M.W.
Member
I changed credit cards and addresses and it hasn't been delayed. Sorry man.
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Uncharted 4 spoiler free early copy impressions
- Thread starter Loudninja
- Start date
I changed credit cards and addresses and it hasn't been delayed. Sorry man.
Karspankey
Banned
Soon my friend, soon ;_;
Lys Skygge
Member
Tomorrow is the big day! I get to pick up my reservation at 9:00pm from Gamestop!
Chronospherics
Member
I got the game on the 7th and beat the game in a single 13 hour sitting on the 7th. Here's a brief rundown of my experience with the game, entirely spoiler free.
Most notable change going from previous Uncharted games is a shift in the games agenda. In previous games it felt like Uncharted 2 and 3's primary purpose was to 'be the best action game' whereas Uncharted 4's purpose is to tell its story. Significantly, that means that pacing is distinctly different and it isn't the case that every sequence of the game ends in a gunfight. Sometime you will play segments of the game for almost an hour, without killing anyone.
The shifted focus on the games narrative, from the games spectacle enhanced my experience of the game and allowed me to take it more seriously. I loved all of these non-combat instances because of how they develop the narrative and pacing of the game. Similar to TLOU you are rarely alone, and regardless of what you are doing it offers an opportunity to develop or expand upon a relationship between characters. With that said, the spectacular moments from UC2 and 3 remain and I would say that these sequences are better than ever before, contrasting the exploratory and more relaxed gameplay sequences more significantly.
Similar to TLOU there are many environmental interactables that lead to a few lines of dialogue or in some cases additional cutscenes between characters. This is actually heavily integrated into most exploratory segments of the game - more so than in TLOU - and I felt really helped the games pacing, providing ample additional opportunities to interject additional narrative components into the exploratory sequences.
Again, similar to TLOU there are a number of sequences where you need to do things like 'push a cart against a wall' in order to progress, but I didn't feel that these dragged on. Invariably the pacing is very good and the game doesn't ask you to do these actions successively. I feel that reviewers that criticized the frequency of these segments were trying to pick holes with the game, as they do not occupy more than 10 minutes of a 15 hour total runtime. Speaking of runtime. I beat the game in 13hours 30minutes, but I was playing very quickly as I wanted to beat the game in a single day. I only finished with around 20 treasures so I did not make the most of the more open level design and just followed the path that felt natural.
In regards to this 'open level design' it's a big component of the game that's been applied to the Uncharted formula on both a large, and small scale. On a small scale there are lots of small additional routes and climbing opportunities that give you an impression of choice from moment to moment. It's not just a matter of moving up a wall whilst mashing X because there's often more than one route to the top. These route variations are subtle but grant the player a sense of agency that in my opinion the previous series entries lacked, and in turn made me enjoy climbing segments much more enjoyable for me. On a larger scale the game features almost open word levels in a select number of instances, these segments allow for exploration via vehicle with ample opportunity to divert from the main path for additional dialogue sequences or treasures.
In terms of things I didn't like about the game, while the animations and general polish of the game is very good, there were very minor instances where something would stand out as poor. For a moment in one of the caves, the framerate dropped noticably (perfectly playable) and during the cart sequences the motion capture for Drake's legs had not been cleaned up properly, so it looks a bit janky, and doesn't match the quality of the rest of the game, and at times it doesn't feel as though Drake quite touches the surfaces he's climbing on. These issues are not major and in most cases, still better than most triple A titles, but they do demonstrate areas where Naughtydog has not quite reached perfection.
Narratively speaking the game is the best in the series, far less cliche and believable than any other series entries and the quality and consistency of the writing is in my opinion, beyond that of The Last of Us. Naughty Dog harness the narrative structure of The Last of Us, but extend it to the development across a larger cast and in my opinion it feels more accomplished as a result. Gameplay variety helps significantly as the platform of delivery for this narrative varies from one instance to the next. I felt fatigued during the mid section of TLOU, but not Uncharted 4 and in all I felt like it was a slightly better game relative to its context. TLOU tells a great story and has solid underpinning gameplay, but Uncharted tells a great story within the framework of a phenomenally diverse set of gameplay systems that facilitate a different feel and atmosphere from one level to the next.
