Naughty Dog put an amount of effort into it that you rarely see in a video game, contributing massively in building atmosphere. Sound effects are another strong point of the game, and especially the foley (everyday effects like footsteps, cloth, vegetation and more) can easily be defined Hollywood-level. The score is incredible, underlining the action most of the times subtly but masterfully. Since we already talked about acting, and that includes the absolutely fantastic voice acting (Italians excluded), let’s talk about audio, which is pretty much on par with the voices. I won’t tell you what it is, because I don’t want to spoil it, but I can guarantee that when you’ll visit it you’ll feel it: whoever made it, loves Nathan Drake (and someone else who I won’t name) with the deep and unconditional love of a parent for his or her children. There is a particular location right at the beginning of the game, that those who love Uncharted will probably spend an inordinate amount of time into, exploring every nook and cranny, interacting with every object available, and probably humping repeatedly those that aren’t really interactable. In many cases this would result in the disruption of the pacing of an action-adventure, but with Naughty Dog’s latest game they mysteriously just work, falling in place perfectly, probably thanks to the fact that Uncharted 4 is not only a grand adventure, but also in part a deeply emotional trip down the memory lane that masterfully plays with the hearts of the series’ fans. While playing Uncharted 4, I very distinctively felt that some of its parts would have been chopped away if it was another game, but the development team decided instead to indulge, and kept them alive out of love. This kind of title often sees large chunks of content cut during development in order to make deadlines, to stay within the budget, or to keep the pacing of the game consistent.
Interestingly, the game is quite unique in a way that I did not expect. Of course this is an extremely small flaw, and unless you’re a native Italian like I am, you most probably won’t notice at all. If I had to find a reason to move the game some criticism in this field, is that it appears that they picked quite a few Italian Americans (as usual) to play the part of native Italians in the English track, with the result that they don’t really sound as they should. The acting itself is absolutely top-notch, and it merges with the expressions of each primary character in a way that I can easily define enthralling. The only small flaw I noticed in the whole performance is that in the less scripted and more open sections of the game, the sub-lines used to resume a previous topic will occasionally repeat, but I guess that’s pretty much inevitable, and it’s a very small stain on a system that is otherwise really amazing. When something happens, they’ll interrupt what they’re chatting about, and focus on the matter at hand, only to resume the discourse afterwards. They’re also extremely natural: the system that determines when characters start and stop talking is just a stroke of genius. It surely did not exist to this level in the previous games of the series. They talk of what is happening, they talk about the past, they tell each other funny stories to keep their fears at bay… The more lines they say, the more the player believes in them and loves them.Īnd all of those thousands of lines aren’t just idle banter, at least not in essence: they’re like small bricks that contribute to build an extremely deep connection that - at least for me - is unprecedented in gaming.
One of the most powerful aspect of the narration is that Nate and his friends almost never stop talking: besides the moments in which the story dictates silence, they behave exactly like old mates going in an adventure together would. I’m talking about the combination between acting and writing, that really made me feel like the characters I was looking at could very well be real people.
We’re close there, but perfection is still just out of reach because hardware is hardware. Maybe for the first time, I felt like the “uncanny valley” has been crossed. What makes the story work so well aren’t the jaw-dropping set pieces and the breath-taking action scenes, but the incredible work of a cast and development team that have not only brought performance capture to the state of the art, but also deeply connected with their characters on a human level over the years.įrom the tutorial onward, the fantastic cast of this game managed with undeniable natural charm to drag me into their world.
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