The Strategy Gamer: Victory Over The Narrative Failure of Uncharted 3

The Strategy Gamer goes to town on how strategy games portray narrative through gameplay, a detail a lot of popular games haven't considered.

"Games like Uncharted 3 try to cover up weak core gameplay with highly polished non-interactive elements. While Naughty Dog did a fantastic job with those cutscenes, with beautiful graphics, excellent and top notch voice acting, they served as misdirection, as the actual gameplay consisted of weak shooting and poorly designed levels. It is a monstrous error when the greatest feature of a game is a portion where the player does not even get to participate."

[Hatsune-Miku]

...

[dboyc310]

The shooting isn't as smooth as Among thieves even after the patch. People that claim it is are simplu just defending the game. The narrative tried to be so complex that it lost itself. Pacing was all over the place. Presentation is the only thing this installment has over Among Thieves. Overall Among Thieves is better with perfect pacing, perfect character development, and a brilliant narrative. I was amazed how half of the game had you play through the events that led you to the introduction of the game. Maybe i just expected to much from Drake's Deception but can you blame me?

[Carl_Shocker]

Uncharted 3...the game which will be nitpicked to death for years to come

[napoleon1066]

I think the gaming press at large got so dazzled by the presentation of the game (which may have been the best of any game ever) that they forgot to review the actual game that came along with it.

[coolbeans]

You don't really extract any points to back up that stance beyond vague terms and compare narration mechanics of games in a completely different genre.

I believe that's what called for Carl's 'nitpick' comment.

[Philoctetes]

I throroughly loved Uncharted 3. IMO it's every bit as good as Uncharted 2. Sorry you didn't like it.

Edit: For the record, I didn't actually read your article. If you think Uncharted 3 features "weak shooting and poorly-designed levels," then it's probably not worth my time to read the rest of what you had to say. No hit for you.

[Sobaer]

The shooting wasn't weak? O_o This is why Naughty Dog acknowledged that fact, and patched it weeks later, right? Because the shooting was perfect?

I'm not saying you are wrong for liking it, I am pro-"everyone has an opinion, mine is mine", but the shooting was pretty terrible in UC3.

[majiebeast]

Ahh its almost been a year lets go bash uncharted 3 again that never gets old...

[Sobaer]

Ahh, let's be sarcastic for no reason and miss the point of the article again, that never gets old.

[wiiu_peeu]

its failed sold hard it sold in the millions and a year later i still play it every single day and online community is always active.

[napoleon1066]

I believe what I said was the games was a narrative failure. I won't begrudge its sales performance. I mean, I bought it as well.

[MightyPatapon]

I don't really understand what was wrong with Uncharted 3 and why people need to nitpick it.

Story was more personal and added much-needed depth to Nathan Drake.

Core elements such as shooting and platforming were refined and more puzzles that required you to think were added.

Online was also leagues above Uncharted 2.

But Uncharted 3 does have horribly done stealth sections.

But I guess I'm only calling them horrible because you need insane timing and positioning to really get through the optional stealth sections, and if you failed, Uncharted 3 made you pay, hard.

But at the end of the day, Uncharted 3 was spectacular.

[r21]

So he talks about how narrative in U3 is weak and then trails off to talking bout strategy games :L

[Scottis]

I wasn't expecting that either.

[napoleon1066]

The first sentence above: "The Strategy Gamer goes to town on how strategy games portray narrative through gameplay, a detail a lot of popular games haven't considered. "

[GribbleGrunger]

You know you're at the top of the ladder when all the peasants try to pull you down

[dboyc310]

Dude Uncharted 3 lost the hype once released. Never got talked up as the pinnacle of games like uncharted 2 did back when it was released, that and all the GOTY awards and review scores it got. IMO ND still have to out do themselves because Among Thieves is the pinnacle of the series.

[miyamoto]

weak game play?

Nunca!

its not U3's weak point.

look harder.

[rezzah]

personally I think the main thing holding back UC3 is the lack of flow within the story.

Despite this it still is a good game to me, and is second best in the series.

[kariyanine]

I don't necessarily agree that strategy games give a better narrative than other games, just a different type. While I enjoy creating my own story, I think narrative quality depends on what you are looking for out of a game. A lot of the times I am looking for a more driven narrative with a strong focus, ala Uncharted 2 over say... Just Cause 2. Or to do it in terms of strategy games, Starcraft II over say.... Civ IV.

Different strokes for different folks.

In regards to Uncharted 3's narrative, I think it falters quite a bit. It seems written around the level design and so we go off for levels that look cool but have no actual narrative point, like the middle portion of the UC3.