Finally I'd like to talk about the combat, because it's the best the series has offered and perhaps the best that the genre has offered generally. Controls feel more responsive than they have ever been and transitions between stealth, gunplay are more fluid too. Stealth is a big component allowing you to get through around half of the gameplay encounters completely unseen but significantly it also allows you a lot of gameplay flexibility as you force the AI to shift between various states corresponding to your gameplay behaviour. It feels that you have control over the battle and while it's not as in-depth and they're not as intelligence as in metal gear or something of that sort, it's brilliant relative to the context its integrated and affords the player a much enhanced sense of agency in comparison to previous titles during these combat sequences. The hud is also the best I've seen in a video game of this type. Blood effects clearly indicate bullet direction, and the weapon selection and ammo count is only present when required (during gunplay) most of the game is hud free with some prompts interjected into the environment. It's brilliantly designed.
One thing I will say though, is because the combat is so good yet at the same time, combat is less featured due to more varied gameplay, it's a shame that co-op or something of that sort is missing. I would really like to play more combat orientated sequences, perhaps with some of the replayability that often comes with co-op, but all you can do is replay the scenarios you faced in the campaign. I hope that the co-op that Naughty Dog are releasing at a later date integrates the stealth mechanisms too, that would be fantastic.
In sum, it's the best Naughty Dog game that I have played. Previously, none of the Uncharted series would have made my top 10 of all time, with TLOU and Crash Team Racing being the only titles from Naughty Dog that would sit in one of those spots. However I felt Uncharted 4 was better than both of those games (for me) and certainly, the best the series has to offer.
Most notable change going from previous Uncharted games is a shift in the games agenda. In previous games it felt like Uncharted 2 and 3's primary purpose was to 'be the best action game' whereas Uncharted 4's purpose is to tell its story. Significantly, that means that pacing is distinctly different and it isn't the case that every sequence of the game ends in a gunfight. Sometime you will play segments of the game for almost an hour, without killing anyone.
The shifted focus on the games narrative, from the games spectacle enhanced my experience of the game and allowed me to take it more seriously. I loved all of these non-combat instances because of how they develop the narrative and pacing of the game. Similar to TLOU you are rarely alone, and regardless of what you are doing it offers an opportunity to develop or expand upon a relationship between characters. With that said, the spectacular moments from UC2 and 3 remain and I would say that these sequences are better than ever before, contrasting the exploratory and more relaxed gameplay sequences more significantly.
Similar to TLOU there are many environmental interactables that lead to a few lines of dialogue or in some cases additional cutscenes between characters. This is actually heavily integrated into most exploratory segments of the game - more so than in TLOU - and I felt really helped the games pacing, providing ample additional opportunities to interject additional narrative components into the exploratory sequences.
Again, similar to TLOU there are a number of sequences where you need to do things like 'push a cart against a wall' in order to progress, but I didn't feel that these dragged on. Invariably the pacing is very good and the game doesn't ask you to do these actions successively. I feel that reviewers that criticized the frequency of these segments were trying to pick holes with the game, as they do not occupy more than 10 minutes of a 15 hour total runtime. Speaking of runtime. I beat the game in 13hours 30minutes, but I was playing very quickly as I wanted to beat the game in a single day. I only finished with around 20 treasures so I did not make the most of the more open level design and just followed the path that felt natural.
In regards to this 'open level design' it's a big component of the game that's been applied to the Uncharted formula on both a large, and small scale. On a small scale there are lots of small additional routes and climbing opportunities that give you an impression of choice from moment to moment. It's not just a matter of moving up a wall whilst mashing X because there's often more than one route to the top. These route variations are subtle but grant the player a sense of agency that in my opinion the previous series entries lacked, and in turn made me enjoy climbing segments much more enjoyable for me. On a larger scale the game features almost open word levels in a select number of instances, these segments allow for exploration via vehicle with ample opportunity to divert from the main path for additional dialogue sequences or treasures.
