Is it me?

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End for the PlayStation 4 is an enigma. This game gets almost universally good
reviews and is revered by lots of gamers. A quick look on Google tells us the game has a score 4.8/5 and a Metacritic score of 93%. Impressive stuff. User reviews offer gushing praise of the graphics, the story, the pacing, the gameplay and a hundred other things. One over excited reviewer goes as far as suggesting that there can be no better game or franchise: it is simply impossible. He writes IN BLOCK CAPITALS WITH LOTS OF EXCLAMATION MARKS SO IT MUST BE TRUE!!!!

With such glowing endorsements I had to make this game one of the first I acquired when I finally got around to buying a PlayStation 4. But when I played the game I was puzzled. The game I was playing did not justify any of the praise being heaped upon it. In fact, I began to think the game was…well rubbish.

This franchise is clearly a fist party IP attempting to occupy the console exclusive niche Tomb Raider vacated. Tomb Raider drove the sales of so many PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles that it is hard to blame Sony for trying the same recipe again. Yet, Uncharted 4 is definitely the poor man’s Tomb Raider. Yes, it looks great and I am sure that if you somehow cared about the characters it could be engaging; but the gameplay is virtually non-existent.

Let’s get one thing straight, this is the first Uncharted game I have ever played. I have never owned a PlayStation 3 and have absolutely no clue about the back story or characters involved. It does seem as if the developers have relied very heavily on gamers being invested in this franchise because, to those of us with no prior knowledge, it is very boring. Lengthy and numerous cut scenes are followed by short mundane episodes of gameplay (mainly jumping over roofs along a highly convoluted and improbable route) that I soon grew tired of.

 Unbelievable: I don't care about this guy or his brother

At least 10 people have been brave enough to leave 1 star reviews for the game on Google. One reviewer describes it as an “interactive movie” - which is a fair description in my opinion. Others cite the boring gameplay along with clumsy controls. One Amazon reviewer quite enjoyed the tortuous cut scenes of characters eating as it gave her time to file and polish her nails. So, it’s not all bad news. I notice there is a trophy for finishing the game in under 6 hours – surely a couple of the cut scenes last this long? Skip the cinematics you say? Yes I do, but they are so frequent that I just gave up and leave them to run whilst I make a drink or take a comfort break.

After all that negativity, I think its only fair to say that I have played much worse games than Uncharted 4. Despite some people’s comments to the contrary, I think the graphics are quite impressive. I also like some of the game mechanics and the puzzles are engaging. Little ideas such as playing Crash Bandicoot as part of a cinematic are nice touches that signal a great deal of thought on the part of the developers. However, none of these attributes justify the praise being heaped upon it. This isn’t a bad game, but it isn’t a great one. AND IT CERTAINLY ISN’T THE BEST GAME EVER.