Video Game Review: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Last night I just finished playing the 4th game in the Uncharted series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is no secret that I am a huge fan of the series and I think is the best game so far. Fortunately there is another installment in the form of "Lost Legacy." I will give that a shot after playing a few other games in between.

The game starts off with an exciting boat chase and then moves to the beginning of the story. Doing this received a lot of acclaim when they did it in Uncharted 2. The thing that I didn't like with the 2nd game is that when you got back to that part of the game, you had to go through the whole scenario again. I appreciated that Uncharted 4 just shows highlights of the encounter and lets you continue without having to redo anything.

The scenery in all of the Uncharted games is amazing and the 4th game does not disappoint. There are the usual tropical islands but other parts of the world as well. While pictures can give you an idea of the detail in the game, you really need to play the game to appreciate it.

I felt a real connection with the story and think it is the best one yet. I felt that Uncharted 2 really just repeated the same story from the first game. I also didn't like the "mystical" aspect of those two games. With Uncharted 4, the story is very believable and it really felt like I was discovering ancient ruins.

During the story, you continually add entries to a journal. Once I completed the game, I would have paid a healthy sum of money to get one sent to me in print. Perhaps Naughty Dog, the game developer,  should make a completed journal available for fans of the game like myself. You can purchase a blank journal but I want one already filled in with drawings from the game.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and Uncharted 4 is the last game featuring Nathan Drake as the main character. It is clear that he won't be going on any more adventures. When I first heard that, I thought something bad happens. I don't want to give any spoilers but it is a happy ending and not tragic.

Uncharted 4 is rated "M" for mature because of violence and language. You wind up killing a lot of bad guys and people do use some colorful language. The language is not as bad as some of the other "M" games I have played but you should be aware of it. You can purchase the game new for around $40 or used for $15. I don't know why anyone would sell their copy as this is one of the few games I would consider replaying. I definitely recommend this game for teenagers, young adults, and those of us older guys that still like playing video games. I got my copy using an industry discount for around $11 and plan to keep it in my library.

My standard disclaimer is that I do work in the video game industry, know several people who worked on the game, and may even be associated with the developers in some way shape or form. I still hope you find the review somewhat objective.

Video Game Review: Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception

Monday evening I finally finished playing Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception on my PlayStation 4. This is a game I started playing with my son over Christmas last year but didn't have time to finish until now. Rather than pick up where I left off, I started over a few weeks ago. I'm glad I did as I had forgotten a number of the controls. Besides, the beginning of the game is a lot of fun and worth playing over again.

I have mentioned that I am a fan of the Uncharted series of games and really looked forward to finishing up the original trilogy. I have to say that my favorite of the 3 is the last one. I felt that Uncharted 1 and Uncharted 2 were the same story with just a bit different window dressing. I think that 2 did a much better job telling the story than 1 but they had a lot of similar elements. Uncharted 3 continues to share some of those elements but also has a lot of new elements that increased my enjoyment.

I felt like the end of both Uncharted 1 and 2 required me to fight some pretty difficult battles with superhuman monsters. Naturally I would die and have to restart the battle.  Eventually it got rather tiring and only my desire to finish the game kept me playing. With Uncharted 3, the end battle also felt difficult but I didn't have to worry about superhuman monsters. I will confess I didn't make it through without dying once or twice, but the battle felt more natural and I enjoyed it significantly more.

Uncharted 3 is part of the Remastered Uncharted Collection game available for the PlayStation 4 and has an ESRB rating of T for "Teen." There is some mild language and violence but I have and would allow my teenage boys to play the game. If you have a PlayStation 3, you can find the game for that platform relatively inexpensively and it is definitely worth the price.

Now that I have finished Uncharted 3, I will take a bit of a break and play a different type of game. Playing the same game series one after another can lead to a bit of a burnout. Once my next game is complete, I am really looking forward to Uncharted 4 and will play that.

Video Games I have Been Playing

I am stuck at the airport yet again and so I thought I would add to my blog seeing as I have sort of neglected it over the past couple of months. I tried to think of an interesting topic and reread the last video game review I wrote. Since then I have completed some really great titles and so I thought I would write about what I have been playing. None of the games are very new and so including multiple games may help you select a very inexpensive game worth looking at if you have not already played it.

When I finished playing Sniper, I had a number of games to choose from. While Sniper played well, I wanted something a little more mainstream and popular. There are a number of PlayStation exclusives in my library and so I wanted to get through a few of them before sequels arrive on the PlayStation 4. I selected God of War as the next game. I had heard a lot of good things about it and have a copy of the remastered version for PlayStation 3. It originally released on the PlayStation 2 in 2005 and has been around for a very long time. I have to note that I do have a copy for the PS2 as well.

