Uncharted 3's story was an incoherent mess *SPOILERS*

[wooojomi822]

Alright, I have to vent about this somewhere. Uncharted 3's story was an inexcusable incoherent mess (not to mention its shooting mechanics or hand-to-hand combat systems as well). I am fully aware that the game is supposed to be action based, but there has to be a story to drive the action. Why am I engaged in a shootout with 10 people? Who do they work for? Who is the villain in this game? What is the villain's aim? If I wanted to test my shooting skills, I would go play a first person shooter or skip Uncharted 3's single campaign and go straight to multiplayer. I am basing this upcoming rant on the proposition that most people will buy Uncharted 3 for its single player campaign.

Obviously, there will be spoilers.


1. When did Drake become Batman, able to take on 12 dudes at once in hand-to-hand combat. The controls are even the same as in Arkham Asylum, square to punch, triangle to counter.

2. Where did these demon spiders come from? Clearly "inspired" by the scarabs from "The Mummy" and its sequels. I like how their territory ranges from eastern france, to syria, to yemen. Im pretty sure giant flesh eating spiders that roam in packs of 5,000 dont just spawn out of walls across 2 continents.

3. Who were the crusader knights the amulet pieces were buried with? Just an excuse to progress the story (and i use that term loosely).

4. Since when did Chloe become a barely used and irrelevant character? She was a main character in Uncharted 2. In Uncharted 3, she drives a van. That's it.

5. So did Elena and Drake get married? Engaged? Way to completely poop the bed on that explanation Naughty Dog.

6. The combat mechanics took a real turn for the worst. The game is not fun when enemy snipers can deliver pinpoint 3 round bursts to my face through a sandstorm from 100 yards away when my visibility extends about 15 yards. Also, unloading 30 m9 bullets into anyone, body armor on or not, will kill them. Unloading 30 rounds into a guy and having him keep on coming is absurd and stretches the suspension of my disbelief to breaking.

7. Why did I spend 2 hours fighting my way out of a pirate camp? The pirate leader was almost a wholly irrelevant character. Basically a hit-man hired by Marlowe to dispose of your body. I had no interest in spending two hours fighting my way out of his pathetic cruise ship. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

8. What was in the Djinn bottle? A genie? Some ancient artifact? Something dropped by aliens? I just fought through an entire game and Drake spends a grand total of 5 seconds looking at the thing before sending it back to the bottom of the subterranean aquifer. Thanks Naughty Dog, why the hell did I just play your game? Supposedly its the entire reason the city of Ubar died, the reason Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake to look for the city, and the one object the organization Marlowe runs has been searching for for 400 years. TOTAL SCREEN TIME: 5 SECONDS. AND YOU NEVER FIND OUT WHATS IN IT.

9. So in two games, Drake has completely obliterated two priceless archeological mythical cities....What a hero.

10. Drake manages to completely destroy Ubar by firing three Estes hobby model rockets from underwater. Lets make that two, actually. One of these 2 inch mini-missiles, FIRED FROM A HANDGUN, hits the crane reeling up the Djinn container, taking it out. The next two hit a support column about the width of a refrigerator, that falls down. This one support column (there are two identical ones visible during the escape) takes two missiles the size of candy corn and collapses. Stupid. It takes one of three support columns going down to destroy the entire city. Stupid. A mythical city that has lasted for millennia was supposedly supported by three completely unsubstantial columns. Stupid.

11. Who is Marlowe. What is her organization. Please, dont anyone say "an organization that controls it enemies through fear". WTF does that even mean? Is it a london sleeper cell propagated by Rhaz-al-Ghul from Batman Begins? I mean that would make sense, since they are looking for "weaponized hallucinogens". But seriously, what is this organization's deal. Who do they work for, what do they want, why do they want the Djinn container (again, we have no idea whats in this thing), what will they do with it once they have it? In other words, why am i playing this game. There is certainly a placeholder for the villain role, but without a motive or backstory, it is just incoherent and artificial.

12. Back to "The Mummy", who the hell is Salim. Apparently Ardeth Bay (the arab guy guarding Hamunaptra in "The Mummy") has a TWIN brother, who dresses and talks exactly the same way, along with a pension for guarding lost cities in deserts. By the way, Salim has 0 backstory.

13. So Ubar is surrounded by a sandstorm. When? All the time? Maybe the Djinn is doing it but since the Djinn just seems to be a hallucinogenic drug, I doubt it is magically conjuring a sandstorm. So if the sandstorm is not permanent, and there is no reason to suspect it would be, why is the city's location such a mystery. It kind of ruins the point of the game when you realize that some geography student with too much time on his hands could have discovered the "lost city" on google earth. People have found mass graves in North Korea, possible roadways at the bottom of the sea off the coast of spain (debunked btw), and a shape in lake Loch Ness that looks pretty similar to Nessie. I am pretty sure they would notice a massive gleaming city of gold in the middle of the desert. Stupid.

14. So this desert is 600 miles across. Drake manages to crash a plane somewhere in this desert and magically find himself right in the middle of Marlowe's convoy after a few days of aimlessly wandering? Sigh.


Uncharted 2 was a masterpiece and its story was would have done well as a movie blockbuster on the big screen. The characters were fully fleshed out, the story progressed in a way that made sense, the enemy was believable and had a real motive for his actions, and we finally got to see what Drake and the villain were after the entire time (ancient exploding steroid tree sap). Uncharted 3 was a stupid incoherent mess.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

The game was a massive letdown from Uncharted 2. Period.

