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I'm
a creature of habit. My husband is
(thankfully) good at getting me to expand my territory and try new things. If not for him I would have long ago stayed
in a pattern of holding. So, when I get
hooked on a certain game series I tend to stay with it and not stray too far
from my comfort zone. Being a gamer,
however, means that you discover new games every month, every week, every
day. You'll get more goodies to tinker
with and despite your efforts to stay in one area and never get interested in
anything else you will find something that interests you. You just can't help yourself. I had heard so much about the Uncharted series that by the time its
fourth installment came out I was ready to burst from my hardened cocoon and
give it a try. It was a decision that I
am glad that I made. There were,
however, things that kept ringing in the back of my head. Bells that kept going off. Treasure hunter, foreign land, historical artifacts
and lore long forgotten, big scary creatures, guys with guns, dangling from cliffs...where
have I seen this before...
You've
already figured it out in your own head if you're any kind of gamer. You're not stupid. So let's not screw around and just get to the
point. Laura and Nate. Which one did it better?
I'm
going to break this piece down into the following areas: open-world, game control, puzzle-solving,
character development, difficulty and replay value. And for the geeks that pick and pluck at
every detail (and we all do because no one in the Nerdom can be happy with what
they have) I'm going to focus on the game series as a whole rather than one
piece in particular. That way we can
avoid singling out any release we love and any that we really hate.
PlayStation
One was a console ahead of its time.
Looking back now the graphics are not in comparison to amazing leaps and
bounds of the digital age and the avoidance of pixilation that we have
sidestepped, but for its time there was nothing like it. They engineered audio, side quests, map gens
and grids, story lines and battle systems that we had never seen before. And they were the predecessors of the open
world format. Tomb Raider was one of leading games in giving us a taste of what
such a plane of existence would look like someday in worlds such as Minecraft
and Skyrim. It was not quite there, but it was as close as the
console could come at the time.
Pixelated and broken as we know it to be back then it broke us out of
the linear world and gave us more to explore, with each new release in the
series giving us more to look at and enjoy.
Each sequel gave us more to check out and more inches of the world to
crawl, swim, climb, or drag ourselves through.
Uncharted is no
different. Nathan Drake is the poster
boy for a treasure hunter's parkour class as he leaps and tumbles across hills,
ravines, chapel ledges and fortress towers.
Half the time you can barely see where he is moving or where he needs to
grab and jump until you push the control to the side as he is dangling
precariously from a cliff and suddenly, he starts reaching for something. You strain your eyes and...oh! There is a teeny-weeny ledge wayyyyy over
there! Who knew? In this particular area I don't feel that
either game one-upped the other. They
both grew the ability to explore the world in the game console format that they
were engineered in and did so in a glorious and full way. It seemed to increase as each game went on
and it kept you wondering which direction to turn in because you never knew if
right or left was the way to go. I liked
that.
Maybe
I can blame it on the console. Maybe I
can blame it on the programming. Maybe I
can just be freaking frustrated overall and blame global warming. But when I make a character do a full-tilt
run to a cliff's edge so that I can press "X" and have them make a
flying jump across the cavern to grab the cliff on the other side, I expect the
button pushing to freaking work. If I
roll to dodge gunfire, I expect to roll against the wall, not THROUGH the wall
and get stuck, then watch my character jiggle like they are having a seizure;
the one benefit was that the bullets passed straight through the character in
some supernatural Matrix way. In all
honesty the later Resident Evil games have the best controls that I have seen
(goodness, not the original RE. Please
don't think I am insane,) so neither of
these series win an award from me in terms of control capability except in one
area; aim and fire ratio and recoil on weaponry. This award goes to the Uncharted series in regard to the accuracy of the weapons is
astounding to me. That fact coupled with
the accurate recoil (and loss of shot accuracy in response to the recoil after
several rounds are popped off of any weapons set to full auto) makes for a
realism that I feel adds to the game.
