The fact I wasn't able to play the online multi-player without buying a subscription fee already set off a warning signal. And, of course, when you do finally get the play the content there's this currency system which you have to pay for to top it up. There's also already DLC for the multi-player available. This is why I was dreading the game. I feared that a franchise which set the standard for the previous generation of overly-cinematic Triple A games would continue to set the standard for extorting as much money from consumers as possible whilst giving us less content.
Fortunately though, the multi-player is exactly like the previous Uncharted multi-player modes. That is to say, it's a contractually-obligated footnote that has nothing to do with the single-player; just like the Deus Ex and BioShock 2 multi-player modes. The fact multi-player isn't included in The Nathan Drake Collection really proves how little significance it had...and continues to have. It's just a vacuum to suck some extra money away for anyone gullible enough. Thus, I shall only discuss the single-player from here on out.
Uncharted 4 begins, as with Uncharted 2, in-media-res. Whilst it shows off the impressive weather-effects, it doesn't have the sheer pomp of 2's dramatic intro and probably could've been re-inserted back into it's linear place. The true start comes when we see Nathan Drake as a young boy (younger than the flashback in 3) in an orphanage re-uniting with his...brother.
Yes, Uncharted 4 concerns Nathan Drake teaming up with his long-lost brother Samuel Drake to finish the first treasure hunt they started. The game very quickly establishes why Sam was long-lost, and even gives you a short section where you play as Sam just so we feel some sort of affinity for the character. Later the game conjures a reason for why Nathan has failed to mention Sam throughout the course of three whole games, yet it's still odd how such a close relation to Nathan is suddenly thrust into the narrative. I'm reminded of how in Half Life 2: Episode 2 a character is introduced and everyone's like: "Oh, you remember him! You both go way back! We've been in contact with him the whole time!" It's as disturbing here as it is now.
The game is quick to gloss over this narrative anomaly...and it actually works. This game is very much an amalgamation of the previous Uncharted games and The Last Of Us. I know how bizarre this sounds, but I don't mean that Nathan Drake explores a post-apocalyptic nightmare. There's a much stronger focus on character this time round. In fact, I'd argue it's almost completely character-focused considering how the plot's fairly weak.
Maybe I'm just saying this because the characters are my favourite part. There's an extended section where you're just lounging around the house with Elena, and it establishes precisely what point their relationship is at. Most people would probably restrict this to a cutscene, but Naughty Dog takes from Left Behind and lets you play a game with Elena all whilst they exchange actually entertaining dialogue. Nathan Drake is no longer a murderer masking his actions with cheap wisecracks. Even though his face looks completely different for some reason, Drake's now a husband with a job and a house with a mortgage. His jokes about unlocking the ancient mysteries of a 21st century car are both funny whilst demonstrating his want of adventure despite his comfortable existence.
This is aided by a shift in gameplay. There are a handful of moments that finally merge gameplay with storytelling instead of keeping both separate. During the vehicle sections (we'll get to them) the characters each hold snatches of conversations which if you interrupt then they'll carry on later. You can also stop and hold conversations on the ground in addition to the short snatches you get whilst exploring. My favourite moment was where you're driving with Elena. There's nothing around, you don't talk, but it's a beautiful sunny day. It's a quiet moment of reflection between you and your wife.
The gameplay itself is unchanged in the sense this is still a cover-based shooter with Prince Of Persia-style climbing sequences. You move through a linear series of set-pieces, massacring your way through a private militia across the globe. What's changed is that the environments pleasantly evoke Half Life 2 in how the level design is much more open without losing it's linearity. You need to go through a pre-determined, scripted series of events, but to get to these events you have several different pathways. Instead of just locking doors, the game's happy to lead you through dead ends, or even give you a shortcut. This is marred somewhat how you still can die by falling down drops that really shouldn't have killed you.
I actually really like this. The game's more of less taken the great parts of Uncharted, and tried to bolster the weaker parts. It's kept the high-budget set-pieces and comfortable linear action whilst making the game feel less like a ghost-train. Couple this with the greater emphasis on , plus refined platforming mechanics and we have the perfect sequel. Most importantly; Sully is back! And when you first meet him he's wearing a tuxedo and smoking a cigar like a complete cad.