In terms of things I didn't like about the game, while the animations and general polish of the game is very good, there were very minor instances where something would stand out as poor. For a moment in one of the caves, the framerate dropped noticably (perfectly playable) and during the cart sequences the motion capture for Drake's legs had not been cleaned up properly, so it looks a bit janky, and doesn't match the quality of the rest of the game, and at times it doesn't feel as though Drake quite touches the surfaces he's climbing on. These issues are not major and in most cases, still better than most triple A titles, but they do demonstrate areas where Naughtydog has not quite reached perfection.
Narratively speaking the game is the best in the series, far less cliche and believable than any other series entries and the quality and consistency of the writing is in my opinion, beyond that of The Last of Us. Naughty Dog harness the narrative structure of The Last of Us, but extend it to the development across a larger cast and in my opinion it feels more accomplished as a result. Gameplay variety helps significantly as the platform of delivery for this narrative varies from one instance to the next. I felt fatigued during the mid section of TLOU, but not Uncharted 4 and in all I felt like it was a slightly better game relative to its context. TLOU tells a great story and has solid underpinning gameplay, but Uncharted tells a great story within the framework of a phenomenally diverse set of gameplay systems that facilitate a different feel and atmosphere from one level to the next.
Finally I'd like to talk about the combat, because it's the best the series has offered and perhaps the best that the genre has offered generally. Controls feel more responsive than they have ever been and transitions between stealth, gunplay are more fluid too. Stealth is a big component allowing you to get through around half of the gameplay encounters completely unseen but significantly it also allows you a lot of gameplay flexibility as you force the AI to shift between various states corresponding to your gameplay behaviour. It feels that you have control over the battle and while it's not as in-depth and they're not as intelligence as in metal gear or something of that sort, it's brilliant relative to the context its integrated and affords the player a much enhanced sense of agency in comparison to previous titles during these combat sequences. The hud is also the best I've seen in a video game of this type. Blood effects clearly indicate bullet direction, and the weapon selection and ammo count is only present when required (during gunplay) most of the game is hud free with some prompts interjected into the environment. It's brilliantly designed.
One thing I will say though, is because the combat is so good yet at the same time, combat is less featured due to more varied gameplay, it's a shame that co-op or something of that sort is missing. I would really like to play more combat orientated sequences, perhaps with some of the replayability that often comes with co-op, but all you can do is replay the scenarios you faced in the campaign. I hope that the co-op that Naughty Dog are releasing at a later date integrates the stealth mechanisms too, that would be fantastic.
In sum, it's the best Naughty Dog game that I have played. Previously, none of the Uncharted series would have made my top 10 of all time, with TLOU and Crash Team Racing being the only titles from Naughty Dog that would sit in one of those spots. However I felt Uncharted 4 was better than both of those games (for me) and certainly, the best the series has to offer.
sammyCYBORG
Member
Totally agree. In UC1-3, there was too much focus on action. TLOU influence in terms of pacing and story definitely helped this game tremendously.
Chronospherics
Member
On another note, how did reviewers review this game when multiplayer doesn't work till the 10th? That's a big component of the package in my eyes. There are many fans that love the series for its multiplayer offering.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
cuz most people dont care about it as more than a novelty
I'm pretty sure there was a review event where they could play multiplayer.
Chronospherics
Member
It's solid though, it's not a gimmick or novelty. A lot of care and consideration has always gone into the design of Uncharted's multiplayer components.
I just beat Uncharted 3 last night and have a couple of nitpicks, curious if UC4 is similar or if they've improved.
