Uncharted 4 raises the bar for its genre.

I do so only if the game is interesting enough. This is one of them.

It was like most things with ND games, it was well executed. As in if most other developers had the same plot line, the writing wouldn't be as well done. But yeah, a fairly generic ending, a fairly generic story. Welcome to Uncharted.

I guess it's because they wanted to leave TLOU open for a sequel, where this is the end for the Uncharted series.

Yeah but TLOU ended in a fairly clever way where it could easily be a complete story in of itself. But also enough there to maybe do something else with the story.

@Bread_or_Decide: it's not a walking simulator....it's a spam X to climb simulator.

That's true too.

I thought The Last of Us easily topped UC2. It was a fun game, whereas UC2 I kind of became bored with halfway through. It felt like I was playing the movie, Sahara. And I hated that movie. Same cliche character spouting goofy, macho lines saves his friend(s) from certain death and destruction while finding a lost tomb with treasure as bad guys chase them. It's exactly the same.

I haven't played UC4 yet, but I feel as if the storyline and characters wouldn't improve all that much. However, I can't say that for certain, as I haven't played it.

But Tomb Raider had a crap story, too; so, I've just come to expect it from this genre.

Its my favourite Uncharted game because it reduces the amount of combat and the combat itself is improved. I really like the story aspects, the pirate theme is awesome and the dialogue between the characters is great. I also really liked the offroad-driving bits.

That being said, the combat is still pretty average by industry standards. Its better than UC2/3, but not nearly as good as something like Max Payne 3 or even The Division which had interesting abilities and imo better aiming. Swinging around and punching people in the face is really fun but the rate at which you take damage means this is not a particularly viable tactic on anything above easy difficulty. The cover system is clumsy and the fact enemies will throw perfectly accurate grenades at your position can get annoying - several times they landed grenades on window sills or small ledges I was hanging from.

The fact that you can sneak your way through a lot of encounters is a nice addition. The stealth is incredibly shallow though and I really wish they gave you the ability to distract guards or a means of dispatching them silently from a distance.

I think from a gameplay perspective, Crystal Dynamics/Tomb Raider are well ahead of Naughty Dog. However, ND absolutely schools CD when it comes to story, writing, set pieces, and contextualizing the gameplay. I just wish we could get both in one package.

as far as story driven third-person shooter/action games with set pieces go, my favourite is still... Dead Space 2.

Oh did not know that. That AAAAE score is going to be mention, until the next Uncharted game.

Amazing game and the best graphics I have ever seen in a game. The graphics never get low res or lazy its crazy detailed from start to finish. Some people don't like the story but I thought it was great. Great way to end a great series.

Yeah, raising the bar in a genre that's essentially a limbo contest...

I hope they leave TLoU's ending alone. At least leave Joel and Ellie alone. I have no problem with TLoU 2 if it's in terms of taking place in the same universe with different characters and evolved mechanics, but the conclusion of Joel and Ellie has been done. Any continuation or elaboration of their narrative would rob the original ending of its poignancy and arbitrariness and the game as a whole would be lose of a lot of its impact. I hope ND realizes this.

Nah I would say it's on par with RotTR

@with_teeth26: I think the combat shits all over Max Payne and the division.

Raising a bar out of a steaming cesspool of shit isn't really an accomplishment.

Yes, UC4 is an excellent game. Very happy with my purchase. Beautiful to look at and listen to. The AI forced me to move and haul ass in shootout sections. I appreciated the degree of mobility the combat ( at least on harder difficulties) demands. Really enjoyed the pirate story, and I'm surprisingly having a lot of fun with the multiplayer. Again, excellent game worth every penny.

good game but it did nothing new so not sure what bar you talking of

Weird how the haters are almost all just fanboys of other platforms who haven't played this game.

lol na. Uncharted as a series is what happens when you have a runaway budget combined with a very capable team. That's really it, it's never done anything that's innovative or groundbreaking or unique to the genre, it's just really high quality. I would say 2 and 4 are probably the best we can hope for from action-adventure-ultra-scripted-TPS, but that isn't saying much, and I wouldn't say they raised any bars to do it.

Personally I like the Gears games better, at least until after 3 that is, judgement is bland and 4 looks dumb. But I appreciate the tighter focused pure TPS gameplay and the multiplayer options much more. Gears 3 is still one of the best games from last gen in my opinion.

@foxhound_fox: doesn't make any sense

Once again you are putting words in my mouth. Please show me where I used the term "movie game".

@jcrame10: Or maybe people whiy logic

rasing the bar its metal gear 1 or gears of war 1 witch revolutionize games even uncharted cover sistem is a testimate of that BUT

what did uncharted4 do to raise the bar?

name 1 just 1 thing it did that other games have not

I agree. It's also the prettiest game I have ever seen.

