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Uncharted: Golden Abyss |OT| Drake arrives at a smaller screen near you!
- Thread starter Pranay
- Start date
It's funny because there are some that would argue Guerrilla's best game is the one where they had a lower budget, and worked on much more restricted hardware with Killzone: Liberation.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss – See Vita’s Intu-Aim Feature
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/12/15/uncharted-golden-abyss-see-vita’s-intu-aim-feature/
googleplex
Member
This is actually a good ideal for shooters on a handheld.
Agreed. Although I think I will probably prefer the R stick for aiming, I'm definitely going to try this first.
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
I posted the trophy list for the game in the Vita launch thread and the monthly trophies thread for anyone interested. Also confirmed that the Japanese version has full English support. Import away!
Mr. Pointy
Member
I imagine this will be a pretty good game. However, I'm just hoping it'll be on par with the other Uncharted games and not a 'great handheld game' like Sony's PSP spinoffs were. This is a big problem for Sony and the main reason why Nintendo moves 1st party software on their handheld by the truckload and they haven't.
I think Bend are possibly as good as ND, and I'd like them to go all out on a new Syphon Filter, as they have made the franchise theirs, or a new IP. With a good budget. They really deserve it.
I think Bend are possibly as good as ND, and I'd like them to go all out on a new Syphon Filter, as they have made the franchise theirs, or a new IP. With a good budget. They really deserve it.
Buckethead
Banned
I'm not trying to troll but "Golden Abyss" is probably the dumbest title I have ever heard and no matter how they try to rationalize it, it will always be terrible.
Good job on the |OT|, OP.
Good job on the |OT|, OP.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
No Sully/Elena/Chloe?
Facism
Member
more so than REVENGEANCE?
Callibretto
Member
No Sully/Elena/Chloe?
I thought Sully's supposed to be in it
Buckethead
Banned
Yes.
While stupid, "Revengeance" is two words smashed together.
Not two contradictory words.
They might as well called it "Uncharted: Bright Darkness".
BoilersFan23
Member
Well, they do need someone to take handheld games. While some may not like it, I sort of wish SCEA had all their studios rotate to make at least one console game and one Vita game. Like after Bend makes a Vita game, they may a console game, while either Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, etc. make a Vita game.
Anyway, I'm very excited about this game.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Hopefully, I'm just going by the OP.
nice fingernails
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Nintendo has the kids and they have the brands parents know and trust. When you have those, the sales will roll in.
How many kids are hyped to buy Modnation Racers or Wipeout? Sony needs some strong ips that appeal to kids.
Callibretto
Member
anyone think the marketing for this game has been kinda weird? since it come out so close to Uncharted 3, they really don't spend much time promoting this game other than graphic showcase for Vita.
compare to Uncharted 3 where we got a full year of careful planning revealing info bit by bit, who the villains are, what's the premise of the story, atlantis of the sand, etc. I'm still not sure what we're searching for in Golden Abyss.
I felt like it'd be perfect game for Vita maybe for Summer or Fall 2012, give it more space from U3 so they can market the game better or something.
compare to Uncharted 3 where we got a full year of careful planning revealing info bit by bit, who the villains are, what's the premise of the story, atlantis of the sand, etc. I'm still not sure what we're searching for in Golden Abyss.
I felt like it'd be perfect game for Vita maybe for Summer or Fall 2012, give it more space from U3 so they can market the game better or something.
we.are.the.armada
Member
This is exactly it - Nintendo doesn't even have to try to sell because they are such a known quantity. Sony needs to work ten times as hard if they want to match up. I think that Sony's new Smash Bros game will help out but again, they do need some kind of kid appeal - perhaps a new IP with some sort of lovable kids character.
In another dimension maybe Parappa has taken off as an icon? Could it happen here?
Callibretto
Member
I think it's hard to make an icon nowadays with just a game if you don't have strong brand name like nintendo. Sony should take Level 5 method, make a brand new IP and shove it to kids face with toys, cartoon, games, collectible cards etc. seems like it works for the new Spyro.
This is great.
If it works...yes. We had a first impression somewhere where someone said the aiming is shit though.
