[tzare]

The only thing wrong with it was U2. Still one of the few games I finished and immediately started it over again. Was always going to be a let down to some degree.

Agree. Still have to finish u3 but it is happening to me with batman right now. Even if the games has some improvements over the original, it still feels quite the same, familiar, so it is always a deja vu, or less surprise effect. It doesn't turn the game into crap as some pretend here, however

[Papercuts]

Agree. Still have to finish u3 but it is happening to me with batman right now. Even if the games has some improvements over the original, it still feels quite the same, familiar, so it is always a deja vu, or less surprise effect. It doesn't turn the game into crap as some pretend here, however

Good thing most people here not pretending and there are in fact significant changes to the game. The saminess has nothing to do with it.

[lucius]

I had a lot of fun replaying it on crushing with new aim patch, still hate the boat level but overall awesome game that I will play again.

[EatChildren]

In order to be 'worst GOTY of 2012' Uncharted 3 would need to be good enough to contend as 2012's GOTY in the first place. And it's not.

Not a bad game, but hardly in the realm of Uncharted 2. And even though I don't side with the Uncharted 2 hype train (a game that I still feel has problems), Uncharted 3 made me appreciate more what Naughty Dog accomplished with the former. Comparatively, Uncharted is less cohesive in design and execution, and weaker in almost every conceivable way. To me it felt like Naughty Dog ran out of steam with the series, like they were just making it because it had to happen.

[StoppedInTracks]

Worst in the trilogy. But that's understandable cause the A-team was working on The Last of Us already :bow B-team Uncharted 3 is just... jank.

[Pachterballs]

btw its hard to go back to UC1 becausethe grenade throwing is so off and unnatural in UC1. still; all 3 games are must haves.

Worst in the trilogy. But that's understandable cause the A-team was working on The Last of Us already :bow B-team Uncharted 3 is just... jank.

do you seriously believe that?

[IvanI]

Worst in the trilogy. But that's understandable cause the A-team was working on The Last of Us already :bow B-team Uncharted 3 is just... jank.

aha! an American jank! :)

[StoppedInTracks]

aha! an American jank! :)

Indeed ;)

do you seriously believe that?

I seriously believe TLOU will blow away U3 and be the game U3 should have been.

[Combichristoffersen]

Worst in the trilogy. But that's understandable cause the A-team was working on The Last of Us already :bow B-team Uncharted 3 is just... jank.

Personally I'll take U3 over TLOU any day. Nice graphics for TLOU, but zombies = dull shitsux, no thanks. Give me vampires or werewolves, and we might be talking.

[chickdigger802]

woo. just beat ch6 or w/e the one with the burning house.

Might have been one of the craziest and kinda dumbest levels I've played in the past year or 2.

A lot more shooting now. I do wish Drake is invincible during melee parts. Died a few times trying to punch a dude while some dude is shooting at me. I believe guns sound better than in U2.

The puzzles were pretty decent so far.

Is it just me, or do all baddies in this game have 'super armor'? It makes sense if a heavily armored dude doesn't get KBed by bullets... but your typical grunts as well? Weird.

[Zophar]

The whole debacle of U3 backlash is the most pristine example of gamer sense of entitlement I can think of. By objective measures Uncharted 3 is an phenomenal title, with unbelievable production values, a high quality script, gameplay that adds (and dare I say improves upon) to a tried-and-true formula, with a a fully-featured muiltiplayer component, etc., etc.,. it's AAA experience any way you slice it.

When people lambast it though, the best they can generally muster up is that it "wasn't as good as Uncharted 2" and summon nebulous reasons as to why U2 was better. Even if you could demonstrably prove that Uncharted 3 is a weaker product than its predecessor, there is so much that is awesome about the game that it becomes audacious to call it a "stinker" or some of the other ridiculous assessments. It says more about the unbelievably high pedigree of the series than the actual (or perceived) shortcomings of the title. It makes me wonder if these naysayers would look upon 1 WTC and scoff that it's no Burj Dubai.

I think a lot of the people sitting at the shrine of U2 forget that the train sequence is just as long and grueling as the ship graveyard section is, with *less* variety in gameplay, or that the plot and the characterization is actually kinda dopey.

[Papercuts]

woo. just beat ch6 or w/e the one with the burning house. Might have been one of the craziest and kinda dumbest levels I've played in the past year or 2. A lot more shooting now. I do wish Drake is invincible during melee parts. Died a few times trying to punch a dude while some dude is shooting at me. I believe guns sound better than in U2. The puzzles were pretty decent so far. Is it just me, or do all baddies in this game have 'super armor'? It makes sense if a heavily armored dude doesn't get KBed by bullets... but your typical grunts as well? Weird.