1. Sometimes traversal/exploration would break its own rules to control where I go, like a drop down that would kill me then later there's a longer drop that doesn't, or something that looks like a grabbable ledge but isn't. I felt less like I had to look for cues in the environment, and more like I had to guess what the game wanted me to do.
2. The combat gets tiring and feels ridiculous at times. It doesn't help that the game will happily spawn enemies out of your sight in places where they can easily deal damage to you before you notice them. Toward the end of the game, I often felt like I needed to assume I'd die a couple of times just to learn spawn locations. I would prefer to feel like I can use my wits and reflexes, but I can't always spot an RPG dude on a wall 120 degrees out of my view.
I think UC1 and 2 have these issues to an extent, but I think UC3 just felt less polished than 2 so the flaws stood out to me more.
1. Sometimes traversal/exploration would break its own rules to control where I go, like a drop down that would kill me then later there's a longer drop that doesn't, or something that looks like a grabbable ledge but isn't. I felt less like I had to look for cues in the environment, and more like I had to guess what the game wanted me to do.
2. The combat gets tiring and feels ridiculous at times. It doesn't help that the game will happily spawn enemies out of your sight in places where they can easily deal damage to you before you notice them. Toward the end of the game, I often felt like I needed to assume I'd die a couple of times just to learn spawn locations. I would prefer to feel like I can use my wits and reflexes, but I can't always spot an RPG dude on a wall 120 degrees out of my view.
I think UC1 and 2 have these issues to an extent, but I think UC3 just felt less polished than 2 so the flaws stood out to me more.
Chronospherics
Member
Interesting.
Many reviewers don't mention it, and those that do only mention vague details that anyone could have written after having played the beta. The online communities for Uncharted games are always pretty big, so it's a shame that reviewers neglect that component, in my opinion...
I will wait until playing multiplayer before publishing a full review, personally I feel that that's the right approach.
Persona RS
Member
The multiplayer was available for the reviewers during a limited period of time (five multiplayer review sessions in total).
I like the Uncharted multiplayer (i have 600 hours in U3 MP), and I only published my review of U4 because I tried the final version of the multiplayer.
sammyCYBORG
Member
Combat fatigue and endless waves of enemies was my biggest issue with the series, and 4 pretty much completely solves it.
Chronospherics
Member
1. It feels more consistent and polished than that, I didn't have the issues you described. I did kill myself trying things on occasion though, but generaly it was pretty obvious what I was trying was going to kill me, before I did it. Checkpoints are also much better, if you fall like that you typically start again right before you fell. The platforming isn't challengingn, so there's no sense in forcing players to replay segments upon dying, I'm glad that they see that now...
2. It was fine on normal difficulty but there were some instances with RPGs in one of the final levels that I felt bordered on unfair. RPGs stagger you out of cover, only for you to be shot. So as you describe, sometimes a death is required to figure out the RPG location before you can progress. It's perfectly doable without dying because they don't instant-kill you and you do generally have chance to get back into cover, but if people do die more than anywhere else, I suspect it will be in these sequences. But combat is better paced and doesn't drag on like other Uncharted games, so even if you find one of these instances annoying, it's not long until it's over.
I enjoyed it either way, though.
Awesome to hear, it's actually a huge part of why it took me 5 years to get through UC3. That and how crowded fall 2011 was in terms of releases.
Chronospherics
Member
That's fair enough, which review is yours?
As an example, this is all gamesradar say in their review
Just seems pretty trashy and or lazy, to me.
Ghost Slayer
Member
Actually, reviewers can play MP on their review copy but the server only opens on fixed time depends on schedule. I think it was mentioned in IGN review
edit: beaten
Persona RS
Member
It's in the review thread (my review is this one and it's in portuguese).
I like the Uncharted multiplayer because it's a nice complement to the overall experience. It doesn't feel tacked on and it's quite fun. That's why I feel sad when other reviews say something like that.
I'm so glad to hear this.
Lol
Even my dash button didn't work. After about 5 minutes it finally gave me the option to send the report
If you didn't like Uncharted 2 this game isn't going to covert you. Even if the gameplay is massively improved, it still follows a very similar principle of core design and pacing.
