Monday, April 27, 2009
Uncharted 2 has multiplayer... *farts*
Nick is going to give me shit for this one. I hate being Negative Nancy about largely anticipated games, but this multiplayer announcement is just reassuring me that this franchise is going in the direction I was afraid of.
How did I feel about the first game? Uncharted was almost something great. I loved the characters and the acting, the visuals and animation, and especially the Tomb Raider trappings. Unfortunately, the game couldn't be the great adventure game it should have been since it was too busy trying to be the PS3's Gears of War. But the game was 80% Gears and 20% Tomb Raider. The proportions were off--it should have been the other way around.
The combat was adequate (albeit not as good as Gears), but there was way too much of it. The game might have looked like "Dude Raider" at a first glance, but honestly, the things that made Tomb Raider so great were scarce or absent all together. I love Tomb Raider for the physicality of its platforming, its environmental exploration, and its plentiful puzzle solving. Uncharted was almost an evolution of what made Tomb Raider great, but instead was just another shooter. There were around 2 to 3 puzzles in Uncharted and the answers were in a book Drake was carrying around. I was satisfied with the game in the end, but I was hoping the sequel would have more of what I loved, and less of what I didn't.
Well... with the announcement of online multiplayer (not to mention the change of setting), one might safely assume this franchise is probably becoming a pure shooter. Sure there is some light platforming during the shoot-outs, but I seriously doubt the main game will have less of a focus on combat than the first game. And why does it take so long to kill someone? Bah!
I'm still excited, though a little disappointed. Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. I hope so.
Brad
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13 comments:
no shit from me sir... I completely agree
I can see where you're coming from Brad. I think it's clear that you're not really the type of gamer that holds multiplayer as his main purchasing point for most games, which is fully understandable and respectable (Indeed, it agravates me to all hell when people refuse to purchase AAA games just because they'd rather play a game with tacked on multiplayer and for achievements points rather than, I dunno, replaying through the same great single player for the fun of it?).
However, I'm going to have to disagree about this being a step in the wrong direction. In my opinion Uncharted is the sort of game that I believe could benefit from a multiplayer mode. Even though you might find the run 'n' gun, pop up and cover shooting gameplay not up to par as others and don't like it as the focus of Uncharted (Again, respectable opinion) there are fans out there who love thate gameplay. It only makes sense that it would translate well into an online match. But what I think gives it real potential is Uncharteds acrobatics and agility woven into it. If Naughty Dog can design the maps right the potential for fast pace and tactical action is enormous. In the trailer you could see players leaping and diving all over the map. Opportunities to outflank and sneak attack are there as well (The part where one player pulled another down was very Sam Fisher-esque and badass). The mode Plunder sounded sort of like a renamed and tweaked CTF, but being able to chuck the loot is interesting and could very well be more fun to play than to describe. Makes you also wonder what the other modes will turn out like, or if they'll even introduce new ones.
Co-op on the other hand was something that I was worried about. Unless your game either has a loose and possibly plain narrative or is completely build around it, you can't add co-op. That's something that I felt would hurt U2's story and pacing. Thankfully, the co-op is going to be seperate (For the most part from what I've gathered) from the main single player, which I'm relieved to hear.
I think mine, yours and everyone elses true main concern is that these additions will have an effect on the development of the game's single player. That's what we're all really worried for. Some people are probably going to say, "Don't like the multiplayer? Don't play it," but thats a not well thought out remark. At the moment though I don't think we can say for definite if this is going to be successful or a shamble. Only a few previews and one leaked footage of the story is all we have to go on. But what I think we need to remember is that Naughty Dog have shown to be top game developers. They would've sat down and considered whether co-op and multiplayer were a step in the right direction. I don't think they're going to entirely rely on shooting this time round either. In the leaked footage we saw that they've improved on the climbing and such. Puzzles for all we know could be more advance as well, athough I admit that's a small chance. Believe me I am not the type of gamer who loves hard thinking puzzles, but Drake's Fortune really did have way too simple brain testers. Enjoyable, but simple.