Yeah, they don't like actually reacting to bullets.

The whole debacle of U3 backlash is the most pristine example of gamer sense of entitlement I can think of. By objective measures Uncharted 3 is an phenomenal title, with unbelievable production values, a high quality script, gameplay that adds (and dare I say improves upon) to a tried-and-true formula, with a a fully-featured muiltiplayer component, etc., etc.,. it's AAA experience any way you slice it. When people lambast it though, the best they can generally muster up is that it "wasn't as good as Uncharted 2" and summon nebulous reasons as to why U2 was better. Even if you could demonstrably prove that Uncharted 3 is a weaker product than its predecessor, there is so much that is awesome about the game that it becomes audacious to call it a "stinker" or some of the other ridiculous assessments. It says more about the unbelievably high pedigree of the series than the actual (or perceived) shortcomings of the title. It makes me wonder if these naysayers would look upon 1 WTC and scoff that it's no Burj Dubai.

[Leshita]

U2 was definitely better than U3 for me. I think they need to work on how they string together all the areas and set-pieces. The flow of the game felt way too forced with Drake just 'coincidentally' moving onto the next area (worst part for me was how he luckily drifted back to Elena after the pirate ship chapter parts). I may have to replay U2 to see if it was as bad in that one, but it really felt forced in U3 for me and made me take the game's narrative much less seriously.

[deepbrown]

Just as good as Uncharted 2, if not a bit better.

I believe that if Uncharted 3 came out first (post aiming patch), everybody would have cooed over it, the same as U2. Then when U2 came out, they would have been 'underwhelmed' by it.

[Ricky_R]

The game was great, but something about it felt off to me. Aside from the weird pace, I think the game would've benefit from a bit more time of development. I guess they need to work on the writing first and set-pieces later, or just integrate the story into the set-pieces in a way that it makes more sense.

Also, I don't know why so many people hate the ship junkyard area. Not only do I think it was the best example of great varied gameplay in the series, but I honestly think it is an example of how great and diverse Uncharted gameplay can be among every other game in its genre.

I felt the ship junkyard was as deep as gameplay can get.

[HyperBitHero]

Just as good as Uncharted 2, if not a bit better. I believe that if Uncharted 3 came out first (post aiming patch), everybody would have cooed over it, the same as U2. Then when U2 came out, they would have been 'underwhelmed' by it.

That's because we wouldn't have played through the things U3 ripped for U2 already, so U3 would seem fresh. Also, a lot of U2's praise comes from how much it improved over U1. So, clearly if U3 came out before 2, we would still be impressed with how much better it controlled over 1.

Why am I even trying to explain why this is a lame argument?

[KageMaru]

The game was good but nowhere near as good as Uncharted 2. Beginning was pretty good, the ship yard levels sucked horribly, but the game got better afterwards. Ending was a disappointment though IMO.

The whole game just lacked the polish of U2 and even brought back some design issues from U1, which was puzzling.

I'm sure it's been mentioned in this thread already but make sure to turn on the alternative/fixed aiming if you haven't already. Still don't understand why ND doesn't have that on by default.

[RamzaIsCool]

Imo U3 had higher highs, but lower lows then U2. U2 was more consistant thru out. The thing that bugs me the most about U3 is the weak last act of the game. It didn't give me the pay off I hoped it would give and left me kinda unsatisfied. If a game centres around a story you better damn make sure that you nail the ending or this will effect the perception of the entire game.

Apperantly the game suffered also from schedueling problems with the actors. I think one of the dudes plays a dwarf in the Hobbit and the girl who plays Elena plays in a tv series. Could be a reason why the story felt so meager.

[James Sawyer Ford]

I don't think the shooting is even on par with mediocre stuff such as mindjack/dead to rights/binary domain.

Shooting mechanics are the best out of any TPS.

Nothing beats Uncharted in that regard, IMHO

[UnlovedJew]

I bet going into the settings and changing to alternate aiming will affect your view on aiming. Makes the game MUCH better. Turned it into my GOTY for 2011.

[Satchel]

Why? Why the fuck would you do it? It's a little graphic that says "platinum" next to it, I don't understand why you'd play something you dislike so intensely, on the hardest setting for something so utterly pointless and meaningless. Or, and this is probably more likely, you are just using wild hyperbole to make your point.

When did I say I disliked Uncharted 2?

But yeah, I didn't find the game enjoyable enough to WANT to play it on Crushing. But I'm too OCD not to go for the platinum. I have it for 1 so i need it for all 3 now.

Just got to chapter 24 the other night. Fuck this game goes for too long.

