Uncharted hype at a low after recent preview

[TVC15]

Well, I was on the can this morning reading the newest issue of GI, and I read something that has made me doubt whether Uncharted will be worth it for anything but visuals.

Well, we all know that videogame previews are universally positive, especially in a magazine as unashamedly bought off as Game Informer.  In their Uncharted preview, though, they said distinctly negative things, even citing that the version of the game they were playing was close to complete.

They cited an inconsistent difficulty level (they said it goes from being easy to being near impossibly hard, and then back again) and that many areas feel empty and unfinished.  They go on to say that Naughty Dog has a good reputation for pulling things together, but really, saying anything blatantly negative in a preview is extremely rare.

I'll still buy it do to me being an HD whore, but I'm not going to get hyped over it being great at this point.  Between the negative preview and Naughty Dog's hit and miss reputation, we could be getting just about anything.

[hyp]

i don't see why ps3tards are hyping this up in the first place.  haven't they had enough disappointments? 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Thomas Puja really likes it

[Himu]

i don't see why ps3tards are hyping this up in the first place.  haven't they had enough disappointments? 

It looks like it'll be a good game, unlike Lair and Warhawk. It has potential.

[hyp]

no doubt, but the hype is definitely on the 9-10 AAA meter.  if it receives anything below that, there's going to be hell both to and from the sony camp. 

[Himu]

Oh. that's true. They're hoping it's 9-10.0 because they haven't played a new great game in ages. Poor saps.

It'll probably be 7.5 or 8.0 at most, which is to say, a perfectly fine and fun game.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

R&C is totally 8.0

[Smooth Groove]

According to the GAF thread, ND has been really good at fixing negatives that people have pointed out.  It worries me though when a developer listens to Gafags for advice.   Also, the 1up crew has been very cautious with their hype about this game.  Even Shane the shameless Sony fanboy has been really meek about hyping Uncharted. 

I think the game will at least be good and it certainly looks quite attractive.  My main concern is that Naughty Dog will focus on too many different types of gameplay like they did with the J&D.  J&D had some of the best platforming elements but they were overshadowed by the boring GTA overworld and shitty minigames. 

[y2kev]

That is kind of strange. What magazine had the first preview of PD0 with "Rare's struggles continue" as the headline 

[hyp]

That is kind of strange. What magazine had the first preview of PD0 with "Rare's struggles continue" as the headline 

on the flipside, che must've really wanted that MS job at the time.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

dcharlie, I would give Everyday Shooter a legitimate 9, am I crazy biased

[Smooth Groove]

dcharlie, I would give Everyday Shooter a legitimate 9, am I crazy biased

yes

spoiler (click to show/hide)

you only gave Bioshock a 8.5, sfag

[close]

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Everyday Shooter > Bioshock

we're all civilized here, we can all agree on that as a baseline I'm sure

[Smooth Groove]

Rygar, what game do you actually enjoy? 

[CajoleJuice]

<artfaghat> it gets lots of awesome points back for Fort Frollic, the twist, the setting, etc... </artfaghat>

I feel the same way, yet I don't even own an art cigarillo hat.

[Smooth Groove]

Everyday Shooter and games like it are far more art-faggish than Bioshock.  In fact, isn't mainstreamed gameplay one of the criticisms that System Shock fans had about Bioshock? 

I love Everyday Shooter, hell I love alot of games that I badmouth (See:Ratchet & Clank).  It's my job that does this to me.

It seemed that way to me.  You probably notice notice a lot of design flaws and technical problems that the typical gamer can't tell. 

[Vizzys]

whats left to hype after this bombs?

my guess is wardevil

I can see it happening

[bluemax]

The technology behind the game sounds pretty cool from the things my instructor has said, but I don't know much about the gameplay. Some of the Sixaxis shit he told us about sounds really tacked on.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Jesus, just read the GAF thread... it's painful.

GAF as a whole is painful.  Just yesterday one of the goose steppin' idiots made a post about Infamous's January 2nd release date at Gamestop.com thinking that there actually may be a chance in hell of it happening.  Of course anyone with a functioning brain cell could surmise that it was just a placeholder date but that didn't stop AltogetherAndrews of suggesting to PistolGrip that this was indeed news and he should make a new thread about it.  Lo and behold 3 minutes later, we've got a new thread and people are chiming in about how they hope it might be true.  It's like landing on planet stupid.  I made a couple of comments about it and the next thing I know I've got a couple PMs from a couple of the loons telling me to fuck off.