All we can do is wait for more info, more previews and more video footage to see if the game's shaping up nicely, then for those of us (i.e. US citizens. Exclusive deals always annoy me <.<) that preorder inFamous can then get a better idea of the game (Not to mention possibly improve it with feedback), and then come fall get our hands on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and finally give our proper reviews on it. We'll just have to wait and see.
A few thoughts on the trailer though. Not a fan of the closer shoulder cam view, or bullets doing what most shooters do by covering them in soot and leaving a dust trail, but hurling a propane tank and shooting at it in the face of a human player could more than make up for it.
Holy fuck monkeys. Didn't realise I'd typed that much. :o
Oh, no, you get shit from me, "sir". While Uncharted did become more shooter heavy in the last third or so of the game, I'd disagree with it being "80% Gears/20% Tomb Raider". I'd say "30% Gears/30% Tomb Raider/40% Uncharted". One of the things that got me about the game were the lush environments and the characters (meaning just the protagonists. Only ones that really seemed to have an actual personality besides "generic villain").
The gameplay was fun, in my book, and while it did take 3 clips to kill a motherfucker lacking a bulletproof vest, I had fun doing so.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but to say that Uncharted 2 is becoming less "Uncharted" because it has multiplayer is just silly. You can either play it or you don't, but a lot more people are excited for this revelation and this could benefit Naughty Dog in the long run. People who loved the last game should love this one and people who love online multiplayer may even give the game a chance.
From the looks of the video, the multiplayer looks anything but tacked on, but hopefully you'll play it and it will change your mind.
I think this game can go three ways: a)the multiplayer will be just an add on, and wont exactly affect what people will think about the game, b)the multiplayer will be a big hit, and will be actualy fun to play, or c) might be a horrible thing to do to the game, and in return people wont even want to play the game at all.
This kind of thing has happened to a lot of games, an example would be Halo:CE. I loved that game, and still do, never really played multiplayer. The storyline to me was great, and the gameplay was awesome. Soon enough xbox live came along, and almost every game is "required" to have multiplayer in order to be a good game. for Uncharted, i hope its not the case
From what I've seen from the first game, it felt like it's supposed to be a single player experience. I'm going to assume the fan majority wanted to have this feature on the sequel, but it's going to end up like any other shooters, which loses its unique factor.
idk yet. i really like MGO and that game series didn't seem like multiplayer was a good idea, but when looked at as an "extra game" or think of it as a totally separate entity from the actual single player it is quite enjoyable. Like Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, MGO was the "bonus content" for Subsistence and when looked at as just "bonus content" it is actually quite fun. And with Uncharted 2 i think that if you view the single player and multiplayer as two separate entities the multiplayer can actually be enjoyable.
I have to agree with thecosmicfly, I feel that this doesn't look like tacked on multiplayer and it may work out.
I feel that as long as the addition of multiplayer doesn't take away from solid single player it shouldn't be seen as a step in the wrong direction.
Yeah, I'm afraid they are going to put less aspects of interaction in single player and promote more to it's multiplayer. Every game is becoming online -.-;
Like most of the reply above, it's true that adding the multiplayer won't hurt it that much. But it won't mean the multiplayer will be good. Reference with MGS4.
From what I've heard, the story mode will include more puzzle, stealth, and free-climbing elements. They talk about that in the gameplay section of the Giant Bomb Article here:
http://www.giantbomb.com/uncharted-2-among-thieves/61-22420/
I don't quite know what it means by "Dynamic" fighting, but I personally am not too worried about the game.
Correction: They don't say anything about puzzle, but it could be implied with the free-climbing sections (?)
I like multiplayer, it's fun, but multiplayer in Uncharted 2 seem almost forced to be there. I'm afraid that this game with lose to much of what made the first Uncharted fun. And the can of area seems to fit for multiplayer only. I liked the look of the first Uncharted. but really, would it have been fun to play with a bunch of lara croft lokk alikes? I'm with Brad on this one, I hope the multiplayer doesn't over-shadow the single player aspect of the game that showed a lot of potential in the first I Uncharted.
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