Uncharted 3

[Npl]

just finished the game. my thoughts are still fresh, so Ill write them down

the good parts:

• it looks outstanding, dynamic elements like fire/water/sand look great, volumetric lightcones... best looking PS3 game for sure.
• has some nicely done setpieces

the bad parts:

• takes way too long to pick up pace and even then has many slowdowns.
• often restricts your options
• Absolutely NO cheats? wow, good way to make any kind of ingame-medals (screw trophies) and further playthroughs uninteresting for me.
• combat is a good step down from U2. you got all this nice options but you cant use them because they dont work well with the enemy behavior. Id really like being able to use the environment more, but since enemies rarely lose track and are charging you typically just get surrounded if you dont focus on keeping your sides clear.
• story seems to go from scene to scene, kinda like tv series throw their curveballs. alot things dont make sense in the big picture, they are just there for cheap surprise effects

some other thoughts:

Spoiler

• the brawling system - nice thing in itself if you are fighting unarmed guys, especially that Drake can interact alot with the environment. it doesnt tie in with the guncombat at all unfortunately, it "grounds" you way to much in typically open spots - you cant move around or dodge all the time which would be necessary to throw a few quick punches and diving into cover or atleast out of gunfire. the way it is now you will just get picked up by other guys.
  
• what does the "no hints" option do? you still get the tutorial messages and your buddies (or Drake) regularly mumbles hints about riddles
  
• the game also tries hard to retract the use of supernatural elements at the end with some sore explanation. this only leads to the question what Drake really was shooting during his drug runs, or did he just run around like charlie without getting spotted by guards, where was Sully and what did he do?
  and if there was nothing supernatural/odd things, whats the deal with the spiders - and why did anyone think the scene where you scare them off by shooting every 4 seconds is anything but boring.
  More loose ends to me
  
• did we really learn anything new about Drake at all? we learned how he met Sully. Good, fine scene and writing... but it dint add anything deep to the characters or their motivations IMHO. no idea why drake is so hellbent on finding the lost city/treasure... is it just greed? I still dont know, but since he know apparently changed his priorities Uncharted 4 will have a hard time picking up there.
  Cloe/Elena/Cutter where a nice set of support characters but there was no development or big interaction from their side.
  
• how did the secret circle get the hallucinogen for their darts? it doesnt seem they need the poison from the lost city, the darts do the same thing.
  
• Why did Talbot take a shot to the chest from Cutter and wasnt harmed? I cant rewatch cutscenes so I dont know if he missed and just thought he hit because of the drug, would be a weak explanation anyway.
  
• some scenes seems to be directly picked from U2, thinking about limbing around in the desert (only painfully longer) and the escape over the collapsing floor

in closing...
U3 is a good game, it really has many nice features (not only graphical, gameplay aswell) but I cant help but feel that there wasnt enough time to tie everything up nicely, polish everything and trim the fat. its just all over the place at times, there are tons of attention to detail in some scenes (cruiser), utilizing the game mechanics fully and with others I wonder why they even are there or are drawn out way too long (desert scene). the pacing stays way to slow for a long time, and even when it picks up it usually slowing down immediately or annoys you by taking away gameplay options (eg. no running).

also, I cant help but notice that some apparent problems arent in the MP portion, which will get nurtured, maintained and significantly changed - unlike the SP which is usually cast in stone. I would really like to see something thats common in movies - a "Directors Cut" of U3, maybe in form of DLC. fix up some of the loose ends, tune the combat, add a few scenes that dint make it (Im sure there are a few, the latter half jumps around rather wildly. maybe adds Sullys solo escapades) and remove some useless ones (might contain spiders). it has alot of good components that could make it a great game with some more polish... like U1 and especially U2 were.

