The Artisan
Member
I'll level with you that I thought for the most part Uc3 topped Uc2. Honestly for me, the biggest issue with Uc3 was the lack of a final bossfight. When nate shot down the giant genie lamp, I was expecting the genie to come out of it and THAT be the epic final boss fight of the game. instead... we don't even have one and just have a qte fight with talbot. pretty much everything else about the game (aside from the endless waves of enemies, which isn't limited to Uc3 as Ucc2 had that too) imo was an improvement over Uc2.Yes, I both like it more and I think it's better than UC2. It's not perfect, but neither was its predecessor.
I think it is better paced as opposed to UC2's kill-rooms that seemed slightly wash/rinse/repeat.
I think it has a better story with more interesting characters this time around. Things are actually explored and we get a sense of purpose from Drake whereas Drake was just a force of nature in the first two.
And a lot of it is the spectacle and presentation. If something is going to strive towards being a "playable blockbuster" than it needs to take advantage of its in game presentation. There was one moment in UC2 that blew me away in terms of visuals and that was in the ice caves. You are pushing Drake up to climb and you see the yeti move foreground. I had never really seen anything like that before. It was that kind of gameplay+presentation moment that I wanted more of and UC3 delivered. There are so many times in UC3 where I "dont realize that I'm playing" based on the fraiming. I love that kind of stuff and really want to see it pushed to the next level. More so, UC3 is just more "playable" overall than UC2. Yes, it has more cut-scenes objectively, but it is giving you these smaller moments like Drake pushing Cutter forward or getting Drake back on his feet during the second night in the desert. Or even something as simple as pushing Drake all the way to his feet in this sequence:
You have to keep pushing him, all the way. Both in that sequence as well as the ones previously mentioned. It doesn't automatically take over, etc. There is a complete involvement with the action and the input. Too many things go on autopilot for these sequences, UC3 didn't and I appreciate that.
This is the interactive medium and interaction should be important. Hell, my biggest problem with The Order was that it just didn't let you do enough. UC3 kept control constantly in your hands and I love it for doing so. The example I always point to is the signature setpiece for both games. In Uncharted 2 Drake hops on the train in cutscene and then proceeds to use cover based shooting(what he has done the entire game) but this time on a mobile platform. In UC3 Drake getting to the plane was all gameplay, down to the chasing and the guiding Elena section. The latter is what I want for the sequel.
Truthfully, its got problems. Combat balancing needs to fixed. I liked the overall frequency of shootouts but I didn't care for their intensity. It was like they were throwing everything at you to make up for lost time. I think their needs to be a happy medium between the two and combat needs to be used appropriately and not gratuitously.
Looking at UC4 I don't feel worried about that.
People always give UC3 shit mostly for its combat. Honestly, that's the thing I care the least about. And given the gif posted, UC4 is going to do well in that field. I'm just worried about everything else in terms of play-ability and presentation. TLoU was great, but I feel it was a set back from UC3 in-regards to the moments that I think make the medium special. That said, I loved thegiraffes, injured Joel, prologue, deer hunt, epilogue, and hospital carry.
I have to admit though I enjoyed Uc2 mp more than Uc3. the other day I saw a brokengameshd video talking about how robert cogburn being the lead director for Uc4 mp is not a good thing.
however, one thing you should acknowledge is that while Uc3 is great, Uc2 is a game considered to be one of the greatest games of all time, but not Uc3.
