What’s Wrong With Uncharted 4

July 29, 2016
The Bulgogi
Rants
0 Comments

Uncharted 4 is a pretty great game that we highly recommend. The game has a great story (if a little predictable), fun gameplay that’s engaging but never frustrating, and amazing graphics. For what it’s worth, the ending battle is a master class in introducing a new gameplay element for the final battle that is thematically consistent and perfect for creating a cinematic finale. As the Uncharted series is allegedly done (yeah right, a major franchise ends the series immediately after introducing the most kidnap-able character ever; let’s just say we have our doubts), we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on the elements we don’t want to see in Uncharted 5.

It’s a script I wrote for Uncharted 5: Sully’s Quest.

You kill too many people

Having played quite a few video games, I have killed my share of enemy soldiers in games. Uncharted 4 is no exception and the battles you have are pretty enjoyable. Battles are often multi-storied, the ability to hide usually lets you regroup when things get hairy, and the rope swinging adds a swashbuckling element to the battles as well. The problem is that the game does such an excellent job humanizing Nate as a lovable, goofy guy that it’s very difficult to square his personality with his body count. There’s a reason Indiana Jones is a serious, standoffish loner who stayed single most of his adult life. Nathan is creepily well adjusted for a guy who has killed so many people. It’s no secret that we’re a little tired of the ridiculous body counts in games but Uncharted 4 was the first time we felt a real tension between the quality of the story and the quantity of the dead bodies.

Nate is either a nice guy who just happens to kill a lot of people or a spree killer masquerading as a nice guy. Either way these domestic scenes feel a little awkward.

ENOUGH WITH PRESSING BUTTONS REPEATEDLY

This is getting ridiculous. This is 2016, I should not be pressing a button repeatedly to open a door. Pressing a button repeatedly in no way simulates the action of lifting a heavy object or pushing a heavy object. Heck, I understand the use of repeated button pressing when there’s a time constraint (like when you being chased by inmates in Outlast). But here I am under no time pressure and do not need to hurry but I still have to press buttons repeatedly to lift heavy objects to slide under. Whatever excitement is building in the story or whatever fun we’re having exploring is rudely interrupted by the prompt to press triangle repeatedly to lift an object. Nothing reminds you faster that you’re in a video game than the instructions to press a button for no reason. We have thumbsticks, we have sensitive controllers, we have lots of other ways to simulate moving objects. Let’s start exploring those.

We have to get up there. Have you tried pressing X repeatedly?

The game needs an open area to explore

When you arrive in Madagascar, the game hints that you might have reached a wide open world to explore. You and your pals ride around looking for different ruins and attaching your truck to various trees. As you play through, though, you start to sense that you’re on a set path traveling from one point to the next. It’s a real missed opportunity. Uncharted could really use some open worlds to explore. Rise of the Tomb Raider did this really well. There are several areas there where you can explore, gather collectibles, and accomplish mini-quests before continuing the adventure. Uncharted is perfect for this kind of structure. The game has several potential hub worlds that would be fun to poke around for collectibles and mini-quests (maybe you could actually photograph some cool things too).

This is pretty open looking, but yeah there’s a path we gotta follow. And dudes to kill. So many, many dudes to kill.

This game should absolutely be cooperative

There are few games that lend themselves as easily to cooperative play as Uncharted 4. Heck, you spend almost the entire game accompanied by an NPC of some sort. Nathan is so rarely alone that it’s memorable when you’re on your own. Your partners are also all as good at killing and climbing as Nathan is. Even with this obvious opportunity, the game would rather control these characters themselves. To be clear, it is helpful to have a solid assistant with you who keeps you from being overwhelmed but never seems to actually save the day for you. Still, this would (or could) be a great game to play through with a buddy. Now, to be fair, there is some kind of cooperative mode coming soon but we aren’t sure what to expect. Here’s hoping they give us something memorable; this is the kind of game that is fun on your own but could be great with a partner.