 

[ultragpu]

just finished the game. my thoughts are still fresh, so Ill write them down

the good parts:

• it looks outstanding, dynamic elements like fire/water/sand look great, volumetric lightcones... best looking PS3 game for sure.
• has some nicely done setpieces

the bad parts:

• takes way too long to pick up pace and even then has many slowdowns.
• often restricts your options
• Absolutely NO cheats? wow, good way to make any kind of ingame-medals (screw trophies) and further playthroughs uninteresting for me.
• combat is a good step down from U2. you got all this nice options but you cant use them because they dont work well with the enemy behavior. Id really like being able to use the environment more, but since enemies rarely lose track and are charging you typically just get surrounded if you dont focus on keeping your sides clear.
• story seems to go from scene to scene, kinda like tv series throw their curveballs. alot things dont make sense in the big picture, they are just there for cheap surprise effects

some other thoughts:

Spoiler

• the brawling system - nice thing in itself if you are fighting unarmed guys, especially that Drake can interact alot with the environment. it doesnt tie in with the guncombat at all unfortunately, it "grounds" you way to much in typically open spots - you cant move around or dodge all the time which would be necessary to throw a few quick punches and diving into cover or atleast out of gunfire. the way it is now you will just get picked up by other guys.
  
• what does the "no hints" option do? you still get the tutorial messages and your buddies (or Drake) regularly mumbles hints about riddles
  
• the game also tries hard to retract the use of supernatural elements at the end with some sore explanation. this only leads to the question what Drake really was shooting during his drug runs, or did he just run around like charlie without getting spotted by guards, where was Sully and what did he do?
  and if there was nothing supernatural/odd things, whats the deal with the spiders - and why did anyone think the scene where you scare them off by shooting every 4 seconds is anything but boring.
  More loose ends to me
  
• did we really learn anything new about Drake at all? we learned how he met Sully. Good, fine scene and writing... but it dint add anything deep to the characters or their motivations IMHO. no idea why drake is so hellbent on finding the lost city/treasure... is it just greed? I still dont know, but since he know apparently changed his priorities Uncharted 4 will have a hard time picking up there.
  Cloe/Elena/Cutter where a nice set of support characters but there was no development or big interaction from their side.
  
• how did the secret circle get the hallucinogen for their darts? it doesnt seem they need the poison from the lost city, the darts do the same thing.
  
• Why did Talbot take a shot to the chest from Cutter and wasnt harmed? I cant rewatch cutscenes so I dont know if he missed and just thought he hit because of the drug, would be a weak explanation anyway.
  
• some scenes seems to be directly picked from U2, thinking about limbing around in the desert (only painfully longer) and the escape over the collapsing floor

in closing...
U3 is a good game, it really has many nice features (not only graphical, gameplay aswell) but I cant help but feel that there wasnt enough time to tie everything up nicely, polish everything and trim the fat. its just all over the place at times, there are tons of attention to detail in some scenes (cruiser), utilizing the game mechanics fully and with others I wonder why they even are there or are drawn out way too long (desert scene). the pacing stays way to slow for a long time, and even when it picks up it usually slowing down immediately or annoys you by taking away gameplay options (eg. no running).

Spoiler

Agreed with most of them. I felt the 3rd outing has given me more frustrations in the gameplay department such as overwhelming enemy rushing and firing at you. The melee and gun fight do not mix quite as perfect. Also the pacing is far better in UC2.
ND has set themselves a tremendous challenge for one upping UC2 by cramping in as much goodies as possible and for the most part they delivered, but at the same time it proved to be their Archilli heels. I think they simply ran out of time "in a short span of 2 years" to iron out every single elements of the game thus it felt not as polished. UC3 definitely has the potential to be the best in everything, the technology is there, the idea is there, another half year of dev time could very well take them there.
That said I really hope UC4 would be on PS4, it's time to change the formula slightly with more freedom, more interaction and a quantum leap in the wow factor.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Did anyone else catch the typo on the title screen? "Published by SCEA and developer by Naughty Dog."

Like I said: I love the game. Still, stuff like the motion blur that went missing without anyone noticing, the aiming problems that some people have (although that might just be a case of hyperbolic internet mob mentality. I think the game handles just fine) and a typo on the title screen really suggest that the game barely made its release date.

 

[BoardBonobo]

What I want to know is; If all these temples, ruins, mystical monuments have been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Who lights all the fires, braziers, and torches?

@Scofield: I would take the time out to reply if it was worth it. But I'm too busy actually playing Uncharted so I'll leave it at this... LOL.

 

[Reiko]

What I want to know is; If all these temples, ruins, mystical monuments have been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Who lights all the fires, braziers, and torches?

QUOTE]

Naughty Dog

 

[Arwin]

What I want to know is; If all these temples, ruins, mystical monuments have been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Who lights all the fires, braziers, and torches?

@Scofield: I would take the time out to reply if it was worth it. But I'm too busy actually playing Uncharted so I'll leave it at this... LOL.