[Relientk77]

Seriously get off Uncharted 3's back, that game is seriously just amazing and one of the best games of 2011 easily. Uncharted 2 I think is A LITTLE BETTER, not much but a little. Uncharted 3 is just fantastic though

[NeoTribe]

Love these random uncharted hate articles. Why not hate on games that actually deserve it. Uncharted 3 was badass. My only gripe would have to be there being no mythical monster in this one. The gay flamin demonhead guys don't count. Other than that it had some of the craziest levels of any uncharted game so far. Cruise ship level anyone? Don't really share this opinion on the shooting mechanics being poor.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

Why don't all these Uncharted haters create a product that makes the Uncharted franchise look inferior in every way... I want to be persuaded by actions, not words!

If all these haters made a game better than Uncharted, it would get acknowledged... but they can't/don't

Haters gonna hate!

[InTheLab]

In short, it's not better than Uncharted 2 (much like many many many games released this gen) so that somehow makes it a bad game....sure it does.

[SageHonor]

Haha people cant handle their favorite game getting criticized.

[Hicken]

Are you daft? No, don't answer; you might hurt yourself.

Most people acknowledge UC2 as being better than UC3, including the majority of those here defending UC3. For my part, I enjoyed the hell outta UC3, but not as much as UC2; even so, neither is my favorite game this gen, let alone EVER.

The problem we have is with the undue scrutiny the game is receiving, perhaps especially in light of other titles in other franchises NOT receiving the same treatment.

Edit: The ONLY way it does not refute your statement is if you're not referring to what's happening right here and now. And if that is the case, your statement is irrelevant.

[SageHonor]

I am aware of the situation and I agree. But that still doesn't refute my statement.

[BrutallyBlunt]

So someone says something about a PS3 exclusive and the knives come out. How odd. The fact that you need to insult people shows just how attached you are to the PS3.

[Ben_Grimm]

What scrutiny has UC3 gotten? I swear it’s like one or two lame articles from no name sites about a favorite Sony game and the fans go ape sh*t and think the whole entire media is out for Sony blood.

UC3 has been praised many, many times. Sure there have been some reviews which knocked the multiplayer but this has been even stated by fans that played it. And it is no known secret that a lot of people prefer part 2 or 3. How is this game getting unfair treatment?

[smashcrashbash]

I seriously don't know why people constantly nitpick UC3 so much. There are so many games that get away with so much trash and yet it never gets mentioned from bad animation, bad story, bad level design, bad controls, glitches and every thing in between and yet they slap a ten out of ten on it with out a blink of an eye. And yet people keep boomeranging back to UC3 to complain about it.

If the shooting and the level design was so poor how did I finish the game? If a game has problems that are so bad as people try to make UC2 and UC3 seem then how did I finish the game? I should have been stuck in certain levels without knowing where I am going and constantly killed because I can't aim right. But it wasn't. People attack Uncharted because it was given so many accolades and therefore constantly try to bring it down anyway they can.

No one mentions lame AI, bad design, boring level design, bad story etc in games that have it in spades but when UC3 came along suddenly it's like everyone woke up and suddenly can find fault in everything in it.UC3 is not perfect, what game is, but can we stop the constant nitpicking.Try telling the other offenders about the crap they do with their games that passes under your nose for a change. Start with Bethesda, Nintendo and EA.

[Ben_Grimm]

There are just as many games that get nitpicked and scrutinize. I hardly see any articles talk bad about any Uncharted game.

"No one mentions lame AI, bad design, boring level design, bad story etc in games that have it in spades "

Have you not read bad reviews before, I mean seriously throw a rock at any bad review and you can see this.

"Start with Bethesda, Nintendo and EA"

I am very curious as to what Nintendo game has lame AI, bad design, boring level design, bad story etc.
I would really like to know.

[smashcrashbash]

Zelda Skyward Sword, Super Mario Brothers Wii, Mario Kart, the new Kid Icarus, New Super Mario Brothers 1 and 2

And Bethesda gets away with glitches and errors all the time, Gears gets away with lame story and dialogue, Pokemon gets away with repetitiveness,all new Mario games get away with weak challenge, New Mario Karts get away with rubber band AI. I would go on but I really don't feel like it.

[Nac]

Not even going to bother reading. No hits for you!!!!!!

Get over it people. Just because the narrative doesn't work for you doesn't mean it doesn't work.

Does this guy realize that the narrative was the most interactive in UC3 than any of the other UCs?!? Hello? Chapter 18!!!!