Be Excellent To Each Other

I cant find a thread for this so we may just have talked about the teasers before in the event threads instead - trailer + gameplay from the Playstation event today

1) That 'looks' amazing. Beautiful stuff at the beginning. The switch from his face to the start of the playable bit was awesome.

2) That looks like normal Uncharted stuff. The walking about and climbing was standard fare. Remember U3 when you get into that pattern of a level being "quiet walk, puzzle, shoot out, puzzle, walk, big shoot out, set piece"? Yeah, you knew what was going to happen and it got a bit tired. I'm just disappointed that we haven't seen a fundamental shift after The Last of Us.

3) 'that' level structure was a fantastic playground for the shooting though. Even after my initial disappointment that it was going to be just pretty Uncharted even I was interested in the way the character could use his agility to bust around the map. Really fucking cool. But that level looked a nightmare to design and I doubt if everywhere will be like that. I hope so though, cause if the new Uncharted shooting is going to be based on that fundamental premise that he can use his agility to his advantage even during the shooting (and the levels allow you to do it) it'll probably end up being fucking awesome.

4) Still too much shooting though. Drake has murdered so many armies it's hilarious.

I've played a bit of the multiplayer Beta today 'round a mate's house.

Initial thoughts after a couple of goes:

1) It looks quite nice but didn't blow me away. I played the market level which was set out well and I had a couple of delightful matches where each team chased each other around the map. Other than that, there wasn't much stuff blowing apart that I noticed or something that made me look at the screen and go "wow." It was just a HD looking Uncharted. It needed some, erm, dense fog or howling snow or, I don't know, rotating laser controllable Ferris wheel that shoots flaming skulls. That you can also ride. And turns you into a unicorn. Maybe.

2) The unlocked perks as you progressed was unobtrusive enough without making one team overpowered. One created a totem pole that spewed out proximity black and red projectiles. Bit rubbish. Another called a backup AI controlled gunman to your side who goes wading in with a Gatling gun. He seemed to get taken down easily enough, which was pleasing. I ain't a fan of overpowered kill streaks. Unless I'm the one who gets it.

3) The belting around on a rope thing was largely pointless but funny when you jumped off and clobbered someone.

4) The climbing around was good, fast and fluid. Just like Uncharted normally is. Seemed a bit faster than usual as you'd expect on a better console.

5) The voice acting was good too.

6) Oh and it's gone the Black Ops route of making you choose a particular character. It's funny but does ruin the atmosphere when you see four indentical Nathan Drakes belting around the map. I think clothes are unlockable so this might just be a beta problem but every Drake was wearing the same gear, which would make following your team mates a bit of a problem.

I had a bosh at the multiplayer beta last night - was underwhelmed, really. It didn't feel very solid - there wasn't much feel for how much you were hitting the enemy or how much you needed to hit them before they fell over. Dunno, maybe that comes with practice, but it just all felt a bit flimsy.

I started playing Drake's Fortune last night having never played an Uncharted before. It has the pansiest gun noises I've ever heard. Like someone spitting. So maybe it's an Uncharted thing.

I remember that the shooting got better as the series progressed but it was never amazing. I'd never been tempted to even try the multiplayer.

I'm about 70% through each of 1-3,and have loved all of them. They're not combat games at all (although the combat is fun enough), but they're well scripted and entertaining.

They're not really the sort of game I would ever have imagined having a multiplayer mode, though. I can't think why on earth they bothered.

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2016/02/ ... r=36969785

Multiplayer beta is up on PSN if you want to have a look at the graphics. Oh, and play the multiplayer. Hey, why not play it for an hour and then never play it again - it'll save you some time come May when it's out.

So the multiplayer beta opens at 5pm GMT today, I believe! I guess I'll be on tonight. Is anyone thinking of playing this at some point?

The Last of Us multiplayer portion was surprisingly playable, so I'm happy to give this a go.

I'm actually more excited about playing a proper new-gen Uncharted than the full-price Tomb Raider expansion pack that's just been released.

Apparently this is for the "Heist Drake Multiplayer Skin" and "Snow Weapon Multiplayer Skin" if anyone wants those. This looks to just be the bog standard edition of the game so they might all come with this code but in case it doesn't and someone wants it.

Also: no Day 1 patch it seems; which comes as a bit of a surprise.

Dammit, I spoke too soon, 5GB patch incoming. And Fallout 4 has decided it wants patching as well first. Modern gaming ladies and gentlemen.

Huh. So even though I've earned a few trophies Uncharted 4 doesn't appear in my trophies list at all. Even weirder still is that Guitar Hero Live seems to be there instead, which I've never played.

Some random and spoiler free thoughts from a weekend's play time.

Essentially it's another Uncharted game with everything that entails and there's nothing here that'll massively surprise anyone who's played Uncharted 3. The only genuinely new feature is the full stealth system they've implemented which is fucking awesome. I seem to be even more terrible than usual at aiming guns in this game (the setup of the aim assist is a bit weird though and I've got a feeling I've turned that much further down than the default which might account for it) but it barely matters because, so far at least, it's possible and much more fun to stealth through 99% of the enemy encounters. It does have a slightly immersion breaking side effect in that your AI counterpart is ignored completely by enemies but now and again will run right in front of one to no effect; exactly like Ellie does in Last of Us in fact.

