Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Review
- Thread starter Susan Arendt
- Start date
I've put a few hours into this game now and I feel that Susan's review is spot on. Very few games capture what I feel is the number one point of a game (which is to have fun) better than the Uncharted series. You don't need to analyze the plot or take them too seriously. They're just fun to play.
EDIT: Unrelated but I also really enjoyed Dragon Age 2... Crazy I know. People are allowed to like different things.
EDIT: Unrelated but I also really enjoyed Dragon Age 2... Crazy I know. People are allowed to like different things.
I simply just do not understand what so many other people see in the Uncharted series. Even reading this thread I feel like that guy in church surrounded by "believers" wondering what everyone's so worked up about.
I watched a walk-through of this entire game and in all honesty it looks so boring. The game isn't just linear. Halo is linear, Gears of War is linear, Battlefield 3 is linear. With Uncharted you simply follow a completely set path doing everything exactly how devs have scripted it to happen. In those other games you have a choice of how you accomplish a goal. So even though you are following a linear path what you do along that path is your choice, but all of Uncharted plays like the very last level of BF3 in that everything is scripted no matter what you it will happen in the way it is set to happen.
I fully realize that has a game that's also telling a story that sometimes is necessary but here it all that ever happens every moment is like that. There's only one path up any given wall you have to climb, one door into any given room you have to enter etc.
The game is like of those QTEs where hit every button perfectly but the bad guy still gets away because that's how it's supposed to happen. I don't know I just hate it when games feel over scripted and Uncharted has always felt that way for me and this game follow the same form both gameplay and story wise.
Nathan Drake, sociopath, mass murderer, and worst treasure hunter in the world bar none, but this will still end up being game of the year. I just don't get it.
I watched a walk-through of this entire game and in all honesty it looks so boring. The game isn't just linear. Halo is linear, Gears of War is linear, Battlefield 3 is linear. With Uncharted you simply follow a completely set path doing everything exactly how devs have scripted it to happen. In those other games you have a choice of how you accomplish a goal. So even though you are following a linear path what you do along that path is your choice, but all of Uncharted plays like the very last level of BF3 in that everything is scripted no matter what you it will happen in the way it is set to happen.
I fully realize that has a game that's also telling a story that sometimes is necessary but here it all that ever happens every moment is like that. There's only one path up any given wall you have to climb, one door into any given room you have to enter etc.
The game is like of those QTEs where hit every button perfectly but the bad guy still gets away because that's how it's supposed to happen. I don't know I just hate it when games feel over scripted and Uncharted has always felt that way for me and this game follow the same form both gameplay and story wise.
Nathan Drake, sociopath, mass murderer, and worst treasure hunter in the world bar none, but this will still end up being game of the year. I just don't get it.
It's successful for exactly the reasons you mentioned, actually. To date, the Uncharted series (specifically 2 and 3) are pretty much the most seamless blend of cinematic and gameplay that has so far been achieved. It's as linear as a ruler, but that's exactly what it's supposed to be.Lex Darko said:
If it helps, the series has always intended to be what is essentially an interactive movie, and it accomplishes just that. It isn't trying to be open world and it isn't trying to give the player all that much choice, but it is trying to make you feel like you're -playing- a movie, not just watching one.
I don't play Uncharted for a deep story, moral quandaries, or an open world experience. I play Uncharted because it feels like I'm guiding the best damn action movie out there. Call it simple entertainment if you want, but it's constructed and presented so incredibly well that I can't help but consider it to be a masterpiece.
I have no problem with you not liking the game, but I don't get the "sociopath/murderer" bit at all. He kills the people shooting at him - just like pretty much every other protagonist in gaming. If he doesn't defend himself, he'll die. That makes him a sociopath?Lex Darko said:
Well, I finished this game a couple of hours ago. Loved it. It's beautiful, it's exciting, it's funny, a wonderful piece of entertainment. I have to agree with some people though: it got a little sloppy in the pacing. For me Uncharted 2 is still the most polished game I've ever played. U2's pacing is brilliant and it feels more like a crazy non-stop voyage because there's no sudden change of location after we get in Nepal and the action really starts heating up. In U3 though it takes a while until the action gets serious and there's many times when the story takes us to completely different locations with barely any transition.
