Poll: Why is Uncharted so polarizing?

[IanBrazen]

snip

I played Uncharted 3 and found the story very very very entertaining.
The core game play was fun but really nothing special. The set pieces are really where the game kicked into gear.
The story was really well done, and I think that the story is the real reason that uncharted is so popular.

There is a scene at the beginning where you play Drake as a kid, get into trouble, and Sully saves him. Later Sully says something to the effect of (For the life of me I cant remember the exact line) "were gonna make a great team". Then the camera cuts to the two of them older and supposedly dead in a pile of garbage.

That scene really made me feel that the entire series would have worked better as films.
There's nothing about the game play that makes it unique enough that I think the story's should only be told in video game form.
The Metal Gear series is also very cinematic, but several things improve the story through the game play.
I know that this has been said time and again but I feel that these have the potential to be a successor to the Indiana Jones films.

Anyhoo that's just my take.

 

[CityofTreez]

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.

Lol?

I almost never play my PS3 but to say all it has is Uncharted in laughable.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

I never played Uncharted 1, but picked up Uncharted 2 due to it receiving massive scores. It was fun, albeit very scripted and linear. It still stands as one of the few PS3 games I have finished and started replaying for Trophys.

I then picked up Uncharted 3, and played for maybe 3 hours and never picked it up again. The rooftop levels absolutely annoyed me. This was definitely a case of 'guess the way the developer wants you to run'. There was no scope for experimentation or deviation from the single course the developers wanted you to run. One wrong move, you get to re-do the whole thing. It was never really clear what that single path was. Quite often it would appear I could jump over something relatively small, only to hit invisible walls.. damn... captured again. Restart.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

It's the usual battle of never played anything like it before (children) Vs played many games that are very similar and prefered others (veterans).

The children get so excited and opine endlessly about it that older more experienced gamers get angry and put it in it's place. That's certainly the stand point i look at it from.

The graphics are pretty good, which is mainly why games get accolades nowadays, but the gameplay isn't anything special. Also it actually works properly which is something to be treasured on the PS3 from what ive seen and heard. Personally i'd rather play Splinter cell and Tomb raider but i don't hold that against it.

 

[Stealthygamer]

I love it, it's fun and the story is engaging. Alot of people don't like it because they think Nathan Drake is a douche, and well yes he is, but its a facade he uses to avoid having to burden people with his problems

 

[RatRace123]

I like the series, the stories, the gameplay, the technical aspects(Dat train level), I even like the characters, and yes that includes Drake.

So, yeah, I like pretty much everything about it.

 

[Simonoly]

I loved Uncharted 2 with a passion purely because it got the formula so so right in so many ways. It managed to combine wonderful visuals with genuinely fun gameplay and like all the best action movies was packed full of suspense and paced just right. So Uncharted 2 had me firmly in the "one of the best games of this generation" camp.

However, Uncharted 3 was the point at which I almost completely wrote of the series. It failed to live up to Uncharted 2 in almost every way and seemed so much more focused on visuals and set-pieces than it did on weaving a fun and well paced narrative. It was definitely a case of style over substance. That level where you have to hold forward to walk through the desert was exactly what I had hoped the series would not become. I actually got my boyfriend to complete that bit of the game for me because I found it so tedious and, well, he owed me one. I have a very long list of things that Uncharted 3 did wrong. And because of that I've kind of moved over into the "overrated garbage" camp. Although I probably wouldn't call it garbage, more just a bit pedestrian now.

 

[xPixelatedx]

I played a few hours of all of them. I can see the effort that went into these games and their cinematic effects and stuff, but through most of them I realized I wasn't actually doing anything at those spectacular looking moments, I was just following a little invisible corridor while the hand of god (the developer) prodded me through just so I can see their next cut-scene of a guy acting like a jackass.

I just don't see the appeal... I admit the graphics for these games have gotten insane, but graphics amount to nothing without substance to back it up. I'd much prefer the franchises of Sony's past that were far better. Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, etc. Games that were just trying to be fun games, not deliver "The Hollywood experience" with some environment interaction and combat. The latter is all Uncharted is to me.