On those platforming mechanics then. Added to Drake's previous repertoire is a pick that makes you climb further and is really intense to use since it requires precise timing. There's also sliding, and Drake clearly has jeans made of iron because surely his underwear would get burnt off sliding around gravel. The sliding itself is awkward, but it's not used enough to be a stumbling block. The key addition is a grappling hook, which you can attach to various surfaces to either climb up or swing across. This is fun, yet highly contextual. You can't even throw the grappling hook at the obvious poles jutting out; you have to wait for the button-prompt...which sometimes doesn't show up unless you're in a very specific, millimetre-wide spot. It's a shame because if we were given more freedom with this tool then the environments could've been opened up even more.
Whilst there's only two fist-fight sections right at the start of the game, the melee combat still isn't as good as 2. You still get caught in 'melee mode' when actually you just wanted to throw a punch to throw the enemy off before blasting him with your shotgun. Whilst there are still various take-down animations, you can no longer pull a grenade pin out of someone's pouch. I still think 2 perfected melee; where it merely was a way to finish off enemies whilst still giving you the option to counter. Here it's more stripped down than 3...but still not stripped down enough.
Also, thank you so much for letting me choose in the options to have it so you can hold down triangle rather than mash it during quick-time events. I've probably bought my hands another year before arthritis kicks in at last.
Grenades are back, but for some reason I didn't use them as much - perhaps because the buttons have been swapped round and for some reason you can no longer throw enemy grenades back. Also, I still never got used to how L1 is now the grappling hook and instead you reload with triangle. At least it makes Drake swing the hook around like a male stripper dressed as a cowboy with a lasso. (You have no idea how long it took me to think of that analogy.)
The shooting is almost completely unchanged. Yet, perhaps it's just the dualshock 5's excellent vibration (STOP SNIGGERING) but the combat feels much more satisfying. The heavy-duty weapons feel sufficiently powerful, and so I actually went out of my way to find the more advanced weapons instead of just sticking to the AK-47. There's also a really useful symbol on the targeting reticule that tells you both if you're shot made target, and then if it's killed your foe. This completely eliminates the previous issue where it was difficult to tell if you'd headshotted an enemy or if they'd just dived back into cover, and I really wish Naughty Dog would go back and put this in their previous games.
The stealth is honestly perfect now. Not only do enemies have a clear indication of if they can see you or not, but you can tag enemies like in the Far Cry games to keep track of their movement, there are multiple ways to take them down, you can hide in long grass, and you can run away and lose your enemies. OK, maybe the whole system steals from Shadow Of Mordor...but it's a good system. I actually managed to get through several encounters without being detected, compared to in the earlier games where by the end I just gave up and opened fire on everyone.
The game is also less racist as finally you're against an American villain! He's still allied with an English woman who commands an army of various ethnic groups (funny how the villains are so inclusive whilst our heroes are all white Americans) but it's a step in the right direction, Naughty Dog! And the people we're against are a private military group so I don't feel bad about slaughtering them en-masse. I still wish there was a stealth take-down that didn't involve snapping someone's neck...
I think the most impressive part of the game is how the vehicle sections are actually fun. Not only are they smooth and easy to control, but you're talking with characters all the time and you have the option to get out whenever you like and look around. It makes the environments feel even more open as you find a ruin en-route and stop for a moment to poke around. Again, it evokes the sections in Half Life 2 where the vehicle was both a set-piece and a tool for you to utilise. It's even more impressive when you get on a boat and, unlike Half Life, you can dive underwater.
The graphics are gorgeous. This is one of the best-looking games currently out there. Jungles, plains, villas, ballrooms, caves, cathedrals; they look outstanding. At moments it's almost photo-realistic. The problem with such breathtaking visuals is that at times the frame-rate drops. There's also several glitches, but throughout the course of playing this game to review I already had to sit through two updates...both of which were 3 GB. A recurring glitch was where a hint would pop up then it wouldn't go away even though you'd already carried out what the hint was saying. There was also one complete crash. I never thought I would get a 404 on a console, but there you go.