1. Ridiculous plot holes
2. No medals
3. No tweaks
4. Drake devolved from 'every-man' to 'demigod'
5. The graphics in some sequences were far inferior to U2
6. Unnecessary, random firefights around every corner
7. Unoriginal puzzles
8. Cartoon-y brawling system
9. Lazy level design (i.e. that spindly iron mast you were supposed to magically know was the way out of the shipyard)

And you know, at first, I was decently satisfied with it. I was just happy to get my hands on a new Nathan Drake adventure. Then I played it again, and it just felt... bad. I dunno what the hell Greg Miller was thinking, but this is clearly an inferior product to its predecessor. And it's a shame, too, because the story had the potential to be incredible. With a villain tied directly to Drake's past, they could have made it really memorable had they only spent some time fleshing out Talbot and Marlowe. As it is, it's a mess.

 

[LicensedLegend]

1. Don't forget about L1 to aim and R1 to shoot, which is a complete ripoff of Call of Duty. I mean come on.

2. Who cares, there cool to look at.

3. I guess the term Knights means nothing to you. Well, it means men who are heavy armored and very skilled at fighting. Maybe it was there job to protect the amulets.

4. Chloe was not a main character. She will always be a side character. So get over it.

5. They obviously were more than **** buddies.

6. No game has perfect mechanics.

7. Your right, he basically was a hit-man hired by Marlowe to dispose of your body. You just answered your own question. If you had no interest then why did you do it? I'm just asking.

8. Again, who cares? What it was had nothing to do with the story. It destroyed a city, and marlowe was going to use it for bad, that's all you need to know.

9. Good, hopefully he destroys another in the next game.

10. Why are you still playing, if everything is so stupid?

11. This game is not about the villians. It's about the hero's. Which is why we got a lot of information on Drake and Sully, and how they formed there relatationship that they have today. Marlowe just happened to be a part of it.

12. Because there was no backstory needed. He was a side character put there to further the story that was being told in that region. A local if you will. It gave that part of the world a face.

13. It's just a place of mystery.

14. I can tell that your one of those people who takes entertainment way to seriously when it's just meant to be entertain you.

 

[Dante-]

The game was a massive letdown from Uncharted 2. Period.

1. Ridiculous plot holes - Agreed.
2. No medals - Agreed.
3. No tweaks - Agreed.
4. Drake devolved from 'every-man' to 'demigod' Agreed. This got silly.
5. The graphics in some sequences were far inferior to U2 Disagree having just replayed U2.
6. Unnecessary, random firefights around every corner UDF suffered from this a lot more.
7. Unoriginal puzzles Agreed.
8. Cartoon-y brawling system Agreed. It was also incredibly repetitive.
9. Lazy level design (i.e. that spindly iron mast you were supposed to magically know was the way out of the shipyard)I didn't have any problems with level design.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying and the story definitely had some problems, however I enjoyed the game a lot overall and would put around the same level as U2.

 

[Violet_raine]

The game was a massive letdown from Uncharted 2. Period.

1. Ridiculous plot holes
Personally that seems par for the course to me.
2. No medals
They were the exact same thing as trophies so whats the problem?
3. No tweaks
I Agree with this I don't see why they had to remove them.
4. Drake devolved from 'every-man' to 'demigod'
I don't see what you mean by this, he was always doing remarkable things.
5. The graphics in some sequences were far inferior to U2
If you say so...
6. Unnecessary, random firefights around every corner.
I actually thought there was alot less of this escpecially compared with U1 & U2 at the very least they mixed it up alot more.
7. Unoriginal puzzles
Are you serious, compared with U2?
8. Cartoon-y brawling system
Actually I did think this at first but truthfully It grew on me and I didn't have a problem with it by the end.
9. Lazy level design (i.e. that spindly iron mast you were supposed to magically know was the way out of the shipyard)
Again par for the course, how is it any different to the previous games?

 

[roosterjcogburn]

The game was a massive letdown from Uncharted 2. Period.

1. Ridiculous plot holes - Agreed.
2. No medals - Agreed.
3. No tweaks - Agreed.
4. Drake devolved from 'every-man' to 'demigod' Agreed. This got silly.
5. The graphics in some sequences were far inferior to U2 Disagree having just replayed U2.
6. Unnecessary, random firefights around every corner UDF suffered from this a lot more.
7. Unoriginal puzzles Agreed.
8. Cartoon-y brawling system Agreed. It was also incredibly repetitive.
9. Lazy level design (i.e. that spindly iron mast you were supposed to magically know was the way out of the shipyard)I didn't have any problems with level design.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying and the story definitely had some problems, however I enjoyed the game a lot overall and would put around the same level as U2.

I enjoyed it as well, but compared to U2, it just wasn't very good. IMO, of course.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

The game was a massive letdown from Uncharted 2. Period.

1. Ridiculous plot holes
Personally that seems par for the course to me.
I don't remember any from U2 or U1. Everything was pretty much resolved by the end.
2. No medals
They were the exact same thing as trophies so whats the problem?
All I was getting at with this was that I liked earning the medal points/money to buy what tweaks I want. So it ties in with No. 3, it's just part of the same system.
4. Drake devolved from 'every-man' to 'demigod'
I don't see what you mean by this, he was always doing remarkable things.
But before, it always seemed like he just got really ***king lucky as opposed to just being able to shrug off impossible situations with ease.
5. The graphics in some sequences were far inferior to U2
If you say so...
I noticed the colors and textures were really bad at times by ND standards, notably in the Chateau and sandstorm. I'm playing on a bad TV, for sure, but it's the same one I played the first two on.
7. Unoriginal puzzles
Are you serious, compared with U2?
Yeah. And it's like they just forgot about puzzles halfway through the game.
9. Lazy level design (i.e. that spindly iron mast you were supposed to magically know was the way out of the shipyard)
Again par for the course, how is it any different to the previous games?
It's just that they promised before release it would feel less linear. And scenes like the one I mentioned in the shipyard felt even more linear than previous games.