First game was so perfect in almost every way except the shooting.

[KorrZ]

Personally I'll take U3 over TLOU any day. Nice graphics for TLOU, but zombies = dull shitsux, no thanks. Give me vampires or werewolves, and we might be talking.

I like how zombies are boring, but generic dude #8889713 w/ AK47 is cool.

[elcapitan]

I like how zombies are boring, but generic dude #8889713 w/ AK47 is cool.

All the bad guys were bald in UC3. Kind of funny. UC3 is a great experience, but it's a lesser game than UC2. It's still a great game. I just beat it recently, and it's actually gotten me hyped for the Last of Us.

LoU should be amazing.

[IrishNinja]

Totally agree. I was mostly okay with things...until I got to the pirate ship/ship graveyard. Story is lame and half-baked, setpieces of the sake of them, barely any flow, lame villain etc etc. It was a backstep in every way from Uncharted 2.

Hey dudes! Let me show you our cool water effects and stuff. *Two-ish Hours Later* Okay! Back to the actual story now I guess! Just wanted to show you something cool that had no real place in the narrative!

fair points, tokus. can't argue with this.
but worst GOTY? nah, that's ridiculous. awful thread, good job OP.

[UrbanRats]

I think a lot of the people sitting at the shrine of U2 forget that the train sequence is just as long and grueling as the ship graveyard section is, with *less* variety in gameplay, or that the plot and the characterization is actually kinda dopey.

Funny that you mention that piece, since the train sequence is an ingenious way to blend to different settings, with a sense in the story and some amazing set pieces.
The shipyard, be it good or not from a gameplay perspective, it was completely out of their ass, plot wise and infact, at the end of it, they have to basically teleport you to shore, right where Elena is; in Uncharted 2 it made much more sense, since the enemies were actually going in that direction and you wake up in the vicinity of the location they were going to.

With that said, i don't think Uncharted 3 is garbage, but a lot of the critiques have very solid ground.
If you put the graphics aside for a moment, you have an heavily scripted game, with some flawed gameplay mechanics (the shooting was borked pre-patch, the platforming is ridiculous and the puzzles are incredibly basic) and a throw-away story, so the only way for it to shine is to have a flawless flow and pacing, so that you can breeze through it, in an amazing ride, without too much thought put into it.
And the pacing is what most people complain about, that and the inferior gunfights design (compared to Uncharted 2).
It's like having a bad story in Heavy Rain or a bad gameplay in Ninja Gaiden, that's what the game has going for it, if you fuck that up, every other flaw will come up quickly.

Whether you agree with them or not, there's nothing about these gripes, that has to do with entitlement.

BTW, i'm in the camp of those who think Uncharted 2 also wasn't a perfect game, although i think it's vastly superior to 3, for what i've said above.

[shintoki]

Shit. High budget with horrible design at every point. Basically, what was done well in Uncharted 2 was done poorly. And where weak points in UC2, were still present or worse. Only improvement was having more puzzles.

Spoilers of course

Lets just start with the beginning of the game. Your first 2-3 hours are switching between such heavily scripted pieces or cutscenes. A good example of this is either sneaking to the underground layer or young Drake being chased. Once they start to travel, it opens up a bit and you start to get the same feeling as you did in UC2. The platforming, puzzles, and combat variety. And the story is finally seeing some pay off. I was interested in it and starting to enjoy the game more.

Then you get to a point and you lose all but Drake for the next 7 or 8 missions. You supporting characters leave, Sully gets kidnapped, and the Villains disappear. Basically it gets put on hiatus. Till 2 missions before the end. Now you get pirates and Drake reuniting with Elena. The game also switches from a low combat title to 90% combat. And the combat in this is awful. Even with the aiming. It still will not fixed the bum AI, horrible melee addition, Drake moving worse than he did in UC2, and in general, lousy design all around. If UC2 was like driving on the highway, this would be like driving on rocks. Its rough all the way through. A good example of how a scenario would play is an enemy running towards me as I pop 4 bullets in him. Not even acknowledging that he was shot. He spawned and was told to charge my position and that is what he is going to do. There will be no alteration. X guy is going to be a turret in the top right corner. Once the next wave spawns. Y will take his place. And the final wave, Z will take his place. All in the same exact same position. Many of the set pieces either had a deja vu feeling or no real story relevance, other than it sounding cool. And to say a bit on the melee system since I'm getting bored. It was completely unnecessary and only hampered the game.

Anyways, you get to the final few levels and now the original plot is back in. And in the same exact fashion UC2. You encounter an annoying super natural enemy(Not just a bullet sponge, a teleporting bullet sponge), place collapses, and shit resolution.

