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Oni

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Uncharted 3: early impressions (spoiler-free)

I got my copy today thanks to broken street dates. I played till chapter 10, which took about 4-5 hours.

I like the parts where I'm not playing that game the most. Now more than ever the shooting feels outdated and unsatisfying and the incredibly rigid scripting isn't really doing it for me anymore. There's no tension because there's no question about the outcome. Maybe you die and have to do the last 30 seconds again, not a big deal. I also think the platforming is too finnicky and similarly free of any real tension. Every third jump Nate makes something breaks off and he just BARELY makes it because of course whatever you're jumping to doesn't break off until after you jump off it. I dislike the shooting so much that I've actually killed more dudes by running up to them and punching them, which so far is perfectly doable on normal mode. The gameplay is passable, no more and no less.

I'm still enjoying it mind, but I'm really only interested in seeing the locales and watching the story unfold. I really like the characters and the banter, it's sharp as ever. The actual game part just isn't cutting it anymore, which makes all those 9s and 10s super baffling. Critics aren't actually very critical at all it seems, big shock. The Eurogamer review is the only one I've seen that sheds some light on the game's weak parts, they still gave it an 8 though, and of course the fanboys came out of the woodwork because it didn't jive with their preconceived notions/what other 'critics' were saying.

Here's what the Guardian says: "Uncharted 3, perhaps for the first time, represents what we all hoped games would eventually evolve into." I could not disagree more strongly. Uncharted 3 gives the player no agency whatsoever, and as a narrative it's just a movie within a game. This is not what games should strive to be, even if I think it's fine for some of them to be that (as UC3 does that part well).

I don't dislike Uncharted 3, I quite like it, but I don't think it's anywhere near as good as most critics make it out to be, and I'm usually not so far out of touch with the popular opinion. I think a lot of people are easily distracted by high production values and high-quality cinematics, or willing to tolerate average gameplay because they're too distracted by epic set pieces. I basically felt the same way about Uncharted 2 but it's exacerbated in the third outing because it's exactly more of the same.

Thanks for reading, and please keep an open mind about these criticisms until you've played the game (not that I expect I'll find much agreement).
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