Spoiler

If you hadn't noticed, the bad guys have so far always been there waiting for Nathan to come and solve the puzzles

Although I'm only in Chapter 14, I agree that Uncharted 2 was much more perfect when it comes to the complete picture and balance of gameplay and exploration. That said, there is such an abundance of luxuries here that I don't really care! There are so many lovely and unique moments to experience, and mostly I'm really enjoying them. They're also doing good things like anticipating the point at which I'm thinking that certain things are a little too obvious and then suddenly they aren't.

Spoiler

For instance at one point you think the stuff you can hang from is always marked far too clearly and then suddenly it isn't, or at some point the fights become almost as much of a puzzle to solve than the actual puzzles

.

However, I also don't always think that is a good thing - it is hard to find a good balance, there, and the balance does indeed seem off every now and then. I think there could be a happy marriage of a game that takes the best of both worlds from Metal Gear Solid 4's freedom to go stealth or brawn, and the in-game, more inter-active story telling aspects of both.

The highs are so high that the net result is that more 'average' things stand out where they wouldn't in other games. The highs really raise the bar. I've been thinking that for instance Chapter 13 takes certain things a little overboard (pun intended) and if this were a film that section would have been cut much shorter, but at the same time the gameplay is fun, and you may in some bits want more. So I could see it happen that they design a game that is much more compact and concentrated, but then has sections of gameplay that can be played more as an independent level, almost as a platformer or as Batmar for instance calls them, a challenge room.

The combat is better than people give it credit for, but it is not as polished as for instance Batman (though I personally haven't played that more than the demo of the first game), and people coming from that game will find it limited, but once you start getting used to its strengths and weaknesses, it is still very enjoyable, particularly in the context of all the other stuff you can do in the game. I particularly like that the combat is very context driven and handles dealing with multiple enemies quite well - when you are grappling certain enemies you can throw them in the direction of another enemy, you can attack multiple enemies in a similar way to Batman moving from one to the next and keeping a keen eye on who's going to attack you, and particularly satisfying is finding angles and locations from which you can get completely different animations and sometimes one hit knock out opportunities.

When you're getting used to them they can look pretty 'cinematic'. But there is still a lot of room for improvement, and if they do improve this, as well as make the impact of bullets more realistic then the gameplay has the opportunity to become pretty much perfect. All I basically want from the game is more room for depth in the combat with more Tekken like choice in my moves and options to grapple and more Batman (or rather Catwoman even ) like animation and crowd control, and then when I shoot an enemy in his ankle, I need him to lose the function of being able to stand on it, and when I shoot his other ankle (true story, did that yesterday), I need him to go down, just because of that. And a big, heavily armored dude I need to be able to get behind, jump on his back, pull some of the pins from his grenade and run away. The way it works now, which I won't spoil, is not satisfying.

Oh and the way the traversal and climbing works right now, perhaps they can work a little more towards something like Mirrors Edge in making it exciting yet look a little more realistic. Not all the way, because Mirror's Edge's controls were thoroughly unsatisfying to me (screams for Move controls - if Sony, Microsoft or EA has the guts, they make a Move/Kinect Mirror's Edge 2), but I think there is room to make it look less gimmicky.

There's a lot of game to find fault with though, which is always a danger. I have the same with GT5, but there's no game I'd trade it for and it's still the game I cannot get enough from. Uncharted 3's single player campaign maybe be a bit long in the tooth and overwhelming in some aspects, but this is probably the first Uncharted where I know I want to go back and replay certain sections, because there is so much in some of them and from halfway on they become more challenge room than linear, and even the linear ones so much is going on sometimes that I just need to see some of that again.

 

[nightshade]

Jesus ! Wtf is up with Naughty Dog and their love for armoured baddies.

They whore out atleast 4-5 of them in each fight and they are in pairs and they simply charge at you with a shotgun, while you are busy tackling other guys in the room, as if it isn't enough they also have super armoured baddies who throw out 3 grenades at once and are armed with a machine gun. this wouldn't be much trouble if it wasn't for the fact that the enemies this time around charge at you and do so from all directions. I'm playing this on hard

 

[Sigfried1977]

What I want to know is; If all these temples, ruins, mystical monuments have been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Who lights all the fires, braziers, and torches?

That would be Sully.

 

[upnorthsox]

That would be Sully.