We'll see then. Still a ways to go before the game's official western release.
reminds me of killzone 2
Killzone 2 had this feature? I'd be damned. Played through the game and never noticed.
famousmortimer
Banned
A friend of mine in Japan found a shop selling them early and says that uncharted is a "glorified tech demo with awful controls."
I'm still excited for it, but I know this dude well and he LOVES the Uncharted series. But maybe it just takes a bit getting used to.
I'm still excited for it, but I know this dude well and he LOVES the Uncharted series. But maybe it just takes a bit getting used to.
only on the sniper rifle.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
If it's like pre-patch UC3 just kill me now.
famousmortimer
Banned
He didn't say.
He just got it last night and responded to my hype threads on the fanboys forum here:
http://forums.thefanboys.com/viewtopic.php?id=2949
I'll pester him later for more specifics.
Mr. Pointy
Member
See, I personally think that marketing and merchandise only gets you so far. I mean, Pokemon, for instance, blew up before the cartoon and TCG and merch came out. A lot of L5's newer properties have massive media tie-ins built in from the get-go, and they do alright. But they've never done as well as the Layton games, which blew up on their own because they were great. The Skylanders stuff seems interesting, but I've not really seen it do massively well.
I think what I really want to see is Sony do a game for the Vita that basically stands out and makes you feel as if wouldn't be as good on not just another handheld, but not as good on a console. If they can do that, the game and the machine will pretty much sell itself.
With Uncharted: GA, I'm hoping it's really good. If it's good enough to the point where Sony could theoretically rename it Uncharted 4 and not have their fanbase revolt, that would be a nice bonus.
famousmortimer
Banned
More hands on from my friend in japan (a kiwi, at that)
Taken from here:
http://forums.thefanboys.com/viewtopic.php?id=2949
I won't keep spamming up this thread with his thoughts, but a few people asked for more specifics on what he didn't like about the controls.
Taken from here:
http://forums.thefanboys.com/viewtopic.php?id=2949
I won't keep spamming up this thread with his thoughts, but a few people asked for more specifics on what he didn't like about the controls.
Sold. Don't get me wrong, U2/3 are great, but I loved the isolated nature of the setting in the first game. It felt like more adventure, less action (although action was obviously still a big part of it.)
AranhaHunter
Banned
FUCK NO!
TLOU has potential to be > Uncharted in every way. If ND wants to do a Vita game, then sure, I'm all for it, maybe Jak 4 will be a dual release, but if they want to focus on consoles, they should.
It's not like Bend is a poor developer, they are a great, they are an "A" developer, just not on ND's level, but then again few are like Valve, Irrational, Rockstar....
The main problem with this game is the lack of multiplayer, but IIRC, Bend has added multiplayer before in the Syphon Filter games and GG did as well in the Killzone Liberation game, so it may happen.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Agreed. U1 is very different to 2 and 3, but great because of it.
An adventure more like 1 is something I'd fucking love right about now, so I hope that's true.
Aiming is not bad. I didn't notice anything wrong using the sticks and fine tuning moving the Vita in space (Intu-Aim gyro control) is the kind of feature that should be on every handheld shooter going forward.
Demo had AK-47s, a sniper rifle and assorted handguns.
Auron_Kale
Member
Aiming in the demo was fine for me - I liked using the gyros to aim, but it was turning the camera with the right stick while navigating the building that was pretty laggy to me. Again, it was a demo running on non-final hardware that I played on.
Unfortunately, Sony doesn't seem to be interested in these projects even though they are one of the few companies in the video game industry who could pull it off almost flawlessly. Sony owns television production facilities (hell, they own anime studios - one of which is working on a Square Enix so-far not-on-PlayStation multimedia project), video game developers, marketing divisions, television channels etc. Ugh.
There should be a Ratchet & Clank TV show, and they should've made Invizimals into something.
Inazuma Eleven is a much bigger franchise than Layton in Japan. Inazuma Eleven was very poorly handled outside of Japan, so it couldn't reach its true success in Europe. LBX is also very lucrative, with Level-5 selling more than 1.5 million model kits in Japan.
