Overview of the game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

In the gaming industry, there are such developers, every new game from which you wait, as you waited for the New Year, being still a child. Naughty Dog is one of these studios, because every project of these talented guys, whether it's a bright platformer Jak and Daxter or the post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us, raised the bar of the quality of their work to a whole new level. Already on May 10, exclusively for PlayStation 4, a new game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ("Uncharted 4: The Way of the Thief" in Russian localization), which completes the story of the fearless treasure hunter Nathan Drake and puts an end to the famous series. I would like to tell you about it today.

Studio Naughty Dog was founded in 1984 by two friends Andy Gavin and James Rubin. Then it was called Jam Software and was located in the garage of one of the friends, because they had no money to rent a suitable room. Only in 1989 the studio was renamed into the familiar Naughty Dog. Fame developers got in 1994 with the release of the game Crash Bandicoot for the console Sony PlayStation. The platform for the charming red beast was so much liked by the players that for a long time it was considered an unofficial mascot of Sony's prefix, although the rights to the character belonged to the publishing house Universal. The popularity of this franchise led to the fact that the leaders of the Japanese corporation decided to make Naughty Dog part of the PlayStation family and bought the studio in 2001. Since then, all studio games are exclusively developed for Sony consoles.

For several years Naughty Dog has been working exclusively on developing high-quality platformers for PlayStation and PlayStation 2, but with the release of PlayStation 3, everything has changed. For the first time Naughty Dog decided to try to offer players something more, releasing in 2007 the game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Her story told about treasure huntsman Nathan Drake, who considers himself a descendant of the English navigator Francis Drake and with all his might trying to find the legendary golden city of Eldorado. The game was a third-person shooter with elements of parkour, a shooter with shelters, as well as interspersed with puzzles. The atmosphere of the game can be compared with the stories of Steven Spielberg about Indiana Jones, the films of the series "Treasure of the Nation" with Nicolas Cage, as well as with the games of the popular Tomb Raider franchise.

The game quickly became popular among the owners of the PlayStation 3 console, due to which it acquired two extensions - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. In the sequel, Nathan Drake looks for the mystical city of Shambhala, where according to the legends the Tree of Life grows, and in the third game - the city of Iram the Multicolored, which was obsessed by the traveler Lawrence of Arabia. Each new game was struck by visual beauties, spectacular staging, a variety of gameplay and incredible developer's love for working out the smallest details. It was thanks to this that the Uncharted series became one of the most recognizable Sony franchises and gained millions of fans around the world.

After unforgettable adventures, which we observed during the three previous games, Nathan Drake married his warrior friend Elena Fisher, and now the couple lives a quiet, measured life. Nate works as a diver in a firm engaged in lifting sunken cargo from the seabed, but memories of past adventures do not give him rest. Inside, he is still the same child who is drawn to a journey full of amazing discoveries, ancient secrets and dangers. When Sam's older brother suddenly appears on the threshold of his office, Nate realizes that this is a great opportunity to once again feel the long-forgotten spirit of adventurism. Sam has serious troubles and the only chance to help him is to find the treasure of the pirate Henry Avery, hidden in the legendary pirate commune of Libertalia. If you believe the rumors, the pirate managed to rob and hide more than 400 million dollars in gold and precious stones. How can you resist such a temptation at all?

The plot of Uncharted 4 may seem to you more grim and serious than the history of previous games, and that is a perfectly logical explanation. Characters mature, develop internally, and with them the game matures. In addition, at the helm of the project are game designers Nil Drakhman and Bruce Streilly, who at one time created the heartfelt The Last of Us, which collected a whole heap of awards. By the way, the final Uncharted uses some elements from their previous game, so players familiar with it, now and then will notice these borrowings. For example, there were even more interactions between the characters during the battle (remember Joel and Ellie), and many places can now be taken in "stealth mode", instead of starting a senseless shootout, the sounds of which will run dozens of opponents. Over the enemies will appear detection indicators, after filling which, the location of your character will be revealed. Stealth-mode will suit those players who prefer a more tactical and unhurried manner of passage.