I swear, the Nintendo fans may be shitballs insane but I'll take their lunacy anyday over the absolutely retardedly caustic nature of this new Sony army.

[Smooth Groove]

isn't mainstreamed gameplay one of the criticisms that System Shock fans had about Bioshock? 

the context of the twist/story in a mainstream style gameplay that is somewhat generic serves to further reinforce the twist (which works on several levels).

Amazingly, if the game had been all kinds of utter totally NEW awesomeness, it would have served to devalue the twist.

I get what you're saying.  I think Bioshock's story would have been even cooler if you had more influence over the ending.  It was kinda lame that it was impossible to get the "good" ending if you had harvested a certain amount of little sisters.  Once you've been made aware of the mind control, you should have been allowed to choose your destiny regardless of what you did before. 

The Uncharted thread is scary.  The fanboys descend immediately on anyone who makes a comment that is even slightly detracting. I think the game looks pretty good.  I especially like the jungle sequences I've seen in video but those impressions are just off based videos.  From videos alone, Uncharted didn't appear to be so amazing that I immediately think that it is the best looking game ever.  I don't even know how anyone can act like "Uncharted has the best graphics ever" is some kinda dogma without having even seen or played the game in person. 

[Eel O'Brian]

I only own Resistance:  Fall of Octagonal Tires for my PS3, and that has been decidedly underwhelming so far, so I'd like a decent game to play on the system.  Hopefully Uncharted is at least decent.  I was going to buy Motorstorm, but I think I'll wait for the flood on ebay after Christmas for that and try to snatch it for around $15-20.

[Smooth Groove]

I only own Resistance:  Fall of Octagonal Tires for my PS3, and that has been decidedly underwhelming so far, so I'd like a decent game to play on the system.  Hopefully Uncharted is at least decent.  I was going to buy Motorstorm, but I think I'll wait for the flood on ebay after Christmas for that and try to snatch it for around $15-20.

Did you think more highly of Resistance after you got through the first couple of levels?

 Motorstorm is actually not that bad but the loading times are TERRIBLE.  It takes 10s just to pick your vehicle.  Also, it has very little features that extend its longevity.  I would just wait for Motorstorm 2, which should be much improved. 

[Eel O'Brian]

Resistance is getting better now that I have reached the level where humans are "turned," but it is still more corridor-driven than I'd like.

[Smooth Groove]

I swear, the Nintendo fans may be shitballs insane but I'll take their lunacy anyday over the absolutely retardedly caustic nature of this new Sony army.

the collapse of Sony and their fans inability to come up with any robust defense for the shitty state that the PS3 is in has been AFW ("awesome fucking wowsome" - i fucking HATE this bullshit phrase - if an 7 year old said it to me, they'd find themselves locked in a fridge for a good hour or so until they learnt to come up with something less wanky. I guess i should be happy that these people are leading the "Sony Resistance").

Did the distinguished mentally-challenged Kitton come up with that crap?  I want to strangle him whenever he does the "rawr".  I swear I would be as popular as that moron if I get a puppy avatar, "woof" and go into hyberbole mode everytime I talk about a PS3 game that nobody has even played yet. 

[y2kev]

I'll be upfront about Uncharted and say it's a game I absolutely want to be amazing. Not because it's on the PS3 or because I even like Naughty Dog, but because it really is my dream game. It has elements from all of my favorite games of the last few years, so I really hope it works out. I will really root for this game, and I hope everyone else stfus.

[Smooth Groove]

I want all the "big" titles to be good too.  I just don't cry about it when it doesn't turn out that way. 

[y2kev]

My favorite games of the last few years have been Tomb Raider Legend and Anniversary, the first Prince of Persia game, Shadow of the Colossus, RE4, and Gears, yep. Loved Gears. Wasn't very good at it, but I managed to get through hardcore. Stinky wretches.

I absolutely love the way Lara moves in Legend and Anniversary. There's something to it that I can't exactly put my finger on, but I've gone on and on about on GAF for a long time. There's a certain weight to her that just makes it feel so right. You're not so much timing jumps and looking for tiny ledges or some other stupid shit as you are really making the platforming look as smooth and stylish as possible.

I suppose that why I like gears so much...horizontal platformer and all.

