Uncharted (4 and The Nathan Drake Collection)

[Thrik]

Didn't see a thread covering either of these so thought I'd create one for this absolutely wonderful new trailer for the Nathan Drake Collection:

 

 

Really brings back how splendid this series was, true classics that I'm delighted will be preserved in the finest condition with this remaster. Weirdly I feel a bit nostalgic about it even though it's not even that old a series.

[jdawgitup]

Anyone else pick this up? Never played the originals, but that story trailer pushed me over the edge. I finished Drake’s Fortune last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself, despite feeling that the game was raw and unpolished. Every so often I’d find a small moment where everything came together and felt really good, sandwiched between plenty of frustrating bits. Looking forward to playing the sequels and seeing just how much Naughty Dog refined the experience over the years.

 

p.s. Props to Bluepoint for a great remaster.

[melmer]

Yo, Uncharted 2 eclipses the original. Enjoy, hope it holds up as well as when it first came out. Although, I came to it a couple years late and it still blow my mind.

[TheLastBaron]

I never actually played any of the Uncharted games even though I have a PS3, think I'm going to pick this up.

[Griddlelol]

Yeah I played 1 and thought it was shite. Ignored everyone else's opinions on 2 so never played it. 

 

I'll probably grab this, but only when the price drops.

[Salacious Snake]

I really respected the technical prowess of all three games, but found the action a bit tedious. The combat never ends, and the platforming lacks tension.

 

But I'm still tempted to play them again. I guess it's like how you can appreciate a film for being visually interesting and technically inventive, even if the script is a total clunker. (Like how I love Prometheus, Fast & Furious 6 and Blade II.)

[elvaq]

I would recommend finding some way to try them before going full hog. I borrowed a copy of 2 from a friend because I kept hearing for years about the games and so this was something I HAD to do. Turns out the gunplay is dreadful, the platforming mediocre, and the story is just kind of there. (Also, similar to Far Cry 4 it seemed really weird and gross to use a recent civil war in Nepal as a story backdrop and like, not even talk about it at all??) Obviously some advances in animation and presentation but yeah..

 

Maybe I missed something from not playing the first but I found it a chore to play and quit after about 5 hours :/

[Zeusthecat]

One of my co-workers has been trying to get me to play these games for ages but I kept putting it off so I could keep making progress on all my backlog games. With that out of the way, I finally purchased the Nathan Drake Collection and have been playing it for the last couple weeks. Prior to this, the only experience I've had with a Naughty Dog game has been with The Last of Us, which I absolutely loved.

 

At this point, I've finished Drake's Fortune and liked it so much that I went back through to mop up all the trophies aside from the ones you get for beating the game on Hard and Crushing. Starting the game, I was immediately taken aback by just how good it looked. Considering this game was an early PS3 game, I wasn't expecting much in the visual department. But it's immediately apparent that they put a lot of effort into sprucing up the visuals and upgrading the textures. There is just no way it looked nearly this good on PS3. The color pallet was especially nice and all of those vivid green leaves in the jungle areas really made the scenery pop and feel alive. Having a nice crisp framerate on top of that made for a very smooth, consistent experience.

 

After starting the game, it quickly became apparent that the gameplay itself was fairly standard, middle of the road stuff. The gunplay and traversal was just as good as it needed to be to propel the story forward and that is all it needed to be for me. I hear it was originally way worse on PS3 with some bullshit Sixaxis control mechanics but the way they implemented it here, I never had any problem shooting the dudes I needed to shoot and platforming the platforms I needed to platform. Although, there were maybe a couple spots where the platforming could have been a tad better. I did have a few frustrating deaths that resulted from me being unclear on where I was supposed to jump.

 

Despite the middle of the road gameplay, this game really kept me engrossed with the general premise of the story, the stellar writing, and the beautiful environments. It was an Indiana Jones ass game and I loved every minute of it, cliches and all. The banter and character dynamics between Nate, Elena, and Sully was top notch and of a much higher quality than what I'm used to seeing in a video game. I kind of expected some cheesy romantic angle to come up between Nate and Elena but to my surprise, they almost entirely avoided it. The little bits where you do get a sense that they are maybe becoming drawn to each other through this crazy adventure were done really well, especially when you get to the end of the game and just see it kind of fizzle out after a near kiss. I'm so glad they didn't shoehorn some unnecessary love story into this game but still touched on the possibility that maybe they started to develop some feelings for each other. Considering how unrealistic a lot of this game is, the relationships felt surprisingly grounded in reality. Elena was probably my favorite character but all three of them were very likeable and interesting. Again, the writing in this game is a big step above what I'm typically used to seeing in a game.

