Guest Blog: Liam Gardner - Uncharted 4

The release of Uncharted 4 earlier this year was met with a lot of fanfare and for obvious reasons, the trio of Uncharted games the preceded A Thieves End are some of the best games from the previous generation. The question is does the 4^th instalment of the franchise have enough gas left in the tank to whisk players through another whirlwind Nathan Drake adventure.

The intro to A Thieves End is most reminiscent of the one for Among Thieves ,no dilly dallying ,no long narrative intro, straight into the chaos with no idea why you are there or who is trying to kill you for the umpteenth time and it is during this opening sequence, a boat chase among a rainstorm with waves crashing everywhere, where the game first surprised me I had full control of where to take the boat and who to crash into and this freedom is something that Uncharted 4 does well in its gameplay sections and I’ll touch on that later, usually the Uncharted games are very stringent in what they allow you to do during vehicular sections, the car chase through the jungle in Drakes Fortune, the hopping between trucks in an icy Tundra in Among Thieves but this boat chase, right at the very beginning of the game sets the precedent for what Uncharted 4 is at its core.

However it’s after this adrenaline filled intro that the (as of Uncharted 3) obligatory ‘Kid Drake’ section kicks in, now I’m not knocking naughty dog for trying to fill us in on Drake’s backstory and what his youth years were like it’s just I never found them all too intriguing, they limit what you can do they bring the whole game to a halt just as its getting started, I understand the need to introduce Sam as a character but barring a few select moments I found the majority of these flashback sequences dull and unentertaining.

Let’s talk mechanics, Uncharted never had the best shooting mechanics and this is one area that has been universally improved in A Thieves End, the shooting feels tight, the guns feel impactful and the dynamite is so good it makes me cry, I didn’t like how they changed the Sniper Rifle weapon though as it no longer allows you to aim without zooming in and running and gunning with the Dragon Sniper in 2 was some of the best thrills you could get but overall the overhaul of the shooting mechanics make Uncharted 4 all around a better game to play.

The rope swinging is one mechanic I saw and was very excited for how Naughty dog would implement it, would they relegate it to a few select ‘cinematic’ moments or will we be free to utilise this tool to our own enjoyment and possible peril, while it is not used too much in each battle there are, I feel, enough places for it to shine during combat away from the scripted uses (and swinging on a rope while firing an RPG is fantastic when done right).

The set pieces in A Thieves end are spectacular, the rope is utilised in these rather well, whether its playing cat and mouse with the most stubborn APC in existence or sliding along the mud desperately trying to hold on the excitement is ever present, the puzzle sections too are back and while not extremely difficult (they rarely are in Uncharted) there is a sense of satisfaction when solving the mystery and continuing on.

The characters and their motivations in this game range from pretty darn good to downright annoying, on one side of the coin you have the man Victor ‘God damn’ Sullivan and Sully is the highlight of this adventure for sure his wisecracking nonchalant bravado is on point whenever he is on screen and seeing him never fails to conjure up a wry smile and a laugh.

The same can be said for Drake most of the time, even when you’re watching him at work in his day job or discussing the future with Elaina at their home he never falls flat part of this is due to the writing but I must give credit to Nolan North I feel he is very at home as Drake and after 4 games feels very natural in the role. Drake’s conflict in the game is the struggle between the swashbuckling adventure lifestyle and the slow, but safer, family lifestyle with Elaina Drake is very much a man in a midlife crisis who wants to feel that rush one more time but doesn’t wish to jeopardise what he has with Elaina. 

Drake’s brother Sam is the lynchpin in all of this, after an event in their life earlier Drake thought he would never see his brother again but surprise here he is in the dead of night requiring your assistance and this of course being the perfect reason for a globetrotting journey for Drake and Co, Sam himself is not a bad character by any means but like another select individual he feels forced, like the developers were trying extra hard to get us to like him, now it is understandable for the developers to want us to connect with Sam however unlike Sully, who has now 3 games of build-up, Sam never comes across as natural, he feels less like an important character you should care about and more like a convenient plot device to get Drake back out adventuring( plus he insinuates Sully is not trustworthy, not getting any points there Sam).

Now I mentioned when discussing Sam that there was another character whose inclusion just left me confused and that is Nadine, this character is a literal black hole of personality her entire reason for being in the game is ‘me strong me hurt Drake’ never are her intentions really delved into and never is she fleshed out, Nadine is very reminiscent of Talbot from Uncharted 3 except Talbot never had mandatory fights where you were restricted in your movements. I understand the need to have a counter to the cowardly head villain and the developers tried this with Nadine being the strong stoic mercenary who takes no shit but it falls flat because I didn’t feel like I was getting beaten by Nadine because she was better than me but rather because the game intentionally gimped me, and her story never even concludes as she just says forget this and leaves before the climactic boss fight, Nadine represents a whole lot of floundered potential as she could have a great and credible thread but any semblance of this is hard to see and she is so under developed on a whole its tragic.

In previous Uncharted games the treasure always had some sort of ‘hidden effect’ that the villains were trying to obtain for any number of nefarious means or a curse which should be left well alone, but in Uncharted 4 the treasure is just that it’s treasure. With a story centred on long dead pirates and their migration and subsequent creation of a Piratopia that there was no curse or supernatural aspect behind it all honestly made me sigh. Uncharted 1 had the cursed statue, 2 had the fruit amber which provided super strength and also had blue Smurf demons? 3 had flaming head zombies and cursed water A Thieves End has pirate treasure normally no one would describe hidden pirate treasure as boring but in the light of previous Uncharted games it sadly is. 

Some might argue the crux of Uncharted 4’s story is about the greed of man and the settling of scores because Henry Avery’s treasure is the big score that got away but that all seem too blasé for Drake and co, the closest we get to supernatural is exploding pirate corpses and it feels like Naughty dog sacrificed a huge part of what made the franchise unique and replaced it with a more down to earth realistic plot point which isn’t bad per se but for Uncharted? It’s certainly disappointing.

Now all these negative points does make it seem like I did not enjoy my time with A Thieves End which isn’t true I enjoyed the hell out of this game, the freedom it gives you in the gameplay, the trademark Uncharted dialogue. The adventure on show is certainly one of the best in the series, but the final boss is a way better example of a ‘cinematic’ boss fight than the one in Uncharted 3, a few characters and the final chapters aside Uncharted 4 is a fantastic title that I recommend anyone play even if it is a little more grounded in its reality.

If you wanna contact Liam or follow him online you can find him @Giji777!