kstublen

Beat the game today on Normal. Loved it, but Uncharted is one of my favorite video game franchises so I guess I'm a bit biased.

This one actually felt a bit harder than Uncharted 2, especially when it came to fighting the bad guys; they felt less predictable, more agile, and as though they were better shots. I think it made the game more difficult, but also a lot more fun. The addition of being able to return-throw grenades and melee attack enemies was great as well.

I'll spoiler the rest of my comments, just in case.



I think the graphics were great. I didn't ever really notice where backgrounds weren't fleshed out, except maybe in the desert. Still, the animation of water and fire was incredible; I don't think I've ever seen a video game do it better.

Now for some complaints:



I didn't notice any major glitches and I never had to restart the game at any point. The only thing I noticed was once Drake glitched when climbing over a wall and one enemy toward the end levitated for a moment. Other than those, no problems on my first play through.

I did, however, have to tweak the aiming sensitivity. For the first few shootouts I felt like the controls were lagging and I wasn't able to aim quick enough to kill enemies. Once I changed the sensitivity though it was much better.

Like I said, I think it was a great game and it definitely lived up to the hype for me. If you liked Uncharted and Uncharted 2, then chances are you'll feel the same way I did about this game; it doesn't necessarily break any new ground, but it does what Uncharted does best. I can say I had more fun playing through this one than Arkham City, even though I really did like Arkham City a lot. But I think that's just because I prefer the cinematic nature of Uncharted.

thelwig14

I clocked in right at 8 hours.

RocShemp

I forgot to turn off those damn hints at first. Fortunately, I remembered to switch them off before I entered the chateau. It made the puzzles far more satisfying.

foxdvd

Ok, so this is going to sound negative, but I can't help myself. I am only complaining because when a game gets so many perfect scores it always puts me off a bit. I felt the same way when GTA4 came out to all those 10's.

I am half-way through the game...It really is a great game, though as some said slow to start. As always the scale of the platforming, and the movie-like presentation really are impressive....

Problems...

First is the gunplay. I can't put my finger on it but it just seems off. I have always thought the Uncharted games weakest element has been the shooting, and that continues with this game.

Platforming...this has always been mixed for me...on one hand it is amazing the scale of it, on the other it feels more like an interactive cut-scene than a game...but I do love it...the problem is the clipping and poor animation of your character. Assassins Creed smokes this game on this point. Your character clips through environments, chugs awkwardly off walls your were not suppose to jump on...and just looks off at times.

Graphics. This is the games strongest area, but I am not as impressed as I was with 2. First there seems to be a LOT more jaggies. Second, the character models are not as impressive as they once were...this has more to do with how other games have stepped up, not that Uncharted 3 has stepped back..Texture work for little things is still impressive (as opposed to Rage which had better looking backgrounds, more open and a higher frame-rate, but ugly little things like phones or boxes)....the most impressive thing about the Uncharted games though has always been the color...it looks like a painting...one thing I did note...some of the cut-scenes, which I always thought were done with the game engine, are of a lower quality than the actual game. I noticed this a lot with the beginning of Chateau...that level looked only average during the opening, and when you take over...beautiful....it is not as bad as Gears 3...but its there..

This is a fun game, and I can't wait to finish it tonight, but it is FAR from perfect...

RocShemp

Uncharted 3 Contest

Deftones

this is not a 10 game by any means. it's not even a 9 game. i like the uncharted series, but the only thing spectacular about this game is the graphics. everything else is average, at best.

Raul3

Yeah, the platforming part is really getting old. Even Batman feels better now.

After so many years of Assassin's Creed games there's no excuse, all platforming in games should be like that, should FEEL like that.

Sex Fiend

I'm about halfway through it right now, and share some of the aforementioned impressions of it so far. Specifically, that it's an overall good game, but not the world-rocking experience that UC2 was... or at least, doesn't make the quantum leap that UC2 did from UC1.

Some specific criticisms from me so far, some of which other posters have also hinted at:

1) Both player and aiming control is definitely wonky. I haven't tried to adjust aiming sensitivity, so that may fix that. But I've even had trouble with just moving Drake around with any precision, which is quite a hassle with some of the puzzles. Also, when the action picks up during the fight sequences, I often find myself skittering around, rather than smoothly transitioning from cover spot to cover spot.

2) The new "over-aggressiveness" of the enemies seems to me to reduce the AI of the game. I understand this was probably done to make the fights more urgent/exciting, rather than the incessant shoot-from-cover approach that kind of made the first game tedious in spots, and also to allow more melee fights. But the result in practice is that the enemies are constantly running right into me, even when I'm firing directly at them from behind cover, which doesn't seem very realistic at all, especially for a game series that has so far been succeeding at getting those kind of details correct.

3) As for the melee fighting, while I enjoy that they added more of it, it does seem to be causing me some "cheap" deaths. Specifically, when you break into a fist fight with an enemy during a gunfight, the other enemies keep shooting at you. I know that probably happened in the previous games, too, but in those games, it usually only took a few punches to take out an enemy, so no real damage amassed from the shooters. In UC3, a melee fight can go on for half a minute or more, which at times has meant also getting shot four or five times, in addition to any damage you take from the melee-ing. So I've been taken out at least a few times because of that, which seems cheap to me, since you can't easily break away from the melee to take cover, and you often can't use your own gun to end the fight quickly and get out of gun fire range.

