Back in 2007 the first Uncharted was released, at the time I thought nothing of the game and would not play till years after its release. Upon playing it I was met with a charming game that I enjoyed enough to play its numerous sequels,and now nearly 10 years later the franchise is coming to an end. With this being the end of the franchise I decided it was a good time for a review-

Story-

The story of Uncharted 4 takes place in numerous places in Drakes life, from his childhood all the way to adulthood. Getting to play along his life is surprisingly effective in making his character deeper and gives you a better understanding of how he became the man he is. The plot in the game is actually pretty solid, but in all honesty the characters and their interactions take main stage.

The plot its self is pretty much your basic Uncharted, there’s a place with stuff, and you have to find it for some new reason with a new person, on the way you go to other places to find Scooby clues to find the final resting place of whatever it is you are looking for. The basics of the plot are nothing special, the thing that makes the story so enjoyable is the revelations about the treasure and the interactions of the main cast.

The characters in Uncharted 4 are pretty much all fantastic, the main cast is horrifyingly charming and just a joy to watch. Heck I would have sat and watched hours of their interactions if they game had it. It is truly fun to watch the characters react to the events and how ridiculous some of the things are. The game does a convincing job at showing the character mature through these events that transpire throughout the game.I could go on and on about the characters but I believe it is best to go in blank for this as talking about it would spoil much of the games fun little moments.

Of particular note for the main cast is the new character Sam, this is our first little adventure with this guy and he oddly enough is a super fun character to play along with. The game goes into pretty good depth to show the reasoning behind his ambitions and the way he thinks and it is great. Getting to watch his interactions with the main cast and how he acts differently with certain other members is pretty interesting and a surprising detail most games glaze over.

One thing the game could have done a lot better is its handling of the villains, while both had potential their lack of depth makes them rather forgettable.( Next Three paragraphs are about them, with Minor spoilers that were in some pre-released footage)
The primary antagonist Rafe is a surprisingly interesting choice for a main villain, he is basically a rich snob who wants to be famous for his own actions. While being a snobby brat he actually is pretty intelligent and resourceful, though completely egotistical and has serious anger problems, but none of that is used to the degree it should of. His problem is we don’t see much of him beyond him being a giant douche who has tons of money, similarly to Nadine his character is a great concept but we don’t get to see enough of the character for them to leave a longer lasting impression. The game really should have built on his relations with the characters or shown how he is able to manipulate people. The fact that we see such a small amount of his personality kind of sucks, I would of loved to have had him have more depth or even maybe a slight sense of menace, instead we are left with a guy who is kinda a rich dick and will likely be forgotten pretty fast.

The game seemed really desperate to make you think that Nadine is amazing, but really it ended up feeling forced and somewhat odd, it is pretty similar to the Worf Effect in the way they used her. The fact that she is able to so easily over power Drake is odd enough, it was like a child trying to fight an adult, as Drake is some sort of freakish beast who beats the crap out of armies and goes through horrifying events unscathed it seems odd that he is suddenly so pathetic.What makes it worst is naughty dog makes you play this stupid fight like there is any point when it is obvious you are not allowed to do crap against her no matter how skilled you are at the game. To further the oddness of the encounters with her  she later is able to over power Drake and another person, unless she is some sort of super human this really is plain wrong since neither of the people are weak or unskilled, with Drake likely being a rather experienced fighter as he has fought Many other Military members before and had never been this out classed.

Personality wise she is sadly kind of bland  and actually adds pretty much nothing to the game besides the explanation of where all these military folk you fight came from. The fact that she is so under utilized is pretty sad because the bit of backstory you hear about her sounded extremely interesting and made me want to know more, but it doesn’t get used, it just gets thrown out there and left to die. I honestly feel like they should have added a few more hours to the game just to help flush out the villains with her in particular needing a lot more time. This could have helped make the villains a little more standout so that maybe they aren’t completely eclipsed by the main cast of heroes.

In short the main cast is entirely a joy to watch and their interactions make the game much more entertaining, but the lackluster villains hold the game back thanks to their underdevelopment and lack of depth. Overall the story is still extremely fun to play through while not perfect the overall story told is fantastic and it bring the series to a wonderful end, I’d even say the ending could easily be one of my favorite ends to a game of all time.

Visuals-

Well, where do you start with this? I mean honestly the visuals are so fantastic it is actually hard to start, I think this time I shall open with a more visual representation-

Something that is hard to show in picture and without spoiling areas or moments is the unnatural amount of awesome small details such as rain dripping off Nates face realistically or ice on the ceiling dripping. There is just so many small details in this game that you could get lost easily if  you are just watching all the amazing small details that the art team put into this game.

