Uncharted is a weird saga for me, because I love experiencing its games but I kind of dread playing them. Let me explain, I love the adventure vibes these games have, with their lost cities and danger-filled jungles, they may not be anything new but they have a really fun vibe that I love. But something I love even more are its characters, the main trio are easily some of the most likeable videogame characters out there, and by this game they feel like old friends that you haven't seen in a long time. As for me dreading them, it's basically because of the gameplay. Uncharted makes you do one of two things: climbing or shooting. Climbing can be pretty fun and I get why it was so groundbreaking when the first game came out, but after a while you feel like the game is taking most of the steps and you're just pointing at where you want to go next. As for the shooting, it's also really basic, you point and shoot, but the enemies feel pretty bullet-spongey and it stops being fun after the second shootout. So the question is, does Uncharted 4 change any of this?
And well, the answer is complicated. Uncharted 4 tries to give some variety to the gameplay, and I think that it succeeds at that during the first half: the story takes its time to set things up, so many of the first chapters revolve around moving around and solving puzzles or having new action sequences, like the chases and that amazing car scene that is easily the best part of the game. After that though it goes back to formula, and because of that Libertalia kind of drags a lot. It goes back to cool new things with the final boss, which is admittedly pretty fun, but by then it's too little too late.
As for the story, that's the part where I can barely complain. Every main character is at their best here (with the exception of Sully who's in the background a bit too much for my taste), and the new ones are also pretty memorable additions. I don't like the trope of the never before mentioned sibling, but Sam is both a really good and likeable character and him never being mentioned before is decently explained, so I don't mind it much. Nadine is also a fun character for her little screentime, and I love the two fights we have against her. As for Rafe, despite not being a really deep villain, I like his reasons and how much of a douche he is. The story itself is really good, the ending is perfect and the themes are greatly explored here, they're nothing groundbreaking but it's still cool how they incorporated them. I do have one complaint with the story but it has some heavy spoilers, so if you haven't played the game skip the next paragraph.
So what is up with Alcázar? The game just straight up lies to us about how Sam got out of prison, which I wouldn't mind that much if it didn't feel so rushed. First of all, the Alcázar stuff feels like a subplot that they wanted to include, but the game was already too big and they cut it at the last moment. I don't know if that's the case but it certainly feels that way, cause they keep hyping him up for the things that they told us to be a lie. Then we have Sam, who never actually gives valid points for his lying. He tries to justify it, but again it feels like they cut the Alcázar subplot and didn't know how to fix it at all.
So yeah this game has some problems and I'd say it feels more like a late PS3 era game than a PS4 one in terms of its gameplay, but it's an Uncharted game, I can't hate it, and even less when it is a fantastic ending for the franchise.
And well, the answer is complicated. Uncharted 4 tries to give some variety to the gameplay, and I think that it succeeds at that during the first half: the story takes its time to set things up, so many of the first chapters revolve around moving around and solving puzzles or having new action sequences, like the chases and that amazing car scene that is easily the best part of the game. After that though it goes back to formula, and because of that Libertalia kind of drags a lot. It goes back to cool new things with the final boss, which is admittedly pretty fun, but by then it's too little too late.
As for the story, that's the part where I can barely complain. Every main character is at their best here (with the exception of Sully who's in the background a bit too much for my taste), and the new ones are also pretty memorable additions. I don't like the trope of the never before mentioned sibling, but Sam is both a really good and likeable character and him never being mentioned before is decently explained, so I don't mind it much. Nadine is also a fun character for her little screentime, and I love the two fights we have against her. As for Rafe, despite not being a really deep villain, I like his reasons and how much of a douche he is. The story itself is really good, the ending is perfect and the themes are greatly explored here, they're nothing groundbreaking but it's still cool how they incorporated them. I do have one complaint with the story but it has some heavy spoilers, so if you haven't played the game skip the next paragraph.
So what is up with Alcázar? The game just straight up lies to us about how Sam got out of prison, which I wouldn't mind that much if it didn't feel so rushed. First of all, the Alcázar stuff feels like a subplot that they wanted to include, but the game was already too big and they cut it at the last moment. I don't know if that's the case but it certainly feels that way, cause they keep hyping him up for the things that they told us to be a lie. Then we have Sam, who never actually gives valid points for his lying. He tries to justify it, but again it feels like they cut the Alcázar subplot and didn't know how to fix it at all.
So yeah this game has some problems and I'd say it feels more like a late PS3 era game than a PS4 one in terms of its gameplay, but it's an Uncharted game, I can't hate it, and even less when it is a fantastic ending for the franchise.