Are Naughty Dog overrated?

Yea but you're probably very young and mainstream compared to me. Sonny, i''v played Deus Ex.

I'd say rockstar will always be in a league of it's own due to the sheer amount of resources they're able to and willing to throw into a single game.

Naughty Dog on the other hand have very intelligent people designing the games. They are also innovative technologically, but do it in a subtle way.

As a game developer yes. Why? Because their games don't have much meat on their bones (they lack a wealth of gameplay mechanics) and they're incredibly linear and confined.

The praise they get for presentation is deserved though. Great dialogue, great animations, great level artists and great music. Sound effects are decent, nothing special.

They still make pretty good movies though.

Really? 40% voted Naughty Dog over rated.

I find that very hard to believe. Spam bots and xbots beware.

But for any one legit who voted that Naughty Dog is over rated, you need to be slapped sensless Rick James style

Naughty Dog has given us some of the best games and best franchises of the past 3 generations - Crash, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, Last of Us

If you find Naughty Dog over rated and dont like Naughty Dog, than you simply dont like games. You dont appreciate good games, and you shouldnt be into gaming period

Its a sad day in gaming when a god tier fan friendly developer like Naughty Dog can go this under-appreciated.

Seriously, whats up with the Naughty Dog hate threads on the front page? Its sickening.

Is this the new xbot shill agenda, to try and discredit one of the best developers ever in Naughty Dog.

If anyone is off limits its Naughty Dog. Attempting to discredit Naughty Dog is a sure fire way to expose yourself and discredit your own opinion

I'd say yes. I mean Uncharted series and Last of us are decent games. But I personally wouldn't say they are as great as everyone makes them out to be.

fixed

the only developers who competed with them for actually producing the most amazing games this gen is From software. so no they are not over rated at all.

Name your favorite developer and list what games they produced compared to ND...now how many GOTY awards did your fav dev get for their best game, now compare that to ND so everyone can lul.

I see Sony and their 1st party have made many lems butthurt lately :( Ice up lems - its going to be a looooooooooooooooooooooong generation for you guys.

What games have revolutionized gaming the way Uncharted has?

i.e Naughty Dog with Uncharted 2 brought fully playable cinematic action to the forefront(created it really) and it became the first game to really offer up the complete package in terms of having a great everything, great gameplay included, while setting presentation to new heights.

Naughty Dog's Uncharted formula has been copied left right and center now, but to no avil. Uncharted is the king! That says it all.

What games have created their own sub genre like Uncharted did, while having their formulas copied like Uncharted has?

Look at The Last of Us too. It was a very risky endeavor-new IP at the end of the gen plus was so unconventional.

If you play the Last of Us it has 1 hit kills, scarce ammo, dynamic sandbox combat that actually requires thought amd strategy, a deep thought provoking story that hits emotionally etc.

Last of Us bucks every conventional AAA design or term you can think of (Naughty Dog does gameplay design and gets game design better than any AAA developer out there)

Before Last of Us came out, a game like Last of Us in todays big AAA market was unheard of. Last of Us changed that and is paving the way-thanks to Naughty Dog(an exclusive playstation developer)

The likes of EA or Microsoft would have never green lit a game like Last of Us or they wouldve DUMBED it down to the point it was Gears of War/Halo.

But yet Sony not only went all the way with the Last of Us, Sony let Naughty Dog do their thing! (A game like Last of Us is ART. Only on playstation baby. Thats where the "hate" is coming from)

It was also possible because Naughty Dog(the best developer gaming has ever seen)was given the freedom by Sony and full support of Sony.

Last of Us MAKES Gears and Halo look and play like games for toddlers by comparison.

Name me another survival horror game even close to The Last of Us..

Sooo Uncharted revolutionizing the start of this gen i.e by CREATING cinematic gaming and being one of the first games to offer the complete package etc...

Its to early to out right say Last of Us re-revolutionizing gaming (its paving the way) but Last of Us definently reinvented survival horror and is an unheard of "AAA" game that is mature, never hands your hand, is deep, and is thought provoking etc

wat.

They are great but yes they are overrated. You can't judge strictly off track record.

Double Helix = perfect example.

This, they are the James Cameron of game devs.

Best developers around!

Xbone fanboys hate that right?? I'll sit here with my PS4 laughing at all of you

I don't see how anyone could take you serious with the title "Are Naughty Dog overrated" (someone needs to take grammar lessons, haha)

You couldnt be more off base if you tried.

My god, you are delusional.

Last of Us was a heavy gameplay mechanic driven game.

The gameplay in The Last of Us was amazing too. Even challenging...for sure it requires much more thought then your typical AAA Gears/Halo games (also typical AAA games like Tomb Raider/ Bioshock)

For example, Gameplay in Last of Us Is backed by item resource management.

Depending on the items you find then craft in real time it effects how you can tackle encounters more offensively or defensively.

Then ammo is scrace, clickers are one hit kills, so again...you have to always think and play smart in Last of Us.

