So, I don't know if Giant Bomb has video coverage of Uncharted coming up this week (possibly so), but Eurogamer have just done a write up and video preview of a little demo session they were given, and honestly it's left me a bit concerned.

I loved Uncharted 2, and enjoyed 1 + 3, but I think by the time I put down the controller at the end of 3 I was done with the series. They had all been fun adventures, but I'd had my fill. Also, I was kinda glad that I wasn't going to have to bother my arse getting used to those controls again too.

But then Naughty Dog went ahead and announced there was going to be a fourth game (not really that surprising I suppose, but still a bit disappointing) and I had to go and prepare myself to be won over by the hype all over again. And you know what, the car chase scene in last year's E3 definitely managed that. It had all the spectacle that you would expect from Uncharted and it looked awesome.

So it's then a bit of a bummer when you watch the Eurogamer footage and it all just looks a bit boring (not graphically of course, just in terms of flow)... I don't know... I'll buy the game because I like Naughty Dog and they've bought themselves a good deal of favour with me, but I really wish they were doing something else.

It's basically taking all the lessons they learned from The Last of Us and the bigger sandbox design and applying it to Uncharted, with a little hint of Far Cry... what is there to be disappointed about? It looks phenomenal in my opinion.

EDIT: Also that is a terrible video. So much shit talking through out for no apparent reason.

Visually it looks gorgeous and seems to run really well too. I'll be real happy to finally play a true exclusive that was tailor made for the console, squeezing out every ounce of juice it has to deliver an incredibly experience. Just hope the game delivers on it's end too as I've always been somewhat lukewarm on the Uncharted games. (well in all honesty I only ever played Uncharted 2)

Well Uncharted's strength (at least in part) was the fact that it was such a tightly directed experience. By making it more open, the risk is that the game loses the thing that made it great in the first place. If Naughty Dog wanted to make a more open game that combined all those different elements then why not just make something built for that from the ground up, rather than forcing it onto Uncharted?

Also, what you called "shit talking" echoed a good amount of my reservations about the game, so I wouldn't be quite so dismissive of it.

You know what else was a tightly directed experience? The Last of Us. "Tightly directed" does not mean you walk down a literal corridor from one event to the next. It's about pacing and knowing when to have a puzzle solving scene, or traversal section, or calm character moment versus a high octane spectacular shoot out. Them opening up the playground in the action oriented moments doesn't take away from the well paced and tightly crafted nature of the game. Uncharted always had all the elements that appear in that video, but now they have been expanded because this isn't the PS3 generation anymore. To lambast Naughty Dog for expanding their scope of an Uncharted game is ridiculous, as is complaining that it isn't a new IP if they have new ideas. The system grows more powerful which results in the developers becoming capable of pulling off cooler things. The Uncharted universe is the perfect place to set a big bombastic globe trotting adventure.

As for them shit talking... complaining that reload is on triangle or that the enemies notice them as soon as they shoot someone is probably some of the most asinine complaints I can think of. The funny thing is, Digital Foundry which is A PART of Eurogamer posted a video of the same demo praising the encounter design and saying how cool it was that you could choose to stealth around the environment tagging enemies and stealthily taking them down, all while using the classic Uncharted style traversal of terrain in a cool and much more useful way. So yeah, those dudes were spewing nonsense.

Jeff will give it 3 stars.

Fair enough, I take your point. I don't agree that opening up the range of approaches you can take during action sequences will have zero effect on the experience, but I'm happy to be proved wrong. I would just say though that the combat design in The Last of Us was entirely different to Uncharted and deliberately geared towards a more considered approach (both in terms of execution and thematically), whereas Uncharted is, as you say, bombastic and more about flair. So sure, allowing the combat sequences to be approached from different angles in terms of knowing the exact layout (both geographically and enemy placement) of any given area before commencing hostilities is welcome, but I don't think stealth will ever sit well with this series as a genuine alternative to an all out gun fight. But again, I'll be happy to be proved wrong.

Everything I read about level design makes me think of Halo, or even Crysis. You go from point to point, but you have a ton of options to get there. Sounds exciting.

Yeah that's exactly what it looks like to me. Which is an improvement. Otherwise it does look pretty similar but that's a good change I think. It's actually a style I love that was become a bit neglected for a period as games were either super linear (like the old Uncharted games) and then games went open world over having more sandbox or hub design. I think it's cool to allow exploration but still have new spaces revealed over time.

The thing about this sort of style is that there's great replay value. Super linear games, you'll play once or twice depending on the narrative. Super open games, you might just play once (at least that's my take). When a story-driven game has a sense of focus, but its gameplay sections allow for experimentation and variety, then you have a game that you can play over and over again. Hell, it's why I'll still play some old Halo levels now and then.

That's what I'm expecting with Uncharted 4. I hope the gunplay feels good, but I can at least say the combat areas seem well thought out. If they can nail both while keeping the sense of scale with the set pieces, I might finally commit to beating one of these games on Crushing.

I never said that they will have zero effect on the experience. In fact, they will have a massive effect on the experience. But expanding something and fleshing it out doesn't mean that it will no longer be a tightly directed game. Every core aspect that you liked about Uncharted will be present, but it will be more nuanced because even though Uncharted is different the The Last of Us, the lessons Naughty Dog learned while making that game can be applied to their newest game. It's a very clear example of a developer growing more confident and skilled after each successive release of their games. I think this video perfectly illustrates why I have such confidence in Naughty Dog and why I know that this game will be one of their best yet:

Wow. Reading this and seeing the video is getting me way more excited. I was expecting your more standard level-based structure again. But you know, thinking back to some of the bigger combat areas in the series, they already had that sort of open arena quality to them (with verticality to boot). Except now it's been turned to 11.

Odd to hear em talk about stealth like it's new though. It's always been in these games, granted in a super rudimentary form in UC1, but they've built on it over the series. This definitely looks like the biggest push forward into... well, into being like other open world games with stealth.

No complaints though. I love me some stealth and I love me some open worlds (and also some Uncharted).

@theht: And the reason I think they can pull off the big open areas is that they already did it in The Last of Us. Some of those places gave you a ton of options. I beat it upon release, then my buddy played through the remaster and did a ton of stuff I didn't even think of.

Modern Naughty Dog gets most of its attention because of their technical expertise and storytelling, but they were originally built on some damn good gameplay. And luckily, it looks like they've finally come back around to making their games excellent on the gameplay end, along with all the other stuff they've been focusing on for the past decade.

Then again, I thought that pirate section in UC 3 that everyone hated had the coolest combat level design in the series, so yeah....

@csl316: Ah, I didn't play The Last of Us, but I'm with ya on the ship graveyard.

@theht: Oh wow, there is another!