I really enjoy games that just feel smooth. Gears and Tomb Raider are too of the slickest games out there in terms of how they make you feel. I've got some other favorites, but they don't really fit into the genre. And I love FFXII and that's a no-go around here, and stuff like Devil May Cry. I pretty much play everything, but I really am nostalgic for good old jump and run games.

TRA on the PS2 was a love letter to me personally.

Should I mention I played Forza 2 for like 100 hours and raced every night for two hours online for like a month with the GAF crew  Loved that game so much. Also amazingly smooth, except for the grating soundtrack. 

[Van Cruncheon]

tra was fuck awesome.

[y2kev]

crystal dynamics is one of my favorite developers. their games always look and feel amazing. soul reaver 1 on ps1 was like omfg how did this happen

tra was trl with like the immaculate level design of the original. fucking loved that game.

[Smooth Groove]

Sounds like Y2KEV is adjusting his game tastes to strengthen his argument.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

J/K.  TRA is pretty damn good.  TRL, not so much, 'cause of the crappy tacked-on combat. 

[close]

I want all the "big" titles to be good too.

no gamer wants any game to be bad. It's just if you go through life hyping one game to the next , then you are going to inevitably get burnt badly.

The same culprits have went from PS3 game to Ps3 game since 2005 showing of friggen Gundam. There are few balanced Sony fans out there - and they'll simply go from game to game to game. And god help the balanced Ps3 fan who says anything negative. It's like a batsignal to the crazy AA, Spwolf, etc elements of the zombie brain eating horde.

I'm actually quite surprised at how quickly hype died off for some of these games. Motorstorm hype disintegrated fast, and R+C now seems to be a distant memory. I think Sony need to look at how their community managers are handling some of their game hype - it's like they aren't looking for 2nd and 3rd phase sales, where as some X360 game hype was propelled for weeks , months, and over a year in some games cases.

I don't like the SDF's "you're either with us or against us" mentality.  People that don't think the newest hyped PS3 title is AAA are instantly labeled as being biased.  It's just as juvenile as anything the N-fans did in the past.  I don't remember Xbots trying to force people to accept that Lost Planet was a AAA title. 

[y2kev]

That has become the default mentality for most fanboys, with the 360 fans being less obnoxious (but not by much!) because if you aren't with them you have bad taste. 

this is pretty fair analysis i think. to ignore the 360's great lineup is really just to be myopic. or being a nintendo fan i guess that argues "Pcwii" is the way to go this gen.

[Smooth Groove]

That has become the default mentality for most fanboys, with the 360 fans being less obnoxious (but not by much!) because if you aren't with them you have bad taste. 

this is pretty fair analysis i think. to ignore the 360's great lineup is really just to be myopic. or being a nintendo fan i guess that argues "Pcwii" is the way to go this gen.

Sony fanboys are weird in that they would spent several hundred dollars on a system that they can't possibly enjoy just to talk about how its games are overrated.  See F@lus, J-rzez, Altogetherandrews, Kittonwy, etc.  And what's the point of bringing up continuously that Resistance was underrated while GOW/HALO/Bioshock were underrated?  Even if they win the war on GAF, it doesn't change the fact that those 360 games are more highly regarded and successful in the real world. 

[y2kev]

hey, you won't catch me posting shots of gt5p and being like DOES FORZA HAVE THIS NO LOL because I know forza is an amazing game. because i've actually played it. which is more than i'm sure sorry sony (or whatever the fuck his name is) or kittowny have done.

yeah, the racing in trl was pretty dumb. but as a pace breaker upper i was satisfied. a game made out of that stuff would be pretty obnoxious, and the second racing section was too long.

and to smooth groove -- i don't remember any combat in tr. ever. nope, never. never happened. you must be thinking of soldier of fortune.

i've played so many shooters over the years that they don't really stick out in my mind....I really loved halo 3, but really disliked halo 2, and i hated so many other shitty shooters this year that i swore them off but ended up renegging anyway. the darkness, lost planet, etc. i think gears was like, "wow, yeah, they really have it down...how a character should move in a 3d world!" but then lost planet came out and it was all robotic and i got caught in an animation stumble loop and i was like oh jesus christ. and i didn't really enjoy bioshock...i thought the combat mechanics felt like 2001 all over again. i almost find combat in non halo shooters to be so boring and straight forward. like why can't i melee here or throw grenades. how yawn worthy, ya?

i also have played stuff like killzone   really terrible mechanically, but i really love the art direction, so i'm hoping kz2 is good. lord knows it has the budget and the people slaving over it.

