uc3. My point of view on the matter is that in my opinion there are so many great things in this game, it's a real pity to read so much criticism.

It really feels to me that the vast majority of the people writing in this thread are not enjoying themselves playing this.

I'll go further saying that the vast majority writing in this forum are not enjoying playing games, considering that this official thread, speaking of whining, is nothing particular, quite on par with what i'm accustomed to read on neogaf.
 

Mr. Sam

Member
I seriously need some GAFers to play with online. My current teammates' idea of teamworks seems to be, "Whoa, Sam! Is that a grenade? No, don't jump away. Here, let me stand in your way so you can't. Now, where were we? Oh, yes, that's right - that grenade!"
 

D6AMIA6N

Member
I get it, he is basing his score on the experience he had while playing the game. I simply do not agree with his score. My score would be at least an A+++++++++++, so.....
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Btw, I remember that guy's name being brought up with Uncharted 2 as well a time ago, and I clearly remember he pretty much hated that game as well.

Kagari said:
but to each their own.
Of course.
 

hamchan

Member
Lord Error said:
Btw, I remember that guy's name being brought up with Uncharted 2 as well a time ago, and I clearly remember he pretty much hated that game as well.


Of course.

He's consistent with his hate at least. Even though I disagree with him on so many many things I can at least respect that about him.
 

tigerin

Member
StuBurns said:
I would say anyone with a brain can understand the concept of evaulating a piece of entertainment without having it's production quality dictat a score. That's what every other medium does. An album doesn't automatically get above 5/10 because it's cut on on ProTools at a high bitrate, a film doesn't automatically get a 5/10 because of a 4K scope 7.1 version being issued. UC3 shouldn't automatically get above a 5/10 because you think it's pretty.

wtf are you talking about?

not only the game is pretty but it's fun, FUN! i enjoy playing it more than metal gear solid 4, grand theft auto 4, gears of war series and many others. and if those games get a 10 or even a 9 then uncharted 3 should at least get above a 5. you be lying to yourself if you think this game is below a 5/10. there is a line where being realistic/critical and stupid/getting attentions cross. this is it.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Rez said:
There's really no need for you two to be so passive aggressive. It's god damn childish. If you want to call Shurs out, at least do it by name.

I was actually generalizing here...
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
Toski said:
I think a lot of this is due to the lack of hitstun on the enemies. I hit an armored dude with the grenade launcher and they didn't flinch. He kept coming at me and shooting that shotgun.

There is also the endless enemy spawn, where do these people come from? Drake kills as many people stand in his way. The airport level has you fighting the whole damn base and no one stops the plane?

I wonder what the combat scenario designer was thinking.
The game has some questionable spawn points for the enemies. They often pop up out of thin air, even ignoring the locations where they can't realistically be placed (and the guards staring at walls instead of, well, guarding).

-Amon- said:
There's some kind of truth in your sentence, i have to admit and agree with that.

However my argument started not as you express it. I sad i feel sad for the people who don't appreciate Uc3. My point of view on the matter is that in my opinion there are so many great things in this game, it's a real pity to read so much criticism.

It really feels to me that the vast majority of the people writing in this thread are not enjoying themselves playing this.

I'll go further saying that the vast majority writing in this forum are not enjoying playing games, considering that this official thread, speaking of whining, is nothing particular, quite on par with what i'm accustomed to read on neogaf.
You are equating criticism to not appreciating something, while actually it's often the very opposite. People who don't appreciate something, unless they are trolling or want to express their disappointment, don't even bother giving reasonable and constructive criticism. The ones who do are likely to be the ones who do enjoy what they are talking about.
 

Shurs

Member
Lord Error said:
I really don't get why people (who even haven't played the game yet) seem to think that a negative reviews for this game need their own thread, but when for example Entertainment Weekly gave it an 'A' yesterday, would anyone even give a second thought thinking that needed its own thread?

I guess, the difference between Chick's review and the EW review is that it says some things that other reviews aren't saying, which makes it worthy of discussion.

Also, compared to the AV Club review, which got its own thread, Chick deftly lays out all of the issues he has with the game in detail.

I also think it's interesting that we often hear people calling for reviewers to "use the while scale" yet when it actually happens, we often get a push back against it.


Kagari said:
I was actually generalizing here...

I wasn't offended.
 

wrighty86

Neo Member
Ive just finished the cargo plane level...again, I havent played a level like it. This damn game.

Best ive played all year...and Ive played Batman: AC. By far my GOTY.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
No game today either... time to grab my sue-kit cuz there's a company going down tonight.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Rez said:
There's really no need for you two to be so passive aggressive. It's god damn childish. If you want to call Shurs out, at least do it by name.
Huh? It was obvious I was thinking of him, but not just him.
 