General movement for most of the games in the Tomb Raider series is more jarring and sticky, much like the
earlier Resident Evil games. Bear in
mind, however, this has much to do with the times; similar creators,
programming restrictions, and the exact same console, all lead to the same
issues. Even with the advent of the PS3,
however, you still run into glitches in how a character moves and
interacts. Even general bugs in the
system. Sad that there are still
legitimate excused for this, but there you go.
This fact alone makes it a reason that, every time Nate falls to his
death instead of jumping like a good boy, I have to growl through gritted teeth
to fight the rage quit urge of my teenage gaming years.
Anyone
who has watched Indiana Jones knows enough about the fictional treasure
hunter/archeologist to know that it is all about which button to push, what
statue to move, and what to fire the gun (or in his case, crack the whip)
at. Both Uncharted and Tomb Raider
are shoot-em-up adventure games, but both of these adventurers are treasure
hunters at heart. Each have different
personalities and reasons for their life and love of the hunt, but this is what
makes the button/statue/gun equation essential to this type of game
format. As much as I love Drake, who to
me is the perfect snarky mixture of Indian Jones and Dean Winchester, the Uncharted games themselves didn’t
satisfy my puzzle solving appetite. Tomb Raider has always taken that
award. Laura Croft is just as tough and
tenacious as Drake (without the snark,) with her games just as full of danger
and intrigue. Yet the earlier
installments had more of the "get this to go here" elements that made
it enjoyable. Objects that were split
apart were placed in different parts of the semi-open world environments,
forcing you to explore the vast areas and engage more enemies. You were put in positions of thinking as well
as acting more often than in Uncharted
and I loved that aspect of the game. It
had more of the Indiana Jones flair for solving the riddles and following the
trail of clues more than following the trail of bad guys.
The
bad guys, however, happens to be why I love Uncharted. While Tomb
Raider wins for puzzle solving, it lost it for me in weapons, weapons
control, and overall baddies. You fought
a dinosaur for goodness sakes. In the Uncharted games, however, it was more of
a rough and tumble environment in every installment. While I was hoping for a game with no supernatural
elements for a change, by Chapter 16 of Uncharted
1 we run into strange creatures that almost look like Resident Evil Lickers (it
always happens.) That was the only thing
that annoyed me and it was mostly a personal “Meh” because I had wanted a
straight action game for a change. But I
looked over it. The majority of the
games are cut and dry fire-fights or melee combat, human-on-human. And the weapons. Oh, the weapons. Firstly, let me say that the sights and the recoil
for the various weapons are just faboo.
And the choices are phenomenal.
They change the names, (I have no idea why,) but the options are still
there. Examples: Smith & Wesson= WES, Desert Eagle=
Desert, Beretta= 9MM, Russian Dragonuv Sniper Rifle= Dragon Sniper, etc. The true puzzle solving in Uncharted is, in my opinion, the battle
strategy. How do you best stack the
enemies, find cover, use your AI companion to draw fire, and pick which weapon
to use at which time to take out which enemies and from what distance. Example:
An open courtyard with two trained mercs with laser sights trained on
you from high towers and five in the open courtyard, two with 9mm’s and three
with 12 gauges. Your 9mm isn't gonna cut
it. Do you take out the towers first
with your sniper rifle, or the ground men?
And if you go ground, do you waste a grenade for faster coverage or
break out your AR and pepper the place?
That's
some good puzzle solving.
Any
good book makes you sympathize with the character. They make you understand their situation and
want to see their situation resolved happily.
This is also true in any game that has a strong plotline. For good or bad, you want your character well
rounded so that you can either root for them or pray that they will die a quick
death. Character development is
necessary to game play to making you want to come back for more. When it comes to the characters and their
personal lives, I have to split this at 80/20 in favor of Uncharted. The cut scenes of
each game move the story along and drive the action, suspense, etc. They also, however, give you insight into
Nathan Drake. As each game moves you see
more of his personality. You see his
snark, his wit, and his drive, but you also see his “chaotic good” nature in
his way of concern for his friends, weakness for ladies he loves, want to break
the rules if it means serving a greater purpose (or even just a very specific
one,) his unwillingness to harm an innocent, and sincere hurt when
betrayed. You get a well-rounded human
as each game progresses and more layers are added to him with each cut scene
and each game. Sadly, it wasn't until
the PS3 release of the Tomb Raider prequel
for Laura that you got even a glimpse of what she is like, before or
after. We knew her as a rough and tumble,
no-nonsense treasure hunter...but why?