Here is the thing. I'm not a big fan of 2. I liked it enough, but its not even close to being the game of a generation like it is to others. Yet it went down very nicely for that playthrough. This on the other hand did not have that same flow to it. The controls, level design, combat, and story. It all felt like it had an amateur at the helm.

[BannedEpisode]

As an Uncharted fan I can easily admit that U3 is not up to par with the second.

But a bad game? I'd be very hard pressed to entertain the thought.

[EliteArtist]

In the bonus videos about the making of U3, the dev team blatantly says that they designed the story around the set pieces. Thats all you need to know.
Also id like to find the genius who decided spiders would be a cool addition to the series and needed to show up on 4 seperate occasions. It just seemed lazy. I was fine with it in the chateau, but the rest were wholly unneccasary like they couldnt figure out how to naturally usher the player to the next place. So randomly, SPIDERS.

Ive got other qualms with it, but story is a big thing for me with some games.

[Papercuts]

As an Uncharted fan I can easily admit that U3 is not up to par with the second. But a bad game? I'd be very hard pressed to entertain the thought.

I don't see why you need to be hard pressed to do so when many people in this thread have expanded on why they feel this way. From gameplay, to story, to pacing, to multiplayer, they are all in their own respects with tons of issues. The main thing that is disappointing in comparison to 2 is the lack of any post game cheats, the rest can all be criticized standalone.

[MrPink93485]

In the bonus videos about the making of U3, the dev team blatantly says that they designed the story around the set pieces. Thats all you need to know. Also id like to find the genius who decided spiders would be a cool addition to the series and needed to show up on 4 seperate occasions. It just seemed lazy. I was fine with it in the chateau, but the rest were wholly unneccasary like they couldnt figure out how to naturally usher the player to the next place. So randomly, SPIDERS. Ive got other qualms with it, but story is a big thing for me with some games.

Didn't they use the same approach in regards to set pieces and stories in 2?

[Stallion Free]

Didn't they use the same approach in regards to set pieces and stories in 2?

Different director for the game.

[Lunchbox]

not in the same league as uncharted 2

goty my ass, its like they went back to all the dull messy designs choices from the first game and went from there instead of carrying forward from where 2 ended

[MrPink93485]

Different director for the game.

I know, but nonetheless, I don't think that inherently is a bad thing, though certainly subject to mixed results.

[Papercuts]

I know, but nonetheless, I don't think that inherently is a bad thing, though certainly subject to mixed results.

It's able to work, but 3 is an example of it done poorly in every respect. An entire arc that has no purpose, random bits like the Talbot chase being made a long time before they knew the character, meaning it also makes no sense from both a plot and character point, etc.

[Dysun]

It's not as good as 2, going in to it I expected better not worse so it was a slight disappointment.

Still better than most games

[Lion Heart]

I gained some new found respect for U3 after playing Alan Wake recently. It really makes me appreciate the series even more, definitely top franchise this gen. Thanks Alan Wake.

[ULTROS!]

It's not that bad. It can get a bit tedious at some times though but still looks great.

My only problem is that the game is not as polished as compared to U2, I noticed a good number of bugs (like Drake retracting to the extended arms, base 3D model position for no apparent reason).

[chickdigger802]

So reached Ch10.

Pretty fun for the most part. Those dudes with a riot shield are a pain in the ass.

And I'm not ashamed to admit that I spend like 7min spinning that damn globe for that puzzle.

And framerates DIVE with fire, luckily no shootouts with framerate drops yet.

Biggest issue I have right now is... the plot.



plot darts?

plot magic?

And it does seem my opinion of that old lady seems to be falling every time she appears. =/

And how much times must I hear "Shit, they probably followed us"?

Isn't uncharted a series praised for awesome characters and story telling, or was that some other franchise?


bah...


Still having fun though, Uncharted 3 is an Uncharted ass Uncharted game.

[Raonak]

Isn't uncharted a series praised for awesome characters and story telling, or was that some other franchise?

Yeah, thats uncharted.

It still has great storytelling- ie; presentation, cutscenes, voiceacting, motion capture etc. The stories of the 3 games are pretty simple not too deep or anything.

Uncharted series has great heroes- nate, sully, elena, chloe and cutter.
but it has awful villians... all of them. The old lady and the spy dude had potential but didn't get furfulled.

[Acid08]

Series peaked with the first game. Uncharted 1 was a masterpiece with some flaws that could be overlooked being a new IP. When you see the same flaws in 3 games following, plus some new ones, there's an issue. I'm literally forcing my way through the second playthrough of 2 right now for the platinum. So painful. I played the first game 6 times. It's that good.