 

The story itself wasn't necessarily anything great but nonetheless, it came together really well for me. It was clear that they were going for a very Indiana Jones-esque story and I think they nailed it. It had the grand adventure to recover a mystical artifact, the cheesy villain characters, wisecracking charismatic protagonists, and some great action scenes. They even appropriated the Grail diary, which I thought was a great touch.

 

The one part of the game that didn't work for me was the zombie stuff in the later chapters. That whole section just felt way out of place and was frustrating to play. Especially those couple rooms that were just littered with ammo and had zombies pouring out of vents. I hope to see less of that in 2 and 3.

 

After finishing the game I went back through and got all the collectibles and weapon related trophies. It was nice and wasn't a whole lot of effort to get a couple of sweet gold trophies. I may eventually go back through and beat it on Crushing to snag the platinum trophy but for now I've moved on to Uncharted 2. I'm about halfway through that one now and it is quite a step up from Drake's Fortune. Once I finish I'll probably post some thoughts on that but so far it has been quite incredible.

[aprettycooldude]

The most impressive thing about the Uncharted games is how at the time they each set the gold standard for animation on a particular element. Uncharted 1 had better looking water than any game up to that point, Uncharted 2 did that for snow, and 3 did it for sand.

 

I loved them all when I played them initially, but definitely realized more hitches when I went back through them in the Collection. That said, I still think they're great games if you view them from the perspective of "Indiana Jones, but a video game."

[melmer]

[melmer]

So this just landed on my door mat... I wasn't expecting it so early. Cancel all weekend plans!

[thenexus6]

I got mine this morning! I have played just under 5 hours so far. Game is pretty incredible so far. It looks and plays so well. The character interactions, dialogue back and forth is so good, very natural and believable - really puts you into the experience.

 

The attention to detail is ridiculous too. I love just stopping and looking around.

 

Playing with the sony gold 7.1 headset with the Uncharted Collection audio profile is awesome. Way better than just out the TV.

 

Not a spoiler in terms of the game but extra. Hard to describe really..

the "easter egg" was awesome. Had a massive smile on my face. Probably my favourite from a game yet

[juv3nal]

this is weird, it still says may 10th unlock for the digital version? i mean im on vacation away from my ps4 so it doesn't really matter but it's still odd

[Gwardinen]

Well that's when it's released. Some lucky people have just been picking up physical versions early.

[melmer]

Smaller websites sending them out earlish, I think they do it on purpose as I got MGSV like 5 days early. If you receive a game early from a website you might be more likely to order from them again in the future.

Anyway, the game is seriously making my hands sweat. It looks incredible. And the acting is fantastic too, already established 3 serious bad guys in short order, way more believable and menacing then any... Other game... Ever?

They've doubled down on what an uncharted game is, and how drake acts. Think they would address all the mindless killing? Nope. Remember that part in uncharted 2 where you pull a security guard off a ledge to his certain death? Yeah well they litterally do the same thing here. Must be on purpose. This is unapologeticly what uncharted is...

[Belasco]

Plaything through the uncharted collection. I forgot how great these games are. The pacing is so good! Loving the transitions from gunplay to puzzle solving. 

[Nappi]

I have bought all three previous Uncharted games but only finished the second one. I always get frustrated with late game focus on hectic gun battles and especially with the ridiculous Stay Puft body armor enemies. I forced myself through Uncharted 2 despite not having much fun in the final area, because I didn't want to add yet another unfinished game into my list.

 

Because of this, I decided that I will probably not buy Uncharted 4 despite it looking pretty incredible. Then I saw Griffin and Justin McElroy's Polygon video of the game where Griffin basically precision bombed my concerns by saying that the enemies are less bullet spongy this time around and that the pacing is much better than in the previous games. So I guess, I will be buying this game after all...

 

Does the combat feel substantially different compared to the previous games? For example, is there an aim assist feature?

[melmer]

There isn't a huge amount of shooting in the first few hours, but what I have done feels great. Aiming feels really good. Guns feel powerful, and sound really good. Doesn't feel too different though.

There is an auto aim options in the settings, it's turned off by default.

There seems to be a big emphasis on stealth this time around, where the enemies have a MGS style alert system. Large sprawling combat environments with lots of hidy holes and long grass (I only just hit the first proper one in chapter 5) and you can tag enemies again like in MGSV

I actually got a little worried as the story has you sneaking out of somewhere, so obviously being spotted is bad, and starting an all out gun fight is very bad... I just turned the game off after I got spotted (I was going to switch off then anyway) I hope the game doesn't make me feel like a failure for being spotted throughout. I think a lot actually hinges on what's happening in the narrative, if later in the game I'm in the middle of a dessert against a bunch of scum bags then who cares if it goes all guns blazing.