I still loved the game just as I loved U2. I just wish Naughty Dog had come with a more coherent progression. And maybe squeezed in a couple more hours of puzzles and vertical gunplay. That city in Yemen was begging for some warzone feel like Nepal in Uncharted 2.
I still loved the game just as I loved U2. I just wish Naughty Dog had come with a more coherent progression. And maybe squeezed in a couple more hours of puzzles and vertical gunplay. That city in Yemen was begging for some warzone feel like Nepal in Uncharted 2.
The game has stealth sequences where Drake essentially sneaks (breaks) into a "restricted" area under armed guard. While sneaking into said area he quietly uses a silenced pistol to kill armed guards who are doing their job of securing a privately owned area and have not fired at him.Susan Arendt said:
And the second level of the game has him stealing from a museum with no regret, remorse, or consideration of fact it's against the law and wrong.
I'm sorry but that's a sociopathic murderer if I ever saw one.
I could go on to talk about him buying illegal guns, stowing away on vehicles etc., but I don't think that's necessary.
And that's what I don't understand. Heavy Rain basically was an interactive movie and was criticized for it. But Heavy Rain is less linear and gives the player more choice than any Uncharted game. And yet Uncharted get nominated multiple times for game of the year.JeanLuc761 said:
Now granted I realize the story of heavy had too many red herrings and isn't as good as Uncharted. But I almost never hear anyone say "that Uncharted trying to hard to be a movie and should remember it's a game" like I do with Heavy Rain.
Ok. I obviously don't 'get' the Uncharted series. I bought UC3 (It came out on my birthday), and have played a few chapters over the last few days. Currently, I have just infiltrated and escaped from Marlow's base. I'm just not getting into it, and am finding it a tad boring. These are my gripes.
The computer AI for your companions is pretty dumb. The amount of times I've yelled at my companions in the first few levels to get out of my way is numerous. They will stand around, and block your path in skinny coridoors. The gunplay is weak. Yes it's an adventure game, but I found the shooting portion of the game fairly weak. The AI isn't smart and the weapons are not very varied or interesting.
The controls are occasionally dodgy. You try to climb a ladder. You're facing it, and press the button, but Drake tries to wall jump, or do something totally different.
Playing 'guess where the developed wants you to go' is an exercise in frustration. The rooftop escape level very early in the game was plain ludicrous. One wrong turn would result in having to restart again. It was pure trial and error and stupidly linear.
Bugs. I've only encountered one bug so far. I went to hide behind a box for cover to shoot some security guards, and got stuck inside a wall. I couldn't get back out and had to wait to be killed by the enemy to try that area again.
So yeah. Like I said. Maybe I just don't 'get it'. I bought it because every site is giving the game massive reviews. I just can't see the justification for some sites giving it a 10/10.
The computer AI for your companions is pretty dumb. The amount of times I've yelled at my companions in the first few levels to get out of my way is numerous. They will stand around, and block your path in skinny coridoors. The gunplay is weak. Yes it's an adventure game, but I found the shooting portion of the game fairly weak. The AI isn't smart and the weapons are not very varied or interesting.
The controls are occasionally dodgy. You try to climb a ladder. You're facing it, and press the button, but Drake tries to wall jump, or do something totally different.
Playing 'guess where the developed wants you to go' is an exercise in frustration. The rooftop escape level very early in the game was plain ludicrous. One wrong turn would result in having to restart again. It was pure trial and error and stupidly linear.
Bugs. I've only encountered one bug so far. I went to hide behind a box for cover to shoot some security guards, and got stuck inside a wall. I couldn't get back out and had to wait to be killed by the enemy to try that area again.
So yeah. Like I said. Maybe I just don't 'get it'. I bought it because every site is giving the game massive reviews. I just can't see the justification for some sites giving it a 10/10.
