Uncharted’s multiplayer has always been flaunted as a rather enigmatic expansion to the series more provocative singular presentation. A curiosity promoted to distract rather than attract. I was always more concerned with delving into the main campaigns story first and maintaining a consistency within its confines that would help me complete the game on it’s more challenging settings. I’d engage in an occasional flourish in team death-match, but nothing more than a periodic flutter. Only once I’d concluded Drakes story could I dedicate all my attention on maintaining a reasonable kill/death ratio in deathmatch, shouting and hollowing like a banshee that had stubbed their toe on a table leg every time someone got the better of me, which was a lot – with impunity. Chiefly though I prioritized Co op as I gained far more satisfaction from downing hordes of enemies when part of a small contingent. I relished exerting dominance over the artificial subordinates by collaborating with a formidable group that endeavoured to preserve the integrity of our assembled party. Whether it was healing downed confederates or providing covering fire to assist an infiltration of enemy resistance, I just couldn’t get enough. No two games were ever the same, especially if you yielded to the lottery of randomized partners. You had to gauge the temperament of your allotted team and either harness the awesome power of fidelity to ensnare the advances of opposing forces, or consolidate your position to prevent the less than proficient teammates from perishing. It was a delicate harmony that either endured or faltered, and I loved it. So you can imagine my disappointment when Uncharted 4 failed to incorporate a co-operative mode into its multiplayer…..until now.
It’s exclusion had been a lingering blight since its release so to finally play it felt a little daunting. You realise very quickly that this is a very different interpretation than what we’ve seen and played before. Primarily focused on wave based enemies – at least for the time being – the transition from Uncharted 3 to this are subtle, yet refined. Wave based Co operative play has always had its limitations in creative iteration, with many horde based multiplayer variations largely composed of similar, sometimes exact formulas. It’s not necessarily a criticism especially if you enjoy competing in progressively complicated duels, and it’s great that NaughtyDog has seen fit to at least engineer something slightly different from familiar mechanics. But it’s like favouring a stove to boil water as opposed to a kettle; in either case they both do the same thing. And even though Uncharted Co op veers off to separate tangent it ultimately leads to the same destination in the end.
The goal is simple; survive a varied range of tasks over the course of 5 waves, on 10 different maps, with increasing difficulty in the quickest time possible. You’ll be rewarded with a star rating ranging from zero (slow) to 3 (perfect) which you’ll need if you want to progress to the more difficult settings. You’ll also gain experience that will help improve gun and mystic efficiency as well as increase defensive capabilities. The waves themselves consist of a variety of tasks, most notably survival; killing a specified number of targets within a time limit. Siege; whereby a set number of enemy deaths will only register if you reside in a designated area on the map. As well as less exposed modes like treasure hunt; collect 100 treasures while also avoiding the deluge of aggressors spawned to prevent you. Marked Man, which is self-explanatory really; kill the marked man. Some arbitrary tasks are spiced up by applying specific regulatory compliances, such as only being able to use pistols or melee to vanquish foes. But by far the most exciting as well as challenging features is the boss battles. For me, this is the highlight.
“The Boss battles can get quite intense, so you’d best be prepared!”
A games success (or failures) can largely be attributed to a variation of differing features. Most focus on graphics, game-play, story, characters or even the number of glitches that cripple the overall fidelity of the content. There’s no routine archetype you can implement to accurately determine the quality of a game or the validity of the individual distributing the criticism. Because bias tends to be a deceiving – if rare factor for game evaluations. But this isn’t about the perceived collusion between some publications and publishers, but more about what’s missed. With such ubiquitous categorisations that give the audience a very definitive idea of the games mechanics, they can sometimes miss the more subtle inflections that give a game it’s unique identity. One example of this is the environments in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, specifically the “creepy mountain” so eloquently referred to by a stranded bulldozer of ancient civilisation’s; Nathan Drake. Now I could go into great, over analytical detail concerning the beauty and stature of all the exquisitely rendered locations – and probably will (because they are stunning!), but its the colossal summit that both figuratively and literally stands out.
It’s rare for my girlfriend to acknowledge my habitual need to game. She possess a limited capacity to care for such juvenile endeavours and a frequent nonchalant reaction to my rare moments of triumph. Gaming is treated as more of an intervening distraction as apposed to a domestic liability in our relationship. A regular activity tolerated rather than accepted. But she has always been moderately intrigued by the Uncharted series, primarily the infatuation she harbours for the honourable thief, that has dismissed more organised militias than Alan Sugar has apprentices, Nathan *swoon* Drake. So I wasn’t entirely surprised by her eagerness to partake in his most recent adventure, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. But it was with conditioned trepidation that I accepted her request as her skills as a gamer could be described as marginally more adept than that of a arthritic sloth. But I concluded that with enough guidance, a healthy supply of beer and some concentrated retention to my advisory instructions that eventually repetition would breed familiarity. Who knows perhaps the exposure to my favourite past time could evoke a further marital bond between us, hurling us into carnal abandon. I was wrong. In fact it’s been rather painful, like watching an Olympic diver mess up their routine and belly-flop from the top board with an echoing thud! Forgive me Nate, forgive me.
Game, Complain, Repeat 