Fancy Clown
Member
UPDATING with some of my own gameplay clips:
A common criticism I hear about the Uncharted series, even among those who like the series, is that the gameplay--specifically the combat--is poor, mediocre, boring, filled with bullet sponges, generic cover shooter, etc. And, after revisiting the series through the PS4 collection, where I payed particular attention the combat mechanics, level design, and encounter design, I can safely say that people who have those criticisms are either out of their damn minds, or have been playing the games in the least fun way imaginable.
I am going to be discussing Uncharted 2 and 3 here, because while the first game is still a okay TPS, it was a mere stepping stone for what was accomplished in the sequels (yes, Uncharted 3 has good combat too, apart from a few shit encounters and worse hit reactions. It's makes some nice changes to make the combat even more mobile. Uncharted 2 is still tops though).
Uncharted combat is about movement. I cannot stress that enough. Yes, there is cover in the games and yes it's important, but it's not there to simply hide behind and poke your head out to take shots the entire time, and doing so would ignore the vast amount of tools you have to be mobile in combat. I'll start with player mechanics. In combat, Drake runs faster than normal, and he still has access to his roll, climbing abilities, jumping, and melee. These all serve to empower the player to move around in the combat arenas. Hip fire is extremely important for this as well, because it allows you to engage in combat without slowing down, and is very effective given its generous auto aim. You also have regenerative health, which was not something that was decided on a whim, or to cater to modern design trends, but to encourage you to move around in combat because you don't have to worry about taking permanent damage. That's what the cover is for, to recover, survey your surroundings, and take out a few guys before going on the move again. The melee system also allows you to weaken enemies with gunfire, and then knock them out with a single hit without losing momentum, or to engage in fisticuffs to stop an enemy from gunning you down at close range. These mechanics all combine to give the player and incredibly scrappy, fluid move set. The two weapon limit is also part of this design decision. Not only does each weapon have a fairly specific function, forcing you to try and pick up different ones for specific enemy types, but they also run out of ammo a decent amount so you have to leave cover and to pick up more. The simplicity of the controls and mechanics for all these actions aren't a lack of depth either, they are simple so that it's easy manageable for you to do all the crazy mobile adventurer combat without wresting with the controls, trying to remember how to do a hand to hand combo or do some timing based button presses while you're scaling a wall to get to higher ground.
Set-pieces are all about movement in combat too. What Uncharted gets that other cinematic games don't, is that the set-pieces aren't about passive spectacle, but are actually special level/encounter design tweaks that force you to fight in an even more mobile way using the core mechanics. A shoot out jumping from jeep to jeep as they explode, running around in a collapsing building dodging debris as you hip fire, fighting in an exploding airplane as cover slides around dynamically. Set-pieces in Uncharted shouldn't be talked about separately from the games combat, because they are a part of it, fully enmeshed in the game's level/encounter design.
So, you could play the game mostly as a stop-and-pop shooter despite all the efforts and advantages the game gives you to do otherwise, but that's pretty boring and would likely take a lot longer and probably be harder too. Or, you could play like it's intended and it should look something like this (2min 45sec in and on. Not only is it fun and satisfying to play, but it looks awesome too. I was too lazy to upload my own gameplay, but all the shootouts in the game can be be done as fluid as this, and the demo player didn't even make use of some of the vertical arrangements in this particular level).
I was especially reminded of how good Uncharted's combat is because I finally picked up Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and have made good progress in that. It's funny because many people think Tomb Raider has better combat, which kind of boggles my mind. I've heard that it has more "depth", which if you measure depth in terms of useless upgrades, you may be correct. But the combat in that game really does boil down to hiding behind cover, and easily gunning down the enemies, because they drop really easily, most of them don't have guns, the encounters don't make use of the open levels so they can't flank you, you can't hip fire so there's no point in trying to run around and make use of traversal skills in combat as you'll only soak up damage as you slowly over the shoulder aim, you carry tons of ammo and don't pick up enemy guns so you don't have to leave cover to retrieve more, there's an abundance of explosive barrels placed around enemies to take them out even easier, and only seldom do they throw Molotov's or send armored guys at you to flush you out.
So yeah, Uncharted is a great TPS series beyond just "pretty graphics, good story, and spectacle". Uncharted 4 is seems like its changing a lot of peoples minds on the games, but the truth is that while it looks incredible and a huge leap for the franchise, it's just building on what was already a rock solid combat philosophy that is unlike any other TPS out there, even among its imitators.
A common criticism I hear about the Uncharted series, even among those who like the series, is that the gameplay--specifically the combat--is poor, mediocre, boring, filled with bullet sponges, generic cover shooter, etc. And, after revisiting the series through the PS4 collection, where I payed particular attention the combat mechanics, level design, and encounter design, I can safely say that people who have those criticisms are either out of their damn minds, or have been playing the games in the least fun way imaginable.
I am going to be discussing Uncharted 2 and 3 here, because while the first game is still a okay TPS, it was a mere stepping stone for what was accomplished in the sequels (yes, Uncharted 3 has good combat too, apart from a few shit encounters and worse hit reactions. It's makes some nice changes to make the combat even more mobile. Uncharted 2 is still tops though).