@panda30: Cool new alt account

It is an amazing game but it's weakness is indeed is its gameplay. Don't get me wrong this is one of the best playing third person shooter. the action itself is so wonderful and tense and the encounters are so well designed.

But the stealth aspect has long ways to go. Game like MGSV are so superior that it makes UC4 look bad. For the next game, ND needs to work on this badly.

I wished for TLOU to have deeper stealth gameplay, ND has so much potential to be even better. It's like they top themselves each time. I really can't wait to see how they improve TLOU stealth in the sequel.

this!!!!!!!!! ^^^^

@MonsieurX: nope I am new here I useto chat here back 2010 then just quit

Uncharted 2 raised the bar back in the day.

The Last of Us change the genre and story telling.

Uncharted 4 raising the bar yet again, cuz Tomb Raider did nothing.

People complained that U2 and U3 had Drake killing thousands of men and was too shooter focused. Drake was being labeled a mass murdered who shouldnt be a role model.

So not only did ND ad stealth but more platforming and puzzles

@kend0_kap0ni: HOW DID IT?

dont just say it did

and how did TLOU change the story telling. when plenty of games did that better of the top of my head mass effect comes to mind and even kotor / half life and so on

("So not only did ND ad stealth but more platforming and puzzles")

your kiding....rigth?

you do know you just discribe 99% of gaming

@panda30:

The problem is like UC4, neither of those games invented or did the things your thinking about that other games before them didn't (Stealth and Cover shooter respectively). MGS interaction with the console was something else though cant argue there. Gears is by far the king of cover shooters but, it didn't invent that it just did it very well in its design and style. Like you though I would call those more revolutionary for that. I think your doing the usual excuse Uncharted game because you think something along the lines of Gears invented cover shooters forget what Uncharted is good at perhaps.

The argument for UC4 here though is that it does story telling the best in its genre. It just by design does it very well. From its attention to detail to character base interaction during gameplay. Its just got that style down for how you incorporate story telling in games elevated by improvements from its maker. The style raises the standard IMO in this aspect is better then those games. That should say something. Fair criticism is the gameplay is not like the best tps shooters out there but its actually very good. Its stealth is not MGS and not very deep but an added element that actually showcases some of its attention to detail.

Its a fantastic game as a total package. Could have pulled more people in if it had cut back on traversal gameplay and added more encounters (I didn't mind). Or the more sections of what I call traversal encounters which I thought combining with stealth highlighted some uniqueness to the game. The things that the game already has. This is slightly different but like UC2 a nice packaged Uncharted game.

MGS is Stealth series, Uncharted is not. I never expected it to have Stealth sections on par with the other Stealth giants. TBH, even a lot of Stealth focused games can't get the Stealth right most of the time.

MGS didn't raise the bar the way you describe it. MGS featured nothing new as well. It wasn't the first Stealth game, it wasn't the first 3D Stealth game, it wasn't the first cinematic game, it wasn't the most well written game, it wasn't the most strong game mechanically and it wasn't the best Stealth game of that year either.

Gears of War didn't bring anything new to the table as well. It wasn't the first game to utilized cover mechanic. It only polished and improved upon it. Same is the case with Uncharted 4. It doesn't bring anything new to the table but it fixes some issues here and there, and evolves the existing formula really well.

uncharted 4 its gorgeous game i love it i agree have the best graphics so far

@Cloud_imperium: oh absolutely but there is still a lot of room for improvement and ND can look at Kojima games for inspiration just like he is doing right now as I've heard that his latest game is inspired partially by UC in few aspects. Kojima himself was impressed with TLOU.

I want to play Rise of the Tomb Raider simply because TR 2013 did some things well that even ND should have copied.

UC4 was awesome. As I posted in the other thread I'd give it a 9/10 right now.

@Seabas989: what sort of things in your opinion? And yeah, I'm gonna play RotR soon too, but after Uncharted 4, that's a lot to live up too.

Don't mind him, he's going super cow over this game and getting overtly defensive of criticism. As much as he likes to lead on that he's this humble and objectively progressive individual, the reality is if he likes something he's going to argue with you and disregard sound logic as it doesn't fit his narrative.

I haven't played the game yet but from the way you're talking you seem to the be only person in this thread without outside motivations or forward bias, what you've said has been completely sensible and I don't doubt a 10 is ridiculous and mostly hype driven rather than cohesive logic or rationally driven analysis, fact is most games that get 10's are not games which should be 10's.