 

[Violet_raine]

I just felt you were being a bit unfair in your criticism though looking now I guess I can't fault what you didn't like such as plot holes as they are certainly there they just didn't bother me.

(Except for the puzzles I just don't get your problem, I thought they were better than either of the previous games.)

Ultimately Drakes Deception wasn't as big a progression and advancement like Among Thieves was to the Drakes Fortune, it was really much of the same in my opinion and frankly the "same" is still pretty awesome.

At any rate even if you are disappointed with it you have to admit that when Naughtey Dog drops the ball they still come out with something better than alot of others could come up with right?

 

[roosterjcogburn]

At any rate even if you are disappointed with it you have to admit that when Naughtey Dog drops the ball they still come out with something better than alot of others could come up with right?

Yeah, it still had redeeming qualities (unlike other games that disappointed me, a la Force Unleashed 2), but I just didn't think it held a candle to the first two.

 

[SDR-UK]

1. Uncharted employed the square to attack, triangle to counter control scheme before Batman.

2. That's something for us fans to speculate over. Sure, its a cop-out to say this but I love that they didn't come to the bottom of the mythical presences and happenings in this game.

3. See above.

4. I'll give ya that. I missed me some Chloe.

5. Engaged, I believed. I think Amy Hennig has addressed this to people on Twitter.

6. Its a game; it aims to provide the challenge and for the most part, AI and enemies behaviour is questionable in almost every game. I think you're dwelling too much on this game, trying to nitpick every part of it.

7. He had his own motives. He wanted to know where The Atlantis of the Sands was. He had his own motives above being Marlowe's hired hitman.

8. Never explained.

9. ... And your point being? Mario goes from being a Plumber to having a massive feud with a turtle. See? I just made an irrelevant point, too.

10. They mentioned, during gameplay, that the city was laying on very little support. Do with that what you will. It was just done to give the game a cinematic ending; no need to dwell on the details and probability of that actually happening.

11. I thought she'd be further developed, too. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

12. Yes. Salim has been confirmed to be Ardeth Bay.

13. You do know Sandstorms travel... right? Drake's just unlucky in the sense that it happens when he's there. He's also unlucky to the point where most handholds/walls he climbs seem to crumble. Or every means of transport in the game explodes. Or he's always outnumbered 20-1 at least. Or that he always gets separated from the NPC's in the game.

14. Uncharted 2. Drake manages to find himself in the exact village that Elena is in, the exact village where Schafer (sp?) lives who led the same expedition, the exact village that Lazarevic' crew takes an interest in. Drake's just unlucky to the point that he has to stumble into these awesome moments for set-pieces to happen.

Top and bottom of it is: Its a game... and don't be forgetting that.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

1. Uncharted employed the square to attack, triangle to counter control scheme before Batman.

No it didn't. Arkham Asylum came out months before Uncharted 2.

 

[SDR-UK]

Ever heard of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune? Yeah, it was a small title that started the whole series that was released in 2007. Had the same control scheme.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

Triangle in that game just connected two punches in the 'brutal' combo. There were no counters.

 

[DutchKnight]

I still liked UDF the best, but I liked this one better than the second. "Tree sap on steriods" didn't do much for me.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

I still liked UDF the best, but I liked this one better than the second. "Tree sap on steriods" didn't do much for me.

But you were OK with "genies in a magical cookie jar?"

 

[Violet_raine]

If your going to start taking issue with matters of logic and plot holes when talking about Uncharted you really can't single out any one game over the others.

Just sit back and enjoy the ride its all in good fun.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

If your going to start taking issue with matters of logic and plot holes when talking about Uncharted you really can't single out any one game over the others.

Just sit back and enjoy the ride its all in good fun.

OK, I'll grant you the logic part. But if I'm going to pay $60 for a game, I want a story that doesn't leave major plot elements unresolved in the closing scenes. Having gaping plot holes in any medium is a huge no-no.

 

[Violet_raine]

OK, I'll grant you the logic part. But if I'm going to pay $60 for a game, I want a story that doesn't leave major plot elements unresolved in the closing scenes. Having gaping plot holes in any medium is a huge no-no.

The problem seems to be more that the story feels incomplete, like you've missed something along the way. Drake Fortune and Among Thieves didn't draw attention to its lapses in story in the way this game did.

For example why make such a big deal about Talbot seemingly disappearing into thin air and shrugging off a bullet when you're not going to tell us why.

It dosen't create a sense of mystery so much as the feeling that they cut out the scene which would have explained it.

If you're not going to supply an answer then don't raise the question.

As I've said before I can overlook these kinds of things when faced with the epic action and setpieces which are the best of any game out there, but I do get your complaint.

 

[FullForce098]

The story was just sloppy. This is likely a result of the game being rushed to completion in a way U2 was not. But I still enjoyed it. And yes, I AM one of those OCD people who picks every little aspect of a story apart but I've learned to just go with the flow. People want their entertainment to be so damn "realistic" nowadays. If this game's story was "real" then Drake would have died in chapter one when his head hit the side of the urinal. It would have fractured his skull, he spends the rest of his life eating with a straw in a wheelchair. The End.

It's FICTION. FANTASY. NOT REAL. THEREFORE NOT REALISTIC.