-Amon-

Member
Jocchan said:
What's disturbing is legions of people blindly defending something that does not really need defending, especially when this means holding it back (see all the people denying the aiming problem's existence, when it could instead be fixed and the game could improve further).
Both extremes are equally annoying, envy and bitterness have nothing to do with it.

Of course constructive criticism is a great thing.

I was not talking about that when speaking of whining, my bad for not pointing it out.
 

Kritz

Banned
Oh, and this is pretty minor, but at some point during this game I noticed that when the enemies get re-enforcements during a battle, they jump over the surrounding walls and fall down. I was reminded of Dragon Age 2.

That is all.
 

StuBurns

Banned
-Amon- said:
There's some kind of truth in your sentence, i have to admit and agree with that.

However my argument started not as you express it. I sad i feel sad for the people who don't appreciate Uc3. My point of view on the matter is that in my opinion there are so many great things in this game, it's a real pity to read so much criticism.

It really feels to me that the vast majority of the people writing in this thread are not enjoying themselves playing this.

I'll go further saying that the vast majority writing in this forum are not enjoying playing games, considering that this official thread, speaking of whining, is nothing particular, quite on par with what i'm accustomed to read on neogaf.
This game is in a sense at a disadvantage because of it's heritage. If this was a new IP, people could compare it to it's peers, but it's easier to accept weaknesses when it's a first attempt. The aiming seems to be the biggest complaint, and a good reason for that is it's the follow up to a game that controls far better. That's not something people could have really expected. So much of my personal enjoyment is affected by my expectations. UC3 is a good game, no question. UC2 is a far better game, and there really is no good reason for a drop off in quality, I literally never even considered the idea this game might be weaker.
tigerin said:
wtf are you talking about?

not only the game is pretty but it's fun, FUN! i enjoy playing it more than metal gear solid 4, grand theft auto 4, gears of war series and many others. and if those games get a 10 or even a 9 then uncharted 3 should at least get above a 5. you be lying to yourself if you think this game is below a 5/10. there is a line where being realistic/critical and stupid/getting attentions cross. this is it.
Why would Tom Chick care if you think this game is fun or not? What matters if he did. And no, I think it's completely fair to use the whole ten point scale for any game, regardless of the popular opinion of it's quality.
 

hamchan

Member
Kritz said:
Oh, and this is pretty minor, but at some point during this game I noticed that when the enemies get re-enforcements during a battle, they jump over the surrounding walls and fall down. I was reminded of Dragon Age 2.

That is all.

Happened a lot in Uncharted 1 but I don't really remember it happening that much in Uncharted 2.
 

tigerin

Member
Jocchan said:
Anyone with a brain can also tell that liking something or not is completely subjective. Both tens and fours are equally valid as long as they honestly express what the reviewer feels about the game.

Also, a score is just a number. What matters is the review coming before it, and to be honest, while I would certainly give the game a much higher score myself, I do agree with many of the points he raised.

huh? scores are coming out of reviews. that's what people will notice the most when they read the reviews. just like headlines or scores for football game. maybe 4/5 is valid. but 4/10? give me a break. that's just being invalid there. there is time when subjective comes into play, but then there are other time when you know that person is bullshiting or being unrealistic.

OKAY, how about this. tell me, do you think uncharted 3 deserve a 4/10? that basically should tell you what i think.
 

Wickwire

Member
I finished it on hard last night. I really enjoyed it. I feel 2 was a better game but the overall presentation of 3 was better. There was was too many chase sequences and it had a lot less platforming and gun play compared to the previous. I think they went too far with the "cinematic" game design and shouldnt have used so many QTEs. I played Heavy Rain once and I wasnt really looking to play it again.

edit: It was also the easiest of the three games as well.
 
Heh, that reviewer is all about the shooting, complaining the other bits get in the way. For me its the opposite. I'd still embrace an Uncharted that was 90% puzzles and platforming with very little shooting. At least, I'd welcome the binning of the 'battle arena' thing the series has going on.

I'm loving this game at its best when it's doing the movie type stuff and explorey type stuff.
 

Kritz

Banned
hamchan said:
Happened a lot in Uncharted 1 but I don't really remember it happening that much in Uncharted 2.

It's been so long since I've played Uncharted 1 or 2, I really don't remember.

Part of me is pretty disappointed with Uncharted 3, but it's still a great game and I'm glad I saw the series finish. It's just a shame that it feels so similar to Uncharted 2 that I kinda felt like I'd played the game before.

Oh, also.

DO HANDBAKES NOT EXIST IN THE UNCHARTED UNIVERSE? WHY WAS THAT PUZZLE A THING?
 

tigerin

Member
StuBurns said:
Why would Tom Chick care if you think this game is fun or not? What matters if he did. And no, I think it's completely fair to use the whole ten point scale for any game, regardless of the popular opinion of it's quality.