Meele is simplistic and so brutal:

-So in the fleet of desperation you can take a guy out in a panic like brawl very quickly, go back into hiding, and then re-strategize your gameplan etc.

-Also imagine you are low on health in battle, since crafting is in real time, you have to frantically run away and find a place to craft safely as enemies are looking for you....so intense and suspensful.....

Etc

You have to think fast and act fact when playing the Last of Us, only having the chance to re-evaluate when you're in a safe spot, just like you would in real life in that situation

(A Mortal Kombat like meele system would defeat that purpose)

Also just try running away while getting a shot in with your gun on the enemies as they chase you, and the gun pops off with a defeaning boom...

So satisfying!

Combat is just so frantic and tense in Last of Us...I loved it!

BTW enemies will react to your bullets and blood splattters with each hit.

Gun play is phenomenal in Last of Us...no bullet sponge enemies like in Gears either.

Last of Us isnt even a TPS and it has the BEST GUNPLAY of any TPS i have ever played.

Naughty Dog knows how to do phenomenal gameplay.

The combat in Last of Us is deep, and has a lot of thought behind it...to say there is no meat to it is insane. ...

Also just to talk more about the stealth, to show how deep the gameplay in Last of Us truly is... (Part 1 of 3)

So continuing on.

The stealth is always adaptive in Last of Us. You are never out of options even when you get caught.

(You can run away and re-strategize, brawl, shoot, hit with items, play hide and seek, shoot run and brawl, throw item to powerful running meele etc)

You always have MANY options in the combat- in stealth and even after getting caught in stealth. Thats the beauty of the stealth in Last of Us in fact. There is no being perfect. You roll with the punches when you are caught. Its not game over like in other stealth games. You have to improvise in Last of Us... and are always able to lose enemies again with smart tactics so you can give it another go with another gameplan etc.

Last of Us has real life dynamic stealth but except its sooo fun to play. The balance between realistic and what is fun is perfect. Naughty Dog is brilliant.

Over all there are lots of options in how you can encounter enemies in Last of Us.

The level design is stellar and allows you to sneak around and play cat and mouse with enemies too as you pick them off one by one in stealth etc...pure exhilaration.

The Last of Us has amazing sandbox like, dynamic stealth action hybrid combat backed by real time item resource managment gameplay. Thats whats its doing new or interesting. Thats how its deep and has an abundance of meat to its bones...

Bottom line is Ive never played third person combat more tense, brutal, and well thought out in my life.

Naughty Dog with The Last of Us manages to capture a feeling of intensity, brutality, and frantic-ness in its combat that NO OTHER game has come close to capturing.

You and the OP and others have said the Last of Us is doing nothing special in the gameplay ect...something along those lines....

And its a bunch of non sense..

Tell me what games play like it!

The Last of Us plays like a unique blend of next gen ManHunt, MGS3, RE4 all warpped up into one(in its gameplay)

So yeah....

All the gameplay mechanics in Last of Us serve one another perfectly. Crafting system serves the combat. Its essential you explore to find items to craft to begin with etc

It all makes sense that in a world like Last of Us you would scavange for items etc.

Everything fits.

You are forced to play carefully and always be observant...

The Last of Us has such thought provoking gameplay compared to all the other mindless AAA games that have come out like Gears/BioShock/Tomb Raider/GTAV- which require NO thought and just kill kill kill and shoot shoot shoot etc (Part 2 of 3)

But James Cameron hasn't been good for years. I'd rather watch a Ridley Scott like Prometheus than avatar. It's the kind of movie pc gamers looking for some intellectual stimulation would watch.

But thief is thirteen years old and better.

your not overrated if you made uncharted 2

Uncharted games are crappy. , The Last Of Us Was Pretty Freaking Good ! Just two issues, crappy cover system and fighting off the infected was really awfull, the humans is were the fun is. Also people are exaggerating The Last Of Us's level design, yeah there plenty of big locations that were pretty but empty. The others were pretty much like president evil, they were big but built like some type of labyrinth so navigating your way through it is abit linear.

oh and one more time, Uncharted Trilogy Sucks, but since The Last Of Us did so well, maybe theres hope for Uncharted 4

Ive talked about the Last of Us (still one more post left, part 3 to come sooon haha)

Naughty Dog are the best gameplay designers out there too. Dont let their prowess in other areas fool you. Naughty Dog is the best AT IT ALL

But I want to switch and talk about Uncharted for a moment before I go back to the Last of Us.

Think about how awesome the village levels were in Uncharted 2...

The iconic train level, which also flawlessly transitioned in to the later half of the game etc....was mind blowing at the time.....

Chapters 5-8

The first major open dynamic gun battle in Shambala...

The snow level after the train wreck etc

^ all were some of the most brilliant designed encounters/gun battles ever found in a TPS and Naughty Dog is responsible for creating all of them with Uncharted 2....