And as to Drake not being a hero because he destroyed two lost cities? Didn't Indiana let the Holy Grail, the Cup of Christ, fall into a chasm to be buried forever? Didn't he also send two Shankara stones falling into a crocodile-infested river? But didn't both characters throw themselves into harms way to rescue innocence? You need to re-examine your definition of "hero".

 

[roosterjcogburn]

And as to Drake not being a hero because he destroyed two lost cities? Didn't Indiana let the Holy Grail, the Cup of Christ, fall into a chasm to be buried forever? Didn't he also send two Shankara stones falling into a crocodile-infested river? But didn't both characters throw themselves into harms way to rescue innocence? You need to re-examine your definition of "hero".

Most people's problem with this wasn't that he destroyed the city, it's that the climax of U3 was literally a carbon copy of U2's. Instead of the "Holy crap, that's awesome!" feeling we got in U2, it was more like "Didn't I just do this?"

 

[JimmyPMV]

Yeah those side characters like Salim and that evil pirate guy have no development at all they just come and go...that's a huge downer for me because in Uncharted 2 I felt that all the heroes had a proper development allowing you to actually care about them.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

Yeah those side characters like Salim and that evil pirate guy have no development at all they just come and go...that's a huge downer for me because in Uncharted 2 I felt that all the heroes had a proper development allowing you to actually care about them.

It stunned me that Selim (or however you spell it) and that whole convoy scene were nothing but blatant copy/paste jobs from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

Let's see...

Our hero desperately tries to rescue elderly father figure captured by European villains in a desert convoy on the way to find a priceless lost treasure, finds help at the last second from a mysterious group of militant Arabs, engages the enemy in fantastical mounted combat, does battle with a musclebound boss on the back of an out-of-control vehicle, inadvertently knocks father figure off the vehicle to be rescued by a conveniently placed Middle-Eastern buddy on horseback, proceeds to lost city, watches father figure get shot, journeys through the lost city and returns to discover a healed father figure.

Horrendous run-on sentence, but you get my point.

 

[Violet_raine]

Lets be kind and call it an homage.

 

[beamer_86]

Yeah those side characters like Salim and that evil pirate guy have no development at all they just come and go...that's a huge downer for me because in Uncharted 2 I felt that all the heroes had a proper development allowing you to actually care about them.

It stunned me that Selim (or however you spell it) and that whole convoy scene were nothing but blatant copy/paste jobs from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

journeys through the lost city and returns to discover a healed father figure.

In defense of this, it was said that Drake started hallucinating after drinking the water. Sully was never actually shot.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

Yeah those side characters like Salim and that evil pirate guy have no development at all they just come and go...that's a huge downer for me because in Uncharted 2 I felt that all the heroes had a proper development allowing you to actually care about them.

It stunned me that Selim (or however you spell it) and that whole convoy scene were nothing but blatant copy/paste jobs from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

journeys through the lost city and returns to discover a healed father figure.

In defense of this, it was said that Drake started hallucinating after drinking the water. Sully was never actually shot.

Yeah, you're right. I'm just saying, it comes pretty damn close to Indy 4 when you look at all the other stuff I listed.

 

[beamer_86]

@ Rooster

Oh I know what you're saying and I completely agree with you on your argument. Just had to point out that one little thing. haha

 

[Violet_raine]

Uncharted had been compared with Indiana Jones since... forever.

Besides there are certain staples of the pulp adventure genre that are hard to differentiate.

Like those bloody spiders everyone seems to have a problem with.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

Uncharted had been compared with Indiana Jones since... forever.

Besides there are certain staples of the pulp adventure genre that are hard to differentiate.

Like those bloody spiders everyone seems to have a problem with.

Uncharted had always been compared with Indiana Jones because Indy is the gold standard of the 'adventure' genre. Just like any medieval fantasy that comes along is inevitably compared to Lord of the Rings. And that's fine. But there's a difference between taking plot elements from a classic of the genre, and copying whole scenes and passing them off as original. Compounding upon the LOTR example, it's fine for a fantasy novel to use plot devices like elves, dragons and sorcery like the pioneers of the genre did. But if there's a scene where the fatherly wizard flies in on a giant eagle to rescue two diminutive heroes from a volcano, then there's an issue.

 

[REZberlin]

I've just completed the game and was shocked.

I'm a professional scriptwriter and had to check my save game to see if something got skipped or if I missed something important.

Because, frankly, they rushed it out like a pregnant woman on the way to the hospital.

Look at the plot of the first act, how much attention to detail each and every character gets. How much they chat and make fun and interact. Then, act two comes along and it's epic and great and all, plus they raise a lot of intriguing questions about fatherhood and life and death and a certain genie in a bottle (!!!).

But then, as this masterpiece (and I mean it) wraps up into act three, everything just collapsed for me.

Where did everybody go? Why aren't my characters talking anymore? Has this game just deteriorated into a shooter? And why does Uncharted remind me more and more of Indy suddenly? Up to now, I never looked at Nate as a copy of indy, but that third act (starting after that amazing plane crash and Nate's spiritual walk through the desert) had the Holy Grail written all-over it.

Some producer clearly said: guys, we need to get this game out, so let's skip a bunch of storylines.

But that doesn't work with a complex plot like this.