@Cloud_imperium: you've said it numerous times about the UC series. Why are you even denying it now?

man, people really are impatient when it comes to story. not once did i feel the pacing in uncharted 4 was off. actually i felt the opposite: naughty dog finally nailed the balancing act of platforming, puzzle solving, cutscenes, and shooting. the result was a game that wasn't just cover shooting galore until the next cutscene. for once i really cared about the characters and they were depicted as humans instead of unlikeable killing machines. and when the gameplay was there it felt memorable, intense, and consistent with the game's narrative.

Just finished the game.

The last few chapters are absolutely great. Didn't completely redeem the whole game, for me, but it made it better for sure.

I'd give the whole game an 8/10.

I asked you to show comment where I used the term "movie game" and you are making excuses now? I know you don't like PC gamers/platform but at least don't lie. It's pathetic.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

@BassMan:

I hear you, Uncharted 2 was such a great game. Out of those 7 years though there was a game they made called TLOU. Its not Uncharted different but there were similar story telling mechanics that were elevated in that game with its characters. For me when Uncharted 4 was announced I felt another uncharted game wasn't going to cut if it just improved from the mighty 2. I felt it would fit well with lessons from TLOU but still be uncharted. The gameplay is improved. The locations were most varied in the series in terns of different environments and very very dynamic.

This one I felt was the best told Uncharted story. Going back to Drake and making it clear why this was an important adventure he cant stay away from on more points then just Sam. The mothers last piece connection. Serving it up on the backdrop of where he was in life for him and the people around him and even the connection with the villian. The back story of Avery serving up as a lesson of closure to all the characters including the villain such as Nadine. **** man this one just hit me. I dont know why but I paid so much attention to this one. I felt another mystical shit would have killed this one. Chasing UC2 would have diminishing return. This was just the perfect way to close the series. Doing a great service by the characters on a time where 4th wasn't really what most people wanted. For me this edges 2 but anyone who says otherwise has a point.

Your entire argument is predicated on some assumption that I would give this game a 10... whereas I have never said that I would. In fact, had you read through my posts in the Uncharted 4 review thread (which I can understand if you didn't, it's a fucking long ass thread), you would see that my personal score for the game is 9.5, well short of that 10 that you don't think this game deserves.

Now as for your other points:

'Wider range of environments' is categorically false. Uncharted 2 has snowy mountains, a dense urban environment, a dense rural environment, and a building setting. Uncharted 4 has a dense urban environment, a dense rural environment, a mountain setting, a jungle setting, a desert island setting, and a building setting. There are factually more kinds of environments in Uncharted 4 than 2.

'better integrated gameplay, better puzzles, more interesting story with super natural elements, better sense of adventure, better plot/pacing' is literally all subjective. You didn't make any argument for any of that- you just said you think all of this is better in Uncharted 2, which is fine, you're entitled to whatever you think, but you similarly can't take any issue with anyone else who thinks Uncharted 4 did it better. For what it's worth, Uncharted 4 has better pacing from a structural perspective, better characterization, better world building, better motivations for most of its characters, and the lack of supernatural elements which actually makes this story a better, more refreshing tale than the Indiana Jones cliche that Uncharted 2 ultimately was. 'Sense of adventure' is a nonsensical subjective adventure. I say Uncharted 4 did it better, and there is really no way for you to prove me wrong there, just as I can't call your opinion that Uncharted 2 did it better wrong. And 'Better puzzles?' Uh, no. They're roughly the same quality (which is 'shit') but Uncharted 4 spreads them out better so they don't stall the game's pace and momentum as much.

I recommend you go back and replay Uncharted 2, because if you did, you would see that a lot of it is just being built up inside your head. I'm not calling Uncharted 4 some perfect 10/10 game, because I agree, it isn't- but it's still a great game, and downplaying it accomplishes nothing.

Can this post be put on Urban Dictionary? Under 'dumbass irony?'

I think there are multiple reasons why the ending works, but some of my reasons for liking it as much as I did:

• It subverts expectations by not subverting them (everyone expected someone to die at the end, Naughty Dog subvert that by going the 'safe' but now 'unsafe' route, and killing no one)
• It closes a book on a story that if you think about it, didn't and couldn't be ended, which is impressive
• It's poignant and touching- the ending is basically a story about brothers and family, and I admit to having a personal weakness for those kinds of stories- Uncharted 4 does just that, and it does it very well, which led to me loving it

The Last of Us is a better game than Uncharted 2, and Uncharted 4 is not better than The Last of Us. It is better than Uncharted 2, and still a great game. It also tells a pretty good story excellently well, and evolves from the storytelling standard in Uncharted 2 a fair bit. I think you'll be surprised whenever you do eventually play this game.

Thank you. Could not have said it better myself.

I've just started chapter 2 and I love it

It only shows that the standard for people has been lowered extremely.

Have you played it?

@gago-gago: Multiplayer gives great replay value, most players these days just play the single player and return the game anyway.