Poll: Why is Uncharted so polarizing?

[Sniper Team 4]

I went with "It's alright." I've had a PS3 for years, but I just now got all three games, and that's only because Target was having a super-clearance deal going: Uncharted, Uncharted 2, and a blue PS3 controller. All for 30 dollars. That's a free controller right there, and depending on where you shop, a free game too, all for the price of a 'best-seller" PS3 game. Too good to pass up, and I'd heard that the Uncharted games were good.
I had fun with them. I never saw Drake as badly as MovieBob or Yahtzee did, but I never saw why people loved him so much either. He was just another action hero to me, nothing too deep or impressive. I did find some of the writing funny. And the stories, while fun, had some holes in them that I just couldn't get past. The biggest one happens in three when Charlie shoots the guy, yet moments later the guy shows up unharmed. Even Charlie doesn't get it: "I shot that bastard! How is he still alive?!" and the game never explains it, nor how Charlie ended up with that card in his pocket.
So yeah, fun games for me, but not the best ever.

 

[Catfood220]

the other is a murdering sociopath who doesn't bat an eye even if he killed an innocent museum security guard.

You do remember he used tranquilizers, right? Even the one he pulled off a ledge landed in water and swam away. He never once killed an innocent in any of the games.

I'm pretty sure he threw him off a goddamn cliff. Don't know how you can swim away from that.

No, I checked this out last time I played through Uncharted 2, Drake pulls him off the roof and if you look down you can quite clearly see the guard swimming away.

Plus your whole thing about how him nonchalantly murdering his way around the world is also wrong. Drake only really takes out people who are a threat to him, there are parts of Uncharted 2 and 3 where there are whole areas of people who survive being within murdering distance of him. His motives may be dubious but he only kills those that want to kill him.

As for the games, I think they are 2 of the best games you can buy for the PS3 and Uncharted 1 which is simply ok.

 

[Jynthor]

I've only finished the first game so far. And while it was fantastic, the combat really brought it down a bit. I wouldn't say it's overrated though.

 

[Kapol]

I thought the first game was meh. It looked pretty, but it was dull more often then not. I fall into the catagory of disliking but not despising Drake as a character. The gunplay wasn't awful, but it wasn't anything special. Story wasn't bad, but didn't stand out to me either. Supporting characters were fairly standard but worked well enough for what was done.

Other then being pretty (and it is very pretty), it isn't anything good or bad. But that's just going by the first game.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

You'll note that Moviebob hasn't played any of the fucking games. As haven't most of the people who have a negative opinion of them.

Opinions on the Uncharted series basically fall into two categories - genuine opinions that think its an amazing achievement in videogame storytelling and the height of the action adventure genre, and troll opinions and contrarian assholes.

Yahtzees opinions on the characters, the story and the game as a whole stem from his hatred of attractive people being able to snark, thinking that this automatically makes them tools. This is also the problem he has with everything Joss Whedon has ever done. Its completely irrational by his own admission.

Moviebob is a fucking idiot who hasn't played any of the games by his own admission, and therefore is just going off the most negative opinions he can find, that being troll opinions.


As for the poll, I think consensus is its the best. It was tied with Mass Effect as the best series, but the ending of Mass Effect 3 put it at a direct disadvantage, and Uncharted took the crown.

OK, wait, hold up....Regarding the bold text, are you really saying it's impossible to dislike the Uncharted series for legitimate reasons? I mean, I love the series, but I would totally understand someone hating it.

Also...."Troll opinions"? Are you fucking serious? Do you know what an "opinion" is?

 

[Denamic]

High profile exclusive flagship title.
It's polarizing by default simply because of what it is.
The game itself probably doesn't even mater.
It's the 'enemy'.

 

[Burst6]

I'm the type of person that can enjoy both uncharted and monster hunter. One a linear and cinematic adventure with a good story and meh gameplay, and the other with a mission based hunting game with 0 story and unimpressive graphics but amazing gameplay. If it's done right i can enjoy it.

I love uncharted. It Looks pretty everywhere, which lots of games miss. Great textures, great models, great animations, everything. Other games look good they animate like shit and that's something uncharted gets right. It also has a good story and personally i like drake. I have no idea why people complain about him so much. I think he's pretty likeable and while he does kill people it's generally people that are trying to kill him with machine guns. Like mercenaries, war criminals, and the illuminati for example. A lesser person would say that people are just copying yatzee. Yeah the gameplay is meh but it's doable and has a good difficulty to it.

To me it's a cinematic game done right.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Opinions on the Uncharted series basically fall into two categories - genuine opinions that think its an amazing achievement in videogame storytelling and the height of the action adventure genre, and troll opinions and contrarian assholes.

How very mature. So anyone who's opinion stands at odds with yours is just lying to themselves to appear hip, huh?

 

[Vault101]

aside from the fact I hate Nathan drake...


I don't actually hate the Uncharted series...I mean I'm not a huge fan and I was quite happy to pawn them off to the game store for some measly credit after...but I don't hate them, I get the apeal, and I like it when a game treats its charachters and story as important...plus it did make me smile as much as it made me cringe

the problem with the Uncharted series is that there really is nothing there of substance...nothing interesting new or unique...games like Assassins Creed or Deus Ex have something unique to them..Something recognizable in visual style, setting or story

Uncharted has the fact that?s it?s just like an action B movie you?ve seen a million times before!!

 

[Zhukov]

I can't acutely recall hearing a person say something along the lines of, "It's alright" when offering their opinion on the series.

Well, allow me to be among the first.

I consider the Uncharted games to be alright.

