SJ Longthorne

Okay I just finished Uncharted 4 and I feel like ranting about everything I loved so buckle up folks here goes the gush fest.https://twitter.com/sarahlongthorne/status/1264212712533504000 …

To start off, I've been struggling to get into a lot of games lately, not least for lack of time. I'm not particularly into feeling stressed when I play, at least for extended periods. Open world right now just feels a bit ~much~. So Uncharted 4 got me like BAM.

I know others have gripes with the story. This was my first Uncharted game, so I didn't have the same issues. Sure, action-adventure isn't my preferred genre in films, but in games? Yeah. Totally my thing. And for the record, the dialogue was great. The characters? Great.

But the main reason I adore Uncharted 4 is for its design. A lot of what I loved is obviously present in other Naughty Dog games, but still I'd say I prefer Uncharted 4 to, say, TLOU. TLOU is fantastic, but SUPER stressful. I found it hard to play for extended periods.

This? I steamrolled this. I was HOOKED. Why? Because it did what good games do: it fulfilled the fantasy. Nathan Drake is a cool, clever adventurer. And the mechanics made me feel like a cool, clever adventurer. It was stressful only when it needed to be (...on easy mode).

But mostly... it was FUN. And one thing in particular that I loved was the approach to tutorials. That imaginary shoot out with a nerf gun in the attic? Adorable. Fun. Low stress. Playing Crash Bandicoot? I howled with delight when that became relevant again, 75% later.