Yup, first game is indeed amazing. Still my favorite one.

[braves01]

Uncharted 3 was a let-down coming off UC2. That's the biggest problem, followed closely by the messier story and bad combat additions.

[Metal B]

Also id like to find the genius who decided spiders would be a cool addition to the series and needed to show up on 4 seperate occasions. It just seemed lazy. I was fine with it in the chateau, but the rest were wholly unneccasary like they couldnt figure out how to naturally usher the player to the next place. So randomly, SPIDERS.

I also hate how you think, that they are in some way important, because they show up everywhere in the world, but in the end were just an coincidence?!

Yeah, thats uncharted. Uncharted series has great heroes- nate, sully, elena, chloe and cutter. but it has awful villians... all of them. The old lady and the spy dude had potential but didn't get furfulled.

Even the heroes a very simple, just a little more charming and dynamic then most other videogame characters. Drake is only an male fantasy, but without any weaknesses like Indianer Jones. Sully the mentor character. Elena somehow now always shows up in the late in the game and is forced into being the last minute love-interest for Drake (by the way for an reporter on war crimes she got herself an much higher dead count then most normal soldiers). Chloe was an ghost in Uncharted 3 and, like i sad earlier in the thread, Cutter is the best character in the series (which also isn't really hard).

A good example of how a scenario would play is an enemy running towards me as I pop 4 bullets in him. Not even acknowledging that he was shot. He spawned and was told to charge my position and that is what he is going to do. There will be no alteration. X guy is going to be a turret in the top right corner. Once the next wave spawns. Y will take his place. And the final wave, Z will take his place. All in the same exact same position.

The developers even believe that they are clever, by letting Drake acknowledging, how the enemies take the chance of killing him higher then there own safety. Sorry, its not as smart as they think, if it only comes off as "we know, but we don't care".

[Para bailar La Bomba]

woo. just beat ch6 or w/e the one with the burning house. Might have been one of the craziest and kinda dumbest levels I've played in the past year or 2.

Are we going to hear your opinion on each level as you complete it?

But I'm interested to know why it was "one of the kinda dumbest levels." It was a stock Uncharted level.

Uncharted 3 was a let-down coming off UC2. That's the biggest problem, followed closely by the messier story and bad combat additions.

Yeah, ND need to dispense with the whole "think of set-piece first, write story later" approach to game development asap.

[IdreamofHIME]

I hated it after a few hours and rushed the rest to get it done. Such a shame, coz I savoured UC2 to bits and played through several times.

[Para bailar La Bomba]

. To me it felt like Naughty Dog ran out of steam with the series, like they were just making it because it had to happen.

It felt it like Naughty Dog ran out steam, then somebody pointed a gun to their head and fed them copious amounts of amphetamines.

[raziel]

Yeah, ND need to dispense with the whole "think of set-piece first, write story later" approach to game development asap.

as long as ND is making video games and not movies, they definitely don't.

it's a video game first, so everything in it including story should be in service to the 'game' part of it - not the other way around. if there's an opportunity to add color to a game through new environments, new characters/enemies, etc, there's no reason it shouldn't be seized. the pirate diversion did all of this successfully in UC3 and it would be a lesser game without it.

[Combichristoffersen]

I like how zombies are boring, but generic dude #8889713 w/ AK47 is cool.

Where did I say Generic Brown Guy is cool? Uncharted has had pretty dull enemies in all three games, sans the Gollums and Smurfs in UC1 and 2.

[Para bailar La Bomba]

it's a video game first, so everything in it including story should be in service to the 'game' part of it - not the other way around. if there's an opportunity to add color to a game through new environments, new characters/enemies, etc, there's no reason it shouldn't be seized. the pirate diversion did all of this successfully in UC3 and it would be a lesser game without it.

There's a mild contradiction in what you say because it's apparent ND is pulling its set pieces straight from movie scenes and building a game around them.

This is not the hallmark of traditional game design.

[Paco]

I'm with the OP, loved the original and U2, with U2 being one of my favorite games of all time, but U3 was just a fucking letdown. I hated pretty much everything about it.

As soon as the credits started rolling I ejected it out of my PS3 and promptly took it to Gamestop to rid myself of it forever. Uncharted 2 is still sitting on my my shelf -- I will keep it as long I have a way to play it.

[gaming_noob]

I gained some new found respect for U3 after playing Alan Wake recently. It really makes me appreciate the series even more, definitely top franchise this gen. Thanks Alan Wake.

The gameplay is quite different in both games and I don't think it's comparable. Unless you're intentiionally provoking fans of other games now...

Edit: Okay after reading your other post in this thread I think I'll just put you on ignore.