It's a good game, but I had some problems.
1) Instagib weapons aren't fun. Especially if they are explosive, and yet the enemy can still use it on you from five feet away.
3) The combat wasn't very good for how much of it there was. The enemies aimed too well while moving, the unaimed shots accuracy seemed to jump around a lot (there was one point where I shot off two shotgun shells unaimed at the same target, and only one hit), I didn't think the feedback was that good (shooting them in teh foot or chest seemed to have the same animation) and the hitboxes were weird (there were times where I had a shot lined up directly over somebody's head, and it just didn't connect).
4) The weapon balance was all weird. I think the AK in the game was weaker than the pistols, when it should have been about on par per shot with the Desert Eagle, and the shotguns were way too good. I really just hate it when games use severely unrealistic weapons, and here they did it without having a real point.
5) Making enemies bullet sponges is almost never a good idea. In monster games I can understand it, but when we are talking about just giving the enemies bullet proof vests and helmets at the end of the game to make them tougher, then no. Having to shoot an enemy five times rather than 3 does not make them more fun.
You mean the grenade launcher (M4) ? I thought they were pretty handy. It's my secondary weapon initially. Too bad it only has 3 ammo. For my playthrough, the M4 guys always shot from a higher vantage point (i.e, they tried to pin me down from a platform while the rest flanked me).
As for the Dragon Sniper, I thought they were good too. Even a body shot can be a one-hit kill (when close enough I guess). The big problem is everyone ran and ducked, so the sniper rifle has very limited use.
I saw that too, but I didn't see it having significant differences from the other animations. It seemed that the enemies would change to a hurt animation after a certain amount of damage where they held their side and limp, but I didn't really see any changes with how they actually acted.Not quite true. Uncharted has different animation when you hit the enemies at different areas. I have seen the fat pirate hop around on one foot when my shotgun hit too low. I have also seen other pirates covering their stomachs or limbs where I hit them. They would even limp around if they survived the initial encounter (The damage seems persistent).
I have also made the pirates dropped their grenades 4-5 times when I shot them at the right moment.
Overall, I am most happy with their enemy AI. It's just that there were too many of them, and everyone was sneaky. In comparison, the melee was harder to time and execute, but rather satisfying when done right.
Yeah, the AK stinks but there are better options later. They should have made it a little more powerful. The rest of the arsenal is great. My personal favorites are the M16 and Mossberg.
... only at the beginning though. Some weapons are more powerful. Use them
(e.g., you mentioned shotgun was too powerful above). The pistols were trustworthy too. The only problem child is the AK. From my experiences, later enemies were easier to take out because of your campanion (Sully or Elena), and the heavy weapons, despite their better protective gears.
Because the enemies were so mobile, I think the reload time of some weapons became a weakness (e.g., sub-machine gun). I tend to shy away from them too.
For the record, I was talking about the enemy having instagib weapons (I think they were the magnum revolver, the deagle and the nade launcher). The problem is that these create trial and error situations where you have to figure out where the guys that have the power weapons are so you can kill them quickly, rather than taking the enemies as they come.
I saw that too, but I didn't see it having significant differences from the other animations. It seemed that the enemies would change to a hurt animation after a certain amount of damage where they held their side and limp, but I didn't really see any changes with how they actually acted.
The thing I dislike is just the way they represented the weapons. It is like they did absolutely no research and simply made them act however they wanted.
Personally, I think both of the ARs were anemic. If they were significantly more accurate than anything other than the sniper rifles or penetrated the body armor more easily then they would have been ok, but the weapons weren't realistic or useful.
The M16 is robust (My top pick later in the game) since I can take out the final enemies easily with it. It is more powerful and easier to control than the AK.
Did I let myself be taken by the - "ps3 is hard, rsx is of the shelve more like a 7600gt, cell is weak, 256mb!" - comments, or is that Picture showing how a game is suppose to look on PS3 ?
I would be a little embarrassed If my game didn't look at least half as good and with frame rate problems.
Yeah... no framerate problem for me @ 720p here. It's hard to imagine NaughtyDog was able to accomplish this feat within PS3's first year and starting from scratch.
To be fair, you have to account for the fact that it is essentially a corridor shooter while most of the games people will be comparing it to (AC, Halo 3, Crysis) have a much larger scope. ND did do some amazing things with their art direction, though.
"mostly" but it still manages to look fantastic in open areas (repeating water texture aside).
The benefit of being a corridor shooter isn't only in a limited scope. ND can know that if a player is between point A and point B (where A and B are chosen for practicality within the game engine) then they know where the player can possibly move and what he can see (their limited platforming model helps them as well, since it is nearly impossible to get somewhere they don't want you to be). This means that they can carefully balance each section to take advantage of the power of the machine without going overboard. Something like assassin's creed can't do that because one moment the player might be on the rooftops and the next he might be looking at a single person.
All true, but I don't believe that should be used to discount what ND has achieved with Uncharted. It's a beautiful game, no matter how you slice it.