Enemies react to pretty much every hit you land on them in 1&2 (in 3 they only react to like every other hit). Hard was perfect difficulty too, you could easily play very mobile but it provides a good challenge.
You're right. Watching videos, it's true they get stunned momentarily if they're not in cover (if they're in cover, it's dicey). But they don't really get stunned for very long at all. So, if you aren't repeatedly shooting them, they'll shoot back. But while you're whittling down their large health bars, the other AI is shooting at you. I mean, reading this it seems pretty bog standard, but there is a high enemy count in Uncharted which can make gunfights tedious. Compare that to my experience in the reply I make below. I played through 2 and 3 about two months ago back to back, so it's a little embarrassing I didn't recall the stun time that
is there.
Like someone else in the thread said, playing on harder difficulties doesn't always make a game better and it does tend to make Uncharted annoying, at least on crushing. I found hard to be a good balance up until you get to the BS juggernaut guys. And yeah, the dodge/cover system is clunky and can lead to some deaths, but I can live with a few bad runs if at least when it works, it's fun. Tomb Raider doesn't offer anything that is at all as engaging in comparison.
Yeah, but I don't really find that as fun as shooting a guy, hobbling/rolling up to him while he's got some noticeable stun time, probably throwing sand at a group near to him (or behind him, as it ignores barriers), finishing him off with an invincible melee finisher to begin the health recuperation countdown and then either blasting the stunned guys with a shotgun if they're further away or just hacking at them with melee. It creates a rhythm more involved than just straight cover shooting. You're fighting guys with axes, guns, and shields (that you have to dodge to melee finish) all at once and their feedback to your weapons is just fantastic and impacting. And if you were to play the game like Uncharted, as a straight-forward cover shooter, then you at least wouldn't have to dink around with the triangle button to pick up the gun you want to in a sea of guns, or fudge around with the circle button to snap to the cover you're attempting to snap to. In any case you're probably right and that the game is best played on Normal, but it really just felt like I was playing a bunch of cutscenes with how forgiving it was the couple of times I tried it.
Last of Us adopted TR13's inventory and cover system for the better and I think that's at least telling. Likewise, UC4 adopted TR13/Rise's more involved platforming mechanics. That's flattery and a suggestion from the horse's mouth that Crystal Dynamics were doing something better than what was currently on offer.