By drastically reducing the number of combat scenarios in between 1-2 hours of quiet exploration.
Wasn't a fan of that. The combat here is so good that they should have put in more of it in.
Snkfanatic
Banned
Thankfully they changed it to one day shipping so I SHOULD have it Tuesday lol...if it doesn't go to shipping soon tomorrow morning or so I will cancel and buy it digitally. Gotta have this game on Day 1 lol
MiamiWesker
Member
This.
Karspankey
Banned
Can anyone with the game tell us what the encounter select is like? Is it separate from a chapter select?
To be fair, harder difficulties add enemies and harder enemy types. So if relentless combat is your thing, just play on Hard or Grounded. It's obviously still going to be spread out more between the exposition, platforming etc, but at least what combat there will be will occupy more of your time. That said, I do agree that I would have preferred more combat and a greater number of enemies in my Normal (Moderate) play through. Then again, I'm accustomed to playing these sorts of games on harder difficulties usually.
Yes. You can select by encounter or chapter. It tells you how many treasures and optional conversations are left to find in each as well.
Primethius
Banned
I think the kill counts already sorta established that the amount of combat is roughly the same as the past games. It's that the game is longer by about 2-3 hours while the amount of time that combat gets is the same which makes it feel like it was reduced when it wasn't.
Not a gimmick at all, man. Uncharted's multiplayer is top notch.
I changed my mind and decided I don't like the harder difficulties because they basically prevent you from using the cooler combat possibilities in Melee and rope mechanics.
Primethius
Banned
You should be fine. I had played the first three UC games but I think the opening does a good enough job at setting up everything for the first time UC player.
Ah, so the proportion to play time is reduced. Still causes the same effect then. They should have increased the combat scenarios.
But at least the ones in there are really fun.
MegaSackman
Member
So, should I play on moderate? I'm not decided between moderate and hard. :/
Prevent you from doing them, or force you to more carefully consider when to attempt such things? Imo it appears to be the latter.
Karspankey
Banned
Thanks for answering! Could you also maybe explain if the encounters are specific enough to say start at the beginning of the E3 demo
(in the car already)
Primethius
Banned
Moderate is my recommendation. Still poses a decent enough challenge (aka not a pushover) while allowing you to mess around with all the new tools and moveset.
alexbull_uk
Member
I'm preloaded and ready.
What difficulty have you early copy folks been playing on? I did all the others on hard, then crushing (eventually).
What difficulty have you early copy folks been playing on? I did all the others on hard, then crushing (eventually).
You can't even approach people on a rope or with Melee without being shot and killed by others in like 1-3 hits depending on the difficulty and weapon.
You have to shoot everyone carefully from a distance and that removes part of the fun for me even though you get the fun of a challenge instead.
At least, if you want to Melee or rope, you gotta make sure very few enemies are left and be careful.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
You can do that stuff just fine, but you just cant be an idiot and decide "lulz bout to swing into a crowd of 3 people while everybody is firing at me" or "think about to run up to this group and do my melee comboz"
MegaSackman
Member
Sounds good yeah, what I want is a nice challenge but still be able to do awesome stuff around the combat zone and not stay behind cover like a coward, I think hard wouldn't allow to be out of cover and running around doing crazy things since enemies are Deadshot gang.
Ok, moderate then. Thx!
Primethius
Banned
There are still the armored enemies from past games here. But I never had an issue with bullet sponginess in UC2 and I don't really here either.
I'll start my Hard run a bit later, but tbh swinging around whilst multiple enemies are shooting at you should result in a quick death on Hard or Grounded. Otherwise it'd just be ridiculously easy. As long as you can survive a few seconds of swinging when just one enemy is actively gunning you, that's acceptable.
Yeah, UC2 was definitely the best in that regard. UC3 was terribly bullet-spongey to me. Thanks!