So far it feels like there's a lot more time spent on non-combat (cut scenes, in game exposition and climbing) than in previous games but I'm probably not too far (level 7 or so I think) in so that might change as things heat up. I found myself getting a little bored of the 'platforming' stuff already just because it's so linear and unchallenging which doesn't bode very well. Though it's the same as in the previous games so I'm not sure why it's turning me off in this one.

Hand-to-hand combat is enforced at certain point and it's pretty shit, though it might not necessarily be different from previous games as I can't remember how it played before. You've basically only got a single 'punch' move so you either get in before your opponent swings and land a hit or they get in first and you take some smacks. It devolves into grappling sometimes which is just hitting a button to get out of it and that's that. It really really needs a 'block and counter' feature which would add some much needed depth but it's pretty boring without that. Unless I'm being an idiot and have just completely missed stuff here.

The environments are a very tiny little bit more open and even though in practise you're still funnelled along the same linear path it does mean that finding collectibles can be more interesting if you've a mind to search around.

I'll play it when it's cheap.

You were probably logged in when Joans and I were playing it at mine.

I did wonder about that because I've got Rocket League trophies in my list as well. I was hoping the Guitar Hero stuff was a weird glitch because the alternative meant I was so drunk that I'd completely blanked you guys playing it. That was always a long shot though.

You may have been still logged in after you left, tbf.

Its crazy time :

http://www.pointandclickbait.com/2016/0 ... s-updated/



FYI , IGN gave a preliminary review of Uncharted 4 of 8.8 (out of 10) and the world ended

They have since revised the review and awarded it a 9

http://i.imgur.com/cP2xQME.gifv

Christ.

Yup. This game is amazing in many, many ways.

But is it any fun? 3 wasn't at all, IMO, just frustrating and boring when the fireworks weren't going off.

I'm struggling a little by how very linear it is. I know that it was always going to be, but something about it grates.

If you don't like Uncharted at all, this isn't going to convince you. It's the best Uncharted it could be but it does nothing to stretch the definition of the game.

If you do, though, it's a real treat. 1 was a bit rough, 2 was a classic, 3 wasn't as good, 4 is (based on what I've played) as good as or better than 2.

I never had a PS3, so this is my first go at the franchise. I wouldn't go so far as to say I don't like it, but I feel like I'm waiting around for a point where the game will open up a bit - which I know isn't going to happen.

Yeah, you have to just go with it. You're never going to be given much responsibility so just gawp at it and enjoy it more as though it were a film and you'll have a good time. They're not my favourite games by any stretch but I never gave up on one half way through, which is more than I can say for most.

I played one. Bounced off it, played it again to completion. Thought it could do with some improving. (Including, not not limited to: Making combat sequences less tediously drawn out. Making abandoned ruins actually abandoned rather than full of soldiers) Played about half of two before I bounced off that as well.

Knowing I was unlikely to ever play them again, Watched a video of the ending of 4, which we were told was awesome, but likely divisive.

Oh, the NPC path finding AI is fucking terrible.

Finished. Superb.

Con: if you didn't like the other Uncharted games, this isn't going to win you over. It's a refinement of the same, not a different thing.

Pro: if you like Uncharted games, this is the best one.

Pro: it's stunning to look at; texture detail, physics detail, and lighting combine to create a huge level of fidelity.

Pro: Nate and Elena are the best-written couple in games. I know that sounds like damning with faint praise, but so be it, it's still true. That thing at the end of a good book where you're sad to say goodbye to these characters? Uncharted did that to me. Games never manage that.

I'm looking forward to playing this when I finally buy a PS4 after the loft conversion is done.

I finished this tonight, and while some of the gameplay isn't that stunning (climb & shoot a lot), the settings are just glorious, the story is good fun and the characters are right up there with anything that TV can manage, let alone most games.

Nathan has God-tier core strength.

Aliens reference!

This game is ace and I'm sure I could just mill about that desert island diving in the sea, clambering over the rocks and taking in the sun. So what do you need to make this game better:

A zombie mode.


Coming December.



*slaps head*

Well blow me.

Uncharted 4 is ALSO getting some single player DLC! Yippie! After the zombie shit...

The reviews are out for The Lost Legacy and, happily, it's exactly what I expected (i.e. more of the same but shorter and with difference characters taking the lead). I'm all over this shit when it comes out.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017- ... acy-review

Also, was there really a zombie mode announced or did Sat just go temporarily mad back in November? ETA: ah, it was a multiplayer thing, that explains why I never saw anything about it.

Check me out, right up to date as usual!

After finishing Ghost of Tsushima I was after something juicy in the single player story driven campaign field, so I decided to go with this since I've never played an Uncharted game and this is supposed to be the best one.

It's..... Pretty good, I suppose.

