Uncharted 3

[SomTervo]

Definitely an excellent game, I felt it was better than Uncharted 2 most of the way through, but the last Act or so felt really unfulfilling to me. Specifically around the 2/3rds or halfway mark, I was literally thinking "this is so, so much better than Uncharted 2, and I'm in ecstasy at that thought", but by the end I had a slightly bitter taste in my mouth, mostly due to the story and dramatic choices, and gunfights that started to feel a little cheap at times.

 

 

I can't believe Katherine Marlowe died like that. I honestly expected another fair chunk of the game when she sunk into the sand: I was expecting her to have fallen through to some cavern and we'd have to work with her co-operatively or some other really interesting Unchartedey twist, but instead she's just dead. She was such a great character, and I felt she was half as developed as all the others. Frustrationnnnnnn

 

 

What really bothered me with the ending is running out of the city when it collapsed. Didn't we do the same exact thing in Uncharted 2? Nathan needs to stop going to lost cities, he just ends up destroying them in spectacular ways.

 

 

 

Hah, yeah I had that exact thought when you entered the big doors into the Atlantis of the Sands. It's literally exactly the same scene as the entering into Shambala in Uncharted 2, except that the villain isn't taking you into it. And the entrance into the secret city wasn't even anywhere near as epic as it was in UC2.

 

Also, the absolutely phenomenal chapter Stowaway, with the plane and the action and the falling, ended with a completely lame section where it just goes in and out of cutscene as you walk through the desert. Surely it wouldn't be hard to have you actually play walking around for a while? It wouldn't take much disc/ memory space as the desert is completely monotonous, and it would make you feel a much larger connection with the setting/ Drake's character in the situation. Also, the fact that we don't get to walk over to, and explore, the crashed plane was really, really disappointing to me. I was expecting to have to climb up into the plane like the WWII sub in Uncharted 1, to get some item Drake needs. That would have been brilliant, but they just skipped all the adventurey stuff.

 

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

The desert part lasts a good 20 minutes, doesn't it?

[SomTervo]

Nowhere near. The plane must be about 5 minutes. The desert must be 5, maybe at a stretch 10.

Then the fights in the settlement must be the best part of 45 minutes.

 

 

I mostly just disliked how it chopped between cutscene and gameplay. I think locking the player down to gameplay creates a far better sense of atmosphere and a more unique experience. It was still well directed, but it could have been better.

[Saturnine Tenshi]

Finally shambled around to this one (predictably late to the big name scene). It was my first Uncharted, so it's entirely possibly I was "doing it wrong". Still, while I was captured in places by what was an almost alluring narrative in its mysteriousness, that was always interrupted by poor pacing and design. You don't throw the player into a balls-to-the-wall adrenaline fest and have them emerge from that to enter a gauntlet staggered only by a few parkour hops and spins. Pace yourselves, Naughty Dog. I wouldn't be carping if this was just one occurrence: I'm accustomed to brooking these things for the sake of the game. But hell, it seemed unrelenting in the latter half of the story.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

Yes, the second half is not as well put together. Uncharted 2 is the one with the incredible pacing. Probably the best pacing I can think of for a game.

[Hot Heart]

The only bit in Uncharted 2 that I felt lagged, was the monastery section.

[deanb]

So played and completed Uncharted 3 yesterday/this morning.

 

First off: Fuck online pass things. (soot for Uncharted 2 being Online Pass free)

 

So as stated in the "games you've beat" I prefer Uncharted 2. I feel UC3 was much of a muchness, still a very good and generally well crafted muchness, but the whole chasing convoys, escaping crashing vehicles, collapsing cities stuff has been done already. I disliked two parts about Uncharted 3.

 

1.

 

15 years later and Naughty Dog bring back one of the worst parts of Crash Bandicoot. The "running towards the camera" levels. Yes your water is all splashy and fancy and you want to show it off, surely there's other ways? It's just terrible to play cos unless you have absolutely awesome level design it becomes very much a case of trial and error until the player learnt all the path.

 

2. One of the puzzles really really sucked. First time in a while I've had to check out a walkthrough. I still don't get it. Line up the random limbs, understood that, put the cogs in the right way, the journal tells you that one easy enough. But this one (Which apart from having a thumb obscure part of the journal for) just made no sense at all, especially when the symbols changed depending on the angle.

 

(and a minor one would be they changed the models of Chloe and Elina. They're slightly more oriental and photoshopped magazine cover-like.)

 

As for the rest it's all solid Unchartedness. Shooting, puzzles, platforming, set pieces, drake dying when falling 10 feet etc etc. The fighting is improved, though I've just come to this after finishing Arkham City which unfortunately most games will pale to in that respect. I appreciate that they also removed the super hard end bossfight that Uncharted 2 had (which btw Charlie, the English geezer, is the same VA as Lozarvic in UC2), and it all kinda added a nice bit of backstory (rather enjoyed the early young drake bit) and fleshed out the characters some more. Though they kept in the god damn "semi-mythical creatures as bad guys near the end of the game" bit. Fucking loved it when I came across a normal merc and he went down in a few bullets.

 

 

edit: Dislike 3: I felt many of the fights only seemed to increase in difficulty because they just added more people into the fights. It didn't feel very tactical, and stealth was pointless for all but the first one or two kills.

 

edit2:

I liked that they made use of this illusion a fair few times.

[Hot Heart]

Though they kept in the god damn "semi-mythical creatures as bad guys near the end of the game" bit. Fucking loved it when I came across a normal merc and he went down in a few bullets.

 

Well, technically..."drugs did it".

 

I quite liked all the puzzles; I felt they were pitched perfectly. And, with the fighting, I liked the increased difficulty for the most part but, sometimes, it was just ridiculous. When you've got some armoured guy who just keeps walking at you, regardless of how much he's being shot, while you're rushing around trying to grab ammo and avoid being hit by snipers or missile dudes (or getting into a fistfight while passing other enemies) you know something's a bit off. I know UC2 had that a bit, but it was never quite this bad.

 

As for the online, Dean, I can't speak for co-op but you're not missing much.

[deanb]

Well yes the drugs did it, but it was still a yeti/zombie deal, just Djinn this time. Still required filling with bullets before they went down (at least UC2 had their crossbows you could steal. They did the job well). And yeah the fisticuffs while being shot at, died many times that way. Especially the bit with the derelict boat yard and you have to swim around the boats under the gaze of a turret.

[deanb]

HAHAHAHAHA

p.s don't watch if not played, it does kinda contain a slice of the whole "why dean thinks this is the last Uncharted for a fair while".

[SomTervo]

Haha!

 

"We need to split up!"

 

"GET AWAY FROM ME"