uncharted: what is the big deal?

[nickfil]

There are a handful of games that i picked up a ps3 for. Exclusives. Uncharted was a big push for me to buy it, as everyone seems to love this game. I'm halfway through it now. I'm at the part where i'm apparently drunk driving a jetski upriver while tanks of gas come downriver and people shoot at me.

Now- before i jump into what my experiences are with uncharted, let me first say that i love this genera of game. The platforming puzzle kinda action game is very close to my heart. Soul reaver, prince of persia, and tomb raider are all generally fantastic (save maybe a few games in the series). I played the first 3 tomb raider games on my ps1 back when they were released and recently played anniversary and legend. Haven't played any soul reaver games since release, but loved them when i did play them. Sands of time series is what got me back into this genera. It is hard to not talk about these games when talking about uncharted.

Now- here is my gripe with uncharted. The puzzles and rooms are so fucking linear that you can sleepwalk through them. There is never a misdirection, or huge amount of scope to the game. I remember being completely awestruck at the area where you have to get the 3 golden gears in the first tomb raider. I remember loving getting the last one and swandiving into that pond below the huge waterfall. And all of this was a reaction to me looking at the room and piecing together what exactly to do and how to get to the places i need to get to. In uncharted I'm walking the path without even knowing where I need to go. Without even knowing the next step, i'm already there because it is actually the only step. There is never any problem solving or thinking. Wherever you are is where you should be. In the beginning i thought, hell.. this is the start- they don't want to overwhelm you. But so far, it never gets harder.

Ok... maybe... maybe it isn't a puzzle game like i thought. Maybe it isn't going to be like the tower of bells in soul reaver. But hey- perhaps the combat will be fun. Strike there too. I can't tell you how many times I've sat there with the cursor over a guys head. Dead center and have unloaded 4 shots before hitting him. Plus- this is the same bullshit hide behind cover- shoot some dudes- hide behind cover to recharge health thing that a bunch of other games do a hell of a lot better, and wasn't even that fun in the first place. In uncharted I'm constantly snapping to the wrong side of cover or jumping/rolling well outside of cover where i didn't want to be. Plus- how many fucking shots does it take with an ak47 to take a dude down? When i put 3 bursts of bullets in a guys chest and he explodes in blood each time and doesn't die- what the fuck is that? AND every guy has to do this elaborate death rattle before they go down. Shit is old fast. If you are going to throw a huge amount of dudes at me, refine the combat.

Which brings me to my very last gripe. This one would be minor if the rest of the game was great, but i can't help but feel cheated when i see this kind of thing. Occasionally my suspension of disbelief is shattered. This happens in 2 different ways. Guys spawning out from seemingly no where, or a bunch of guys being in a hugely inaccessible place. For example: I literally destroyed one room to create a series of ledges so i could get access to a large tower and rob a skeleton to get a key for an ancient door. Not a new lock, an old one. When i walk into the room it swarms with guys shooting at me. What the fuck! Did the guys get the keys and then put them back? How the fuck did they get to the tower? Or how about this- at one part you are watching dudes load up this boat. They are walking form off camera on the right. It is a cut scene and you are talking to that girl that you are with. Now... when the cut scene is over and you walk out to the platform where the dudes were walking from there is nothing there. No platform, no path. no door. Just water.

Lastly- the only redeeming part of this game is the characters and the voice acting. I think that is what people were raving about when they talk about uncharted. Everything game play wise is so repetitive, controlled and mediocre that the only thing that could keep you coming back to it would be the story.

TL;DR The puzzles are linear, combat sucks, voice acting is good. WTF

Prince of persia, tomb raider, and soul reaver are all far and away a superior series. I suspect that people are raving about these games for 2 reasons. The first is that when uncharted came out the ps3 had very little when it came to exclusive games that were AAA titles. Mostly- the ps3 was getting hammered at the marketplace and people latched on to uncharted because it was one of the few titles to even try to fill that niche. Secondly, I think it has been a long long time since people have played a new action platforming title that wasn't horrible. By just being in a sea of FPS games uncharted stood out.

So my question to you racketboys is this- does the game get better? Does the second one improve on the first? If the combat or puzzles were better, I'd be more excited for it.

[Cronson]

I think you're ideas are really well spelled out. Very nice post. I would say to you, finish the game if you want or don't but definitely play the sequel. The fact that you've identified so many of the original's problems means you'll probably love part 2. Its one of the best examples of a developer listening to their audience and improving on all sides.

I got a level or 2 into Uncharted 1 when it came out and gave up on it for many of the reasons you posted. When Uncharted 2 came out I played it through in a few days time and was totally hooked. Then I went back a few weeks ago and played through part 1 and had a lot more fun with it.

[nickfil]

The fact that you've identified so many of the original's problems means you'll probably love part 2. Its one of the best examples of a developer listening to their audience and improving on all sides.

Good to hear. I hate when companies crank out sequels that don't improve upon the original. (halo i'm looking at you)

I'm probably going to stick it out and finish it whenever i have time since the second is better. Chip away at it, rather than marathon it like i thought i was going to do. One saving grace is that the game is a beast of quicksaves and checkpoints. When you play you almost never lose any progress and the game is mostly easy. That plus a better sequel is a formula for me finishing a game despite my gripes with it.