And it's all tied together by a plot which is weak, yet impressed me with how it held everything together. There's the typical twist whereupon the heroes are obviously going to give up the treasure whilst the treasure will inevitably destroy the villains, but the game knows you'll guess this twist so it just reveals it beforehand. You'd think this would be disappointing, yet actually the game plays this to it's advantage. We realise how futile the treasure-hunting is, and so Nathan spends the rest of the game re-uniting with Elena and trying to console Sam. Not only does Nathan go through a character-arc...but so does everyone else. Previously, Drake was still the same old Drake by the end. Here though, he changes. He matures. He learns something.
Overall; this is by far the best Uncharted game. Part of me doesn't want it to be the last because I enjoyed this so much and want more, yet another part is glad this is it. Very few franchises get the privilege to end at their highest point. And best quit whilst you're ahead, am I right?
The game is quick to gloss over this narrative anomaly...and it actually works. This game is very much an amalgamation of the previous Uncharted games and The Last Of Us. I know how bizarre this sounds, but I don't mean that Nathan Drake explores a post-apocalyptic nightmare. There's a much stronger focus on character this time round. In fact, I'd argue it's almost completely character-focused considering how the plot's fairly weak.
Maybe I'm just saying this because the characters are my favourite part. There's an extended section where you're just lounging around the house with Elena, and it establishes precisely what point their relationship is at. Most people would probably restrict this to a cutscene, but Naughty Dog takes from Left Behind and lets you play a game with Elena all whilst they exchange actually entertaining dialogue. Nathan Drake is no longer a murderer masking his actions with cheap wisecracks. Even though his face looks completely different for some reason, Drake's now a husband with a job and a house with a mortgage. His jokes about unlocking the ancient mysteries of a 21st century car are both funny whilst demonstrating his want of adventure despite his comfortable existence.
This is aided by a shift in gameplay. There are a handful of moments that finally merge gameplay with storytelling instead of keeping both separate. During the vehicle sections (we'll get to them) the characters each hold snatches of conversations which if you interrupt then they'll carry on later. You can also stop and hold conversations on the ground in addition to the short snatches you get whilst exploring. My favourite moment was where you're driving with Elena. There's nothing around, you don't talk, but it's a beautiful sunny day. It's a quiet moment of reflection between you and your wife.
The gameplay itself is unchanged in the sense this is still a cover-based shooter with Prince Of Persia-style climbing sequences. You move through a linear series of set-pieces, massacring your way through a private militia across the globe. What's changed is that the environments pleasantly evoke Half Life 2 in how the level design is much more open without losing it's linearity. You need to go through a pre-determined, scripted series of events, but to get to these events you have several different pathways. Instead of just locking doors, the game's happy to lead you through dead ends, or even give you a shortcut. This is marred somewhat how you still can die by falling down drops that really shouldn't have killed you.
I actually really like this. The game's more of less taken the great parts of Uncharted, and tried to bolster the weaker parts. It's kept the high-budget set-pieces and comfortable linear action whilst making the game feel less like a ghost-train. Couple this with the greater emphasis on , plus refined platforming mechanics and we have the perfect sequel. Most importantly; Sully is back! And when you first meet him he's wearing a tuxedo and smoking a cigar like a complete cad.
On those platforming mechanics then. Added to Drake's previous repertoire is a pick that makes you climb further and is really intense to use since it requires precise timing. There's also sliding, and Drake clearly has jeans made of iron because surely his underwear would get burnt off sliding around gravel. The sliding itself is awkward, but it's not used enough to be a stumbling block. The key addition is a grappling hook, which you can attach to various surfaces to either climb up or swing across. This is fun, yet highly contextual. You can't even throw the grappling hook at the obvious poles jutting out; you have to wait for the button-prompt...which sometimes doesn't show up unless you're in a very specific, millimetre-wide spot. It's a shame because if we were given more freedom with this tool then the environments could've been opened up even more.
