thatdemoguy
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
DISCLAIMER: THERE WILL BE VERY MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD. PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE TO READ THIS UNLESS YOU EITHER DO NOT CARE ABOUT SPOILERS OR UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE GAME YOURSELF.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!
Sic Parvis Magna, "greatness from small beginnings", this has been the motto and mantra of Nathan Drake since he first sprang onto the scene in 2007. I already detailed HERE that I felt that Uncharted as a whole is THE DEFINING series for Sony and its PlayStation brand. Once the era of cute anthropomorphic mascot animals ended, gaming moved towards more mature characters. Some companies took this approach and went towards darker, edgier, and more violent characters, Gears of War is a perfect example for the Microsoft brand. But Naughty Dog and Sony went in a different direction, by giving us a more grounded and "realistic" character. The plucky everyman type of hero. Who's constant one liners and half tucked shirt stood in direct contrast to the profanity laced vocabulary of his bulky power armor wearing contemporaries. No I am not throwing any type of shade at any of the other games that released in the same time as this, but I am pointing out that the differences in the characters are what made Nathan, and in turn his adventures, more relatable, endearing, and longer lasting than the others. Which is why now, a decade later, it pains me to know that since I have completed this game, that this may very well be my last adventure with old Nate Drake and company. But if this is to be the last time that I go out with Nathan, Victor "goddamn" Sullivan, and Elena, I have to say that Naughty Dog has given me one of the greatest narratives I have ever had the pleasure of playing over the course of 5 games, and in this particular title, they have delivered an absolute genre defining masterpiece that all action adventure titles will have to be judged by for years to come.
So, now that it's been established that I think that this is an absolutely stellar game, then I guess we should turn out the lights and you should close the page because we are done here, right? There's nothing more to say, is there? Yes, there is. Where to start though?
I'm going to go ahead and get this out of the way. This isn't the same Drake, and thus the same Uncharted that we have grown accustomed to. Taking cues from Uncharted 3, Uncharted 4 is a much more cinematic title that leans more on its storytelling and dramatic exposition and less on it's gunfights and huge set piece moments. After the less than exhilarating opening sequence, the game seemingly slows to a crawl for what seems like an unreasonable amount of time. At least the first 7 or so chapters after the introduction are given to flashback sequences where the game almost forcibly introduces you to Sam Drake, Nathan's older brother who was thought to be dead after a botched heist with the eventual antagonist of the game, Rafe Adler. The problem with Sam's introduction is that if this is to be the last game in this vaunted series, it feels a tad too late to be introducing us to a character that we are supposed to have any sort of attachment to or to even care about, especially given we spend so much of the game with him. Even with the brotherly love shown and camaraderie displayed between Nathan and his brother, it's just so hard to feel anything for this character that we haven't had any emotional investment into thus far. It is only after the flashback sequences are over and then story actually opens up that it's understood why these slower moments were necessary and why Sam is such a pivotal character. Nathan is out of the game, he's no longer a jet setting, world travelling fortune hunter. He now has a happy wife, in Elena Fisher (c'mon you knew this was coming), a home with a mortgage (that they need to clean up), and a job that is only a shadow of the life he used to live, where he works retrieving salvage from ships on the bottom of waterways. But these ships don't hold the treasures he's used to, but everyday common materials like copper. And the game reinforces this new lifestyle by actually making you, the player, play through these seemingly slow and plodding sections. You go to work as Nate. You explore his attic and reminisce over his past adventures. You sit down to a quiet dinner with your wife, with a little bonding over something pretty cool. All in all, its established that it would take something of immense importance to pull this man from his "normal life".
If it isn't obvious at this point, Sam didn't die all those years ago and has instead been locked up at the location of the botched heist. He has also run afoul of some very dangerous people who he owes lots of money to. And the only way to get this money? Find the treasure from the heist that failed, lest he be killed by the people he is indebted to. So who else is there to turn to, other than his brother, who's gained more than his fair share of fame from his adventures? Though the question that begs to be answered as Nathan and Sam set out to settle his debt is if they are doing it to truly save his life, or is it for the thrill of the adventure and the yearning for a life he (Nathan) had given up.
This is where Sam comes in, and his overall importance is hammered home. Over the course of the game's slower moments, the relationship is between Sam and Nathan is fleshed out and their bond is re-established as he literally plays your wingman through the good majority of the game. He assists you in getting to hard to reach areas, dropping you clues if you're stuck, he also helps you solve the game's various simple but enjoyable puzzles. While doing this you two have very natural conversations as you traverse the environment, admiring the beautiful vistas while reminiscing over their childhood and piecing together all the time they missed. But he isn't just a useless NPC that's there to move the story from point A to point B, Sam is also a very capable AI combatant, and will do more than his share to help you in taking out enemies stealthily and can even hold his own in skirmishes or in huge firefights during one of the famed Uncharted set pieces.
But speaking of those set pieces....OH MY GOD I have to say that Naughty Dog has absolutely stepped up the game and raised the bar. It's when you go from those relaxed moments of exploring, and are then thrown into a nearly life or death scenario, that you really appreciate the expert pacing. When things inevitably get "real", this game shines. The chase sequences and shootouts rival those of big budget Hollywood films, with bullets zipping by and enemies flanking you while you scramble from cover to cover popping shots. Sometimes there is no cover, sometimes you're on the run from a massively armed gun truck, sometimes you're being chased from the back of a motorcycle, sometimes you're being dragged behind a vehicle while still taking fire.