[cnick]

I agree. Among Thieves really improves on all the above complaints.

Personally, the atmosphere/graphics/VA/etc really sold me on the first game and let me ignore some of the shortcomings (except for maybe the jet ski). After going through part 2, I went back on the original to clean up on any missing trophies and enjoyed the game even more. I think it has aged particularly well.

[Niode]

Yeah it is a great game compared what else is available on the PS3. Sad thing is there really isn't that much choice for the PS3. You are like me, have both a PS3 and a 360, I get all my multiplatform games on 360 since they are cheaper and most of the top control and look better. Uncharted does have a lot of flaws but they fixed most of them in the sequel (I still find myself sticking to the wrong cover and getting holes blasted in me) but for the most part it is fixed. I played through Uncharted 2 on Hard for the first playthrough and didn't find that baddies were any easier to kill than the first one. That's probably due to the difficulty level. There are more puzzles in the second one but again, like the first it baby sits you through them with the diary thing. IF you can get passed the linearity of the first one then you'll enjoy the second one more for what it is. An action adventure. It's more of a rollercoaster ride than a thinking man's adventure game a lá Soul Reaver or Zelda etc.

Just sit back and play the game and try not to think too much about it.

Also if it helps, get a shotgun ASAP, it makes battles so much easier. If you find yourself dying a lot on the higher difficulties you should just hide in cover, let them come to you and then just blast them from cover, instant kill every time (if they're close enough). Since I started doing that the higher difficulties are so much more more manageable.

[nickfil]

There are more puzzles in the second one but again, like the first it baby sits you through them with the diary thing. IF you can get passed the linearity of the first one then you'll enjoy the second one more for what it is. An action adventure. It's more of a rollercoaster ride than a thinking man's adventure game a lá Soul Reaver or Zelda etc.

Yeah- i just assumed that with all the praise and hype around it that it would be a more rewarding experience rather than a rollercoaster of a game. I assumed i was going to get more out of it.

Just sit back and play the game and try not to think too much about it.

yeah- i think that is best.

Also if it helps, get a shotgun ASAP, it makes battles so much easier. If you find yourself dying a lot on the higher difficulties you should just hide in cover, let them come to you and then just blast them from cover, instant kill every time (if they're close enough). Since I started doing that the higher difficulties are so much more more manageable.

ha. Too true. I find that generally if you are playing a game where the rifles seem like they are on the weaker side, the shotgun is going to be a beast. Just the way it is. I picked that guy up as soon as i could.

[(-_-)]

Uncharted 2 is much better than the first uncharted. That said, I don't know which tomb raider is superior to uncharted, because I played Legends, Anniversary, Underworld, Angel of Darkness (?), and the first one and they all of them play like ass. I liked anniversary and legends, but they are extremely twitchy and unrefined. Angel of Darkness is one of the worst games I have ever played, and Underworld is so glitchy it's broken so I couldn't proceed past the first hour or so. Guys took way more damage in that than they do in uncharted, and lara can't even aim her guns. In fact, I remember that if you fire from a neutral position without moving, her bullets will randomly hit anything within her range of vision in Legends and Anniversary. I totally agree that Uncharted is super linear, but so much is always happening that I never cared. Combat in Tomb Raider was fairly redundant all of the time. You held lock on, and kept firing because you couldn't aim anyways. In any case, I can't think of many games that come close to the amount of polish that was in uncharted 2 and even though it was super linear, it was one hell of a ride. Also, it's super exciting to have a series in this type of genre that has as good a story and characters that I care about. And how long has it been since a soul reaver has come out? I remember there being like 2 soul reaver games and a bunch of blood omen ones, none of them being particularly spectacular. I got a dreamcast a while ago and soul reaver was the first game I went back and completed because of how much it's talked about. I found it mindnumbingly boring. Combat is irritating, it's super slow, the controls have aged a lot, and the puzzles are frustrating as hell to solve because of how slow and clunky it was to play on the dreamcast controller. I knew what the answer was, but the task of solving it was overwhelming becuase I knew how far I was going to have to roll taht god damn cube to the right spot, and that I was probably going to over roll it and waste some more time running to the other side to roll it back. Maybe I need to play the other one and the Blood Omen games but I wasn't particularly impressed by anything in Soul Reaver other than Raziel and the story. I think the only game I agree with you being better than Uncharted is Prince of Persia. And only the original trilogy, because I despised the newest one. It may not have been as Linear as Uncharted, but jesus, it had some of the most insulting mechanics I've ever had thrown at my face in a game.
I'm going to stop ranting now and apologize if I've come across as just being offensive, but I would just like to say that Uncharted perhaps was a good game, not spectacular aside from characters and voice acting, but good. But uncharted 2 was one of the most thrilling games I've ever played, and was a great experience that topped the first one in practically every way. The series is definitely more of an action adventure cinematic experience than about exploration. Finally, I don't think the first uncharted changes much from where you are, but I think you should just enjoy it for what it is, so you can get to the second one. =)

[nickfil]