As for Skylanders, it was #11 in the NPD in October.
rollingstart
Banned
The tilt aiming thing is cool. It worked well In Zelda 3DS. But a touch option too could have been nice. I really like touch aiming on iOS, except for the fact that there are no shoulder buttons, so you can't shoot and aim at the same time. Or even using the back touch. I know Shinobido 2 uses the back touch as an option for aiming.
I might pass on this Uncharted game because the Vita launch is so crazy. I'm most interested in the pacing; Bend's PSP games had perfect pacing for portable shooters.
I might pass on this Uncharted game because the Vita launch is so crazy. I'm most interested in the pacing; Bend's PSP games had perfect pacing for portable shooters.
That's it. I've been trying to figure out why the controls were garbage and I think that's the main problem. The other problem being the camera speed.
Whaaaaaat? ;/
I like the uncharted games alot, but I would agree that there are other games in the Vitas launch window that are more interesting to me. I'm curious to see if we will see anything added for the NA/EU launch windows. If I had to pick up one game for the Vita I'm not quite sure what it would be yet, but I could not say it would without a doubt be Uncharted.
Charted on Hard. My review will contain some spoilers however due to some of the idiotic narrative decisions on the part of Bend, you'll know within 5 minutes all of them except one.
Overall content: Length-wise the campaign is pretty long. It definitely seemed to be longer or of equivalent length to Uncharted 3. I also would like to note that Hard on Golden Abyss seemed to be much harder than in any of the other Uncharted titles(part of which is tied into the gameplay which I'll go into depth later). Overall there are 34 chapters some of which are extremely short. There is an absolute plethora of treasures to find. Like an insane amount. From my menu I count 96 treasures to find, 141 bounties to collect on random enemies and 138 related mystery items to find. You have to finish Hard to unlock Crushing, similar to other Uncharted titles. There however is no cutscene viewer in the main menu after beating the game.
Visuals:It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Let's get this out of the way early, Uncharted definitely seems to be the best looking handheld game I've ever seen. That said, it can also look like shit as well. The best thing graphically definitely seems to be the textures of which the environment textures and detail is outstanding. The characters though are another story. The characters are definitely a downgrade compared to a PS3 version. Now before someone says, "Of course it won't look as good as a PS3 game", well that's my only current option for comparison in regards to how the characters should look. Enemy models are also for the most part generic and I wouldn't be surprised if they reused or maybe slightly modified some models from other Uncharted titles. However the models do look better than what can be seen in iPhone games like Modern Combat 3, Infinity Blade 2 being an exception. Animations especially in cutscenes seem to be a little stiff. The main problem I've noted with the graphics is the aliasing. This seems to be especially apparent in the jungle sections while it seems to be less noticeable in the ruins/base. The aliasing is really distracting especially early on. Explosions and fire effects are also very poor. Explosions in general are on the level of a PSP game. Fire/spark effects are also poor but not on the level of the explosions. Overall though the game is very good looking however has some serious flaws thoughs that stand out.
Here are some screenshots:
Soundtrack/Audio: Overall very good. There are some excellent new tracks and there. A couple of which stood out to me and were very much in sync with the game. I also noted a few remixes of classic themes. There was also some ambient sounds used which was nice such as gunfire in the distance. However there were some audio problems in the later half such as static(or something like that) coming out of the speakers. Note that this wasn't related to my Vita as the sounds returned to normal within half a minute but they did pop up atleast twice maybe thrice. Another issue was the audio related to explosions in that they weren't as crisp as they should be.
Story: Extremely straight forward. Really nothing noteworthy about it. There is no emotional component to it compared to Uncharted 3. However in-game references do make nods to Uncharted 3's story. Probably the worst of the Uncharted franchise due to how bland it is.
Characters: Dante is the best villain in the Uncharted franchise. He's not as crazy as the villains in 1 and 2 and not as non-existant as Marlowe. Talbot is a very strong second but Dante's dialogs with Drake push him over the competition. Marisa Chase weighs him out though. She's very bland and it's like having a boring female Drake coming along(in that she's very intellectual but that's really it). She has none of the witty humor that Elena has (though she does have some good lines) or the fiery personality of Chloe. Marisa also near the end has a somewhat big personality shift that just seems to happen. Guerro is as generic as Lazarevic.
