GSY Preview: Uncharted 4

Driftwood
Monday, April 4, 2016 | 4:00 PM
130 comments

GSY Preview PS4

Last week, we were finally able to play Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and though the demo was pretty short, we still have a few interesting things to share with you. Now we originally thought we'd propose our full article in English to go along with our commented videos of the broll we were given last Wednesday, but it turns out Sony contacted us to send us the entire demo video in much better quality. Since they asked us not to use it without a commentary, we recorded a Gamersyde Offline video during our lunch break and it should easily replace the written article. Now, we still advise you to take a few minutes of your time to watch the two other commented videos as they might give you some more information. Also, it took us so much time during the week end that it's the least you could do. Enjoy!

First impressions

Aside from a rather simplistic approach to infiltration and the visible alert level indicator, which we hope can be switched off, Uncharted 4 has all of the markings of a memorable blockbuster. With its vast technical achievements, which display without a trace of aliasing or slowdown hindering playability, Nathan Drake's latest adventure seemingly has everything it needs to succeed. Of course, the narrative, puzzles, and platforming segments from previous games weren't especially present in this demo so we're curious to see how they manifest in the final game. Even taking into account the very few things that are still unknown regarding the game, it's hard to imagine Uncharted 4 being anything other than an amazing experience.

Note:

Kudos to Alimokrane who helped us translate the two commented videos (Exploration and Combat). It would probably have been much harder to have everything ready on time in both languages if it weren't for him.

10 images

4K renders

Commented on 2016-04-04 16:09:07

oh yes je saute dessus de suite!!

In reply to

KORNdog

Commented on 2016-04-04 16:20:12

hnnng. it looks so good! and some exploration. thankfully not too big though, the last thing we need is another open world game.

b0vril

Commented on 2016-04-04 16:32:29 In reply to KORNdog

Posted by KORNdog

I had no idea it would have areas this open. What were the other Uncharted's like? I always imagined they were pretty tight.

That 4X4 looks like alot of fun to drive through mud!!

catfish

Commented on 2016-04-04 16:35:07

This is exactly the direction I hoped they would take with the series!!

alimokrane

Commented on 2016-04-04 16:39:30

Looks good, it seems to have adopted the open hub areas a la Tomb Raider. i.e. the main path is still linear but you have some selective freedom within a large area.

Cant wait to play this after E3 depending on what Sony does with its PS4.5. Was originally going to get a PS4 on the day Uncharted releases but now I am holding back. It's going to be very hard to resist.....

Commented on 2016-04-04 16:43:13 In reply to b0vril

Posted by b0vril

you can see where they were heading i think as each ND game released. from the first uncharted to last of us, the games have given us much more open areas. U1 was very linear, U2 added scale among set pieces, uncharted 3 dabbled with vehicles (horse riding through a pretty open canyon) but it was still largely a linear affair. last of us went smaller scale, but gave you more options of approach in a slightly more sandboxy environment. U4 seems to have taken everything they've learnt and improved upon it.

you can definitely see the last of us in the base combat here. just the ability to move from stealth to all action is great to see. the previous games gave you the illusion of stealth, but it ultimately was forced into an action scene anyway. which i never really liked.

mehdino1

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:07:11

According to large environment the game looks great.

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:09:56 In reply to mehdino1

Posted by mehdino1

who is "large environment" and why should i trust him/them?

Melmoth

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:13:56

"large environment" is the arch enemy of "looks great". They always ends up with a compromise they both can live with.

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:24:44 In reply to Melmoth

Posted by Melmoth

Haha well said, but that is changing this gen. W3 had a massive environment and looked great.

Freditor

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:26:01

Great job guys!

Do you think you'll get the official one by Sony in HQ as well?
This one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5nfXqffvyc

Driftwood

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:44:29 In reply to Freditor

We already have the official one from Sony that we use for the full demo commentary. Contrary to some Youtubers though, we follow the rules we are given and we didn't post the video without any commentary. I guess it's the difference between adults and brats. :(

I guess Sony wanted to keep the original video for themselves and asked the press to add a commentary to make sure they would have visitors on their channel.

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:47:01

just realized there is 4K renders... because... you know... PS4K.

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:48:39 In reply to b0vril

The original screenshots were twice as big, if not more, because you know PS8. :)

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:50:38 In reply to Driftwood

Ah, I see. Didn't know they were the same.

AndreasZ94

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:51:17

Is there a sprint button?

Sdarts

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:52:28

@Driftwood:

Asking this because no one asked. Those 4K renders seem to be from gameplay, and considering that the PS4 isn't capable of 4K, would you happen to know if they were captured from a developer build that was running on a PC or... PS4K maybe?! (Almost definitely a rethorical question.)

I know there's almost no way in which you can know this, but they're really beautiful and even the textures are of a very high quality. Which would be wasted on 1080p alone imho.

Not trying to put more oil into the fire, just genuinely curious on which hardware they got captured from. Now please excuse me while I "contemplate" very hard on an Uncharted 4 at 4K@60fps - starts drooling.

cristi1999an

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:53:42

Could you please upload the demo without commentary? I have no problem listening to you, guys, but I would like to have the origional version too.

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:54:41 In reply to Sdarts

The original gallery was not 4k, it was mostly 7680*4320 so no, I don't think it was captured from the hypothetical PS4K or whatever its name was.

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:54:58 In reply to cristi1999an

Posted by cristi1999an

No we can't. We are not allowed to and we're not like certain people on the internet.

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:55:40

I've seen some other videos and the AI reacts really fast. I wonder why in that rope swing scene it took so long for the ai to react. Hopefully difficulty will affect ai. Also plz tell me i can turn of the threat indicator

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:56:10 In reply to AndreasZ94

Posted by AndreasZ94

Not it's all scripted. In combat Drake runs pretty fast, but outside of combat he's a lot slower and there is nothing you can do about it (even if you want to reach the jeep more quickly).

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:57:11 In reply to AndreasZ94

From what some people say, it is possible. That being said, a French journalist who attended the presentation with me said people would have to finish the game once before being able to do so. Don't know if that's true.

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:57:15 In reply to Driftwood

Posted by Driftwood

Yeah, I just read the description. Too bad. Thanks anyway!

Commented on 2016-04-04 17:58:29 In reply to cristi1999an

I contacted Sony to know if there was any way we could be allowed to use it without the commentary. Rest assured we will put it up if we are given the green light. We respect developers too much to go against the rule and do it against their will.