My chosen game franchise to research shall be the uncharted
series. This is a game series developed by a company known as naughty dog, they
are well known for creating franchises such as crash bandicoot (on the ps1) and
Jak and Daxter (on the ps2). Uncharted: Drake’s fortune was the first game for
the ps3 that naughty dog developed meaning that they had more hardware to back
them
leading for more creative ideas and suitable ways to portray them but it
also meant that they would have to get used to new technology and familiarize
with new techniques available which would cause some delays during development.
They wanted to move away from the “cartoony” and “stylised” development of a
game and move into a more realistic setting of development to create a more relatable
game.
To overcome the hardware problems and make a realistic game
naughty dog started to use motion capture, they even had to learn new effects
such as lighting and water physics and for the first time changed their coding
language to c++.
When Uncharted was first presented at E3 2006, due to how
they portrayed the characters, story and gameplay, people began nicknaming it
‘Dude raider’ as it looked so much like Lara Croft but with a male character
swapped for a female. However, due to how the game played when it was released
it quickly lost the nickname as the game concentrated more on third person
cover based play compared to Tomb Raider’s greater puzzle solving elements and
“auto-aim” play.
Uncharted: Drake’s fortune
They took inspiration from a lot of different media areas
including the film industry (with national treasure and Indiana Jones. These
films influenced the game greatly as the content included in each film related to what
naughty dog wanted to include in the uncharted game) the games industry also
gave inspiration from action and adventure games and they even got inspiration
from pulp magazine. When creating the first uncharted the development team
wanted to create an island that they based the whole game around, they wanted
to make the island as vibrant as possible to create a more immersive and
enjoyable game that allowed and encouraged the player to become more
explorative. They also believed that most games being released during the time
period of development were too dark and bleak which steered them in the
direction of making it a vibrant game, they also made a joke about this by
adding a filter into the bonus menu labelled ‘next gen’. When enabled it turned
the environment darker and tweaked the colours to be dull.
When creating the main character of Nathan Drake (voiced by
Nolan North), the developers wanted to create a more realistic character that
was quite relatable, they didn’t like the idea of a muscular, “tough as nails”
character would suit how the game would play. You can see that they made him
relatable by the way he panics during gun fights and other scenarios. The
characteristics of Drake allows the game to feel more alive, this creates a
bond to grow between the player and the character as they both give a similar
reaction towards each problem. This option in characteristic lets the game have
more of a realistic sense around it, this doesn’t mean that people will only be
invested in a bond with the main character but will give them a bond into
several different aspects of the game making the player feel more invested
with: the story, setting, enemies, allies and more.
As for Drake’s bio, he believes he is the descendant of Sir
Francis Drake. Sir Francis Drake is a fictional man who lived between 1540 and
1596. The game uses historical facts of real life and manipulates them into
Uncharted, combining both fiction and non-fiction to create the storyline for
Uncharted to follow.
As for Drake’s allies, the story has two main characters.
One of the characters is named Elena Fisher (Emily Rose). A journalist looking for a hit story that
will get her ‘story of the year’ throughout the game Elena documents the whole
experience. As for her character, Elena is a strong and independent character.
Instead of naughty dog doing a cliché and making her a damsel in distress they
make her quite the opposite as she has a strong nature to not give up on her
story even though she is against many intimidating enemies. The second ally is
Victor Sullivan (Richard McGonagale), also nicknamed “sully”; he is Nathan’s
protégé and best friend. He looks out for Nathan and always goes on the
adventure with him no matter how old he keeps on saying he’s getting. Sully’s
character has charm, cockiness, greed and loyalty all added towards him making
him a loveable character that will always be remembered.
The story takes place in 2006 with Nathan Drake using a TV
company to fund his expedition to find the coffin of Sir Francis Drake’s coffin
which was buried at sea. Elena Fisher accompanies him as she documents the
experience for the TV Company. Upon finding the coffin and opening it Elena is
surprised to see no body in there while Drake is overjoyed as he recovers a
journal instead. This journal is supposed to lead Drake to El Dorado (a
rumoured fabled city of gold.) After the boat is attacked and destroyed by a
band of pirates, Victor Sullivan comes to the rescue saving both Nate and Elena
from death, thus starting the adventure for all three to find El Dorado.