Whilst there's only two fist-fight sections right at the start of the game, the melee combat still isn't as good as 2. You still get caught in 'melee mode' when actually you just wanted to throw a punch to throw the enemy off before blasting him with your shotgun. Whilst there are still various take-down animations, you can no longer pull a grenade pin out of someone's pouch. I still think 2 perfected melee; where it merely was a way to finish off enemies whilst still giving you the option to counter. Here it's more stripped down than 3...but still not stripped down enough.
Also, thank you so much for letting me choose in the options to have it so you can hold down triangle rather than mash it during quick-time events. I've probably bought my hands another year before arthritis kicks in at last.
Grenades are back, but for some reason I didn't use them as much - perhaps because the buttons have been swapped round and for some reason you can no longer throw enemy grenades back. Also, I still never got used to how L1 is now the grappling hook and instead you reload with triangle. At least it makes Drake swing the hook around like a male stripper dressed as a cowboy with a lasso. (You have no idea how long it took me to think of that analogy.)
The shooting is almost completely unchanged. Yet, perhaps it's just the dualshock 5's excellent vibration (STOP SNIGGERING) but the combat feels much more satisfying. The heavy-duty weapons feel sufficiently powerful, and so I actually went out of my way to find the more advanced weapons instead of just sticking to the AK-47. There's also a really useful symbol on the targeting reticule that tells you both if you're shot made target, and then if it's killed your foe. This completely eliminates the previous issue where it was difficult to tell if you'd headshotted an enemy or if they'd just dived back into cover, and I really wish Naughty Dog would go back and put this in their previous games.
The stealth is honestly perfect now. Not only do enemies have a clear indication of if they can see you or not, but you can tag enemies like in the Far Cry games to keep track of their movement, there are multiple ways to take them down, you can hide in long grass, and you can run away and lose your enemies. OK, maybe the whole system steals from Shadow Of Mordor...but it's a good system. I actually managed to get through several encounters without being detected, compared to in the earlier games where by the end I just gave up and opened fire on everyone.
The game is also less racist as finally you're against an American villain! He's still allied with an English woman who commands an army of various ethnic groups (funny how the villains are so inclusive whilst our heroes are all white Americans) but it's a step in the right direction, Naughty Dog! And the people we're against are a private military group so I don't feel bad about slaughtering them en-masse. I still wish there was a stealth take-down that didn't involve snapping someone's neck...
I think the most impressive part of the game is how the vehicle sections are actually fun. Not only are they smooth and easy to control, but you're talking with characters all the time and you have the option to get out whenever you like and look around. It makes the environments feel even more open as you find a ruin en-route and stop for a moment to poke around. Again, it evokes the sections in Half Life 2 where the vehicle was both a set-piece and a tool for you to utilise. It's even more impressive when you get on a boat and, unlike Half Life, you can dive underwater.
The graphics are gorgeous. This is one of the best-looking games currently out there. Jungles, plains, villas, ballrooms, caves, cathedrals; they look outstanding. At moments it's almost photo-realistic. The problem with such breathtaking visuals is that at times the frame-rate drops. There's also several glitches, but throughout the course of playing this game to review I already had to sit through two updates...both of which were 3 GB. A recurring glitch was where a hint would pop up then it wouldn't go away even though you'd already carried out what the hint was saying. There was also one complete crash. I never thought I would get a 404 on a console, but there you go.
And it's all tied together by a plot which is weak, yet impressed me with how it held everything together. There's the typical twist whereupon the heroes are obviously going to give up the treasure whilst the treasure will inevitably destroy the villains, but the game knows you'll guess this twist so it just reveals it beforehand. You'd think this would be disappointing, yet actually the game plays this to it's advantage. We realise how futile the treasure-hunting is, and so Nathan spends the rest of the game re-uniting with Elena and trying to console Sam. Not only does Nathan go through a character-arc...but so does everyone else. Previously, Drake was still the same old Drake by the end. Here though, he changes. He matures. He learns something.
Overall; this is by far the best Uncharted game. Part of me doesn't want it to be the last because I enjoyed this so much and want more, yet another part is glad this is it. Very few franchises get the privilege to end at their highest point. And best quit whilst you're ahead, am I right?
