On chapter
and enjoying the game so far -- however, I feel the gameplay isn't enriched by the story well enough to be spread out so sparsely without moments putting some honest-to-goodness focus on the action, shooting, and combat. Whereas in TLOU the walk-and-talk, slow, meditative elements were there and almost as numerous, the type of game it was made them absorbing. The world in
Uncharted, however, gets more and more interesting with the more things you can climb on, jump across, and hang on to
while figuring out how best to mercilessly incapacitate a faceless mook and feel exhausted after doing so. While predictable, formulaic, and uncharacteristically violent, it was effective when done well -- in here, the puzzles and platforming and exploration are done well, but not quite as effectively to me as they were in previous entries because the mechanics and story/dialogue seem a little more deliberately conservative than they should be in order to supplement a story-heavy game with as much negative space as this one. It's hard to explain concisely; once I finish I'll take the time to let it sink and go into more detail about what I think works for it and what works against.
That said, as for everything else that's stuck out to me thus far:
1. Best storytelling in a AA - AAA game I've ever seen. So stylishly sophisticated and with such cinematic flavor -- this is quite possibly the most tautly realized vision of a cross between game and movie in the industry yet and literally another generation ahead most others, if not the progenitor of a new era altogether.
2. So beautiful it's practically a sin.
3.The gameplay, when allowed to go wild, is the smoothest and most pleasant-feeling I've encountered in a third-person AA - AAA game in years. If blown out no holds-barred, the resulting game would be a more overwhelmingly euphoric play experience than all
Uncharted's combined.
4. Bold, bold move by ND to do away with much of the pew-pewing and action-verbing in the first place, regardless of what I think. Many people have had criticisms towards the series' disproportionate case of shooting gallery mass murder syndrome, right? UC4, as previously mentioned, instead takes the player to an actual 'adventure' scouring 'uncharted' lands, where you actually explore and then get into a cursory scuffle every now and then, instead of vice versa. Thus emerges a blockbuster game with surprisingly more time spent on character-prying conversations amidst a giant environmental puzzle than lining up a gun's iron sights over a random merc, and it's a refreshing change.
5. The story, as well told as it is, to me has one big problem; the problem of feeling a bit too much like a really, really good fanction. In the same time it strains for a center-of-gravity, but in the end only goes so far -- breaking tons of new ground in the process, sure, but essentially going only as far as the toned-down nuance of its themes permit it, and as a result resists the right kind of balance between emotional investment and mechanical thrill it needs.
