Uncharted 4 Beta test feedback

After a great 10 days with the game, I’ve finally had time to compile my feedback on the Uncharted 4 beta test.

At first there are many foreign aspects to the game which I originally wasn’t quite sure about, such as the revive system, sidekicks, mysticals, but by the end of it I’m quite happy with how it’s turning out. The general theme and desgin philosophy of the game seems to be “run together, live longer” (almost the complete opposite of U3). Based on this design, no weapons in the game can outright kill in one hit, so healing items/boosters are extremely good in the current meta, and the team with the better flanker(s) tends to win.

But overall, it was a fantastic experience, look forward to all the new maps, boosters in the final game which hopefully I’ll continue playing for years.

Note: I ran Para-9/M24 for the most of the time.

Movement/Maps

• Movement speed in the game feels just right, and the maps are just the right size. ND continues the tradition of making maps where there are multiple access points so camping is really hard.
• I love how you can slightly turn while rolling now. It’s such a small change, but it makes the game feel so much better!
• Jumping/rolling cooldown feel just right.
• Rope swing mechanic is a great addition and shooting / meleeing off them makes for some fun shenanigans/outplays. However there seems to be issues when landing near cover as it seems to make you latch onto it as though you are climbing rather than on the ground IN cover.
• I don’t like the fact that there are no power weapons on the map, nor can you pick up other player’s guns. There’s that lack of excitement when contesting power weapons. Yeah I guess the treasures are kinda like a resource, but the thing is that everyone gets to pick them up. I’d make them give more money per pickup, but only one person can get it (like the treasure chest from U3). Also maybe make the treasure hunter booster show when they are going to respawn.

Guns/Gunplay

• You actually need to aim hip fire now which is a welcome change.
• All of the guns feel pretty unique and feel like they have a purpose (even if it might not be really clear at the moment).
• Weapon damage feels good and fairly balanced at the moment. It feels like you have a decent chance to get away if you are being shot at (1v1). Those asking for weapon buffs/nerfs, remember that the difference between Uncharted 2 1.04 and 1.05 was ONE bullet less to kill almost across the board.
• Headshots very powerful in the game, it looks like they do at least double damage?
• As a side note, it seems that your health and “downed” health are a coded as a single total, and not across two different states. This means you can instant KO and skip the down state by getting a player down to low health (eg shooting a player in the body with the M24), then dealing a massive amount of damage to them quickly (shooting them in the head with the M24). Also this means rope swing melee, pull downs and kick offs are the strongest weapons in the Uncharted universe 🙂
• Don’t really like the concept of charged melee. I can see the meta evolving to the point where it’s mandatory to have it charged up if you’re running around a corner. I’d rather bring back the stealth kill instead.

Gear

• The loadout point system feels quite flexible and actually creates quite alot of choice for the player. I really like how you’re not locked down to 2 boosters, 1 Power Weapon, Sidekick, Mystical and can instead almost create any combination you want. You can choose to run around with nothing but an Aegis 9mm with a tonne of boosters/sidekicks if you want to.
• Gear being on cooldown felt a bit weird at first, but I really like how not all gunfights begin and end with people throwing grenades at each other anymore.
• Landmines are really good in the game. In fact they are so good, it’s actually worthwhile taking the Explosive Awareness booster to counter it if the enemy team is spamming it.
• You can make some good plays with C4, however how useful they are is heavily dependant on the map design and what destructible elements there are in the maps we haven’t seen yet.
• Can we make it so straight throws are instant when aiming? In the current system sometimes it kinda gets stuck and converts to an arc throw instead of releasing instantly.

Heavy Weapons

• I didn’t see alot of Heavy Weapon use in the beta, mainly because they are a) expensive, b) take up a fair amount of LP c) far better uses for money. The Barok is probably the most value for money out of all of the lot. I’d also consider making the RPG projectile move a bit faster.

