Este juego ha tardado en calar en mí. Una parte de mí odiaba al principio que Druckmann hubiese querido Druckmannizar Uncharted. Demasiadas cosas me recordaban a la forma de abordar la narrativa en TLOU y el gameplay de repente tenía espacios más amplios, introducía el sigilo de forma más completa, con enemigos con una IA con patrones y ciclos más complejos....

Sucesivas partidas a este juego me han hecho ver como estas quejas que yo tenía son, al final, parte del proceso iterativo de Naughty Dog, y como Uncharted 4, por mucho que bebe de TLOU, es indudablemente un Uncharted. Un Uncharted diferente, sí, pero sin duda uno mucho más valiente e interesante del continuismo que en su día propuso Uncharted 3.

I've always had a fondness for the Uncharted games, but they've never been my favorites. While the storytelling is always fun and the gunplay snappy, there was never anything about them that made them really stand out to me.

Uncharted 4 changed that. By introducing new mechanics (the grappling hook, team takedowns, the climbing piton, Zelda-style overworld missions) and crafting an engaging story that delves deeper into Drake's ambitions and flaws than any other title, Uncharted 4 soars above its predecessors and finishes the franchise(?) on a high note.

Come for the breathtaking vistas and immaculately detailed environments, stay for the fascinating probing of the delusions of grandeur from the American middle aged man and the rousing hijinx that ensue. Quite easily the strongest in the franchise, something I wasn't expecting at all, thanks to quality of life improvements with the shooting/combat and extrapolation of core narrative elements. It's such a fluid and coherent experience that I was left agape by how much genuine fun I was having traversing the comprehensively decorated settings and navigating the vast arenas to mark my enemies. While it doesn't pack the punch of Last of Us' narrative, by smoothness of execution this has it beat in spades despite the slight bloat in the latter half. Structurally, this is Naughty Dog's most ambitious work thus far (when this was written in 6/3 at least). Borrowing from Last of Us' novelistic approach, the first half of this weaves in flashbacks and stuffs an immense amount of information within the first several hours that leaves the player's head spinning by how quickly it progresses without skipping a beat. Once it slows down leading into the second half in Libertalia, we are presented with some of the finest character work Naughty Dog has done with the near crumbling and renewal of Nathan and Elena's marriage, acting as the true climax to the story.

This section is nuanced in how it employs a hushed sentimentality in lieu of outright melodrama and it's bold to see the throes of domesticity being engaged with so explicitly. This is a game less so about the ramifications of violence (which is ideally where I'd wanted the series to mature but LOU has us covered there) than it is about a mid-life crisis on candy coated adrenaline. Ditching the supernatural elements of the previous games, this entry follows an innate obsession with capturing glory as a means of validating existence and the subsequent thrills of "adventure" in all its forms that arise from that yearning. Following Last of Us' acclaim, some of this also feels like a meta commentary on "good fortune" and attaining humility in the midst of resplendent yet dilapidated splendor (exploring Libertalia in particular). Its thematic value is based in Nathan's relationships with others and how his actions and lack of honest communication potentially jeopardize these binding ties. The stakes are entirely emotional and surpass any idea of "death" that the franchise can conjure up at this point. Throughout the series Nathan's allies have been concerned for his mental well being and not Nate himself, who continued his adventuring without any thought to the possible harmful outcome.

Here, his brother Sam is an outright enabler of his shitty habits and Sully/Elena are subsequently exhausted by these antics by this point. Everybody here is just tired and the game suggests that the boisterous cartoons of yesterday have run their course and must be buried for good. The subjects are now drawn to the pull of reality and feel the sting of mortality with every push forward. While it's valuable to see Naughty Dog finally take the time to deeply explore any semblance of themes in these games, it doesn't get quite as complicated and messy as I'd hope; specially since it deals with the consequences of emotional duress. The exploration of these ideas is as broad as they come but it's okay. For what it is, a tour-de-force blockbuster epic that adopts that term to its fullest capacity, it intensely satisfied me and assisted in helping me escape from the reality of the turbulent world we live in now. At least for the 15 hours it took to complete its sweeping campaign. Despite my disappointment with the previous entries and my hesitance in approaching this, that's all I could ask for.

This is my first Uncharted game and the biggest problem for me is the cover-based 3rd person shooting, not just because it’s a style of gameplay I don’t prefer (though I will note that the movement afforded to Drake makes this a much better cover-based 3rd person shooter than others I have played) but also because I think it rather damages the story. Makes it a lot more difficult to root for the wisecracking Drake and co. when they’re all apparently gun-toting mass murders. Seriously, in this game alone you kill hundreds of people—such a fact puts something of a damper on the epilogue. Raiders of Lost Ark avoided this problem by making Indy’s enemies Nazis—if Drake was killing Nazis, I wouldn’t bat an eye.

Anyways, still a very fun game and I love the whole treasure-hunter adventure gameplay—and I love pirates!!

en garde dickhead!!