During their wanderings the Drake brothers will travel to different parts of the world. You have to make a daring escape from the Panamanian prison, set foot on the land of snow-covered Scotland, visit a private auction in Italy, arrange a safari through the plains of Madagascar and much, much more. Locations have become much more spacious than in the previous games of the series, which immediately catches your eye. It can not be said that the player was inside the sandbox with the open world, as the game tactfully leads him forward on the plot, but the feeling that you are running forward along a narrow "corridor level" is now completely absent. As the developers managed to achieve this - I'm not going to make any sense. Naughty Dog can surprise and it's silly to argue with that. Explore game locations for hours at a time, after all, 109 treasures are carefully hidden throughout the game, 23 notes from which the story of pirate Henry Avery, 25 notes of Nathan in his diary (he records and sketches important discoveries there), as well as 36 optional conversations between the characters . These conversations are of special value to fans of the series, since they allow you to better understand the main characters and learn a lot about their relationship.

Uncharted will not be like himself, if from it to throw out firefights with enemies. The mechanics of shooting was significantly refined and now, according to my personal feelings, it became almost ideal. If you do not feel confident enough in the genre of "shooter", then just set the difficulty mode to "Easy" in the settings, after which the game will help you aim at the enemies. If you prefer to rely only on your own skills, and not on the system of autonomy, you can safely include the complexity higher. For the passage of the game on increased complexity, you will traditionally be awarded an additional trophy. In Uncharted 4 is a fairly wide arsenal of weapons, including various pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, grenades and even a heavy machine gun. By the way, in the game now you can celebrate opponents with the help of the L3 button, which helps a lot with secret passage.

Hand-to-hand fighting in the game has also undergone serious processing. The button for blocking the strike disappeared, and instead of it appeared a button to exit the capture, if suddenly a particularly brisk enemy banged your hands or unexpectedly grabbed the protagonist from behind. As before, in combat, you can use the elements of the environment, attaching the enemy's head on the railing of the staircase or breaking his body with a wooden box. Your companions during the fight do not stand aside and at a convenient opportunity help you to deal with enemies, holding them so you can strike, or protecting you from attack from the back. One thing is for sure - hand-to-hand fights have become even more spectacular, and in this regard, they will be more correctly compared to fighters of the "Reid" level. And the scenes of Nathan's fights with the main antagonists of the game - and at all look so amazing that they will be remembered by the players for a long time.

I really want to tell you about several amazing "Easter eggs" that the developers hid inside the game. But I will not do this, because then I will deprive you of the opportunity to discover them yourself. I only point out that those people who love and appreciate the previous work of Naughty Dog, will be just happy. The smile did not go off my face for most of the game's passing - only the developers can do this with the players. Their incredible love of detail at times is truly amazing: they pay attention to seemingly completely unimportant moments that most of the players will not even notice. But those who will notice, will be able to appreciate how much of the enormous amount of work done by employees of Naughty Dog during the development of the game. And we, finally, will tell the whole truth about the origin of Nathan Drake. No kidding. Many players are probably interested in this "gap" in the biography of the main character. So, Uncharted 4 will completely satisfy your curiosity.

The game was introduced a number of completely new to the series mechanic. In addition to being able to slalom at his "fifth point" on inclined surfaces, Nathan Drake now has a cat hook. With the help of this simple, but extremely effective device, he can cling to different beams in a leap, after which, swinging, get into seemingly inaccessible places. Also during the wanderings, Nate will find another auxiliary tool - a rock hook. It can be pushed into soft rock, using as a temporary point of support before jumping to the next ledge. Another player for the first time will be allowed to navigate through the levels on an off-road vehicle. In the case when you need to climb a mountain on a rain-washed road, the winch installed in the car is in use. Nate must grab the winch, wrap it around, for example, a tree and hook the hook to the rope. Only after that it will be possible to drag the car to the hill. Also, using a winch, you can destroy some objects, and activate cumbersome mechanisms that a person can not cope with. And in the game there was an opportunity to choose the answers during the dialogues, but do not be especially happy, there will be very few such moments for the whole game, and practically nothing depends on your choice.

Visually, the game looks just perfect! Artists Naughty Dog knowingly eat their bread, because any frame of the game can be printed and boldly hung on the wall. Nowhere else have I seen such an impressive sea storm, a tropical rainstorm, such believable vegetation and such realistic hair from the characters. To the question of hair - during the game, be sure to pay attention to the magnificent hairdress of the dark-skinned villain Nadine Ross, and you will immediately understand me. Each hair curl is calculated independently, and light is scattered in her hair as if she were not a 3D model, but a real, live actor. It's hard to believe in it, even when you see everything with your own eyes. The lighting in the game is really beyond praise, whether it's sunlight breaking through the clouds, or a match lit in a dark cave. All objects cast the most realistic shadows, and the characters' models are executed with such attention to detail that sometimes you just open your mouth. I was sincerely amazed when I saw how falling snowflakes remain lying on Nathan Drake's hairdo and melt only when he comes from a cold to a warm room.

