My all-time favorite video game. Uncharted 4 is a masterclass of action-adventure and cinematic storytelling. Boundary-pushing and utterly unforgettable. You're playing a movie and it's just brilliant.

PROS
+ Breathtaking visuals throughout. Characters and environments are lifelike and full of impressive detail. A major upgrade compared to past Uncharted games.
+ Larger and more explorative than previous installments. You'll spend hours just admiring your surroundings and exploring every nook and cranny.
+ Instinctual and reaction-heavy gameplay that constantly keeps you on your toes. The set pieces are mesmerizing feats; especially the Jeep chase in Madagascar. It could've easily been a QTE but you're actually playing the chaos and it never gets overwhelming and/or clunky.
+ A poignant and exciting character-driven narrative that is grounded in reality but doesn't stray from the over-the-top nature of the franchise. It's the most mature game of the series and ends Nathan Drake's story on a powerful note.
+ Strong performances by Nolan North, Troy Baker, Emily Rose and Richard McGonagle. Furthers the potential of motion capture acting.
+ Adventurous and rip-roaring soundtrack by Henry Jackman that amplifies the action but also knows when to be slow and moving.

CONS
- Nothing to report. This is 10 out of 10 perfect game.

The previous two Uncharted games brought me on a one-of-a kind adventure that I'd never experienced before. Unfortunately, this third entry in the franchise doesn't do much to separate itself from what had come before and instead relies on some aggravating gameplay choices rather than innovate the franchise.

Uncharted 2 is one of the best games of all time, not just because of its story but also because of the way it improved upon many of the issues that the first game had. It's a shame that this sequel brought back those issues like the difficulty spike, making the stealth mechanic that Among Thieves introduced, unusable due to the large number of enemies. What's worse is that if Drake dies and the game loads to a checkpoint, enemies would spawn alerted to Drake's presence, removing the possibility of stealth and in turn drastically changing the way you approach combat.

Also speaking of the use of melee attacks, I hated all of the enemy encounters that forced you to use hand-to-hand combat, as instead of being an actual combat sequence, they were all presented in QTEs, which felt more like you were watching an interactive cutscene rather than playing the game.

The game also likes to take you out of control, with the game forcing you to just walk in snail's space and the camera often zooming in for finishing moves. Now, this would have been incredible and cinematic, but it's done so often that it pretty much loses its impact. There's even an entire segment where Drake was running, but everything was played out in slow motion, making movement such a drag, and there's an entire chapter where all you do is walk. You know, they should have called this game Uncharted: Drake's Walking Simulator.

One thing I did like though was the antagonist. Well, at first anyway, Talbot was so mysterious and intriguing due to his ability to disappear out of nowhere and even take a gunshot, I thought he might be a magician and might just become my personal antagonist in the franchise, but unfortunately none of his abilities were explained and ended up being a massive plot hole.

The story was also massively disappointing, never reaching the heights of Among Thieves, with fewer stakes, character developments, some characters are even just written off out of sequences; and worst of all, there's less adrenaline-pumping action to be seen, with one of the few being there, only serving as a filler segment.

Don't even get me started with Chloe's awful-looking character model downgrade.

At the end of the day, Uncharted 3: Drake's Walking Simulator is not a bad game, it's just a terrible sequel to one of the best games of all time

Even though it's a good game i'm quite disappointed in how it ultimately turned out. It had a lot of great moments and set-pieces but the last 1/3 or so was a total drag. I really hated the combat in here. I don't know if I'm so bad at this game or what but I've been dying really often in Uncharted 3. There were a lot of encounters with 20+ enemies (including guys with RPGs, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, shields etc.) and you just sneak from cover to cover to eliminate them one by one, hoping that you won't get randomly killed by the last one. I haven't been this exhausted by a game in a long time.

I'd give it a weak 7/10 because it's still decent in most aspects. It's just painfully frustrating.

The first Uncharted game blew me away with its captivating story and stunning visuals, along with its challenging gameplay. This sequel then takes everything that made its predecessor such a great game and further improves upon it, delivering us one of the best games of all time.

As I booted up the game and started my playthrough, the first thing that grabbed my attention was its beautiful graphics. Sure, the first Uncharted looked great as well, but this sequel brought it to a whole new level, with each corner and area rich with detail.

And the graphics aren't the only thing that has been touched up in this sequel; even the already stellar gameplay has seen minor tweaks that polish everything up as well as fix some minor issues that its predecessor had. Fixes include the stealth mechanics, which prove to be so much more useful for this sequel compared to its predecessor, where I found it to be working against its aggressive enemies, the sudden difficulty spike has also been toned down, making for a more balanced action, and puzzle solving and platforming have also been refined, feeling less automated.

As for the story, oh god, it has an immensely gripping plot filled with frenetic action, taking place in numerous diverse settings that will keep you glued to your seat.

While I loved the first Uncharted game, this sequel simply surpasses it on every single front. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will remain unmatched for years to come.

It's the fifth time I finished this game, and somehow, I ended up liking this game even more than before. It's a honest attempt at a homage to the adventure movies of old, and it mostly felt like Naughty Dog were doing the best with the resources and experience they had. It's a big departure from their previous cartoony franchises, and they managed to stuck the landing. Most importantly, it sets the groundwork for future titles to improve on, and oh boy they certainly did just that.

Normally I would write a more detailed review here, but I did something slightly different: I wrote a "photo journal" instead! I took a lot of screenshots using the in-game photo mode throughout my playthrough, and I used them as the base for talking about my thoughts and feelings of the game. It ends up being similar to old video game magazine reviews, but much longer in word count. If you're interested, you can check it out by clicking here. Full spoilers warning! I won't be doing this too often but it was a very fun endeavor that I want to repeat again someday.