As for the villains, these characters were not very memorable
at all as they were evil for being the sake of evil. There was no back story
towards them, no sign of betrayal from anyone or form of pain. They just wanted
to become rich and kill people who got in their way. This made the game lack
for the story as it didn’t add much towards it except for “defeat these guys
because you need to.” Even the final boss fight was a massive disappointment
since all it contained of was kill 3-4 enemies in each area while avoiding the
boss’s shotgun shots to then confront him without a weapon. This meant you had
to hide behind three crates and wait as he shot two bullets per crate that you
were hiding behind to then use a quick time event to finish him off. For an
ending Naughty Dog didn’t present the best but this wasn’t bad enough to bring
the game down.
The music involved in the game is also an immersive
experience altogether, with bongos, drums, trumpets and even more instruments
blasting into your ear drums the second the home screen appears. It brings an
adventurous theme and one that becomes stuck in the players head so bad that
they will begin to try and recreate this music with just the sound of their
voice (or maybe that’s just me.) each piece of music invested into the game
just grows better with action segments having the music pumping out filling you
with adrenaline to it being quite blissful as you explore the jungle and it’s
scenery. Mainly using woodwind instruments to capture the essence of the dense
jungles and temples, Naughty Dog made sure it would entrance you into an
experience which will make you want to replay the game just to hear each piece
of music.
The scripting for the game was of high quality as well with
Naughty Dog creating one of the most amazing scripts for a video game. For a
few areas it was either shady or out of place such as the fact that Elena
Fisher is willing to die just to get her story even though she’s a small time
journalist and Nate doesn’t even want to continue the expedition for this same
fact. Small parts of the game had scripting just like this overall it was
amazing forgetting the few segments where it seemed a little off. To compliment
the scripting though was the voice acting and this was done quite perfectly by
each character, including the villains even if they weren’t the greatest
character wise. Each voice actor portrays there characters so well making sure
each character was the way Naughty Dog wanted their characters to be.
The gameplay and controls were also fantastic with how Drake
ran, shot, plat formed and everything other action. Although gimmicky in some
places there were no massive glitches or gimmicks that made me think badly
about how it controlled. The gameplay offered action made the game even more
fantastic with Drake being able to carry only two guns (a small weapon e.g.
pistol and a big weapon e.g. assault rifle.) This was to match his relatable,
down to earth side that Drake has, this also meant that Naughty Dog had to
create a system in which players could try out various amounts of weapons
without turning Drake into a walking juggernaut. They did this by having guns
dropped by enemies killed or scattered in areas which enemies would place so
that the player could pick them up. However, picking up one gun meant dropping
another so the player would never be anchored down with what gun to choose in
what situation; instead they have to think fast picking up one weapon to kill
an enemy to then picking up his weapon (or ammo) to killing another enemy to
picking his weapon and killing another enemy repeating this cycle. With the
amount of guns involved I never ran scarce of ammo except for in the harder
type areas which was most likely done to give the player that bit more
challenge. I also
enjoyed the fact that the more Drake got shot the more grey
the screen would get, it looked like the colours were draining away and made
the deaths feel that tad bit more original.
From my own
experience I found this game to be fantastic, for a first attempt at a brand
new series with new hardware and software this game turned out to be one of the
best that I’ve ever played. It’s involvement of gun combat, melee combat, using
objects for cover, linear platforming (climbing, swinging, moving along a
platform edge, swimming and other acrobatic elements) and much more for a new
console made this game a must have. It was an original idea with lots of
inspiring elements that made it amazing to play and enjoy. As for the story, I
thoroughly enjoyed it with certain area that I found slacking in such as the
segment of the game that I mentioned before. I recently completed the game on
crushing difficulty, this used to be the hardest known difficulty in the game
until the game was ported to next gen which added in a difficulty known as
“brutal” (which I would 100% avoid.) This difficulty that I played at made the
game extremely hard and more challenging but was still enjoyable in each way
(except for when I kept dying.)