1. If you mention a pandora's box, and you don't actually OPEN it, then better don't mention it at all! What would Raiders be, if the Nazi's never opened that Ark? What would the finale of that film be without the ghosts and the melting faces? I was SOOOO looking forward to a conclusion of what the teased genie buried under the sea looks like or if Marlowe or Talbot would be enchanted by it... but what does drake do? He makes a whole ancient city collapse with two (or was it three?) shots. Nothing to see here, moving on. I thought, okay, that genie container is going to hit the ground and crack and something horribly evil will emerge and attack, but nah, let's have some more mindless shoot-outs and then close the game...

2. also let's FIGHT the main antagonist, how is that? It's nice that Marlowe drowned, but hey, she went WAY to quickly. Couldn't she have mutated into one of those Helghasts or the genie or something worth fighting for? What would Jedi be without Luke fighting Vader? Those plot decisions just didn't make any sense!

3. What do the creepy agent corpses hint at in that burning chateau? What's that all about? Why tease us into a direction that doesn't pay off?

4. I don't care about that drugged water (but I also hated it), but what the hell were those Helghast firedemons and why didn't they reappear? I soooOO wanted more of that. Uncharted always had that otherworldly side toward the endings, so why not this time?

5. Those spiders.... what's the connection to the main storyline? Why did they constantly re-appear?

6. Where did Chloe go? (I might have forgotten about that one...)

7. And why not sacrifice Sully or have him truly retire at the end if you keep letting us know how old and fragile he has become...

Etc.

During the endless credits roll, I was left speechless. How could they start off so perfectly and turn it into such a rush job towards the end? I felt like the game needed one more chapter or so. 23. Also, I -as the gamer- didn't feel like I did something very heroic that brought about the game's finale! All they wanted me to do at the very end was to RUN AWAY. That's not very heroic, if the hero also didn't kill the antagonist, and also didn't rescue any damsel in distress (Sully was rescued much earlier).

But after I watched the unlocked "STORYTELLING" featurette (which I did immediately after finishing, because I was so baffled) it all became clear: they didn't even start the project with a story at it's core, but rather asked themselves, where they haven't gone before and what they haven't tried yet, so later they constructed the story around those (thrilling) set-pieces.

Yet, to fully envelop us, they should have taken all those loose strings and bring them together in a strong, emotinally fullfilling and satisfying third act. They didn't and that's a shame.

I just hope, that Uncharted 4 (or whatever comes next from that amazing studio) has better pacing and a tighter, smarter and more integrated plot.

Peace.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

3. What do the creepy agent corpses hint at in that burning chateau? What's that all about? Why tease us into a direction that doesn't pay off?
The spiders got him.

4. I don't care about that drugged water (but I also hated it), but what the hell were those Helghast firedemons and why didn't they reappear? I soooOO wanted more of that. Uncharted always had that otherworldly side toward the endings, so why not this time?
They were simply hallucinations Drake was having due to the drugged water.

6. Where did Chloe go? (I might have forgotten about that one...)
I'm assuming she went back to look after Cutter. I thought I detected some flirtatious undertones between the two.

7. And why not sacrifice Sully or have him truly retire at the end...
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know about the rest of the things you mentioned.

 

[douglasq]

i wish i would have gotten the copy of the game that greg miller did because what i just finished playing was not a 10.

 

[Pseudomaxpower076]

Just finished the game tonight and came online right after to see what the world of IGN thought about that crap ending. I'm glad to see that most people agree with me.

Don't get me wrong I loved the game as a whole and will replay it but what a horribly rushed ending; the set up was so good, the villains were good, and the fire guys were pretty bad ass but it just didn't pan out like I'd hoped. When Drake and Sully went into that water at the end I was sure that they would have ingested some leading to a sweet final chapter, but instead all I got was jumping from platform to platform and a weak hand to hand fight with talbot where I pushed square and triangle a bunch of times... meh.

Gameplay: U2>U3>U
Story: U2>U>U3

 

[Omahabandit]

EVERYTHING you said was spot on. Uncharted 2 was BY FAR the better game. IGN giving it a perfect 10 is outrageous!

 

[Violet_raine]

Personally I preferred the fight with Talbot to that rubbish ending with Lazaravic in Among Thieves.

Sure it was nothing more than a glorified quicktime event but it looked cool didn't it?

And who cares that Greg Miller gave it a 10? If he thinks it's worth that then so be it.

 

[stefman666]

heres my problem. how did marlowe get the drug that caused the same exact effect as the water?? They hadn't been there yet?!?!

 

[roosterjcogburn]

heres my problem. how did marlowe get the drug that caused the same exact effect as the water?? They hadn't been there yet?!?!

It wasn't the same thing. Whatever was in the water was WAY more potent than the darts. Think about it- the dart toxin (which was injected directly into the bloodstream, no less) made the surroundings look distorted and made Drake twitch and pass out. That's not a weapon, that's glorified LSD. On the other hand, even a small mouthful of the water, which obviously would have diluted the toxin significantly, was sufficient to cause full-blown hallucinations of flying fire demons shooting flames out their eyes. Imagine the crazy-ass mind games Marlowe could play with the toxin in an undiluted form in a dart shot straight into the blood.

 

[KDL_IMPOSSIBLE]

I have played all three Uncharted games U3 is the best nuff said.

IMO it's my GOTY

 

[JakPS3]

Why was it your favorite and GOTY? I agree with the majority here, U3 was rushed, glitchy, uninspired overall, and left so many things unfinished. It's still head and shoulders above other games, but not a 10/10 or GOTY. It's the weakest of the 3 by far.

 

[Aloverssoulz]

Uncharted 3 is far better than Uncharted 2. U2 was nowhere near a masterpiece. At all.

Uncharted 2 flaws

*Crap boss fights

*Sully up and left pretty much at the start of the game.