[Smooth Groove]

Are you kidding?  TRL had combat in the 1st level.

[y2kev]

Are you kidding?  TRL had combat in the 1st level.

nope, you are probably thinking of manhunt.

[The Sceneman]

Sony never really knew what they were doing, the PS1 was a complete utter fluke and the PS2 was still riding on that. Im glad they have finally gotten fucked in the ass, they deserved it. I love my PS2, but Dreamcast shouldve come out on top, logically

[Smooth Groove]

To be fair, MS still has a long way to go in terms of reliability, although neither of the 2 360s I bought ever failed on me.   I've seen enough reports of RRODs from trusted posters to know that it's not just fud. 

[The Sceneman]

yeah my, 1st 360 rrod'ed straight out of the box lol. But it really is an amazing system. I can deal with unreliabilty when the games are this fucken sweet

[Smooth Groove]

My 1 month old HDMI 360 had a loose screw and I can still hear it rattling now.  lolz

[MrAngryFace]

I love previews of DW games by magazines:

"MORE OF THE SAME! WTF"

Then the reviews:

"GODDAMNIT WHY DID I HAVE to REVIEW THIS! IT SUX! MORE OF THE SAME!"

[brawndolicious]

and to smooth groove -- i don't remember any combat in tr. ever. nope, never. never happened. you must be thinking of soldier of fortune.

I have that game but haven't touched it yet however, the demo did have shooting.  it's mostly a platformer but if you find an enemy machine gun on the ground, you'll pick it up and use it until you run out.  I hated how in the demo it took like 6 shots with handguns to kill an enemy.

[Smooth Groove]

That's the exact treatment you give R&C, Maf. 

[The Sceneman]

That's the exact treatment you give R&C, Maf. 

doesnt make it any less true!

And DW games shit all over R&C, sorry

[Phoenix Dark]

Another great white hope for the PS3 fails to live up to the desperate hype? I'm shocked

if i want to play tomb raider i'll play the superior version on the wii

[Van Cruncheon]

no, that's the review *i* give r&c, buttwheat, and i also am not A PROFESSIONAL GAME REVIEWER, i am a BACKWATER FORUM NITPICKER. i do not get paid to complain. i also do not hate r&c; i am simply burnt out on the formula. i think it has very solid game design and if you paid me to review it, i would probably give it in the 7/8 range.

(maf just hates r&c's crates and bolt sounds.)

[MrAngryFace]

I fucking hate how they put crates at every corner and make me run to them! Put em in my path! ARGHGHGHHG

[MrAngryFace]

Ive had one RROD but god damn I ran so many DVDs through it im not surprised. The replacement has been a champ.

[MCD]

ROD is certainly not a FUD.

fucking ATI, 2 years and still 90nm GPU chip. 

[y2kev]

i can't believe some of you didn't get the tr joke. i mean, soldier of fortune?

and i've never had the rrod either

[brawndolicious]

well you sounded like you were defending it (combat was definitely weaker than platforming).

anyways, I only know one person who got an ROD.

[Smooth Groove]

The water is really top notch.
As are the textures
My GOTY without a freaking doubt

Yeapp.. yeeeeaaap. This will without much doubt be MY GOTY.

wow.

I wish the Sony fans at gaf will stop with the AFW nonsense.  The fact that Sony fans unite with Kittonwy speak is testament to how much they've fallen. 

[brawndolicious]

just post a few lollies and GTFO when you see hardcore fanboys shitting up a fanboy bait thread.

[Kyle]

ROD is certainly not a FUD.

fucking ATI, 2 years and still 90nm GPU chip. 

wtf ATi have to do with the 90nm chip.
electronics simply fails because of the cheap components ( capacitors, ICs, Resistors, etc.. ) and bad heatsinks solutions.

[MCD]

um...my point was that ATI are taking their sweet time to get their GPU chip to 65nm.

[y2kev]

It IS really pretty.

But the gameplay videos are what have me interested. I just hope the gunplay is satisfying, and if it isn't, then I hope there isn't much of it.

There's a big draw in having pretty environments when your game is this kind of platform, but it's not my GOTY because of the textures.

[Rman]

I didn't want to create a new thread, but has anyone played the demo?  Any impressions?