It's just in this instance you need to sneak out, but the game really wants you to kill people, funnelling them straight towards you. To be fair this is still the tutorial part of the game so they probably don't want you to ghost out as you need to learn about shooting faces. It's just a bit of a weird scenario, they say you are up against black market security but thats no justification for slaughtering them... At least show me them kicking a puppy first or something. I think I just need to get over it, it's uncharted, the game is a shooter! Its probably because people act so life like on the cutscenes it feels even stranger to commit mass murder this time around.

Its reeeeeally good though, don't let this put you off. And honestly I've only done like 10minures of shooting in the first 4 hours or so. all the other stuff is so great I don't want to speak about it as its best to experience it all yourself

[Nappi]

Sounds good, thanks!

 

Pre-perched via Playstation store. God damn, the PS4 download speed is slow for some reason. Hopefully, the download is complete by launch.

 

 

The discrepancy between cutscenes and gameplay has definitely been hilarious in previous games as well, reaching its height in Uncharted 2 (I think) when one of your allies was injured by enemy gunfire during a cutscene and then proceeded to absorb a shitload of bullets without any additional damage as you escorted him to safety. Also, Nathan Drake is a mass murderer in the league of his own. 

[Belasco]

If you slow down and focus on nailing headshots the enemies are a lot less absorbent of bullets. I can drop most enemies with one headshot. If you get really good with that starter handgun you basically become a headshot wizard and every encounter becomes the bank scene from the matrix. 

[twmac]

Am I right in understanding that the levels are now open ended or is the game still on rails?

 

I played through the first three games on PS3 and I don't really rate them. Uncharted had terrible controls that were floaty and unsatisfying, the platforming had no stakes in it. Sure it looked pretty damn good but dying never felt like a big deal, the game just strapped you back into the roller coaster and off you went again.

 

It got worse at the end with zombie bit because the game felt ill equipped to deal with it. Some thrid person shooters can do this when you feel like the limitation to beating the game is you the player. In Uncharted it felt like I was fighting the controls instead.

 

There were also too many on rails driving sections that were just tedious.

 

Uncharted 2 was a huge step as the controls were better but that second level with the stealth was atrocious and almost put me off the whole game. The platforming continued to be completely pointless except as a show piece for their art. There are also some points near the end where the game 'CoD'd' me: I got dumped in this arena in the snow and there were a number of guards patrolling, I snuck through them and got to the exit only to be spotted and killed, I tried stealth again and the same thing happened. It was then that I realised I had to kill all the guards or else I auto-failed the mission.

 

The ending has a great punchline but the shoot out up to that point is tedious, it succumbs to pretty much the same stuff the first one did, only with more annoying NPC enemies.

 

Uncharted 3 actually seemed to regress, I can't put my finger on it but felt like the aiming was worse than 2. To be honest I don't remember much of the game outisde the fist fight in London. The game looked kind of shit, the platforming had become even more redundant (die on a jump get teleported 5 feet back) and I don't think I could told you anything about the plot or the characters.

 

So, no, not really excited about Uncharted 4

[melmer]

Uncharted 4 really is business as usual, if you didn't like the previous games there's not much for you here.

The action happens in little bite size arenas, largesh open areas which you can stealth through this time, I can think of one which required you to clear out the enemies )actually I think they have spotted you and are hostile from the start) It'll probably be easier to stealth then getting in a gun fight as this game is kick my arse. Although I think half of that is because I want to make awesome cinematic action sequences which involve me running head first into gunfire to punch a guy.

But like you say, no penalty for death, just kicks you straight back into the action. It's an action game!

Platforming has light puzzle elements where it asks you to search for you next hand hold. You've got a grapple hock this time, so quiet often you'll need to swing across a canyon to continue.

I've just hit chapter 10 though (only played a little bit) and I'm in a jeep with an absolutely huge area to drive around, feels a bit like MGSV but ten times better looking. This is where it's setting itself apart from the older games, maybe the rest of the game will be like this? Who knows.

[Nappi]

Played a couple of hours today (reached chapter 6). The action has been good so far. The story is much more engaging than in any of the previous games. The graphics are still great but they don't blow ones mind like Uncharted 2 on PS3 did. The facial animation and movement in general is absolutely fucking fantastic.

[Gwardinen]

Yeah, it seems like Naughty Dog might have learned how to do quiet moments a little better from the Last of Us. I'm thinking of the chapter in the house here - I thought it was quite well done.

[juv3nal]

cracked me up when 

crash bandicoot wouldn't let me use the analog stick