*Chole was a pain in the neck. She complained for the whole game! Plus she has NO chemistry with any of the other characters, let alone her "love interest" Drake. I didn't even notice she wasn't in the last half of U3 she was that dull.

*Lack of good puzzles. They were all far too easy.

*The tank battle (can you count that as a boss fight?...) was lame and too easy even on Crushing. Just run across to the different roof tops, which weren't far from eachother, kill 2 men standing there and fire their RPG's at the tank 3 times....

*The AI was AWFUL. At least in Uncharted 3 the AI will flank you and they all shoot you at once making you have to use your brain to come up with a way to kill them all. Unlike in Uncharted 2 where you can sit behind a random rock and kill everyone as they pop out at you.

*Lazarevic was very generic with next to no personality. Talbot vs. Drake was a much better fight. It was easy, but at least it wasn't just Drake running around and around and around shooting sap for 5 minutes.

*Endless fire fight after endless fire fight made the game boring.

*Too much ammo.

*The puzzle to Shambhala's door did NOT need an expert treasure hunter and fortune seeker to find it. A little look around the room with the animal paintings and the objects you need to place would have been found by anyone. Or at least by Flynn.

*Checkpoints so close to eachother it's as if the game was made for people with short attention spans and people who would never play old school games because they find them "too hard"

*For a game that has so much death and murder there's next to no blood. When you shoot someone there SHOULD be blood coming out of them and on the walls (look at MGS2)

*Shambhala is OUTSIDE! The only thing magical about Shambhala was the tree. It was still just another old city. It should have shown up on Google Earth. No excuse, stupid writing.

*How did the blue dudes of Shambhala know Drake was looking for their city? Since when can they understand English when they just roar and mutter at eachother?

*How did the blue dudes get OUT of Shambhala? They didn't open the door. Oh wait, the city is outside after all, making all the puzzles in the game a waste of time and stupid.

*WHY DOES THE TREE SAP MAKE PEOPLE SUPER STRONG!?

*Elena getting blasted by a grenade 5 feet away would kill her, yet she didn't have so much as a scar to be found by time the credits rolled!

I know a lot of the things I counted as issues are also in 1 and 3, but people have to stop treating Uncharted 2 as if it's the greatest game ever made when it's not even the best game on the PS3. It's too easy, the story is ass and has just as many plot holes as the 3rd game, it loses it's WOW factor after you've beating it the first time because all the "near deaths" are scripted. It's as if Naughty Dog are afraid to punish the player for doing bad. The game holds your hand the whole way through.

In terms of gameplay and story every Uncharted game has plot holes and bad gameplay at points (picking up weapons you didn't want because it was next to ammo you did want for the gun you were carrying is a problem they still haven't bothered to fix)

Uncharted 3 isn't perfect, but there's a lot about it that is better than Uncharted 2. I didn't like that I didn't get to see what was in the jar (demons spirits of some kind if I remember what the dude in black on the horse said) and it was lame that it was just shot back into the ocean after 5 seconds of it being on screen, but that's nothing compared to the amounts of crap Uncharted 2 had.

Point is. Uncharted games, all of them are like Summer blockbuster movies. You watch them to be amazed at everything blowing up, to see the good guy kick ass and get the girl and to see the bad guys die. ALL the stories from the Uncharted series are as deep as a puddle. They aren't Metal Gear Solid. Hell, Resident Evil's story has more depth and mystery than Uncharted does! That's saying something!

Uncharted is the Die Hard of the gaming world. Watch it, play it, enjoy it, don't question it.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

Uncharted 3 is far better than Uncharted 2. U2 was nowhere near a masterpiece. At all.

Uncharted 2 flaws

*Crap boss fights
NO boss fights in U3 except the lame Talbot brawl.

*Sully up and left pretty much at the start of the game.
Better than spending four hours developing a new character then dumping him halfway through the game, a la Charlie Cutter.

*Chole was a pain in the neck. She complained for the whole game! Plus she has NO chemistry with any of the other characters, let alone her "love interest" Drake. I didn't even notice she wasn't in the last half of U3 she was that dull.
She was introduced basically to test Drake and Elena's commitment to each other. Does he go with the woman he loved and left, or the extremely hot chick who just turned up? If you didn't like her... OK...? But it's hardly a flaw with the game, just your personal taste.

*Lack of good puzzles. They were all far too easy.
And U3 had barely any at all, and the ones that were there were so freakin easy you didn't even need the journal.

*The tank battle (can you count that as a boss fight?...) was lame and too easy even on Crushing. Just run across to the different roof tops, which weren't far from eachother, kill 2 men standing there and fire their RPG's at the tank 3 times....
Beats running around a random shipyard for an hour and a half. At least it was exciting.

*The AI was AWFUL. At least in Uncharted 3 the AI will flank you and they all shoot you at once making you have to use your brain to come up with a way to kill them all. Unlike in Uncharted 2 where you can sit behind a random rock and kill everyone as they pop out at you.
Not really. I pretty much stayed in one spot for the majority of each gunfight in both games. The only thing making U3's combat harder was the assload of body-armored shotgun-toting grunts.

*Lazarevic was very generic with next to no personality. Talbot vs. Drake was a much better fight. It was easy, but at least it wasn't just Drake running around and around and around shooting sap for 5 minutes.
You're saying Talbot was less generic? Lazarevic was your stereotypical power-crazed madman. Talbot was your stereotypical snarky British bad guy. Aside from the occasional vanishing act, Talbot was just as uninteresting as Lazarevic, and felt far less threatening.

