BiGBoSSMk23
A company being excited for their new game is a huge slap in the face to all the fans that liked their old games.
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!
OK. *ahem*
Remember the last time a 4th installment in a beloved franchise tried reconciling all its characters and tieing up their motivations in one last epic send off?
MGS4 was, and still is (unbelievably), praised around these parts for its copious amounts of fanservice and fourth wall breaking moments; but where Kojima and Co. beat you over the head with them, Druckmann and Straley weave these moments into the narrative so deftly, so seamlessly that KojiPro's past efforts comparatively land with the nuance and subtlety of a dusty book in an empty library's floor.
*thud*
Take MGS4's flashback sequence. Here the emulated PS1 is simply an out of context "dream", preluding a tour of a spruced up Shadow Moses. Cute, but not a whole lot of purpose to it besides nostalgia.
Now, in what has to be the slickest form of (future?) product placement ever, ND
, all of this being not only a vehicle for beloved videogame characters to bond on screen, but to create mindshare for the return of a an old forgotten mascot. It's seriously brilliant.
Take MGS4's flashbacks prompts every time a character makes passing reference to a prior games' events. These, at worst, are awkward interruptions to the game's heavy cinmeatic nature. In Uncharted 4 there is an example so subtle, so powerful in its simplicity that I had to pause and say "Wow."
What follows is a cherishable moment laced with humor and bittersweet sadness that brings a tangibly human element to Nathan, one that's seldom seen in video games and which has become a staple of ND's work.
For those of you who have played it, what are your thoughts on ND's increasingly adept efforts at emotional subtlety trumping other venerable industry icons?
OK. *ahem*
Remember the last time a 4th installment in a beloved franchise tried reconciling all its characters and tieing up their motivations in one last epic send off?
MGS4 was, and still is (unbelievably), praised around these parts for its copious amounts of fanservice and fourth wall breaking moments; but where Kojima and Co. beat you over the head with them, Druckmann and Straley weave these moments into the narrative so deftly, so seamlessly that KojiPro's past efforts comparatively land with the nuance and subtlety of a dusty book in an empty library's floor.
*thud*
Take MGS4's flashback sequence. Here the emulated PS1 is simply an out of context "dream", preluding a tour of a spruced up Shadow Moses. Cute, but not a whole lot of purpose to it besides nostalgia.
Now, in what has to be the slickest form of (future?) product placement ever, ND
puts in a PS1, complete with boot up sequence and everything, as Nate comments on the load times, graphics and likelihood of a " fox" stealing fruit while getting chased by a boulder; not only that, he makes note of his natural talent for running and jumping as perks when playing this "TV game thing"...
Take MGS4's flashbacks prompts every time a character makes passing reference to a prior games' events. These, at worst, are awkward interruptions to the game's heavy cinmeatic nature. In Uncharted 4 there is an example so subtle, so powerful in its simplicity that I had to pause and say "Wow."
Nate's "retired" day-job is wreck diving, because, well... his resume is littered with experience. When he comes up from his dive in his wetsuit he is handed a crowbar to open the "spoils", in a moment eerily reminiscent of our dear adveturer's debut as a looter and treasure hunter.
For those of you who have played it, what are your thoughts on ND's increasingly adept efforts at emotional subtlety trumping other venerable industry icons?