Uncharted 2 is much better than the first uncharted. That said, I don't know which tomb raider is superior to uncharted, because I played Legends, Anniversary, Underworld, Angel of Darkness (?), and the first one and they all play like ass. I liked anniversary and legends, but they are extremely twitchy and unrefined. Guys took way more damage in that than they do in uncharted, and lara can't even aim her guns. In fact, I remember that if you fire from a neutral position without moving, her bullets will randomly hit anything within her range of vision. I totally agree that Uncharted is super linear, but I still found it to be a hell of a lot of fun. Combat in Tomb Raider was fairly redundant all of the time. You held lock on, and kept firing because you couldn't aim anyways. In any case, I can't think of many games that come close to the amount of polish that was in uncharted 2 and even though it was super linear, it was one hell of a ride.

ok- angel of darkness- yeah... that game is ass. I haven't played underworld yet.

But legends and anniversary were so much more engaging than uncharted is. Honestly- I'm playing these types of games for the puzzles/platforming rather than combat. If i wanted combat, i'd play gears of war, call of duty, bad company a whole host of others. What i think anniversary and legends does that uncharted doesn't do is make the combat fun and make the combat breakup the puzzles rather than be the meat of the game. Sure you just lock on but you jump around and run all over the place while you are blasting away. It isn't as technical or strategic as uncharted, but i like it a bit better. In uncharted while technical- it is boring and i spend more time sitting behind a wall than doing anything else. In tomb raider i flip over the wall pumping a dude full of bullets and not sweating it because i have a TON of fucking bullets.

Uncharted feels like a game that loses sight of it's own strengths. It doesn't know if it is going to be about combat or puzzles and ends up doing both well, but not great. Tomb raider knows that it is about puzzles and throws combat at you just to spice things up rather than be the focus of the game.

Bottom line- if i wanted to sit behind a wall and shoot at some guys I'd play gears or rainbow six vegas 2. If i wanted complex puzzles and platforming i'd play Zelda or prince of persia. Uncharted doesn't hold a candle to either of these kinds of games, but also doesn't really drop the ball on either front. It rides the line in this weird rollercoaster way. If it didn't get the praise and metacritic scores it did, i wouldn't be as harsh on it... but really don't think it deserves the praise it got.

And the platforming is just as buggy in uncharted as it is in tomb raider. The above is opinion, yours quoted and mine, but buggy platforming is just fact. Both games suffer from buggy leaps of faith and chronic falling. Not to the point of unplayable, but suffer none the less. The reason you don't notice it as much in uncharted is because uncharted is so linear that you don't experiment as much. You take fewer risks and see the buggy side less because you are in a less complex series of platforms.

[(-_-)]

Crap, I thought I was typing the same thing still, not editing... Also, now that I've screwed up what I wanted to get across and read what you had to say before I finished my post, I think I agree about Uncharted. I just beat uncharted 2 and it's messing with my perception of the first game. It was good, not fantastic. The second one I found to be a mindblowing ride. I still don't think it fits into the category of what you're looking for though. It's much improved upon the first one, still very linear, but everything is more polished, faster paced, and even the characters are more interesting this time. And gameplay doesn't consist entirely of hiding behind walls this time. I can't remember now in the first one if you could, but in the second one you can take guys out silently. Which is also pretty well done because it's smooth and fun to pull off. And there is no severe punishment to failing like in a lot of other games. It makes things a little tougher, and turns fights into more of the hiding behind walls, but that's what made the stealth aspect more fun to pull off.
And I remember Tomb Raider platforming being just as linear. And if it wasn't, there was nothing pleasant about it not being so. The only times I died in Tomb Raider was from failing to grab a ledge due to shitty jumping, and trying to "explore" by leaping to what I thought were alternate paths. Everything ultimately goes along the same straight line though.

[nickfil]

I'm going to stop ranting now and apologize if I've come across as just being offensive, but I would just like to say that Uncharted perhaps was a good game, not spectacular aside from characters and voice acting, but good. But uncharted 2 was one of the most thrilling games I've ever played, and was a great experience that topped the first one in practically every way. The series is definitely more of an action adventure cinematic experience than about exploration. Finally, I don't think the first uncharted changes much from where you are, but I think you should just enjoy it for what it is, so you can get to the second one. =)

ha. i responded while you were editing. No offense taken, or given as far as i'm concerned. I'm actually able to have a discussion of different viewpoints on forums!

I haven't touched uncharted 2 yet so i can't speak to it. But like i was saying earlier in the thread, i look forward to it if it does really improve on the game. I think there is a good game in Uncharted which is part of the reason i was pretty dissapointed with the first game. All the characters while fitting into different character archetypes and not being anything super new are all so well done that you don't even care. They are very charming and are the primary thing that has gotten me through this game. If it wasn't for them, i would've stopped probably an hour or two ago.

One of the reasons i started this thread was to talk about what i didn't like in the game and try to understand why it was getting reviews and scores that it was getting. Furthermore, to see if I was way off base, or if others agreed. The other reason was to see if the second improves on what the first game does. It looks like everyone thinks so, so i'll give it a shot sooner rather than later.