Boosters

• Alot of the current boosters are utility and teamwork focused which I quite like. However MacGruber stated that this is only a small portion that will make the final game. I’m kinda worried that there are boosters we haven’t seen yet that totally change/break the game design, such as boosters that will enhance aiming etc. Also there seems to be boosters to counter most other things in the game except for the revive meta. It’s kind of a big change and I wish ND had provided some kind of option to test how it would have worked in the beta.
• Just like how there’s a booster to counter explosives, will there be one which counters RevivePaks? Maybe one that make it heal slower if you down an enemy when equipping the booster?
• Just a cool thought, but I’d like to see a really good booster which costs 25LP to equip (leaving you with only an Aegis 9mm).

Sidekicks

• Originally I felt sidekicks were pretty annoying at the start of the beta and that they should be limited to 2-3 active per team, they aren’t so bad once you figure out how to deal with them. I didn’t really use them as part of my loadout, but the way I’ve seen them used adds an extra layer of yomi to the game.
• I’d give the brute even more health but make him move even slower. He can get deceptively fast when moving over walls and rope swinging.

Mysticals

• Alot of people have been complaining about the Djinn mystical. It doesn’t bother me personally but I’d recommend that Djinn instead give a 20% passive boost to movement speed, and each dash drains the remaining timer by 2 seconds.
• Cintamani stone is extremely good for it’s cost and is different from other mysticals because not only do you get two uses for one purchase, but you can stock more than one purchase.
• Could we consider making it only 1 stone per purchase / make it more expensive / remove the instant revive (maybe just make it heal really fast).
• Maybe make the El Dorado totem destructible, and also it reduce healing effects by a small amount?
• Like gear, maybe there should be a cooldown period where you can’t buy a mystical after just purchasing one. I’ve been in quite a few situations where I’ve had enough cash to buy and throw 3 Eldorado’s right after the other. I didn’t check if throwing one cancelled the previous one, but if it doesn’t, it should.
• Is there going to be an “Uncharted 4 mystical”? Hard to see how it would be included without spoiling the game.

Bugs

• The cover system feels slightly bit more clunky than in previous games. I’ve gotten killed several times after pressing circle thinking I had disengaged from cover only to stick to another wall and get shot down. Could you make it so that when you hold down circle the game will recognize that you don’t want to be in cover?
• There are quite a few instances where I wanted to roll off a ledge but instead got stuck in the climbing state. This happens alot when trying to roll off the towers in Madagascar. Again, could you make it when you hold circle that the game won’t make the character grab onto the ledge?
• Pull Down seems to trade with Kick Off at times resulting in a double KO. Is this intended?
• Every 1 in 5 matches I seemed to get the Black Screen of Death where the game just doesn’t load after picking a character. This used to happen occasionally in U2 and U3 as well when the game couldn’t connect a particular player.
• The clipping through walls glitches are still in the game :S
• On the Island map at the rope swing near the villain spawn end of the middle section, if a player does a kick off at the chasm they will get stuck IN the wall.
• Also on the same rope swing, you can end up landing in such a way where you are hanging onto the cover instead of in cover, which I don’t think is intended. You could get pull-offs this way.
• If you’re in a party and the leader clicks Find Match while you’re in the Customization screen this seems to cause a party split/matchmaking failed error when the game tries to start.
• You can deploy the Staff of Ayar Manco off the map and it will still reveal everyone for the duration without being able to be destroyed.

UI/Other

• Are we able to get Player X downed Player Y message on the combat log? Can we also see what weapon they got downed with?
• The control scheme is a bit strange and I hope there will be a button mapping function in the full game. At the very least please allow swapping of L1/R1< ->L2/R2 and L3< ->R3.
• It seems strange that when you get money there’s a “down” arrow next to the message. When I first started marking people I thought I was actually losing money! Could we get this changed to an up arrow or a money symbol?
• Bit of a nitpick, but the little animals on the Island map don’t seem to run away when there’s gunfire and explosions nearby.
• Please add the ability to rename/delete loadouts in the full game.
• Are oldschool medals (Double/Triple etc) coming back?
• Is there going to be a solo playlist like in TLOU?
• I’ve been in a quite a few situations where I’ve died next to teammates who didn’t revive, this is probably because they were aiming and didn’t hear the call for help. Pretty sure I’ve done the same to a few players as well. Is there any way of making the revive icon show up from off screen (kinda like how grenades are)?
• Most matches I’ve been in seem to end in a complete beatdown for one side and the current shop and revive system means the winning team will only continue to snowball.