I'm conscious that it's a few years old now so I'm bearing that in mind, but even so the gameplay loop isn't jaw-dropping. It's like, walk around for a bit, do a puzzle, do some climbing, shoot some baddies, watch some story, maybe collect some collectibles.

I'm also surprised how much 'Naughty Dog Template' stuff is in there, having played TLOU1 and TLOU2 to completion.

Graphically it looks stunning even a few years down the line, the story is OK, the script and voice acting are solid, and some of the 'film bits' are exceptionally well done. (The scenes with Nate and Elena in particular are superb.)

I'm not a huge fan of Nate himself, but I do feel a bit weird about games whereby you're basically forced to slaughter waves of what are effectively innocent (and well realised) human beings, and then it's straight back to wise cracking and telling jokes.

I fear I've been spoiled a bit by Ghost of Tsushima, and you can clearly see how that game was, ahem, 'inspired' by games such as Uncharted 4, but it's like Ghost of Tsushima does a better job of it.

Single example, Ghost of Tsushima has a lot of climbing stuff in it, but it's mainly kept separate in what are called 'Shrines' which are sort of distinct from the main game as their own objective. So if you're not up for a bout of climbing around, you can just not start a shrine and do something else.

In Uncharted 4 the climbing stuff is absolutely on the critical path, all the time as far as I can tell, so if you're not in the mood for some climbing. Well, tough.

Don't get me wrong it's a decent game and I'm enjoying it, and it was only £8 in some sort of digital PS Store sale thing, so can't complain.

Oh yes the enemy AI is draw-droppingly awful and its path-finding in particular virtually non-existent. I basically cheesed an entire enemy camp by hanging off the back of a wall THAT EVERY SINGLE ENEMY HAD A CLEAR PATH TO THE BASE OF, and simply picked them off one handed with my pistol, whilst hanging off the wall with my other hand. They all ran around and talked to each other and took cover and threw completely ineffectual grenades at my wall, but none of them thought to have a walk around to where I was hanging off my wall and shoot me in the bum.

EDIT - The BIG SET PIECES are suitably spectacular and very fireworks show-esque, but you're not really given much agency and there's not a huge amount of scope for things to go wrong.

ALSO - The hand-to-hand combat appears to neglect to consider that modern gamepads have more than one button.

It's not an open world game so, yeah, that's how these things work.

It's a strange constant change of rhythm though, and whilst I understand that's how the series has always worked, the climbing sections aren't exactly..... challenging, are they? It's got to the point now where I sort of groan a bit when another climbing section has to be traversed, they're starting to feel very much like filler. (Unlike the shrines in Ghost of Tsushima that were optional, interesting, and also yielded rewards. And, frankly, were far better designed.)

Yeah I know I'm heading into the territory of moaning about jumping into the sea and getting wet, but for a game that is widely acclaimed as the pinnacle of the series, I dunno, I was expecting something a bit more inspired.

I think the climbing was always one of my greatest bug bears. You're not doing anything other than pushing your stick in a series of directions. No peril, no timing. I gave up on 3 and don't think I'll bother with 4. They're just not for me.

The biggest issue I have with the climbing sections I think is that they're just 'there', so the game is basically saying 'Do this moribund activity for a few minutes and you can have the next bit of the game'.

If it were used more sparingly I'd be far more onboard with it, but as I progressed through the chapters and I realised it was a core repeated gameplay mechanic, I became less and less impressed with it.

Plus there's no challenge to it either, the game telegraphs when a jump from a rope is possible, and Nate stretches his hands out when he can make a jump from section of rock to another, and the environment shows which bits can be clambered on or jumped to anyway, so you're not left with much actual 'game' in these sections.

I get that it's a linear game, but if you're going to make a game as linear as this, you need to make damn sure that the stuff you fill it with is interesting and engaging, like Max Payne 3 did, for example.

*Subscribes to newsletter*

*Oh, it's all about fruit machine emulation*

*Unsubscribes*

Crikey this game gets boring sometimes.

I hate to even think about how much human endeavour (and now infamous Naughty Dog crunch and abuse) went into making yet another immaculately realised gaming arena that I have to.......

Climb around and throw my rope around, in a scenario where I can't really fail as the game just puts me back a few paces if I fall into the abyss, and where theoretically a monkey would eventually succeed on the basis of the whole typewriters/monkeys/Shakespeare thing.

I think I'll decamp to Hotshot Racing for a bit.

How are you finding Hotshot Racing? I saw a couple of fairly positive reviews and was tempted to give it a blast, but there were also quite a few negative comments below-the-line

I've only fired it up briefly and it didn't really grab me. Inertial Drift on the other hand is a much more immediate joy. Essentially it maps drifting to your right stick, so you flip your back end out at will. Makes for some delightful drift slaloms. Also nice cell shaded design. Let down by deeply uninteresting characters.

I like them both but they are quite different games despite both being arcade racers, I haven't decided which one I prefer yet. The characters and story annoy me in Inertial Drift which I realise is an absurd criticism of an arcade racer but there you go.

They're both pretty cheap in fairness so I'd say give them a punt.