Needless to say the gunplay is fun beyond fun. Now the fights (and the entire game) have a new level of verticality because they have added a new mechanic where you can swing from a rope from open space to open space. And this isn't just for movement, it’s actually a very viable offensive tool because while swinging you can take shots at enemies with your firearm or even take out unsuspecting or actively aware enemies with your momentum by swinging into them with an attack. Once you get the hang of the controls, this can make for some extremely exciting battles as you go from destructible cover point to swinging through open fire to reach a crucial new cover area or to take out a distant enemy like a sniper or shotgun wielder to take his weapon from him to get the upper hand in the battle. All the while the environments are crumbling around you, explosions are going off and making your ears ring, and smoke, dust, and various other debris are obscuring your vision.
Even with all of the fast paced action happening around you, you can’t help but want to stop and admire how absolutely beautiful this game is. I admit that I had more than a few deaths while playing because I was too busy taking in the visuals. This game literally floored me and left me in awe of how amazing it looked at times. Hands down, this is without a doubt the most beautiful CONSOLE videogame I have ever seen. Every single craggy rock, deserted ruin, weather effect, pool of water, muddy patch, piece of lush vegetation, and flame are breathtaking with how painstakingly detailed they are. The character models are so lifelike and the animation system used for character movements is so eerie with how many different ways one character can perform the same action. Think I'm playing? Just watch how many different ways Drake can do what would normally be repeated innocent, and rather innocuous animations like reloading guns, picking up items, or even how many different ways he will get in and out of a vehicle. These actions would normally have a canned animation that you would see over and over, but in this game Drake actually does these things contextually depending on various factors like how much health he has, what side he's facing, if he's pressed in a firefight, or even if he's running or walking. Another neat little thing is that the in game models are also the EXACT models used in the cut scenes, right down to what guns you're carrying and if that gun has ammo. I finished a firefight without reloading my gun, and in the subsequent cut scene, that particular gun's slide was still out, showing the clip was empty. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but when paired with how amazing everything already looks, goes a long way to adding immersion to an already extremely cinematic and immersive experience. This is all brought together by a score composed by Henry Jackman, who did the music for movies such as X-Men First Class, Big Hero 6, and the two recent Captain America films and made whole with the pitch perfect voice work that this series is known for. If ever there was a shining example of why performance matters....Nolan North (Drake), Troy Baker (Sam), Richard McGonagle (Sully), Emily Rose (Elena), Laura Bailey (Nadine), and my personal pick for standout this game Warren Kole (Rafe) prove why the right voice can turn a digital avatar into a living character.
For all the praise I am extolling on this game, I have to say that not EVERYTHING is perfect. My one and only complaint is something that I have always felt to be a problem with the Uncharted series since its inception, and that's the loose controls. Yes, you can change things like look sensitivity in the game options, but this doesn't change that the camera swings a bit too quickly, making precise aiming somewhat tricky. Also Drake himself is a bit floaty whenever he jumps. This doesn't present an issue with the "magic" platforming where Drake will always snap to the next perch as long as you are in the general area (which is a problem in and of itself), but it presents a MAJOR problem in the combat portions.
More than enough times while in the middle of combat, I would press for Drake to jump either towards a perch or to a hanging point to get me away from enemy fire, and I would find myself unintentionally left out in the open because Drake would end up doing something totally opposite of what I intended. Also there were times when snapping to cover would be inconsistent and instead of finding the right spot where I was safe, Drake would end up on the corner right in the enemies’ line of sight. This is then further exacerbated by the fact that the enemies have almost sharpshooter precision, being able to score hits with weapons where the accuracy should be diminished, even from across the map. This, coupled with the low health, which is partly my fault for always choosing to play on HARD, makes for some cheap deaths and frustrating sections. But nothing that was controller tossing bad.
I didn't speak much on the multiplayer portion, mainly because while it is very good, it's not the reason I personally play Uncharted. But it in and of itself is like finding a crisp $10 bill in a pair of pants fresh out of the dryer. I would have said a $20 bill, but the multiplayer is plagued by the current bane of online gaming....those being micro transactions. Call me an old man, but I will never fully support or understand a system wherein we the consumer are expected to pay for cosmetic content that used to be unlocked by simply just playing the game we already paid for. I do hope this practice changes for the better in the future. While digesting the full story took me between 15-20 hours, on my subsequent runs I can skip cut scenes and take alternate routes which will truncate the game's length, thus making replays much more time efficient. All in all though, this game was an experience that was well worth every single minute I put into it, and I fully intend to do it all over again to try and do the speed run challenge or to hunt for the treasures that I missed during my initial playthrough.
It is a somewhat surreal feeling that this could be the end of a series that I love so much and that has proven itself to be a game that has crossed media mediums, truly bridging the gap between games and movies. It's also rather sad that the last Uncharted, is also the series' true debut on the PS4. But maybe that's also a blessing because the system allowed Naughty Dog to give us the adventure they always wanted to but weren't able to given the limitations of the last hardware, which they optimized. But if this is truly "A thief's end", this was a more than fitting way to give these character's, their story, and my connection to them, a proper send off.
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Thank you Naughty Dog.
Now whatever you do next (a follow up to The Last of Us maybe?) better blow my already blown mind.
I personally feel that if you call yourself a fan of Sony or even just a fan of gaming, that you owe it to yourself to play these games. I also say that if you own a PS4, that the Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection and this game are absolute must own titles, if you don't own them, you are doing yourself a terrible disservice. So how do you feel about Uncharted 4? Or even how do you feel about Uncharted as a series? Feel free to sound off in the comments.
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If you have the time, check out my full playthrough that I streamed and then ported to my YouTube channel. Please hit that subscribe button as well, because I have more content coming.
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