*Endless fire fight after endless fire fight made the game boring.
Dude, seriously? The entirety of U3 consisted of pointless firefights against random enemies. Are you forgetting the infamous shipyard levels? At least the enemies in U2 made sense with the story instead of just random goons thrown in to prolong the game.

*Too much ammo.
There's FAR more guns and ammo sitting around in U3. And in more random places than U2.

*The puzzle to Shambhala's door did NOT need an expert treasure hunter and fortune seeker to find it. A little look around the room with the animal paintings and the objects you need to place would have been found by anyone. Or at least by Flynn.
Drake's copy of the journal was the only thing that showed the animals color-coded with the shape that went on their pedestal, as well as the only thing showing which symbol went with which animal. Anyone without it would have been legitimately stuck.

*Checkpoints so close to eachother it's as if the game was made for people with short attention spans and people who would never play old school games because they find them "too hard"
And your complaint is...? There's a checkpoint after every firefight, and some strewn throughout the platforming segments. Whoop-de-doo.

*For a game that has so much death and murder there's next to no blood. When you shoot someone there SHOULD be blood coming out of them and on the walls (look at MGS2)
It's a T-rated game. And there's more blood than in U3 anyway. There's still small spurts when you shoot someone, plus copious amounts when Drake and Elena get hurt in cutscenes.

*Shambhala is OUTSIDE! The only thing magical about Shambhala was the tree. It was still just another old city. It should have shown up on Google Earth. No excuse, stupid writing.
Same thing could be said for Ubar.

*How did the blue dudes of Shambhala know Drake was looking for their city? Since when can they understand English when they just roar and mutter at eachother?
They were killing anyone who got too close to it.

*How did the blue dudes get OUT of Shambhala? They didn't open the door. Oh wait, the city is outside after all, making all the puzzles in the game a waste of time and stupid.
The whole game is based upon the supernatural. And they said time and time again that it was a hidden city, with only one 'gateway'. We're to assume that the door is a supernatural pathway to another 'realm', if you will.

*WHY DOES THE TREE SAP MAKE PEOPLE SUPER STRONG!?
Why does the demon jar make people hallucinate? Because the writers said it does. And unlike the jar, it's not like they left it hanging, they clearly say that it's a magic tree that makes people superhuman and nigh immortal. That's what it is, as per the script, so why question it further? Sure, it's impossible in the real world, but this is a game.

*Elena getting blasted by a grenade 5 feet away would kill her, yet she didn't have so much as a scar to be found by time the credits rolled!
And Drake being lost in the desert for days on end would kill him. Same goes for sinking in a cruise ship, falling off a burning chateau, and pretty much everything else that happens to any given character in the whole series.

I know a lot of the things I counted as issues are also in 1 and 3, but people have to stop treating Uncharted 2 as if it's the greatest game ever made when it's not even the best game on the PS3. It's too easy, the story is ass and has just as many plot holes as the 3rd game, it loses it's WOW factor after you've beating it the first time because all the "near deaths" are scripted. It's as if Naughty Dog are afraid to punish the player for doing bad. The game holds your hand the whole way through.
But why are you bitching so much about the second game when you admit that many of the issues are present in the third game as well, which you said is so vastly better? If you don't like the series, so be it, but nothing you mentioned here makes a compelling argument for U3 being a better game.

 

[Aloverssoulz]

"But why are you bitching so much about the second game when you admit that many of the issues are present in the third game as well, which you said is so vastly better? If you don't like the series, so be it, but nothing you mentioned here makes a compelling argument for U3 being a better game."

I was "bitching" about the second game because fans keep talking about Uncharted 2 being so fantastic when it has the same flaws or more flaws than 1 and 3. The story in U3 while still somewhat shallow was the deepest yet. And story is what Uncharted games are about.


My reasons for Uncharted 3 being better.

*The story is the most personal one yet. We learn more about Drake's past, we see why he and Sully are so close and we see a more vulnerable side of Drake (even though gameplay wise he's unable to break a single nail let alone bone from jumping off buildings). Uncharted 2 was style over substance.

*I felt the game was balanced much better than 2. In 2 there were far to many shoot outs and not enough puzzles. U3 toned down the number fire fights, but when you were in one they were (to me anyway) harder than they were in U2. I died a lot more and my health went grey as soon as I got shoot a few times.

Plus while the puzzles were just as easy I still found them to be much more fun to do than the second game. Uncharted 2 put more of a focus on action and I didn't like that. It made the game unbalanced.

Then we had parts of the game where we had to use our fists and not guns. I thought it was a lot of fun. Fighting in the bar at the start of the game and then again in Yemen was very enjoyable. I liked the small improvements to the hand to hand combat (though so far hand to hand online sucks, whoever hits the person twice wins, or maybe i'm still just learning)

Where as Uncharted 2 was just shooting, set piece, shooting, shooting, puzzle, shooting, set piece

And not to forget the stealth parts of the game were greatly improved upon and much more enjoyable. I still think Naughty Dog has a lot to learn when it comes to stealth though, but they are getting better at it.

I will admit that no level in U3 matches U2's train level. I loved that part of U2 and don't think ND will top it anytime soon. I was hoping the plane would somehow surpass it, but that part of the game only lasted 5 minutes.

I do love the ship though. I loved sneaking around it, just enjoying the sights and then stealth killing a few men before the battle in the ball room and the water sinking the ship was fantastic.

