Thomas Roach reviews Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End…
The much anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End lets players take our protagonist Nathan Drake on one last adventure. Having waited through several delays for the game it is finally great to get our hands on it. Many of us had high expectations from the final game in the series and it certainly lives up to its fullest potential.
This time round the story does a great job feeling both familiar and different from its predecessors. The game has much more mature themes which is fitting for fans who have grown up and matured themselves since Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune back in 2007. Introducing new characters from Drake’s past allows the audience to get a greater insight into the characters motivations throughout the series. The game gives some characters far less time than fans would have wanted though each character serves a clear purpose to the overall narrative. Rounding up all the adventures Drake has been on is concluded in such a pleasing and brilliant way that fans will certainly be satisfied.
As expected from the footage and trailers that have been shown off, the graphics are incredible. No other game has ever been this beautiful. The attention to detail in both the foreground and the background of every frame is impressive. Using the photo mode you can capture the attention to detail in the level design as well as the character models. Uncharted 4 has the most photorealistic graphics I have seen in a video game to date. Seeing the potential of what gameplay can look like gets me excited for what the future brings for Naughty Dog as well as other game developers.
Combat in this game is the best it has been in the whole franchise, both armed combat and hand to hand. Playing in the easier modes you have the ability to lock onto enemies with your weapons which is useful anyone new to the franchise but takes away some of the fun of the combat. Making the combat feel too easy makes the game unrewarding and less realistic. Hand to hand combat is great and feels more fluid than ever before. Also with the introduction of better stealth mechanics and the rope, performing takedowns from sneaking up behind an enemy of swinging from a rope and taking them out from the air provides a new ways to take out adversaries which is more creative than what we have seen in the previous games.
The levels are very varied throughout this game with some being much larger than we have seen in any of the previous games. It certainly isn’t open world but many levels are so large you can get lost within them. This does give you the ability to tackle missions differently from previous games. Some sections now lend themselves to stealth. This may not be the way most players will tackle the missions but it is nice to have some variation in how to attempt a mission. With the introduction of the rope, levels have become more vertical and movement throughout large areas is a lot easier to tackle.
There are some issues throughout the game’s missions however. At times it feels like the game is purposely slowing you down for the sake of having a longer single player. The game a few times forces you to go down a path you know is not the right way but it is necessary for you to attempt the that path for two minutes of button mashing and blocking the way forward. After this you have to go back on yourself to an area that you could obviously see was the right way to go but couldn’t access till you attempted the wrong path.
Uncharted 4’s multiplayer is certainly not the main draw of the experience however it does deliver some great content. After completing the story, going into multiplayer and taking on other players is certainly a fun and different experience from anything in single player. The modes you can play on multiplayer are varied and deliver a fast paced experience which is certainly enjoyable. At times it can feel quite ridiculous with the supernatural weapons and the buddy system you use, but this provides something refreshing to what could have been a standard or uninspired third person multiplayer shooter.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End delivers a cinematic experience that rivals the Hollywood blockbuster. With the most impressive graphics from any game to date and with slick and fun gameplay, Naughty Dog has raised the bar for what I expect from the video game experience. Whilst it is certainly a shame that this is the last Uncharted game for now, the perfect ending delivers real satisfaction to players who have experienced the journey of these lovable characters over the last decade.
Pros:
+ Visually stunning
+ Best gameplay of the franchise
+ Fantastic story and characters
Cons:
– Minor frustrating moments in some levels
Rating: 9.5/10
Thomas Roach
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