A pirate’s life for me!
(This review contains spoilers!)
Wow. Just wow.
I’m looking out on a beautiful
Madagascar vista, rendered so perfectly it almost looks like it’s real. If you
showed someone a picture of it without any prior knowledge of where it came
from, I’m certain they’d say it was real.
Then it dawned on me. This year
celebrates the 20th anniversary of Super Mario 64, one of the first
full 3D games ever made. In 20 years, we’ve gone from blocky Mario and
polygonal Goombas to gorgeously lifelike backdrops. It’s almost unbelievable.
But anyways, onto the game. Uncharted
4 is the (supposed) final installment of Naughty Dog’s action-adventure
franchise, and if this is truly the end, it goes out on the highest note
possible.
Before now, my favourite game of the
original trilogy was Among Thieves, the second installment. I felt it really
captured that adventurous spirit in a way neither 1 nor 3 was able to do. But
just a few hours into 4, it’s clear who the real winner here is.
Everything is done with so much love,
affection, care, and painstaking detail, it’s obvious that everyone working on
the project wanted it to be the best it possibly could. Playing Uncharted 4 is
like reading a really great book before bed, where you have no idea what’s
going to be around the next page and you just need to see what happens in the
next chapter before you sign off for the night.
This is partly thanks to the work of
the cutscenes and voice acting. Whereas in several games it feels like the
story, graphics and gameplay are each battling it out for the spotlight, the three
blend so seamlessly together in Uncharted 4 that you’d never notice the
difference. Nolan North, Richard McGonagle, and Emily Rose all make their
return as Nate, Sully, and Elena respectively, each of them bringing as much
charm as ever to the table and remind you why you love these characters so
much. North especially does an excellent job as always, mixing his usual
sarcastic wit with some excellent serious moments that really bring the
character together.
Newcomer Troy Baker joins the cast as
Nate’s brother Sam, and while Baker is just as excellent as everyone else, Sam
starts to feel sort of cookie cutter after a while. That’s not to say he’s a
bad character, because he isn’t, but when compared to such big personalities of
the other 3, he sort of falls flat.
The villains in this game are also
excellent, matching the deadly Zoran Lazarevic from game 2 in both personality
and diabolicalness. Rafe absolutely feels like the kind of person that would
meet with Nate at the end of his adventures, and their conversation during the
climax only escalates that.
The gameplay is fantastic as well,
mixing what was great about the original 3 with several new tricks of its own.
Nate’s new rope is lots of fun to use, as you Tarzan your way around from rock
wall to rock wall. The sliding is really fun as well, but it does pop up a
little too much in my opinion. Towards the end of the game, it starts to feel
like Nate is exploring a giant slip n’ slide instead of a catacomb. Still, it’s
a really fun mechanic, and one I hope they build on, should they decide to
return for round 5.
The Uncharted staple shoot-outs make a
return as well, but they feel a lot smoother than they ever did before. The
arenas you’re placed into are much bigger, and give you much more room to
breathe and alternate paths to take as you make your way through your enemies.
If you want to swing your way up to the top and take them out from above, there’s
probably a way to do that.
Cars, boats, and deep sea diving all
make their Uncharted debut, and they work very well. The diving controls work
very well, and while it can sometimes be difficult to see where you’re going
while underwater, it really adds to the experience. I also enjoyed the driving
mechanics, but I wasn’t quite so much a fan of the sections in the car where
you have to bring it with you everywhere, forcing you to drive it in some very
awkward positions and go through some very drawn-out and unnecessary puzzle
solving to try and get it through. When chasing down baddies at high speeds,
however, the car is one of the most fun toys in the whole game. My absolute
favourite part in the game is in the car, as you make your way downhill in a
fantastic sequence as seen at last year’s E3.
Speaking of great parts, the climax is
one of the best. Unfortunately, the third acts gets off to a very sluggish
start, but all that is forgiven once you make it towards the end. Your
knowledge of Uncharted mechanics, both old and new, will be put to the test,
and it all culminates in a fantastic boss fight I’m sure we’ll be talking about
for years.
I’m not sure what else I can say about
Uncharted 4. It’s just that good. It really feels like the grand adventure we’ve
been waiting so long for, and it completely goes beyond any expectations I had
for it. You’d have to be as insane as Henry Avery to pass this one up.
FINAL SCORE
10/10
Legendary
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