Do you know that I, videogamedunkey, the smartest man in the entire world
who has never once been wrong...
Do you know that even I am wrong sometimes?
When I first reviewed Last of Us,
I was underwhelmed by the lack of crazy-ass set-pieces,
and pretty much wrote the story off as some generic zombie bullshit.
But when I revisited the game a couple years later,
I completely turned around, I thought it was incredible.
On my second playthrough I could really appreciate
how consistent and honestly these characters were written.
It traded out those short bursts of bewilderly perfection,
for more constistent, complete, experience.
It also, in it's wisdom,
completely ditched the climbing mechanic from Uncharted.
Don't get me wrong, these are all good games,
but the climbing is so god damn boring.
What should be a minor feature,
is actually a prominent chunk of each game.
It's a cutscene of a dude climbing.
It doesn't really feel like you're playing when you get to these parts.
There's no margin for error.
There's no way you can really lose.
Uncharted 4 does, however, make a big breakthrough,
with the addition of the grappling hook.
I'm not- I'm not kidding.
Put a god damn grappling hook in every game, from now on, remind me.
But, even with the awesome sliding and hook mechanics,
Uncharted 4 still feels like a fake platformer
There's even a moment, where dude busts out a PS1
and starts playing Crash Bandicoot,
a game from 1996 that understood this better
You have to jump at the right time.
You have to land on stuff.
It's actually hard as shit, because it's a 3D platformer
that you play with a D-pad.
What the fuck?
What really sucks is when that feeling of inconsequence
starts to take ahold of the story.
For the first two-thirds of the game,
I was completely drawn in.
Nathan Drake is descending down this tunnel of bad decision making,
largely influenced by his shady older brother.
He recklessly puts his life and his marriage in danger
as the game takes its time, setting all the pieces
and building this ominous vibe under the surface,
until you reach that point where you think it's gonna erupt
and everything is gonna go to hell
INSTEAD
Everything starts resolving itself by magic.
I feel like i missed a couple of chapters in there.
One second, everything is fucked
Then, BOOP
Oh nevermind- it's-
I mean, I'm not against happy endings, but you have to earn that shit.
You can't have your main guy be a complete dickhead
to everyone who loves him, and then
Hey look at that, everything worked out, you're a millionaire,
you beat the game!
What the fuck kinda message is that?
They're already working on some DLC chapters
that will probably explain that jarring gap in the middle,
but as of now...
What the fuck?
Story aside, Naughty Dog has once again raised the bar
for graphics and animation.
This game looks incredible.
They've also dramatically improved upon
the shooting and combat.
Crushing difficulty is available right off the bat
instead of having to unlock it.
I do suggest you play it on the hardest difficulty
where you'll have to go in and out of stealth
to defeat enemies.
Bad guys can now lose track of you mid fire fight
which gives Uncharted 4 these unique hide-and-seek style skirmishes
This might not be the system-seller critics are hyping it up to be
but it's definetly a must-have title for PS4 owners
The story's initial promise of a messier more adult take on Uncharted
doesn't quite deliver,
but the gunpoint, the adventure and the atmosphere, are all there.
I give Uncharted a strong 3/5,
but the upcoming DLC chapters could probably kick this up to a 4 for me
Depending on how much they let you use the grapple hook.