The first one sucked in almost every way, but the sequels were generally enjoyable. Fun combat, generally good level design, nice visuals, well paced story. However, they were also thoroughly forgettable.

I find the story and, to a greater degree, the characters to be chronically overrated. They do have their moments, sure, but they insist on focussing on the characters I find the least interesting, namely Drake and Elana.

So yeah, the Uncharted games, overall, are alright. Not terrible, not spectacular, but generally alright.

 

[EHKOS]

It's good, except they use the same plot for every game. The locations are really great, and the characters are really cool, except for Elana. Sully is freakin' awesome.

 

[Baron_Rouge]

I think the reason it's so polarizing is because it's a PS3 exclusive. This means that lots of fanboys, even if they haven't played it, will hold it up on a pedestal as the gaming equivalent of the second coming of Jesus. This results in lots of other fanboys, who also haven't played it, determinedly attempting to tear it down. This happens with lots of exclusives, it's just a fact of life.

Personally, I think it's highly enjoyable, gorgeous, well-written and a lot of fun, but not ground breaking. It's undeniably high quality, but not in the same leagues as Red Dead Redemption or Dark Souls. Still, I can think of few more enjoyable, higher quality gaming experiences, even if it doesn't set the world on fire.

 

[Andy Shandy]

It's just so very..."meh" in my opinion. I wouldn't say it does anything particularly badly, but then it doesn't do anything particularly spectacular either.

And then there's the fact it's one of the PS3's major franchises. Whether you feel it deserves that position or not, it's always going to polarize. Most of the PS3 fanboys will be creaming themselves at every little bit of news about anything to do the series and on those same bits of news, most of the Xbox fanboys will be spouting utter rage at it.

 

[FootloosePhoenix]

Being surrounded by mindless Naughty Dog fanboys had driven me to absolutely despise the Uncharted series for awhile. I've realized since that hating a game largely (not solely mind, but largely) because of the morons that worship its very existence is irrational; I mean, if someone said they hated Final Fantasy VII JUST because it's overrated, I'd think they were a bloody fool. On the other hand if someone said that they hated it based on the turn-based combat, I could understand that despite my own opinion of the game. All that aside, I still can't really decide whether I'd say "Not very good" or "Overrate garbage."

The only enjoyment I can wrestle out of the Uncharteds anymore is playing the occasional multiplayer match in Uncharted 2 with my best friend, when the damn thing will actually work, that is. Other than that I won't touch the games with a ten foot pole anymore.

Eh, now that I've talked myself through it, I've come to the conclusion that it's "overrated garbage" for sure.

 

[wadark]

I definitely enjoy the series the whole way through. I like Drake, especially after the third game and we kinda see that his sarcastic wit (which is similar to my wit), is just a facade, as is most of his personality.

The downside would be, of course, that they didn't really go anywhere with it and I hope we get to see more in future installments.

From a 'game' perspective, I think its been solid if imperfect. The stealth, though often encouraged, doesn't work well enough for it to really matter. The shooting is ok, if a little whack-a-mole. And of course in the third game there's the whole three-hour process of the cruiseship which turns out to be completely pointless.

Overall, I'd say, good game with great, but unrealized potential (so far).

As to why its polarizing...anything that's popular is.

 

[Something Amyss]

But then Yahtzee calls Nathan Drake an unlikeable tosser and a racist, and says that the games, specifically in the story department, are as impressive as a direct-to-DVD bargain-bin spin-off. In one of his Big Picture vids, Moviebob says that the story of the Uncharted games boils down to, direct quote, "What if Indiana Jones were contemporary, and he was also a giant douche?" while flashing up a picture of Indiana Jones with Dane Cook's head.

Your problem is that you're using a comedic example (Yahtzee even comments on how fun it is to call him racist) and a guy who just likes to rant about anything that doesn't meet his standards as the worst thing ever.

That said, I find Drake to be horribly unlikable. I found the mechanics kind of stiff in 1 and worse in 2.I like my parkouring to be a lot looser and more responsive. I don't hate the series, but aside from it being visually stunning, I don't see why so many people like it. I also think it's too average to hate.

I guess it's the Justin Bieber of AAA titles. That is, my estimation of Bieber, since I know other people disagree.

Also, this:

And then there's the fact it's one of the PS3's major franchises. Whether you feel it deserves that position or not, it's always going to polarize. Most of the PS3 fanboys will be creaming themselves at every little bit of news about anything to do the series and on those same bits of news, most of the Xbox fanboys will be spouting utter rage at it.

If it's an exclusive, it will invariably be touted as awesome by the fanboys for the respective console and hated by those from the other console.

Personally, I've been nonplussed by most of the exclusives in this generation. It's almost like there's no real point in owning a specific console (unless you want Nintendo games).

 

[J Tyran]

The Uncharted series is pretty good. While I doubt it deserves to be rated as "one the best franchises of this generation" it stands head and shoulders over tripe that people claim is awesome like Metal Gear Solid. So for me its a decent game well worth experiencing but I do not think it stands alongside series like Mass Effect.

Andy Shandy hit the nail on the head about why it is so polarizing,

And then there's the fact it's one of the PS3's major franchises. Whether you feel it deserves that position or not, it's always going to polarize. Most of the PS3 fanboys will be creaming themselves at every little bit of news about anything to do the series and on those same bits of news, most of the Xbox fanboys will be spouting utter rage at it.

The PS3 fanbois do not have much to shout about and all they really have is Uncharted, Xbox fanbois then react with the smugness about the greater number of blockbuster exclusives the Xbox flexes.