Holy shit this game is amazing. Far and away the best game in the Uncharted series. It takes everything I love about Uncharted and executes it perfectly. The set pieces are bigger and more beautiful than ever. The action is more fluid, intense, and over the top. The platforming is more refined. The levels are a lot more open, which plays well into the whole “globe-trotting adventurer/explorer” idea. It’s just all around an incredible experience to play.

The graphics in this game are amazing as well. It’s easily one of the best looking games I’ve ever played. It honestly looks better than The Last of Us 2. It might not have quite the same graphical fidelity, but the brighter lighting and more vivid color palette are much more of a treat on the eyes. It still looks better than most other games out today, even four years after release. The gunplay is amazing as well. The bullets have a thick and crisp thud to them that feels incredibly satisfying. In the first three games, the gunplay did its job well enough to get you along, but it certainly wasn’t anything to brag about. The guns in Uncharted 4 though, feel better than most third-person shooters I’ve played. There’s just this satisfying smoothness to the weapons that’s hard to perfectly explain. It’s so good that I’m actually compelled to play the multiplayer.

Uncharted 4 has the best story in the series by far. It takes the more mature themes they were going for in the third game and runs with it. This story is significantly longer than the previous games, with far more depth to both its characters and themes. It experiments even further with the narrative structure, using circular narrative, well-timed flashbacks, etc., to keep the plot more engaging than if it were perfectly linear. This is a much more human take on Uncharted. There’s significantly more dialogue, exposition, and world-building. The reason for going after the treasure has actual weight to it other than “I heard about this treasure, sounds fun, let’s go find it because I’m an adventurer”. It plays off your nostalgia well. The whole game has a very nostalgic feel to it, with Nate and Co. reminiscing about past adventures, and questioning whether this one was worth dusting off the holster for. One thing this game does an incredible job of story-wise as well is making you feel exactly what Nate is feeling. When you’re in the wild car chase/shootout in King’s Bay, I felt that same insane rush that Nate was experiencing, and when he walked into his house afterward and saw Elena standing there, my heart dropped and I had to pause the game to freak out for a second, which again is exactly what Nate felt in that moment.

Something I’ve always loved about Naughty Dog games is how well they incorporate the narrative into the gameplay. The gameplay doesn’t just serve as a means to get to the next story element. The story is delicately woven throughout the world in a way that is genuine and infectious. It totally absorbs the player. The gameplay makes you feel the emotions of Nathan Drake just as much as the cutscenes do. There are so many little moments within the gameplay that caught me by surprise and made the story that much more believable. At one point closer to the end of the game, when the tension between Nate and Elena has been mostly mended, I was in an intense shootout with some Shoreline mercenaries. One of them had me by the neck, Elena showed up, I punched him in the gut, wrapped my arms around Elena to pick her up, and she kicked him in the face with both feet, killing him. They then had a small exchange, with Nate yelling “Hey good timing!” It was such a tiny detail that happened so fast, but it was so pure and cute that it was memorable. There were also many moments of small, sarcastic banter between Nate and Elena while climbing and exploring that made their dynamic so much more authentic, all within gameplay. This isn’t something I see often in games, and it’s the main reason I love Naughty Dog games so much.

After playing through all of the Uncharted games straight through, I’ve fully realized how much I prefer these shorter, more concise narrative games with little to no fluff, over a 40+ hour-long game of filler garbage. These types of games are often the ones people bring up when discussing games as an art form. A short and sweet, meticulously crafted and presented story-based game of this caliber comes out less often than I’d like. This is the reason I f*cking love Naughty Dog. They continue to put out thrilling masterpieces that prove how great video games are as a medium of storytelling. This is an experience we get maybe a couple of times per generation.

We need to appreciate the ones we get.

first impression :
been through a couple of missions.
i can see that a lot of stuff is happening on the screen.
but for some reason, as soon as the cutscenes end and the gameplay starts, i immediately lose interest in the game.

finished the game.
i expected slow gameplay, easy puzzles and more story and exposition and it delievered exactly that.
i was expecting the story and cutscenes would compensate for the lack of gameplay and they absolutely did.
its exactly as i expected it was going to be.
knew i was going to love the story despite me not being a story person, and i did indeed love it.
maybe not be a fun game.
but is definitely a lovely one.
its an adventure film in a game format

Uncharted 4 Thief's End es un juego excelente de principio a fin. La historia, por una parte, es más elaborada que las entregas anteriores, hay mayor desarrollo de los personajes y de las relaciones que entre ellos existe. La jugabilidad mejoró considerablemente en relación a las versiones anteriores, ya que entre otras cosas, el modo sigilo toma mayor importancia a la hora de enfrentarte a los enemigos. Así mismo, Drake ahora puede utilizar un gancho para poder balancearse y colgar de distintos lugares. La IA también mejoró, ahora los enemigos al percatarse de tu presencia les aparece una barra de detección que va aumentando a medida que estas a su vista. En términos gráficos el juego luce genial, excelente manejo de texturas, luces, sombras y demases. Recomiendo jugarlo, ya que personalmente pienso que es el mejor Uncharted de la saga.