Well, he's the one who remembers to bring the matches.

 

[patsu]

Did anyone else catch the typo on the title screen? "Published by SCEA and developer by Naughty Dog."

Like I said: I love the game. Still, stuff like the motion blur that went missing without anyone noticing, the aiming problems that some people have (although that might just be a case of hyperbolic internet mob mentality. I think the game handles just fine) and a typo on the title screen really suggest that the game barely made its release date.

I agree ! The co-op adventure look is also not fully tuned. Fortunately they left most of the gameplay elements unchanged from U2 co-op. So it's fun like last time.

 

[Arwin]

Jesus ! Wtf is up with Naughty Dog and their love for armoured baddies.

They whore out atleast 4-5 of them in each fight and they are in pairs and they simply charge at you with a shotgun, while you are busy tackling other guys in the room, as if it isn't enough they also have super armoured baddies who throw out 3 grenades at once and are armed with a machine gun. this wouldn't be much trouble if it wasn't for the fact that the enemies this time around charge at you and do so from all directions. I'm playing this on hard

You get this on normal too. It took me a bit of effort to find the right strategy particularly for the latter, but basically it's a matter of finding the right weapons. The former are actually not as hard, some of the more powerful handguns take them out pretty fast ...

 

[patsu]

What I want to know is; If all these temples, ruins, mystical monuments have been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Who lights all the fires, braziers, and torches?

In general, after you solved the entrance puzzle, the contracts with PG&E and Disney theme park division kicked in.

Except for that

Spoiler

globe

puzzle where Nate lit them. I think Sully also lit a few others.

 

[patsu]

You get this on normal too. It took me a bit of effort to find the right strategy particularly for the latter, but basically it's a matter of finding the right weapons. The former are actually not as hard, some of the more powerful handguns take them out pretty fast ...

Anyone tried the main menu co-op yet ? What's the difference between that co-op and the online menu co-op ? The increased difficulty is actually more fun in online co-op.

 

[JPT]

Just finished it and I am a bit underwhelmed, by the lack of "fun".

Graphics are great, only thing that annoys is the shimmering other than that its really cool to see how they push forward. Maybe not so much in IQ, but the iteration of moving levels from U2. So tech wise, I bow my head.

But its a game and gameplay and fun is quite important in the formula.

To often I have to sit through a cinematic which does not advance the story/chars, although NO loading screen is fantastic. Even in game they remove my control to show off something. Its cool in a gimmicky way the first times, but after awhile it gets tedious.

Controls, I do not like, this is more floaty than LBP jumping ever was for me. Yes, the conditional reaction to environment and inertia makes it more real, but less fun to play.
Platforming is just press the button, puzzles are to small, but its not an adventure game, so I guess it needs to be for the shooter guys

Pacing was much better than U2 and final epic challenge was better than the annoying last boss of U2.

Was there any totally new thing in U3 compared to U1 or U2? To me all was evolution of other game pieces that they have used before.

But in the end this is a fantastic piece of craft and it deserves to be played.

 

[BoardBonobo]

One thing that I really like, that stands out for me, is the use of the concave mask illusion that is spread about the game. If you look closely at the faces of some of the carvings and statues and then move from side to side they seem to follow you. As in turn their heads to track you. And it's all a visual illusion that happens for free because of the way in which the vc assembles images.

Example:

Cunning!!

I always wondered why devs never made use of such a treasure trove of free goodies that the human vc provides, like necker cubes, and tonal changes. First time I can remember such a thing being used to such effect in a game.

 

[patsu]

Was there any totally new thing in U3 compared to U1 or U2? To me all was evolution of other game pieces that they have used before.

But in the end this is a fantastic piece of craft and it deserves to be played.

Mostly evolution of U2 tech and mechanics. According to the DF article, the DOTS system (aka moving train level) has been enhanced to deal with physics objecs rather than artist animation. They added volumetric lighting. They also enhanced BR streaming to accommodate longer animation, etc.

Gameplay-wise, they extended the melee, and added the grenade throw back stuff.

Storywise, they made some cutscenes interactive (e.g.,

Spoiler

hallucination walk

)

The problem is they need more time to simmer and come together. I really hope they patch the game to tighten up the overall experience. It would be a crime to just leave the game as is.

