it was when I stepped in a puddle that I understand to have been conquered by Uncharted 4: End of a thief. Because I was in Scotland, in a dark and dank cave while a blizzard raged outside. The first thought, instinctively, was that I would have iced the foot and at that moment Nathan Drake exclaimed “ah, how cold!”. A seemingly insignificant detail, but denotes a care and sophistication that you can find at any other juncture of the new Naughty Dog game. And that makes this exclusive PlayStation 4 not only the best chapter in the Uncharted series, but one of the best of the current generation of consoles.
A difficult start
Yet for Uncharted 4 things have not been easy. Prior to the controversy on the alleged graphic downgrade that the game would suffer from the teaser trailer shown at E3 2014 and a few months after the PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas. As if to say that Sony, according to some, would have done the smart in Los Angeles showing software that could not realistically run on a PS4. And then there were the delays, three: the game should have come out a year ago, only to be postponed for the first time last March 18, a second to April 26, and a third to 10 May, the date on which finally Uncharted 4 will be available in stores around the world. But the biggest problem, in early 2014, was the abandonment of the project by Amy Hennig, creative director and scriptwriter of the series, and Justin Richmond, game director of Uncharted 3 and Uncharted 4. What then of the same , in the delicate initial processing stage, it found itself without the ‘thinking’ heads that they had conceived. But an announcement bodes well gl’intenditori: in the control room would indeed sitting Bruce Straley and especially Neil Druckmann, the men behind the amazing The Last of Us. And their touch is evident right from the start.
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Uncharted 4, the single player campaign
End of a thief
The beginning of Uncharted 4 is to break with the past. Because it makes us relive the childhood of Nathan Drake, which has never happened before, and knowing his brother Sam, which will bind a relationship of complicity well described by the script. Screenplay in the early stages there tosses back and forth in time, even showing us an unprecedented Nathan Drake who, after their marriage, decided to stop the adventurer’s career to make the full-time husband. And it is the intimacy of the home, which takes place one of the most touching moments of Uncharted 4, when the new but boring life of Nathan Drake is described through the words of every day, that with simplicity and light weight give the protagonist a ‘three-dimensionality ‘emotional, whereas until now was only polygon. But it is easy to imagine something will happen that will force the hero of many adventures to face the last and most important of his life.
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Uncharted 4, multiplayer images
New Products
The way you play Uncharted 4 is within the canons of the run-made series of climbing, shooting and puzzle solutions. Yet it must be acknowledged at Naughty Dog to have introduced some novelties. But if the introduction of the grapple does not change all that much the balance, more relevant is the deepening of the stealth gameplay. Now opponents will be ‘tagged’ so as to keep them always have an eye and also have an attention indicator. More Nathan will ambush by hiding in the vegetation. It should instead go to the shootout, beware that many of the shelters are destructible and can be crushed by bullets opponents, which forces (especially at higher levels of difficulty) to a certain dynamism during the shootings. Then there is a series of functions, some of which are only available once the single player campaign, entirely incidental but still worthy of mention such as photo mode (to take pictures of the game and share), and the ability to unlock sketches and costumes for the characters. With Selection Clashes, however, you can replay the highlights of Uncharted 4 without having to start over. Also interesting are the optional dialogues, which explore the relationships between the characters.
online Challenges
Not that he has ever heard the lack, but for some years the Naughty Dog titles also feature a multiplayer segment. Who, it must be said, he has always collected consents. Here, then go back online with the usual mechanics that will see us become more powerful as they will defy the Net other digital adventurers. With currency earned in the game you will be able to buy more powerful weapons and upgrade their equipment. And then you can use the Mystical and the Sidekicks. The former are very powerful artifacts appeared in previous installments of the series, in the novel Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth and comic Uncharted: Eye of Indra. Thus comes the Wrath of Eldorado, a sarcophagus from which will come the spirits that will damage nearby enemies, and Eternity of Indra, a relic that slows down any opponent in its area of effect. The Sidekicks instead they are allies that will help us during the game and that there will also earn extra money. The Sniper, for example, is a sniper useful to patrol a certain area, while the Hunter will hunt to the nearest enemy. The multiplayer of Uncharted 4 then runs at 60 frames per second (fps against 30 of the single-player), which means smaller maps and some graphic detail in less, but more fluidity and precision during the shootings.
Conclusion
There is much talk in recent weeks of Neo PS4 and Xbox Next, the revisions of the console on the market today that should bring to the table the computing power that, objectively, it lacks the so-called ‘current gen ‘. But then came the Naughty Dog to remind us that it does not matter How long big (the processor) but how you use it. Uncharted 4 in fact performs an exciting technique, at times surprising, and not only for the beauty of the graphics or the vastness of some levels, but also to detail and expressiveness of the characters. To the point that it is not wrong to talk about a great test of acting to virtual characters such Natahan Drake, his brother Samuel, his wife Elena and the inevitable Victor Sullivan.
But it would be wrong to sum up the beauty of Uncharted 4 only in graphics, since Naughty Dog, if possible, they have managed to refine and improve the alchemy of a successful formula making movies and video games mixed perfectly, without affectation and pedantry of Hideo Kojima and David Cage. That’s why in analyzing Uncharted 4 is not excessive evaluate parameters such as directing, editing, photography, dubbing and, in fact, acting. But it is especially in the script, the dialogues, the way they are offered the already known characters and new ones, you see the hand of Neil Druckmann. That as with Joel and Ellie The Last of Us, is Nathan and Sam a couple united by the feeling, the one indispensable to the other, with that hand to hold on in difficult times revived with deliberate emphasis. And once again, as in The Last of Us will return to the theme of the lie to the people you love. But they are not the contradictions and weaknesses to make the most human men?
It would then to want more games like this, to know that it is already in the works next Uncharted. But Naughty Dog have repeated that this will be the last installment in the series. And on closer inspection, net of touch Druckman, this episode is very similar to earlier ones, for setting and mechanical. Miss that renewal shown for example by The Witcher CD Projekt from a side, and the addition of the grapple or the deepening of mechanical stealth do not move much the balance. So maybe it’s better this way, better to close in the moment of maximum splendor rather than falling into banality of the usual iterations dictated by the market. Because for this series, with this setting, it’s hard to imagine a more glorious conclusion of Uncharted 4.
6 May 2016 (amending May 6, 2016 | 11:32)
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