Original Rating: 4.5/5
Playing the original trilogy right before Uncharted 4 really puts into perspective how scaled back it is is in comparison. The original trilogy was comprised of mostly globe-trotting adventures across the world with around 25% of each game being spent in their final destination, never staying in one place for too long with tons of variety from location to location as the stakes rise and the set pieces get crazier.
Uncharted 4, on the other hand, spends around 50% of its time in Libertalia, the game’s main setting. Before that though, there’s more location variety than ever before: there’s the dry prison in Panama, the sleek mansion in France, the brisk landscapes of Scotland and the red savannah of Madagascar. Despite the variety of locations, the endless set pieces of the original trilogy have been exchanged in favor of slower, more character-driven moments; where in the original trilogy you probably would have seen twenty crazy action set-pieces by the time you set foot in Madagascar, you instead traverse the rough terrain in a Jeep with entertaining banter amongst the group.
That’s not to say the set-pieces are absent, however. In fact, Uncharted 4 has the best action sequence in the entire series, bar none. There are a couple others that rival even Uncharted 3’s. These action sequences are more thinly distributed throughout the story, making them more surprising and enjoyable when they happen, and giving the game a greater sense of grounding that helps us better relate to the fantastic characters and narrative.
As for the narrative, I thought it was fantastic, but not without its flaws. Particularly near the end, it feels like the game drags on longer than it needs to. About 3/4 through the game, the story slows to a grinding halt and explores a certain relationship throughout a few chapters, which is very fun to see at first, but it goes on for so long that it feels like the game loses its engrossing rhythm it had maintained until that point. Some sequences honestly feel like they could have been cut entirely to create a better sense of pacing. But overall, the story was really well-written, definitely the best in the series, and the characters were all really lovable.
The gameplay is remarkable. The grappling hook feeds into both the combat and traversal in ways that make both twice as enjoyable as before. The battlefields have a remarkable degree of verticality to them that make it very easy and effective to improvise. The haptic feedback is well-implemented, the stealth is fun if a bit shallow, and the platforming is quite engaging, even the climbing.
Just like the final 1/4 of the game, I realize I haven’t really paced this review very well. Overall, Uncharted 4 is not perfect, but it gets literally everything but its pacing right, and that’s not even an issue until the narrative reaches its end.
Playing the original trilogy right before Uncharted 4 really puts into perspective how scaled back it is is in comparison. The original trilogy was comprised of mostly globe-trotting adventures across the world with around 25% of each game being spent in their final destination, never staying in one place for too long with tons of variety from location to location as the stakes rise and the set pieces get crazier.
Uncharted 4, on the other hand, spends around 50% of its time in Libertalia, the game’s main setting. Before that though, there’s more location variety than ever before: there’s the dry prison in Panama, the sleek mansion in France, the brisk landscapes of Scotland and the red savannah of Madagascar. Despite the variety of locations, the endless set pieces of the original trilogy have been exchanged in favor of slower, more character-driven moments; where in the original trilogy you probably would have seen twenty crazy action set-pieces by the time you set foot in Madagascar, you instead traverse the rough terrain in a Jeep with entertaining banter amongst the group.
That’s not to say the set-pieces are absent, however. In fact, Uncharted 4 has the best action sequence in the entire series, bar none. There are a couple others that rival even Uncharted 3’s. These action sequences are more thinly distributed throughout the story, making them more surprising and enjoyable when they happen, and giving the game a greater sense of grounding that helps us better relate to the fantastic characters and narrative.
As for the narrative, I thought it was fantastic, but not without its flaws. Particularly near the end, it feels like the game drags on longer than it needs to. About 3/4 through the game, the story slows to a grinding halt and explores a certain relationship throughout a few chapters, which is very fun to see at first, but it goes on for so long that it feels like the game loses its engrossing rhythm it had maintained until that point. Some sequences honestly feel like they could have been cut entirely to create a better sense of pacing. But overall, the story was really well-written, definitely the best in the series, and the characters were all really lovable.
The gameplay is remarkable. The grappling hook feeds into both the combat and traversal in ways that make both twice as enjoyable as before. The battlefields have a remarkable degree of verticality to them that make it very easy and effective to improvise. The haptic feedback is well-implemented, the stealth is fun if a bit shallow, and the platforming is quite engaging, even the climbing.
Just like the final 1/4 of the game, I realize I haven’t really paced this review very well. Overall, Uncharted 4 is not perfect, but it gets literally everything but its pacing right, and that’s not even an issue until the narrative reaches its end.