Wolverine Tried to Be a Cinematic Experience, But It Mostly Reminded Us That Even a Decade Later, Uncharted 4 Has No Competition
Marvel's Wolverine attempted to recreate the cinematic experience that defines the Uncharted games, but ultimately served as a reminder that Uncharted 4 remains the best cinematic game on the market, even a decade after its release.
While the game's official tenth anniversary celebrations took place sometime in May, what prompted me to write this column is actually Marvel's Wolverine, which came out very recently. My feeling is that it tried to recreate that same cinematic experience that characterizes the Uncharted games – and while I don't think it completely failed at this, it mainly reminded me that Uncharted 4 simply has no real competition.
I'm not claiming Uncharted 4 is the best game ever. To be honest, I'll continue to argue on this occasion too that the title belongs to Red Dead Redemption 2, that the revolutionary nature of Breath of the Wild places it in my heart above almost any other game, and that narratively – good luck to anyone trying to compete with Expedition 33. But when it comes to a pure cinematic experience, one that you simply can't take your eyes off for a second? Uncharted leaves everyone in the dust.
How did Naughty Dog do it? After all, excellent writing, well-rounded characters, stunning graphics, and a magnificent soundtrack can be found in abundance in other games too. The series' real treasure lies in its unique gameplay formula: it may not sound particularly complex on paper, but in reality – no studio has yet managed to replicate it.
The developers took the rule of "every 15 seconds the player must see something they want to reach," which guides many open-world games, and upgraded it to "every second there are 40 things on screen that you must see up close." Even on your sixth playthrough of the game, you won't be able to resist wanting to explore every corner in Madagascar, every dusty shelf in the pirate town, or every ancient tomb in Scotland. This is exactly how you build the perfect cinematic experience – one that's impossible to pause for a moment.
When you understand how many stories are hidden behind every object in Nathan's attic, how much investment was dedicated to every background NPC in the market, or how much emotional weight every optional conversation you can have with Elena on the island carries – it only makes the game's dizzying pace even more impressive, because it simply doesn't let you stop for a moment to appreciate all these details.
And then, when you're jumping between exploding vehicles at top speed, escaping an armored truck in the middle of a pastoral town, or pulling out your climbing hook to swing through the air and land right on an enemy's head in the middle of a frantic firefight – your jaw drops again. Why? Because you know full well that if you'd just stop for a moment and look around, every detail in your surroundings would feel just as invested and meaningful as the crazy action you're currently in.
This is a bar that hasn't been broken yet, not even by Naughty Dog themselves: finding the perfect balance and pacing between unbridled action sequences, quiet moments for exploration, and cutscenes that build the characters and turn every moment in the game into something epic in its own right. This mix is what makes the game's peak moments... well, peaks that no one has yet managed to surpass.
It's no secret that Sony is currently in a rather challenging period. In closing, I'd recommend they simply return to and embrace the Uncharted series' famous motto: "Sic Parvis Magna" (Greatness from Small Beginnings), and finally announce a new game in the series. Truth be told? Even a remake of the first game would do the job – it's certainly far more necessary than quite a few other remakes we've gotten recently.