When looking at reviews you can get good feedback and
reviews of the game, most companies rated this game with a high score and it
even gained a 9.1 from IGN with a full article stating what they thoroughly
enjoyed and what the game lacked in during parts of the game. This is the overall judgement made by IGN: “Here's the thing about Uncharted; the final sum is far greater than the
individual parts. Maybe you don't dig the combat or maybe the pop-in gets you
down, but the overall package of an endearing story, outstanding score, great
performances and fun gameplay should put this title on the top of your holiday
wish list. Say what you will about the PS3, but Uncharted isn't just a standout
for Sony -- it's a standout for gaming as a whole.” Made when the game was
released it gives a good and idea of why the game is fun to play. It also
received a 4.5/5 from metacritic, a 9/10 from trusted reviews and an 8/10 from
Game spot. This shows how much of an amazing game uncharted is.
Sony confirmed at E3 in 2009 that Uncharted had sold over
2.6 million copies, this success made naughty dog jump straight into production
for Uncharted 2. In total up to 2015 Uncharted has sold over 4 million copies.
Uncharted 2: among thieves
Uncharted 2 is the sequel to Uncharted, after 2 years of
waiting the second game came out on
October 13th 2009. Naughty Dog instantly
started to create a new Uncharted instantly (and put the production of a new
Jak and Daxter on hold) due to the critical success and praise the first game
gained. They wanted to create a game that was bigger and better than the first
one in so many areas and that’s just what they went ahead and did.
Uncharted 2 blew the first Uncharted out of the water by
upgrading everything that was included in the first. The mechanics of the game
were a million times better with it feeling fresher and smoother, the way Drake
was controlled was felt even more smoother than the first, the unneeded parts
of the game which brought the first game down a bit were all taken out such as
the water jet ski parts, the platforming was less restricted and felt
‘bouncier’ than the first and was upgraded by a lot with swinging, jumping,
climbing it all got improved and made the game feel so much more better to play
than the first one. Co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand stated that Uncharted
would feature a more realistic climbing system and it is definitely seen when
playing the game.
The graphics in the game were absolutely amazing and where
the same art style was used it included so much more with landscapes seeming
bigger than the first and each area feeling as vibrant as the last with detail
going further than the last game. Uncharted 2 also improved upon the locations,
where the first had only used an island the second used multiple areas ranging
from the museum in turkey to the dense jungles of Borneo to the concrete
streets of Nepal all the way up to Tibetan villages and snowy mountains in the
Himalayas. This game felt more inclusive and as if it was one gigantic
adventure game as you travelled around the world putting different pieces of
one giant puzzle together to gain the entrance to the mythical city of
Shamballa. The graphics got put to full use within each location and it showed
Naughty Dog could pull off a lot more than what they showed in the first game
with each temple fitting to the theme in each location. Even the small details
on the characters faces, clothes and animations were improved by tenfold.
The combat in the game was pretty much the same but still
felt better than the first, there were more guns to experiment with, the
improvement of the character controls made for sharper gun combat and fist
fights and the stealth involved was improved dramatically. In the first game
the stealth was not all that great with it feeling very clunky as Drake just
walked round and you had to be right behind the enemy to silently kill them. In
Uncharted 2 Drake would actually attempt to be stealthy by crouching down and
running around, you didn’t have to be dramatically close to the enemy and the
AI’s
reactions weren’t as clunky. They also made sure the stealth was a part of
the game as in the first one it didn’t feel as though stealth was an option
even when tackling an area filled with unaware enemies, but in Uncharted 2 it
was heavily influenced and even made the player use it if they wanted to get
bonuses on weapons.
The characters were also the same with Drake having that
‘run of the mill’ attitude, Elena being independent and willing and Sullivan
being as charming as ever. However, they did feel more realistic in this game
with funnier lines said, sarcastic comments being said left and right and more
depth being included. Naughty Dog also included new members to the cast such as
Chloe Frazer (Claudia Black) being a sly, cunning and feisty character who had
to double cross both Drake and the villains to stay alive but would help Drake
out where she could so that he could beat the others. Harry Flynn (Steve
Valentine) was another member who seemed like the overly sarcastic and cocky
friend that everyone has who then turned out to be a backstabber as he was
really working for the main villain, and finally the main villain himself.