What made her tick? What lines
wouldn't she cross and what would she do no matter what for someone who
mattered? We never saw even a semblance
of that until the PS3 release, which was in my opinion the absolute best game
in the franchise. Graphics, gameplay,
open world, character development....it had it all. Sad that the others can't hold up in its
light, but that doesn't mean they are any less awesome to play. The others just missed the boat in terms of
giving her the backstory that she deserved.
I
like a game that puts me on the border of my rage-quit days. I want to be challenged. I want the game to be hard. An easy game can still be fun, but it just
makes it more enjoyable when you have to think harder, struggle longer. Tomb
Raider wins that award hands down.
The controls were part of the reason for this difficulty, but a small
part. It was the games complicated
puzzle solving that drove you batty in very TR release. Halfway through solving the next leg of the
race you were shot, or beaten up by a gorilla, or fell off a cliff… and it was awesome! I never loved the thrill of wanting to throw
my controller more! The games had one
setting; Annoy. Yet, they annoyed you in
a great way that kept you saying to yourself, "Okay, I'll try one more
time." I have only tried the Uncharted games on Normal setting, but
sadly, even at Normal they are too much of a cake walk for me. I still love the games and I am by no means
saying I'm such an expert game player that these games are too simple for me. I'm just saying that the way I play they
weren't set in a style that made it difficult.
I come from a long line of military personnel and I'm a martial artist,
so I think like a fighter and a soldier and always have. Battle strategy isn't hard for me so the
fights in Uncharted didn't take long
to map out and navigate. The puzzles aren’t
very, well, "puzzley," and the chapters seem short and concise. Not much to build on in terms of
difficulty. I will try the games on Hard
before rendering a final judgement, but at the moment this piece is going live
I have to hand the Difficulty Award to the Tomb
Raider series.
A
game that is good enough to play over and over again is one worth its
money. A series of games worth playing
over and over is even better. Replay
value is an essential component to a gamer because it means their money was
well spent, they are playing something long-term that is great for grinding and
strategy, and it keeps them engaged even after the one-hundredth time. I've pretty much given an equal split on who
got what in my weigh-in of these two series, and in this I have to do the
same. I have to say that for the bad
baggage that both series carried into each subsequent game in their series they
also carried heckagood amount of awesomeness.
I would fire up the PlayStation for Tomb
Raider or Uncharted any day,
alternate back and forth between them at any time, and not get bored. They keep you engaged and keep you wanting to
solve puzzles and shoot bad guys. You
couldn't ask for more in a game if they can always keep you on your toes.
But....who
is the better explorer? I put this piece
to a close with this question answered by “Bat In The Sun” in their epic “Superpower
Beat Down” live action fight: Laura
Croft Vs Nathan Drake. Tell me if you
agreed with the winner in the comments.
Keep gaming, Nerds and Normals.
Christina Sizemore is trained in only four
things: writing, fighting, paranormal
investigating, and being a mom. At this
point in her life she truly feels that she is not qualified to attempt to learn
any new field. A twenty year martial
artist, mother of three, and writer who is working on the publication of her
first book titled “Finding Your Way: A Guide To Your Path In The Martial Arts,”
she spends her days working out, writing, making fanvids, going to DragonCon,
and playing board games/video games/out in the yard with her kids and husband
who are just as geeky as she is. She is
convinced that one day her skills will be of assistance in the Zombie
Apocalypse and that while she is of no use in the kitchen, she can Buffy that
zombie for ya or teach you the best way to get the blood stains out of your
clothes (Psst…the secret is mixing Crown Cleaner and Shout. Just sayin’.)
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