Stills of this game truly do not do it the justice it deserves, the games animations are simply amazing. Of all the games I have played this game is by far the most impressive game I have seen from a visual perspective. If you are just into games for graphics, well do yourself a favor and buy it. Beyond the super pretty technical stuff the games art its self is fantastic, the use of lighting and layout of areas is amazing. It has been a long time since I stopped in a game and just looked in awe, I did that multiple times with this game. The only complaint I can come up with is that the children are freaky looking and some background fruit isn’t super amazing, but really that would be some lame nitpicking.

You can view the slideshow below to see more images, some are altered using the in game filters.

Gameplay-

The gameplay is gratefully massively improved over the last iterations of the series, but it is still far from being perfected. The climbing is decently done, but the way the climbing segments are all layed out can be far to controlled and linear and in many cases feels repetitive. The climbing also has the problem of Drake thinking he knows better than you do and sometimes he won’t grab things you jump toward and other times he will grab onto things you really don’t want him too and it will get you killed.

 

The added dynamism to the environments makes the combat just look spectacular. The environmental destruction adds a ton to the combat beyond just looking amazing. It makes you have to think and keep moving, no longer can you sit behind some random block and pop out every 5 minutes,now you have to keep in mind how long the cover will last and it really helps the combat out, it makes it feel more intense and alive.

The game really does look like an action movie with all the destruction that goes on while you fight, couple that together with the amazing visuals, the animations and the crazy set pieces it can make even smaller gunfights look completely insane.

A problem the franchise has always had and is still very much here in this game is that everything you touch seems to break;to a degree this is understandable but after a while it literally just becomes busy work. Want to jump onto those rocks, well they’ll break, oh you’re running from enemies, well it would sure suck if the entire floor beneath you just started to shatter.This is actually linked to another problem that became pretty repetitive rather fast, you have to always find a way around to get where you want to go, things are never simple you can never just go to the place you want to, even if you see a basic path that should work. It seems like you can only go the one path the game wants you to go and you have to do it the way the game wants you to and it actually gets really annoying. Though there are now more open areas in this title with more variation, but to progress the plot you got to do it their way.

The combat its self is greatly improved in this entry, aiming is actually pretty solid and has a unique way to help you compensate for the recoil bloom which while being confusing at first quickly grew on me.Thankfully there is far more variation in what you can do thanks to things like the improved Cqc, stealth and the new grappling hook which all add nice little moments throughout your playthrough. The general movement in the game feels much more grounded than previous entries thanks to the extremely good animation and interactivity with the environment. All the new locations in the game bring tons of new mechanics such as rock slides, slippery muddy hills and gorgeous underwater areas. Couple all those together with the new mechanics such as the grappling hook and wench you get some really cool moments.

One glaring problem the game has is one of its few boss fights, the initial boss fight like thing puts you in a fight with a certain individual and you can literally not do crap to defend yourself. No matter how skilled you are, no matter how good your timing is you just get beat. The fight isn’t even a real fight, it is a glorified cinematic to try and build another character up and it just felt cheap.The idea behind it is great, but the execution was horrible and only made me annoyed with the game. What makes it worst is later in the game you fight someone in a similar circumstance and it is done well, the person is obviously better than you but this time your skill and timing actually do matter, unlike the previous fight this one was intense and interesting, it didn’t feel like a waste of time. The later boss fight actually does do something Very interesting, it puts Drake into a circumstance he not used to, and with that they change up the gameplay. It actually put the player in a similar circumstance as Drake, and that was awesome.

All in all I though the gameplay was surprisingly satisfying, this was actually a pretty big surprise to me as the previous games got me pretty frustrated rather quickly. While the games combat and climbing aren’t perfect they do serve to bring many fun moments and as a whole is actually pretty dang fun.

Sound-

Like everything else in Uncharted the sound is pretty top notch, from the voice acting to the gun shots and explosions. Everything in this game sounds right, never once while playing did I notice out of place sounds or things sounding odd. The only problem I had was the sounds of guns and the like drowns out the pretty music and talking, but with a simple trip to the menu I was able to fix that by putting the volume down and up for the things I preferred to hear.

The best aspect of the stellar sound design is definitely the Voice acting, each and every voice actor brings their A game here and I’d say it is actually the best voice acting in the entire series without contention. Listening to the characters banter as you go through the games world is purely fun, and sometimes I’d find myself trying to find things that would get them talking again.

Uncharted 4: Reviews End

After all is said and done Uncharted 4 is a wonderful end to a great and flawed series, while the game doesn’t iron out all the flaws it still manages to be build on the strengths of the previous entries and smooth out others. The game is horrifying gorgeous and the characters are more lifelike and charming than ever, I never once got bored listening to the characters joke around and never thought the story was dragging on for an excessive amount of time .

The game has a excellent balance of fighting and exploring its beautiful set pieces, while the game has many  flaws like its lackluster villains in the end it is still a great game that ends the series in a truly fitting way. While I am sad to see it go, I am happy to see it end on such a high note.

 

Gifs are from NeoGaf

Dates Wikipedia

Image credit Neogaf/Self