The sound in the game is also beyond praise. The work of the popular "game actors" Nolan North and Troy Baker, who play the role of the Drake brothers, as always, pleases and sounds extremely convincing. Actors not only voiced their characters, but also gave them motion, through the technology of Motion Capture. Separately, I was very pleased with the actress Emily Rose, who plays the role of Elena in all the games of the series. In Uncharted 4 it has much more screen time, so the character played completely new colors. Thanks to this game, I finally realized what Nate loved for her, and not the burning brunette Chloe Fraser of Uncharted 2. Traditionally in the settings you can include any language of voice and subtitles. Russian subtitles seemed to me not very high-quality. Sometimes translators missed the point of jokes or could not understand what the characters are talking about. Because of this game dialogues sometimes turned into a futile attempt of localizers to get out of an embarrassing situation. I always said and again I repeat: at the helm of the process of transferring video games, you need to put fans of these same video games, and nothing else.

After the first passage of the game you will be available various bonus features. For example, "Photo Mode", with which any player can briefly become a professional photographer and make a couple of amazing pictures, then putting them on social networks to the court of friends. Also you can activate one of the unusual visual filters like "Cell-Shading", turning the game into an animated comic book, or "ASCII", when all the graphics on the screen are displayed with the help of text symbols. You can change the images of the main characters, choosing different suits from the extensive wardrobe, and you can, for example, activate "Infinite ammunition" for the game weapon or turn off gravity and watch your enemies soar into the sky. I strongly recommend that you visit the virtual exhibition of concept art, which the artists Naughty Dog drew in the process of creating the game. There's something to see. If after the game you do not want to part with your favorite characters (which is not surprising), Uncharted 4 will offer you the online multiplayer mode, which I already told you about in a separate material.

Separately, I would like to mention the magnificent ending of the game. No, do not worry, I will not spoiler spoilers left and right. Just say that this is the perfect ending for the history of Nathan Drake and his friends. In the game 22 story chapters and an additional chapter "Epilogue", the events of which unfold after the main plot. So, this very epilogue is so wonderful that I still go under the impression. So all fans of the Uncharted series will surely be happy too. By the way, the passage of the game took me slightly more than 13.5 hours, which makes it longer than the previous parts. In doing so, I tried to pass it as quickly as possible, without being distracted by the search for treasures and exploring the locations. If you prefer to play games 100%, then Uncharted 4 may well take you 25 hours or more. And this is not taking into account the time that you can spend in online matches.

Pros:

• A smart story, maximally revealing favorite characters.
• Before us is one of the most beautiful games, if not the most beautiful game for the PS4.
• Game locations have become much more spacious. They can be investigated for hours.
• The setting of action scenes can be envied by famous Hollywood directors.
• The length of the plot campaign beats the records of the previous games of the series.
• The great actor's play of Nolan North, Emily Rose and Troy Baker.
• Excellent puzzles, both fascinating and not too complicated.
• The game, although it became more gloomy, while not losing branded humor.
• A huge number of hidden treasures, notes and optional dialogues.
• The plot of the game will tell us the whole truth about the origin of Nathan Drake.
• Every now and then you will stumble in the game on a very pleasant "Easter eggs".
• Ending Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is just perfect in every way.
• The presence of multiplayer for those who have little story campaign.

Minuses:

• Russian localization leaves much to be desired.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is a swan song of a remarkable series and another reminder that Naughty Dog is by far one of the most talented studios in the world. The game reminded me of something remarkable film directed by Richard Donner "Goonies" (Goonies, 1985). In it, a group of children went in search of the treasures of the legendary pirate One-eyed Willie. Here and in Uncharted 4 the brothers Nate and Sam go to the most important adventure of their entire life, with their eyes burning no less than the boys from that movie. The game surprisingly awakens within each of us a passion for life and an irresistible desire to make discoveries. Emotions that you experience during the passage are incomparable, and it is unlikely that I will be able to pass them on to you even with the most striking epithets. In Uncharted 4: A Thief's End you need to play without fail for all fans of video games. I do not think that in this, and next year you will be able to find for yourself a more spectacular and exciting interactive adventure. No second hesitating, I put the game 10 points out of 10 .

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/games/obzor-igry-uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end.html.