Uncharted Series

Uncharted 1 (PS4 collection)
+ Though cliche, the main trio of the cast is pretty likeable. I enjoyed their interactions a lot, and do look forward to seeing more of their development/story in later games.
+ The story itself is pretty straightforward and nothing particularly special to me but nothing offensive either - we go find treasure, and the entire game is about learning about that treasure while navigating the ruins and fighting the bad guys who are also trying to kill you for the treasure. This game was pretty clearly designed to be a standalone game initially.
- Enemies. Never. Die. (n0rmal m0d3)
- Getting ambushed and praying you don't get hit by stray bullets is "immersive" i guess but obnoxious. It also doesn't help that cover doesn't work like 1/3 of the time so you just... die because bullets go through cover.
- It's also even more obnoxious when you're clearing out a room, move forward, then suddenly UNWARNED AMBUSH FROM BEHIND YOU DIE HAHAHAHA. This is... an actual pattern to the game. You have to just, outright memorize where enemies will spawn and when to not just blow up from these ambushes. It's... kind of a mess.
- Cover just doesn't work, or works too well. Your dodge roll is mapped to the same button as taking cover - so when you're trying to dodge something by rolling, Nate will arbitrarily just go into some cover (even if it's completely exposed) and you will often just, die.
- Stealth just... doesn't work? You can kill someone from behind but it'll alert everyone anyways. Really not sure what the point of any stealth kills is. Even looked it up on youtube - it doesn't function.

This game was the first uncharted game, and hoo boy it definitely shows. The clunky and blech controls and combat really show how badly this game aged gameplay-wise, but it wasn't so offensive to the point where it quite ruined the game. That being said, I have zero desire to ever play this again nor bother with any achievements. The immersion and characters and cutscenes pretty much hard carried this game.


Uncharted 2 (PS4 Collection)
+ The opening of the game really got me hooked - really makes you wonder how on earth Nate got to that state of hanging off of a train, and wanting to play more in the first half.
+ The dialogue and characters were a lot more fun - cute banters, poking fun at each other. Chloe and Flynn (being a villain) were nice additions to the regular cast and interactions too. Though I sorta wish there was a bit more Sully - I like him a lot.
+ Much more variety in gameplay and environments too
+ This game also really puts an emphasis on stealth. An early chapter forces you to sneak through a museum and understand how to stealth - after that point, stealth is never strictly required, but very very strongly encouraged, because getting detected too early will put you at a HUGE disadvantage. It's also very fun and satisfying.
+/- Taking cover works much better - though sometimes still janky - a lot of times I want to dodgeroll enemies (especially melee enemies) but Nate will glue to some cover instead. Ah well.