Uncharted 2 was easily the best pure TPS of its time.. Even to this day many of the best pure TPS levels/battles ever designed are still to be found in Uncharted 2 (hell, the shipyard level in Uncharted 3 remains the best pure TPS level ever IMO)

Im really getting sick of this blatant BS that Uncharted has bad gameplay etc

So far removed from reality

If anything, Gears of War has had truly shitty gunplay-no hit detection on enemies. Slow clunky tank like controls. Bullet sponge enemies etc

Yeah, Uncharted has had bullet sponge enemies too, to a lesser degee, but Gears doesnt have better gameplay then Uncharted. The speed and smoothness of the gameplay in Uncharted, plus the verticality factor in its combat gives Uncharted its big edge over Gears in the gameplay. Gears is just a static boring shallow repetitive pop and shoot shooter from cover to cover corridor to corridor and cover to cover etc

Uncharted's gameplay is criminally under rated.

At least the Last of Us is widley regarded for its superb thought provoking gameplay though

But all in all, Naughty Dog is soo criminally under rated for their gameplay prowess.

Just because they do everything else great, that doesnt mean they dont do great gameplay either, because Naughty Dog has continued to prove that they can and do do great gameplay

Oh yeah forgot to Mention Naughty Dog's dependence on storytelling through cutscenes, the story was great if you compare it to games, but if you compare it to another medium that also tells its story in a passive non-interactive way then....... Well..... we all know a movie have done much better with passive stories.

@ Halosball

I played those levels in Uncharted, yes they were open but if you stray from the intended path, you'l get your ass shot, its just as linear as gears, but instead of walls they block your way with bullets, not that it matters, theres no reason to stray anyway, its just like Rockstar games, open and pointless. And then the train level, well that was just just like everyother level, only now you're on a train, and it was so restrictive. Not to mention gears did a train level in 2006 too and it also sucked. As for "going verticle" it was fun but the oppertunity didn't come up enough times, kinda like the stealth in Tomb Raider. Ah yes the stealth, it was trial and error most of the time, The Level Design and drakes abilities don't allow for proper planning and execution like other stealth games do.

Gears did have bullet sponges but unlike uncharted, they gave you ways of dealing with them quickly, propane tankes, boomshots, hammer of dawn, mortar, one shot, longshot and others I'm forgetting. If you hate/love something just say so, no reason to spread lies about it.

You just don't know what you're talking about. But someday when you try to make your own game you'll see that these are your choices:

1. good story but might end up making a point & click game.

2. good gameplay but might end up with a mediocre story.

Writing stories for video games is much more harder than a book or film. There's a co-dependency between the story and the capabilities of the character (aka, gameplay) which make telling stories in games nearly impossible. That's why people give so much props to Naughty Dogs and what have they done with Uncharted and The Last of Us. What ND has achieved is not easy at all and only a few measure up to their standards. Uncharted series has been such a huge impact to this industry that its design is studied on universities!

Look for interviews on Youtube from David Cage, Amy Hennig, Ken Levine, Jesse Stern and try to look for a pattern on what each of them say about writing stories for a game. You'll see that they all agree on one same thing.

You may start with this before looking for the interviews:

But Uncharted is just a Indiana Jones ripoff and TLOU is walking dead ripoff.

I don't know what game you played but that never happens. And the train? Well...

Hear the music, looks at the graphics and action! This game's the very definition of excitement and it's fun!

Yep. Uncharted 2 almost ranks as the most boring game I ever played right next to Halo reach.

cut scene every 2 minutes, climb some shit, fight waves of dumb ai, rinse and repeat....zzzz

I agree my friend. I'm currently replaying the original Deus Ex atm (an actual ground breaking game) and from a design point of view, it feels like it's from the future compared to Uncharted's simplstic and uninspired design. It's like a movie, so what? We have movies for movies, they are much better than this.

but that is not the point. The point is the blend of story with gameplay because this is a video game not a movie. You just can't take a movie and make a game out of it, that's not how it works. In fact, this is why most movie tie-ins end up being so mediocre.

How would you insert the gameplay in an Indiana Jones movie? You need a correlation on how you'll lead the story to that gameplay! How will you introduce the characters and their motives to move the plot to then allow for the interactivity? And this is the part that makes it so hard... Even harder than making a movie or writing a book. Because movies and books don't give a **** about the "gameplay" part.

I posted the Sessler's review of The Last of Us on the first page. He explains why the story at face value is nothing special and then he goes in detail on why it's so unique. It's just that you guys are so focused on hating that don't even try to understand!

But why so much praise for ND? Because they deliver great quality on every aspect. Good graphics, good sound, good story and believe it or not... Good gameplay.

@ Gue1

Well I can't argue whats fun and what isn't. But the games definately lacked polish.

I think they are very overrated amongst the gaming community - they make highly polished well made games, but they're nothing amazing or particularly creative. I often think that if TLOU had been released by another developer or not been exclusive it'd be far less praised than it is now. (Would still be AAA, but not "omg teh gotg iz here omgz".)

But Valve popularized scripted sequences in 1998 with Halflife. Also a better and groundbreaking game.

Dam casuals these days waffle at anything.

My point exactly ;)