(Character reveal spoiler)
Gameplay: I saved the worst for last. I initially had the controls for stick only however due to the combat mechanics being such a mess, I took the advice of one of the posters above and actived motion for regular aiming. The assisted motion for regular aiming allowed me to use the sticks to line up normal shots and use the motion controls for the precision shots. This GREATLY helped due to how bad sticks only is. For awhile I was just going to flat out stop playing the game. This is partly due to the speed of the camera and also the inertia in regards to the aiming. The speed of the camera at max sensitivity is still pretty sluggish. The heavy inertia is probably the most serious problem though as it makes precision shots damn near impossible with sticks. Overall it makes precision shots and sometimes just shooting in general very hard as the player overshoots the enemy. It's easily the worst of the Uncharted series in this aspect and I didn't even notice the problems in Uncharted 3 with the aiming so I imagine this will be much more horrific for some people. That said, I did adjust to them however this was due to extensive tweaking on my part. The motion swipes though for the platforming does wonders on making the platforming sections a little more exciting.
The gameplay in general is closer in line to Drake's Fortune. There are very very few setpieces and there is more of an emphasis on exploration. That said, there is alot of combat especially towards the end.
I also would like to note that the difficulty on Hard was bullshit at times. There are segments where you literally have no cover and you have enemies shooting at you and so you have to quickly kill them before they get you which is made harder due to the bad aiming. I messed around on Crushing and it looks to make the game impossible. Two to three shots from a regular pistol will kill you.
Other Techincal Issues/Bugs: There was nothing major for the most part except for a few things. The first being the framerate dropped a few times in the later half of the game. It was sporadic and not that big of a deal but it was indeed noticeable. Second had to do with the touchscreen and motion controls. The swiping wasn't always reactive in that I did indeed do the right swipe but the game didn't recognize that. This can be frustrating on a normal basis but for the two final boss fights which each contain over a dozen swipes, this pissed me off for more than once. The final boss has literally 30 swipes that you have to do correctly and if you fail once you have to start over. Nothing is worse than doing 20 and for the game not to recognize a swipe. There were also some vey minor bugs but they're not worth mentioning.
Overall: 7/10. The gameplay controls really bring the game down. Also the lack of an interesting story hurts the game as well. The visuals in general are a plus even if they can be inconsistent or downright bad at times. It's a solid launch title but not on the level of the mainline Uncharteds.
Overall content: Length-wise the campaign is pretty long. It definitely seemed to be longer or of equivalent length to Uncharted 3. I also would like to note that Hard on Golden Abyss seemed to be much harder than in any of the other Uncharted titles(part of which is tied into the gameplay which I'll go into depth later). Overall there are 34 chapters some of which are extremely short. There is an absolute plethora of treasures to find. Like an insane amount. From my menu I count 96 treasures to find, 141 bounties to collect on random enemies and 138 related mystery items to find. You have to finish Hard to unlock Crushing, similar to other Uncharted titles. There however is no cutscene viewer in the main menu after beating the game.
Visuals:It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Let's get this out of the way early, Uncharted definitely seems to be the best looking handheld game I've ever seen. That said, it can also look like shit as well. The best thing graphically definitely seems to be the textures of which the environment textures and detail is outstanding. The characters though are another story. The characters are definitely a downgrade compared to a PS3 version. Now before someone says, "Of course it won't look as good as a PS3 game", well that's my only current option for comparison in regards to how the characters should look. Enemy models are also for the most part generic and I wouldn't be surprised if they reused or maybe slightly modified some models from other Uncharted titles. However the models do look better than what can be seen in iPhone games like Modern Combat 3, Infinity Blade 2 being an exception. Animations especially in cutscenes seem to be a little stiff. The main problem I've noted with the graphics is the aliasing. This seems to be especially apparent in the jungle sections while it seems to be less noticeable in the ruins/base. The aliasing is really distracting especially early on. Explosions and fire effects are also very poor. Explosions in general are on the level of a PSP game. Fire/spark effects are also poor but not on the level of the explosions. Overall though the game is very good looking however has some serious flaws thoughs that stand out.