I agree that Talbot just as generic as Lazarevic and I had no interest in him untill the final fight. That's when he won me over, where as the final fight with Lazarevic made me dislike his character and I felt very disappointed in ND for having me run around a few trees shooting sap. The hand to hand fight with Talbot was more interesting and kept my fingers on the controller where as during the Lazarevic fight I kept running back to the same spot, stopped moving and waited for him to show up so I could shoot the sap. It was simply very dull.

Plus chasing Talbot through the streets was another good way they cut up the shooting, fist fighting and puzzles.

I don't see a problem with the shipyard levels. I found it was more fun to play than the last part of U2 from the second the truck jumping set piece ends till the final fight. It was just one giant shoot out. A pirate having so many men working for him with such strong weapons is stupid, but Lazarevic having an endless supply of men with him everywhere he goes is worst. At least the pirate wasn't in the game start to finish with his small army.

It only makes Lazarevic seem that more pathetic when his army was taking down by a fortune seeker.

*People have complained that Chole being sidelined in U3 was wrong to do because of how big her role was in U2, but I think it was the right move (and not because I dislike her). She had a part to play in U2, but not U3. There was no need for her to be in the game (and there's no need for her to have a big role in any game after this, same goes for Cutter even if I like him).

Sully is Drakes father figure, closest friend. Makes sense for him to have a good amount of screen time.

Elena is Drakes lover. It makes sense for her to get a lot of screen time.

Chole is nothing at this point. All she is is a co-worker that backs Drake up now and than. She has no real part to play in the series anymore and is really just filler.

Those are some of my reasons as to why I feel Uncharted 3 is better than the second. Some given reasons were because of my own taste in gaming. Other reasons were because the game took what U2 had and did improve on it (better balanced, deeper story. The two things that matter most were there even if there were issues)

Thing is, Uncharted 2 was a random chapter in Drake's life that will be forgotten if Naughty Dog makes Uncharted 4, 5 etc. stories connected to Drake's past and his goals in life. Uncharted 1 and 3 were more personal for him, where as Uncharted 2 was more of a side story to the series. Drake himself had no connection to what was happening, he just wanted to take down Lazarevic. If ND do indeed make U4, U5 more about Drake like they did with 3 then Uncharted 2 will end up sticking out like a sore thumb.

 

[roosterjcogburn]

Well, I guess I'll have to respectfully disagree with most of your points. I have no idea how you think U3 had toned down the number of firefights... The whole game, to me, felt chock full of pointless gun action, and there really weren't any notable stealth portions. When I did use stealth, it wound up feeling like I was futilely trying to muscle my way through a segment that was designed for guns, and guns only.

 

[HDG819]

In terms of the story I think it was fine. Yes there were plot holes but there's plot holes in a lot of famous works video games, movies, etc. etc. Plus like someone else said, the first 2 were no better. I do however agree with you on some points.


Disagree:

7. You didn't just fight to escape, you fought to rescue Sully. (Spoiler) I was more annoyed that it turns out they didn't have Sully, only for it to turn out they DID have Sully. Smh. But regardless..

10. Nitpicking.

11. Does it matter that they don't go into a lot of back story on Marlowe & Talbot and such? You can't accept the fact that they're pure evil and just want to do evil things with the tainted water?

12. Not every character needs backstory. Like someone said, he's more the like a face for the area. More nitpicking.

13. Ubar is a lost and MAGICAL city. YES, it's hidden by a sandstorm all the time. This isn't a documentary, it's fiction. Get over it.

14. Although I agree it's a little far-fetched. What would you rather have happened? He dies? Gets saved by Elena? Any alternative is worst. Just accept it and have fun.

Agree:

1. Lol I was thinking when did he become Spider-man?

4. AGREE

5. I think it's clear that they got married. I was pissed off that they didn't kiss. They just hugged and then held hands. GAY! I would rip her clothes off and bang her right then and there after all I went through LOL

6. Agree completely. Fighting in that sandstorm was a real b**** because of that. It's totally unrealistic. And I hated unloading a whole round into those armor guys and they were hardly affected. What are they wearing, titanium? And there were a LOT of them.

 

[Violet_raine]

Alot of people problems concerning things such as repetitive gun fights, easy puzzles and lapses in logic and story telling are really just issues with Uncharted in general: Drakes Fortune, Among Thieves or Drakes Deception all included, you can't single any of them out without finding the same problems in the others.

People will always have their favourites and really problems like those above aren't likely to affect your opinion when compared with what you like.

 

[Sammy4Heisman]

This game was ok, but definitely a step back from UC2 SP.

 

[alexponential88]

Just a quick mention, why does Chloe HAVE to be a central character in 2? I like her, but I also liked that they had her as kind of an extended cameo and then that was it. Her story was in Uncharted 2, similar to something like that happening in a movie (which this game practically tries to be).

 

[alexponential88]

WOW, I just realized that Nate and Elena were supposed to be married, but separated in UC3. I was wondering what the hell was going on when they were talking about "you still have it"....I just thought it was something Nate gave to her in one of the other games that I forgot about. Then, at the end with the ring I just thought maybe he was going to propose and then didn't or something, again something I forgot about. They definitely didn't get married at the end of UC2 (I mean, they did after the fact I now realize, but it wasn't shown) and suddenly in this one they're separated with no mention of their marriage, just a mention of still having "something" that I couldn't even tell what it was since it's a video game and was skimmed over real quick.

 

[Violet_raine]

I think they were just engaged.

 

[Badpsychometry]

I just beat it... wow. Plot holes indeed. The bugs... I did see one in Marlowes little hidey hole in a jaw... maybe they held the hallucinogenic stuff?

 

[Violet_raine]

You'd think the spiders came from Ubar except you never see them there?

Oh except in an hallucination.