I must confess that I have actually been to Santa Monica studios where they originally developed the God of War series. It is a great place to visit and the people that work there are awesome. Therefore I am probably not an impartial judge of their game and can't really write an unbiased review. What I can do is say that I really enjoyed the game. There are certain games that you cannot put down once you start playing them. I often found myself playing late into the evening when I should have been sleeping.

I enjoyed playing God of War but it is not a title I would recommend for children or teenagers. There is a lot of nudity and violence. The nudity is animated and cartoonish but I would not have wanted my son playing this game back when he was a teenager. Regarding the violence, at one point you have to BBQ a captured soldier. Even though it is just a video game, I thought that to be a bit over the top.

I finished God of War and thought about playing the sequel. Instead I chose to play a different sequel from another PlayStation exclusive: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I provided a review of the first Uncharted game and want to complete 2 and 3 before starting 4. Of the first 3 games in the series, the second one is my youngest son's favorite. Once again I have to excuse myself from trying to write an unbiased review for this game. I love all things about the Uncharted series and own copies of the first 3 games for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles as well as Golden Abyss for the Vita. I also have a copy of Uncharted 4 still in the plastic waiting for me to finish the other titles before I play it.

As with God of War, I really enjoyed playing Uncharted 2. However I found it much easier to put down in the evenings and didn't try to continue playing late into the night. One reason for that is that Uncharted is divided into nice chapters that serve as great stopping points while God of War just keeps going in one long epic video game. When I would get to the end of a chapter, I looked at my watch and decide if I had time for another one or should head to bed. Don't get me wrong, I would have preferred continuing to play, I just found it easier to break away from the game.

As I mentioned, my youngest son really loves Uncharted 2 and took offense when I told him that it had a similar story to Uncharted 1. He scolded me and said they have different characters, different environments, and are nothing alike. I actually beg to differ. You run through a series of trials where you solve puzzles, kill bad guys, and ultimately lead the main bad guy to a special power that can be used to create immortal soldiers. Looking back on both games, you would have been better off sitting on a beach in the Caribbean or Hawaii. After all, the bad guys aren't smart enough to get to the supernatural power on their own.

Both God of War and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves are fairly old titles and can be found rather inexpensively. A quick Internet search revealed that you can purchase each of them used for less than $10.  Considering their original selling price and how much fun I had playing them, they are real bargains. I played both on my PlayStation 3 even though Uncharted 2 is also available for the PlayStation 4. I just have a PlayStation 3 on my boat and that is where I play most of my video games. Soon I will replace it with a PlayStation 4 but until then I am trying to get through a huge backlog of PS3 games.

Video Game Review: Uncharted: Golden Abyss

I have to begin this video game review with the disclaimer that I am a huge fan of Naughty Dog's Uncharted series of games. I have versions 1, 2, and 3 for the PS3 as well as the remastered versions of them for the PS4. When Uncharted 4 is released in April I will get a copy of that too. Now for a small confession. I have only ever finished Uncharted 1. I started it on the PS3 and never went back to it. I was finally able to run through the whole game on the PS4 during Christmas. I found it to be a lot of fun and so when I started using my PlayStation Vita to kill time at airports, the first game I played was Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

Golden Abyss has the usual characters from Uncharted such as Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan (Sully) but also introduces a new female character for the story: Marisa Chase. While Naughty Dog is the game developer for all of the other Uncharted games, Bend Studio created this title for the Vita. Both studios are part of Sony PlayStation's World-Wide Studios and so everything is kept in the family. Golden Abyss was a release title for the handheld console and so it serves two purposes: providing a game at launch and showing off the features of the new console. Some of the guys at work feel like the Vita-specific controls detract from the game. Fortunately the developer exercised wisdom and provided dual controls for most everything. If you are familiar with the larger console titles, you will have no trouble controlling the game on the Vita.

One major difference with Golden Abyss over Uncharted 1, 2, or 3 is that the chapters are a lot shorter. However there are more of them. That is great as sometimes you often don't have as much uninterrupted time on a mobile console as you might on one connected to the television in your living room.

I found the game to be a lot of fun and it helped me while away the time when my flight was delayed by several hours one evening. Now comes the question: would I recommend it? That depends. If you already own a PlayStation Vita, then I recommend you purchase this game if you have not already done so. If you don't then I am not sure it is good enough to recommend purchasing one. I have a very specific use for my Vita but realize that not everyone needs to entertain themselves while waiting for flights on Thursday evenings. The game is rated T for Teen because of violence and strong language.