So I'm currently having a week of vacation from work and I decided to play all Uncharted games.
The first two were quite fast and pleasant experiences. I had played them a few years ago, but forgot most of the story. Great games!
The third one, though... Gosh, how I hate the combat in this game! It's embarrassing for ND... The gunplay is awful, it's like every single enemy absorbs the bullets! And they have powerful weapons shooting from anywhere! Seriously, I keep shooting and they just keep running and jumping and shooting without having any reaction, just eventually dropping dead. It just gets worst when they have armor, even grenades are absorbed then. And melee also deserves a space here, what an awful button mashing thing... It's like if the elegancy of crafting combos from Batman Arkham had an ugly child with QTE, and we were left with "press square as fast as you can until some other button flashes on the screen, then press it and back to square; repeat".
I'm honestly enjoying the story, sets and atmosphere, but combat has been frustrating... Can't believe ND had this so wrong, they're one of my favorite studios in the world.
There was quite a bit of time pass between my playthrough of UC2 and UC3, so I don’t recall having a huge problem with the combat. UC has always had a bit of a bulletspongy issue going on. Maybe it was worse in 3, but it didn’t seem jarring to me. I need to replay these one day. I have considered getting the Nathan Drake Collection on PS4 when it’s on sale, but I just have too many other games vying for my attention atm.
I do seem to recall UC3 having really great set pieces and story, but UC2 still tugs at my heart strings the most as my favorite. If I replay them maybe I could determine if that bias is objective or if it’s just based on nostalgia when I played it back at the time.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Guys, you need to replay it to feel the combat again, then, haha.
In UC1 and UC2, some enemies did absorb the bullets, but they were mostly "bosses". Generic enemies at least reacted when shot by tripping a little. In UC3, all enemies simply keep doing their thing until dropping dead.
As an example, last night I played through a fight in a ship. At this specific moment, one armored guy started shooting non-stop with a new gun at Drake. I thought the usual, go for the head, but he expressed 0 reactions, so I just thought "he won't die, I need to run or do something", and I died a lot in that scene. After 30 minutes or so, I gave up and started shooting him like crazy again, used almost all of my bullets and he dropped dead at some point, without any reaction before doing so. There's something seriously wrong with the combat.
Just finished Uncharted 3. The game is great, the adventure aspect was actually better than the action for the first time in the series for me. Playing them in sequence also made me realize how different they are from Tomb Raider.
I mean, obviously one took inspiration from the other, but the gameplay feels different. Uncharted is more story-driven, with less exploration and way more bullets and explosions. Tomb Raider is more gameplay-oriented, with mini open worlds to explore, precise shooting and strategic approach to combat.
@RenanKJ Hmm. Odd. I always felt that Drake's Deception was the ultimate refinement of everything, at least in terms of the original PS3 trilogy. Gameplay, story, graphics, music, etc. were all perfect for me and I still consider it my favourite of the series (or at least joint-favourite, forever jostling with The Lost Legacy which is also stunning).
Just out of curiosity (as I note you've just finished Drake's Deception and still really enjoyed it regardless so hurrah and congratulations) did you play them on PS3, or did you play The Nathan Drake Collection remasters on PS4?
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RenanKJ Neat. I'll have to give Drake's Deception another shot soon. I've only ever played it once on PS4 because I'd played it so much on PS3, so that's likely where I'm getting my lasting memories from!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
As far as gameplay goes, I can see the point about bullet sponge enemies, but in fairness - Drake himself is a bullet sponge too, at least on the easier difficulties. It’s equally as unrealistic to be able to absorb 20 gunshot wounds and then crouch behind a pillar and be good to go in 10 seconds. 😆
The dude with body armor can take 20 shots, but Drake is just running around in jeans, a Henley, and some hair gel.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Fair point. But I still stand by UC3 losing some points for its poor combat and shooting systems. The story was alright, and the hollywood action film moments were awesome (the scene with the plane in the desert was a particular highlight).
Uncharted 4 is in a whole other level... Naughty Dog outdone themselves, unbelievable graphics and animations. Soundtrack and music are great, dialogues are better than ever, I laughed in that moment with Nate and Elena playing Crash. The shooting is way better than what came before. They clearly learned a lot from The Last of Us.
By the way, they couldn't resist adding Troy to the game, huh? Haha.
@RenanKJ Yeah, I really liked A Thief’s End / Lost Legacy. I tend to consider the two games as one when making ‘favorites’ lists because I like both games so much and , well.. Lost Legacy was technically supposed to be UC4 DLC anyways. I think the gameplay is at its best in LL.
And I completely respect your take on the combat. I can only go off five year old memories but I do wonder, as @RogerRoger alluded to above, that Drake’s Deception may play differently on the PS4. I can’t imagine that it would but only ever played the PS3 version, and only once at that, so it’s possible that the combat issues are magnified on the Nathan Drake Collection port. When these games are remastered I would think it’s just a visual upgrade only and the mechanics would be left untouched, but who knows. What difficulty do you typically play the games on? I think I played the series on Normal only.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I too found the combat in the Uncharted games to be a bit off. 3 was particularly jarring imo, got to the point where I put it on easy just to breeze through to the next cutscene. Got 4 in a bundle years ago but traded it in immediately, hopefully it comes to plus at some point so I can give it a try.
Nothing will be as bad as the hallucination enemies in either UC2 or 3 that just wouldn't go down.
The chapter towards the end of UC2 where you jump from vehicle to vehicle is perfectly done where you fell like an utter hero but later realise the whole sequence is completely scripted.
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