 

[patsu]

One thing that I really like, that stands out for me, is the use of the concave mask illusion that is spread about the game. If you look closely at the faces of some of the carvings and statues and then move from side to side they seem to follow you. As in turn their heads to track you. And it's all a visual illusion that happens for free because of the way in which the vc assembles images.

Example:

Cunning!!

I always wondered why devs never made use of such a treasure trove of free goodies that the human vc provides, like necker cubes, and tonal changes. First time I can remember such a thing being used to such effect in a game.

It was cool at first, but I got motion sickness after a while. They drag on for too long. It's just an interactive cutscene. >8^0

 

[Phil]

Well, I've avoided this topic so far (more or less) in fear of spoilers and now that I've completed it, caught up on a bit of reading. As I wrote earlier, I couldn't wait for my amazon copy to arrive, so I bought the local 'multi-language' version and played that one up to chapter 20 on hard - then sold that to my friend (who had just completed UC2) and started playing the one I just received from amazon (UK version). To my disappointment, game-saves are not compatible between different region versions, so I had to start from the beginning.

Anyway, completed the game on Sunday morning and my feeling, as I suspected, are quite mixed. Perhaps to get the spoiler free stuff out of the way, I'll just start by saying that on a technical level, IMO, Naughty Dog have upped the game in every single way. Yes, the controls are bit laggy, the shooting a bit "off", but apart from that, it's just more impressive in every way. I especially like the new lighting engine and the way it plays into the gameplay nicely (like in dark areas where enemies blind you).

I was a bit disappointed that they didn't do any water levels in UC2, but in UC3 they really brought it back in big way. Simply amazing. Comparing jungle forest - I pretty much agree with what has been said already: France >>>> Bomio. It just looks soooo much better.

Apart from that though, I have to admit, as a game, I liked UC2 better. While on a technical level, UC3 is better in every single way, it's best described as a good sequel, but just not as satisfying as the story, gameplay in the game preceeding it.

The combat is not bad, but again, there weren't as many key moments like in UC2. As an example: When I think about UC2, you have the battle with the hind (helicopter), the hotel falling together, pretty much the entire train level and of course the later parts of the game up in mountains. In UC3, there are very impressive parts as well, but none of the battles really stick out. UC2 also felt a bit more... fluid IMO. I still can't quite get how in UC3, you have levels in 4 different parts of the world and somehow stuck in a ship level as well (as impressive as that is, though).

After writing this, I feel I'm a bit too hard on UC3: It's a brilliant game and on a more positive note, I thought the puzzles were a lot better (and actually a bit tricky in places) and the mix between combat, platforming and puzzles pretty good. In the end though, it feels a bit short (like some great movies feel) without some of the highlights that made UC2 the unforgettable game it still is.

BTW: The characters are bloddy hot. Especially the female characters (being spoiler-free here) are somehow even more gorgeous... (especially the blond one)....

The worst part of all is though: Now that I've completed UC3 - I suspect it'll be at least another 2 years before a possible UC4.

Spoiler

What I also find is a highlight is the amount of work Naughty Dog have put into this game and how little you play it in the end. As an example: I can only imagine how much work was put into making that plane level and yet, it's only something you experience for about 5 minutes before the show is over. Or the ruin village in the desert with the pillars you can shoot: Great, but it would have been fun to have a bit more exploration or more to do there than the 3 battle-scenes (more or less) that you have there.

Or the city with all its detail and people walking around - and in the end, all you do there is walk through in a half hallucinate state...

And why was there no end-boss? (I don't really count Talbot as one...)

 

[Antan]

Chapter 22 = WOW! Such incredible lighting and rock texture work! Their artists really are the best in the world. I really can't wait to playthrough again on Crushing, but will wait for the patch. There are a few niggles that would be great to see ironed out, not game breaking ones but niggles non the less. IMO this is the absolute pinacle of console technology, the odd framerate drop and motion blur omision aside, though we know the motion blur is coming back. I reckon another 3 months dev time and we'd be locked@30 fps, like U2 is. I get the feeling the latter half of the game was created first as these appear to be the most polished. The highs in U3 are just incredibly high, so many jaw dropping moments. But like i say, i'd love ND to patch the niggles. I'm sure theyre aware of them (other than the aiming issue some peeps are having), but whats more important to them, fixing this or moving on to the next big thing?

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Wow ! I just put the UC3 disc in to play and the ring keeps rotating indefinitely !!!!! The game is not booting up at all !!!!!!