Uncharted combat is about movement. I cannot stress that enough. Yes, there is cover in the games and yes it's important, but it's not there to simply hide behind and poke your head out to take shots the entire time, and doing so would ignore the vast amount of tools you have to be mobile in combat. I'll start with player mechanics. In combat, Drake runs faster than normal, and he still has access to his roll, climbing abilities, jumping, and melee. These all serve to empower the player to move around in the combat arenas. Hip fire is extremely important for this as well, because it allows you to engage in combat without slowing down, and is very effective given its generous auto aim. You also have regenerative health, which was not something that was decided on a whim, or to cater to modern design trends, but to encourage you to move around in combat because you don't have to worry about taking permanent damage. That's what the cover is for, to recover, survey your surroundings, and take out a few guys before going on the move again. The melee system also allows you to weaken enemies with gunfire, and then knock them out with a single hit without losing momentum, or to engage in fisticuffs to stop an enemy from gunning you down at close range. These mechanics all combine to give the player and incredibly scrappy, fluid move set. The two weapon limit is also part of this design decision. Not only does each weapon have a fairly specific function, forcing you to try and pick up different ones for specific enemy types, but they also run out of ammo a decent amount so you have to leave cover and to pick up more. The simplicity of the controls and mechanics for all these actions aren't a lack of depth either, they are simple so that it's easy manageable for you to do all the crazy mobile adventurer combat without wresting with the controls, trying to remember how to do a hand to hand combo or do some timing based button presses while you're scaling a wall to get to higher ground.
The level design facilitates and rewards movement. All the combat arenas are in some way about verticality. These vantage points reward players for scrambling up them in a shootout with a height advantage, and frequently power weapons as well. Each arena feels really unique and handcrafted to offer some twist on player mobility, and always gives tons of options to player. Some highlights include a shootout where you are flipping around a sign post, using the signs as cover from enemies that come out in various directions, an arena in a blizzard where the toppled train cars act as vantage points, and a ship graveyard where the player can dive into the water and swim between floating platforms to avoid enemies and gain better tactical ground.
Set-pieces are all about movement in combat too. What Uncharted gets that other cinematic games don't, is that the set-pieces aren't about passive spectacle, but are actually special level/encounter design tweaks that force you to fight in an even more mobile way using the core mechanics. A shoot out jumping from jeep to jeep as they explode, running around in a collapsing building dodging debris as you hip fire, fighting in an exploding airplane as cover slides around dynamically. Set-pieces in Uncharted shouldn't be talked about separately from the games combat, because they are a part of it, fully enmeshed in the game's level/encounter design.
Yes, the enemies are designed to make you move, too. I always hear the enemies in Uncharted are bullet sponges, and no they're not really apart from some specific enemies (more on that in a bit). They may take a little longer to kill than other shooters enemies, but that's actually a good thing. Why? Well first of all, they take more damage the closer you are. This again, is to get you to move and take advantage of your toolset and the levels to get closer to enemies. And if you could drop every enemy in 1-2 shots without head-shots, then you'd never have to leave cover. The enemies have lots of tactics to get you to move. Snipers have laser sights where the only way you can avoid their one hit KO is if you move and roll around. Grenades are meant to flush you out of cover. Enemies are pretty good at flanking and rushing you as well, which means you have to move to different vantage points and take advantage of your melee and hip fire. Shield enemies force you to use grenades (or run around looking for them), or to be mobile and get behind them. Now for the actual bullet sponge enemies: the armored guys. I really don't get the hate for them. They're intimidating and take a bunch of bullets, but their effect in encounters is great. They usually only have shotguns which means you have to take them out before they reach you, and they slow walk, so it's about taking them out (destroying their armor, which provides some nice visual feedback to make up for the abuse they can deal with) while managing the quicker, lighter enemies around them adding another dynamic and priority threat assessment in combat.
So, you could play the game mostly as a stop-and-pop shooter despite all the efforts and advantages the game gives you to do otherwise, but that's pretty boring and would likely take a lot longer and probably be harder too. Or, you could play like it's intended and it should look something like this (2min 45sec in and on. Not only is it fun and satisfying to play, but it looks awesome too. I was too lazy to upload my own gameplay, but all the shootouts in the game can be be done as fluid as this, and the demo player didn't even make use of some of the vertical arrangements in this particular level).
I was especially reminded of how good Uncharted's combat is because I finally picked up Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and have made good progress in that. It's funny because many people think Tomb Raider has better combat, which kind of boggles my mind. I've heard that it has more "depth", which if you measure depth in terms of useless upgrades, you may be correct. But the combat in that game really does boil down to hiding behind cover, and easily gunning down the enemies, because they drop really easily, most of them don't have guns, the encounters don't make use of the open levels so they can't flank you, you can't hip fire so there's no point in trying to run around and make use of traversal skills in combat as you'll only soak up damage as you slowly over the shoulder aim, you carry tons of ammo and don't pick up enemy guns so you don't have to leave cover to retrieve more, there's an abundance of explosive barrels placed around enemies to take them out even easier, and only seldom do they throw Molotov's or send armored guys at you to flush you out.
So yeah, Uncharted is a great TPS series beyond just "pretty graphics, good story, and spectacle". Uncharted 4 is seems like its changing a lot of peoples minds on the games, but the truth is that while it looks incredible and a huge leap for the franchise, it's just building on what was already a rock solid combat philosophy that is unlike any other TPS out there, even among its imitators.