Here are some screenshots:
Soundtrack/Audio: Overall very good. There are some excellent new tracks and there. A couple of which stood out to me and were very much in sync with the game. I also noted a few remixes of classic themes. There was also some ambient sounds used which was nice such as gunfire in the distance. However there were some audio problems in the later half such as static(or something like that) coming out of the speakers. Note that this wasn't related to my Vita as the sounds returned to normal within half a minute but they did pop up atleast twice maybe thrice. Another issue was the audio related to explosions in that they weren't as crisp as they should be.
Story: Extremely straight forward. Really nothing noteworthy about it. There is no emotional component to it compared to Uncharted 3. However in-game references do make nods to Uncharted 3's story. Probably the worst of the Uncharted franchise due to how bland it is.
Characters: Dante is the best villain in the Uncharted franchise. He's not as crazy as the villains in 1 and 2 and not as non-existant as Marlowe. Talbot is a very strong second but Dante's dialogs with Drake push him over the competition. Marisa Chase weighs him out though. She's very bland and it's like having a boring female Drake coming along(in that she's very intellectual but that's really it). She has none of the witty humor that Elena has (though she does have some good lines) or the fiery personality of Chloe. Marisa also near the end has a somewhat big personality shift that just seems to happen. Guerro is as generic as Lazarevic.
(Character reveal spoiler)
Sully's surpise appearance saves the day. His banter with Drake and overall personality is a nice reminder that this is an Uncharted game. His sections of the game are the best just due to his character.
Gameplay: I saved the worst for last. I initially had the controls for stick only however due to the combat mechanics being such a mess, I took the advice of one of the posters above and actived motion for regular aiming. The assisted motion for regular aiming allowed me to use the sticks to line up normal shots and use the motion controls for the precision shots. This GREATLY helped due to how bad sticks only is. For awhile I was just going to flat out stop playing the game. This is partly due to the speed of the camera and also the inertia in regards to the aiming. The speed of the camera at max sensitivity is still pretty sluggish. The heavy inertia is probably the most serious problem though as it makes precision shots damn near impossible with sticks. Overall it makes precision shots and sometimes just shooting in general very hard as the player overshoots the enemy. It's easily the worst of the Uncharted series in this aspect and I didn't even notice the problems in Uncharted 3 with the aiming so I imagine this will be much more horrific for some people. That said, I did adjust to them however this was due to extensive tweaking on my part. The motion swipes though for the platforming does wonders on making the platforming sections a little more exciting.
The gameplay in general is closer in line to Drake's Fortune. There are very very few setpieces and there is more of an emphasis on exploration. That said, there is alot of combat especially towards the end.
I also would like to note that the difficulty on Hard was bullshit at times. There are segments where you literally have no cover and you have enemies shooting at you and so you have to quickly kill them before they get you which is made harder due to the bad aiming. I messed around on Crushing and it looks to make the game impossible. Two to three shots from a regular pistol will kill you.
Other Techincal Issues/Bugs: There was nothing major for the most part except for a few things. The first being the framerate dropped a few times in the later half of the game. It was sporadic and not that big of a deal but it was indeed noticeable. Second had to do with the touchscreen and motion controls. The swiping wasn't always reactive in that I did indeed do the right swipe but the game didn't recognize that. This can be frustrating on a normal basis but for the two final boss fights which each contain over a dozen swipes, this pissed me off for more than once. The final boss has literally 30 swipes that you have to do correctly and if you fail once you have to start over. Nothing is worse than doing 20 and for the game not to recognize a swipe. There were also some vey minor bugs but they're not worth mentioning.
Overall: 7/10. The gameplay controls really bring the game down. Also the lack of an interesting story hurts the game as well. The visuals in general are a plus even if they can be inconsistent or downright bad at times. It's a solid launch title but not on the level of the mainline Uncharteds.