 

[an annoyed writer]

I enjoyed it. The shooting mechanics are nice and tight, and I actually like the story(though I'm not always in the mood for Nate's goofball bullshit). I think what the polarizing factor is is that the game has this "follow generic action story template #523" kind of thing with its story and action. What sets it apart though is that it does what it does at the very least adequately, even if its puzzles are too simple or its characters too archetypal. there's a difference between doing something, and doing it well. Uncharted usually does the second one. Now yeah, some of Moviebob's and Yahtzee's comments are quite valid, but at least with Yahtzee it's comic exaggeration at its finest, like the whole "Nate is a nationalist racist" bit. Yes, the game is linear. Yes, it has archetypal characters. Yes, I too think Nate is a douche sometimes. But to me, the game is one of the best I've played in this generation. I still replay them from time to time, because I enjoyed them. You know why I enjoy them? They do what they do well. Even if that was making Nate King Douchebag.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I love the series, and I don't even like shooters usually.

About the story, it isn't anything special but what it does have is great characters, exchanging great dialogue, with great chemistry between them.

Overall I think the games are highly enjoyable the shooting is great, and just how cinematic the game feels.

 

[Rack]

Together it's fun, but it's all just above average. Still good, but not stellar. Perhaps you can elaborate?

I'm assuming it's all about the spectacle, as you're jumping around dynamic changing environments that shift dramatically and pan into amazing vistas. Enslaved kind of did the same thing but Uncharted 2 does it way better.

However that kind of thing leaves me cold. I need more freedom in the gameplay, either interesting weapons and abilities or the option to veer off the path occasionally.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

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.

I can count all of the Xbox's significant exclusives on one hand and have fingers left over.

 

[ManInRed]

From looking at the poll so far, it seems no one picked the extremes. 10% Bad, 20% not played, the rest differed levels of liking it with more lending towards higher levels.

Kind of an unfair worded poll options, with every option seeming divisive, but the results were as mildly positive as they could be. Sounds like its not very polarizing at all, and the majority of people think the game is good.

A few reviewers had made jokes about the series on this site, and we all know some fans of these reviewers like to quote any joke they make as often as they can. But if the poll doesn't radically change, it looks like these folks are a minority.

 

[Iyon]

snip

I played Uncharted 3 and found the story very very very entertaining.
The core game play was fun but really nothing special. The set pieces are really where the game kicked into gear.
The story was really well done, and I think that the story is the real reason that uncharted is so popular.

There is a scene at the beginning where you play Drake as a kid, get into trouble, and Sully saves him. Later Sully says something to the effect of (For the life of me I cant remember the exact line) "were gonna make a great team". Then the camera cuts to the two of them older and supposedly dead in a pile of garbage.

That scene really made me feel that the entire series would have worked better as films.
There's nothing about the game play that makes it unique enough that I think the story's should only be told in video game form.
The Metal Gear series is also very cinematic, but several things improve the story through the game play.
I know that this has been said time and again but I feel that these have the potential to be a successor to the Indiana Jones films.

Anyhoo that's just my take.

You know, while I thought the stories of first two games weren't anything special, I agree with you about the third game and it really did turn things around for me story wise. I loved the back story they added with Sully and Drake, and I thought the entire story was very well executed.

Also, I always felt like I was playing the story, unlike some other games where I feel like I'm just killing bad guys until the next cut scene. And that's something not all games can get right, especially when it comes to linear shooters.

There's a lot to like about the Uncharted games, which is why I get so disappointed by the mechanics in them. It really made a sizable part of the game not enjoyable or fun to me.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I played most of the first one, got bored and annoyed extremely quickly. I hate that style of combat. Sooo much. And it seemed like a shameless tomb raider rip off. I've heard that more recent installments are better, but I can't work up the enthusiasm to try them.