I have definitively hit diminishing returns with Uncharted games.
I loved 2, liked 3, then got bored of 4. It had been five years since I had last tried one of these, so I thought I'd give Lost Legacy a spin. Turns out, this is the exact opposite of what I want to play these days!
I looked around at so much gorgeous realism; beautiful worlds carefully crafted to feel vibrant and alive, and I felt nothing but jaded. Look at all the money that went into creating an environment I'm only going to spend a few minutes in and can never return to. I don't think there's anything that strikes me personally as being more soulless in a game than a "scene" that acts like a movie. There's a set place you start from and often a specific path you must slowly walk to reach a single end point. It's barely a game at times, it's a walking simulator with shooting. I have no problems with on-rails shooters, but this is a game series based on themes of exploration and discovery that forces you to do as you're told, expecting you to buy into the illusion of choice that it lavishly lays before you. (Climbing sections remain the absolute worst offender here) If this was a 2D platformer, then that would be totally fine! Go from A to B without dying. Got it. But I just can't see the appeal of this vein of 3D game design anymore.
Immediately after giving up on this, I booted up Hot Wheels Unleashed and drove a toaster through loop-de-loops while learning to handle the nuances of the driving and drifting, and I had a big dumb smile on my face nearly the whole time. The haptics in the triggers alone engrossed me more than anything in The Lost Legacy did.
I guess linear realism just isn't for me!
I loved 2, liked 3, then got bored of 4. It had been five years since I had last tried one of these, so I thought I'd give Lost Legacy a spin. Turns out, this is the exact opposite of what I want to play these days!
I looked around at so much gorgeous realism; beautiful worlds carefully crafted to feel vibrant and alive, and I felt nothing but jaded. Look at all the money that went into creating an environment I'm only going to spend a few minutes in and can never return to. I don't think there's anything that strikes me personally as being more soulless in a game than a "scene" that acts like a movie. There's a set place you start from and often a specific path you must slowly walk to reach a single end point. It's barely a game at times, it's a walking simulator with shooting. I have no problems with on-rails shooters, but this is a game series based on themes of exploration and discovery that forces you to do as you're told, expecting you to buy into the illusion of choice that it lavishly lays before you. (Climbing sections remain the absolute worst offender here) If this was a 2D platformer, then that would be totally fine! Go from A to B without dying. Got it. But I just can't see the appeal of this vein of 3D game design anymore.
Immediately after giving up on this, I booted up Hot Wheels Unleashed and drove a toaster through loop-de-loops while learning to handle the nuances of the driving and drifting, and I had a big dumb smile on my face nearly the whole time. The haptics in the triggers alone engrossed me more than anything in The Lost Legacy did.
I guess linear realism just isn't for me!