4) The enemy's grenades seem to have a nasty habit of landing at a dead stop near you without any kind of momentum, no matter where you are standing. I have had grenades thrown at me on the edge of precipices, that instead of sailing over the edge (as they naturally would in reality), seem to be magnetically attracted to me. Again, a weird design flaw that didn't seem to exist in the previous games.

5) Overall, there do seem to be several graphical glitches in animation and presentation that seem to have made it past QC. I don't think most are all that big a deal, but a little surprising to me given the high degree of QC on the previous two games (especially UC2).

In any case, I'm a big time fan of the UC games and I'm sure that I will still really enjoy this one by the time I'm done with it. I guess when you set the bar so high as UC2, it does become difficult to out-do yourself with each new game in a franchise, so some hard core fans are bound to be at least a little disappointed at some point. Not that I'm really disappointed, per se, but finding room for quibbling.

foxdvd

I was going to talk about that as well...and I agree with you...it actually has made some parts easier as they just rush you like idiots..you can "trick" the game into exploiting this by turning your back on purpose to some enemies...even though the should NOT know you are not facing that way, the game will make them rush you hoping to take you by surprise...just turn your back...count a few seconds...turn around and tada!!!! 2 or 3 guys running toward you out in the open easy kills...

Obi-Wanma

I haven't played UC3 yet, but I died plenty of times in UC2 from getting shot while engaged in a melee. I only played the game on Hard and Crushing though, so don't know what level you play at.

steebo777

I am really digging the game, exactly what I was hoping and looking for.

Raul3

Blame discostu for that.

glassdragon

I just finished it today on Hard

I love the UC games and I was a bit disappointed in this. The scenes that were just shit blowing up everywhere and you have to escape were awesome, but the gun play and as mentioned the getting shot while meleeing was annoying. I hated when the big guys that take like 40 hits and 5 triangle counters to kill come at you with like 12 guys around, they always kill you while you are killing him.

Also you better hope you aren't near any enemies if a sniper has a bead on you in the open. You are supposed to hit O to roll so they lose their target, but if there is someone close you just keep grabbing them instead of rolling, by the time you realize that you were too close and turn to run you are dead. This game did not impress me nearly as much as 2 did, it was a great game mind you from a balls to the wall action standpoint, and a story standpoint, but everything else was kind of meh.

Spoiler for anyone who has finished it or is past chapter 18 or so

musick

I believe I left off at Chapter 9 last night and would agree

I think 9 chapters into Uncharted 2 there were levels I knew I would definately want to go back and revisit ..... not so much in this game thus far

if this game is a 10 then Uncharted 2 was an 11 (said with Spinal Tap emphasis)

musick

clearly just a gaming device to take advantage of the throw back feature that wasn't present in the past games

Deftones

just beat it. meh. the story was interesting, although the "thing" they are looking for is weak. i think the quality of the story makes up for the lack of mechanics/gameplay. i will say that this game getting 10's from anyone is an absolute joke. it's not a 10 worthy game at all. maybe a 9, but that's stretching it. i think people are so enamored by the story, since it is almost like a movie, they look past quite a bit of the shortcomings this game has. i liked U2 much much better than this one.

Raul3

I haven't finished yet but I would say UC1 was a 9, UC2 a 10, and this looks like an 8 or 8.5.

RocShemp

Uncharted 1 was worse about this since Drake did little melee damage (even with a crushing combo) and wouldn't break away. The only options were the iron fist manoeuvre or only entering melee with the last guy in the room.

In UC2 and UC3 you can break away by using the cover button.

MrX

I'm through chap 10 and this is far and away my biggest issue with the game.

JohnSlider

Naughty Dog invited players to their headquarters to show them the bad controls because they didn't believe there was a problem with the aiming. They're going to be releasing a patch for it soon.

dsa_shea

The aiming on this flat out sucks and makes me a cowering bitch during a gunfight rather than wanting to fight back. During that shootout in the courtyard in Syria I found it easier to let my pals kills most of the enemies than try and fail at killing them myself.

musick

I don't seem to be having the same issues many of you are going on about with the aiming (and I haven't made any adjustments)
the only reason I am finding it harder to aim in this game is because the enemies move/close in on you much faster than in the previous games .... now that may just be because I am playing on hard and usually start the game on normal

RocShemp

The problem with the aiming is that the targets are leading rather than you leading the target and then firing off a shot. I'm sure this was done for the cinematic "fire enough bullets and hope to hit the target" approach you see in countless action films. The problem is that, while fun to watch in a movie, it is a PITA when you're stuck in a huge firefight and just watch as your ammo is spent on air.

Apparently they might also patch in a cinematic viewer as well. I just finished the game today and was surprised to see this feature MIA. Apparently they used live audio for the cinematics this time around and found it too difficult to just load cinematics on the fly. I wonder if this was a Naughty Dog decision or something that Technicolor (who handled sound design/mixing duties this time around) brought to the table.

Anyway, after finishing the game, despite the aiming issues, it's my favourite in the series. I like how they balanced exploration, puzzle solving, and combat far better than in previous outtings. It made the finale feel like more than just an extended shooting gallery, as it was in the first two games.

That said, I agree this game doesn't deserve a 10. None of the Uncharted games deserve a 10, really. For storytelling and acting, absolutely. But for gameplay they still fall in the 8 to 9 range (which is still really damn good).

dsa_shea

The Uncharted games are great games but they are way too linear for a 10 in my opinion. There is no shame in them not being a 10 as they still are awesome to play.

RocShemp

I have to agree with that. And the linearity becomes painfully obvious in areas like I wanted to traverse around the area but instead found the game forcing me in a straight line.