I can't seem to understand why NaughtyDog decided to cut out the single player bonus unlocks. They gave UC2 enormous replay value. Some may say "its because of trophies" to which I say "dur, cheats = no trophies, problem solved".
I will be selling my copy to GS tomorrow. Skyrim looks neat.
I will be selling my copy to GS tomorrow. Skyrim looks neat.
Sure, technical limitations. Unlimited ammo, different skins, and other trivial things were kept out of the final product because of technical limitations. NaughtyDog must believe we're all drooling idiots.Kopikatsu said:
[strongbadangryface]
agreed on this. there are multiple times throughout the game where drake purposely throws away his guns in civilian populated areas or he doesn't want to shoot/use them, he even mentions it quite clearly sometimes before the next "mission" started.Susan Arendt said:
honestly he is quite logical, i still don't get how he is a bad treasure hunter/sociopath, but i digress... explaining things like these to people who don't get it just never works.
1. Sociopaths are chronic lairs.gmaverick019 said:
2. Sociopaths learn to fake emotions early.
3. Sociopaths lack a clear sense of right and wrong ie. stealing, breaking and entering etc.
4. If the world of Nathan Drake had police he would be jail.
Also what I "don't get" is how a game series who even Ms. Ardent says has meh gameplay keeps coming up as a game of the year candidate.
I would say 9 times out of 10 I agree with Susan. She has a skewed view of the gaming entertainment world and I generally align with her. However, in this case I am not sure she and I played the same game. I completed Uncharted 3 and while I would say it was both fun and entertaining in a lot of ways it was a crap game. The story is good, but not excellent. The humor is weak. The controls are truly awful. It feels at times like a huge series of quick time events. The combat is also awful. Moving from weapon to unarmed is painful. There of middle boss characters who are Heavily armored that are just anoying.Susan Arendt said:
While I do not regret playing the game, I fully expect to be far more entertained by Skyrim. However, all that being said, buy it. It is a definately going to be one of the better games of the year even if I found it disappointing.
i could argue many of those points throughout all the games, especially the 3rd uncharted, hell just watch all the damn cutscenes in uncharted 3 alone and they would be more than enough proof against what you just listed.Lex Darko said:
and on point number 4, you could put that exact rule in nearly every game with an open world/adventure, and it would apply just the same.
gameplay =/= game of the year candidate
fun =/= the best
would you say fallout 3 had good gameplay, even though it had numerous game of the year awards?
My view is skewed? Huh.jthwilliams said:
You and I played the same game, but its charms worked on me and not you. If you don't enjoy the characters and banterr, then I can totally seeing not ally adoring the game. I didn't have any trouble going from armed to unarmed, personally, but the overall controls are definitely problematic.
A lot of enjoying Uncharted relies on the player wanting to spend time with these characters. If you actively dislike them, your chances of really getting into the game are greatly diminished. I get that, absolutely.
Yeah FO3 did have good gameplay and was fun to play, so I don't see your point there. Also gameplay isn't just combat; it's exploration, character progression (rpgs), it's what the player can do in a game.gmaverick019 said:
I don't care to keep being so negative, but in Uncharted 3 there's only following of a path, puzzles, and combat. So if the combat in campaign is average at best, all that's left are puzzles along with what essentially amounts to walking in a straight line that was made to look dynamic and player dependent.
Finally, if Batman and Nathan Drake met, one of them would end up in a locked room at Arkham. And the next day Bruce Wayne would go play a round golf.
okay well we have different definitions there, by gameplay i meant the combat, i put exploration and character progression under their own sub categories as they are not directly related or dependent on each other. and if you don't enjoy that kind of game, then that's perfectly fine, like i originally stated, trying to show you why people enjoy it is next to impossible as it just simply won't get through to you.Lex Darko said:
batman? i really don't see why he is brought up in this discussion at all, but he has way more fucked up things going on in his mind that drake does in a few ways, so i really don't see how he's any better mentally than drake is. (why the hell are we even arguing over something so trivial as is? it's a fucking video game character, who is meant to be an adventurer, who gives two shits?)