........who is he writing to? me, you, the readers!!! without us, he would be jobless and the reviews are pretty much pointless. might as well write a diary if you don't care about other people feedbacks.
 

tigerin

Member
Android18a said:
Heh, that reviewer is all about the shooting, complaining the other bits get in the way. For me its the opposite. I'd still embrace an Uncharted that was 90% puzzles and platforming with very little shooting. At least, I'd welcome the binning of the 'battle arena' thing the series has going on.

I'm loving this game at its best when it's doing the movie type stuff and explorey type stuff.

exactly, there not that many shooting in this game to begins with. the game did a good job at dividing the pace and portions of puzzles/platforming/shooting.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
It looks like bish or someone locked it and moved it to Archives, sorry guys. And no that doesn't mean make a new thread. We have too many Uncharted threads as is, and that's even after I locked a few yesterday.
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
tigerin said:
huh? scores are coming out of reviews. that's what people will notice the most when they read the reviews. just like headlines or scores for football game. maybe 4/5 is valid. but 4/10? give me a break. that's just being invalid there. there is time when subjective comes into play, but then there are other time when you know that person is bullshiting or being unrealistic.
Focusing on scores and ignoring the actual review is what is wrong with people.

tigerin said:
OKAY, how about this. tell me, do you think uncharted 3 deserve a 4/10? that basically should tell you what i think.
The answer to that question is in the post you just quoted...
 

StuBurns

Banned
tigerin said:
........who is he writing to? me, you, the readers!!! without us, he would be jobless and the reviews are pretty much pointless. might as well write a diary if you don't care about other people feedbacks.
Considering you can't grasp the concept of truly subjective reviews, I feel confident in saying no, he isn't writing it for you.
 
tigerin said:
exactly, there not that many shooting in this game to begins with. the game did a good job at dividing the pace and portions of puzzles/platforming/shooting.

There is tons of shooting in this game. I thought the puzzles were few and far between. UC3 is filled with shooting galleries.
 
Tom Chick...where have I heard that name before...Right he's the guy who got tonnes of hate for that Deus Ex review he wrote a decade ago.
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
DoctorWho said:
There is tons of shooting in this game. I thought the puzzles were few and far between. UC3 is filled with shooting galleries.
They're mostly concentrated in the second half of the game, so when you're forming your first impressions they don't seem as many as the prequels.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
The aiming seems to be the biggest complaint, and a good reason for that is it's the follow up to a game that controls far better.
It certainly aims better. I actually think the UC3 might have better character control. When I tried UC2 yesterday right after playing UC3 controlling felt somehow a bit off, like if his movements weren't as fast and crisp.
 

Salz01

Member
I love the game. Played through some pieces that blew my mind, and melted my face. Its better than half the drivel we get nowadays for video games. That being said, it seems that two maybe three separate ND teams divided up and made their own set of levels, and then in the end kind patched them together. It seems I had more fun in the sections were I was with Drake alone, rather than with 3 others. Or at least one other character. I don't know if it has something with fine tuning the enemies to track multiple heroes or what.
In the next game it would be great to include chase scenes that have stop and pop gunplay involved. Instead of just running down corridors, chase one target, boss guy or whatever, and pick off armor on him as he runs and tries to get away. This type of personal gunfight would be a good break from the enemy arenas this game has.
The attention to detail is great, and atmosphere they have nailed down. This series is just awesome as a whole. Will I play the whole game from beginning to end multiple times? Probably not. Will I play certain sections of it at least once a month....hell yea.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Lord Error said:
It certainly aims better. I actually think the UC3 might have better character control. When I tried UC2 yesterday right after playing UC3 controlling felt somehow a bit off, like if his movements weren't as fast and crisp.
I played it this morning, I think he moved better then than now actually, but I think that's more of an animation thing than actual controls, I could be wrong though.
 

-Amon-

Member
StuBurns said:
This game is in a sense at a disadvantage because of it's heritage. If this was a new IP, people could compare it to it's peers, but it's easier to accept weaknesses when it's a first attempt. The aiming seems to be the biggest complaint, and a good reason for that is it's the follow up to a game that controls far better. That's not something people could have really expected. So much of my personal enjoyment is affected by my expectations. UC3 is a good game, no question. UC2 is a far better game, and there really is no good reason for a drop off in quality, I literally never even considered the idea this game might be weaker.

It's too early for me to start comparing UC3 with UC2. I finished 2 many times on all difficulty while i've yet fo finish 3 on normal.

But as far as i've seen ATM i'm not feeling that UC3 is inferior to UC2. UC2 is a more refined and robust experience from start to finish, with perfect shooting mechanics.

But UC3 in it's highs blows UC2 out of the water imo. I'm not that sensitive to the shooting mechanics too, but it was the same with other games people complained about for the same reason too, like KZ2. I tend to adapt fast. But i recognize the problem.

For sure UC2 and UC3 have very different strong and weak points.
 
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