Zoran Lazarevic (Graham McTavish) he was the perfect villain for this game and
definitely was memorable compared to the villains from the first game.
Lazarevic was intimidating, ruthless and crazy as he would murder anyone
(including his own men if they made the simplest mistakes) just to get what he
wanted. He brought the villain that everyone wanted to see and was the villain
that this game needed.
The story of the game is this Drake is hanging from a cliff
in a train, he is wounded and bleeding badly, after just getting out of the
situation he picks up a (what appears) to be special item, this sends the story
into a flashback. An unknown client wants to find the city of Shamballa that
Marco Polo had found (another use of fiction into non-fiction) he hires Harry
and Chloe to help find it who then ask Drake to help them as they wish to cheat
the client out of the treasure. As Drake finds the first
clue he is betrayed by
Harry who gets Drake arrested for three months. With the help of Chloe and
Sully to get him freed from jail they inform him that the client is none other
than a soviet warlord after something known as the Cintamani stone. So Drake,
Sully and Chloe go out to find the city of Shamballa themselves.
The voices was the
same except for the fact that the actors were more confident and brought the
characters in the game to life even more than the first. The writing also has
to be complimented as it was more witty, and diverse. They made the game
entirely funnier, more action filled, more dramatic, everything just became
upgraded and Naughty Dog definitely made sure their writing was to the best it
could be for this game giving fans the story and characters they wanted to see.
The collectibles came back even bigger than before with a
lot more to collect making the player explore these fantastic environments that
Naughty Dog created so that they could appreciate every detail gone into it,
they also came back in an imaginative way with a few using your brain and
platforming to reach them. The puzzles also made a comeback, although not that
brain puzzling they were a lot more inclusive than the first with you having to
open up Drake’s journal and flick through each page until you put together the
correct clues in the book and put them to use in the actual game.
As for the boss battles, well they were a massive
improvement. I don’t know if you’d class them as boss battles but they seemed
to be placed that way (kind of like sub bosses) as you had to verse tanks and
helicopters in a boss fight stereotypical fashion e.g. when it came to versing
the tank you had to run away on the first encounter and avoid each of its
attacks, then you was put into an area where you avoided his attacks and fought
enemies, moving up in each location to collect a rocket launcher which was used
to destroy the tank, this had to be done three times until it was defeated and
was
surprisingly fun and even better than Uncharted’s main boss fight at the
end of the game. When it
came to the final boss fight against Lazarevic, well
this was a great final fight to have. The aim was to run around and use these
environmental explosives to kill Lazarevic, as he walked past each one you
would shoot it and as you dealed damage Lazarevic would change his attack
pattern, by throwing grenades and running making it harder to kill him. This
was perfectly executed and a big challenge to complete especially on the harder
difficulties.
The music was once again immersive and fantastic, with the
theme song being the same catchy and pumped up tune that we’ve all come to love
from the first game. They made sure it was dramatic and adrenaline pumping as
the last and changed the sounds whilst keeping to woodwind instruments, each
area and location changed in music, tempo and depth while Naughty Dog used the
same instruments throughout all of it.
One new addition to the game was the brand new multiplayer
mode. I personally never got to experience this but I have watched videos. As
for the looks of the multiplayer, it doesn’t seem to do anything brand new to
the multiplayer of a third person shooter. It’s fast paced and so much like
single player but a tiny bit more strategic. Naughty dog also added in a co-op
mode for up to three
players to take part in. They did this by having three separate
missions. In each of these missions you must fight through the enemies
completing the objectives that have been given to you. It wasn’t much to add in
but a good place to start and keep the game feeling fresh.
The reviews and ratings for this game were higher than the
last with IGN rating it a 9.5/10 which I can really agree with. “Now Naughty
Dog returns to the spotlight with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Both expectedly
and amazingly, Naughty Dog has indeed bested Nate's first adventure and has
created a sequel that is not only bigger and better in practically every way,
but also packs a multiplayer component that could be released as its own
separate, full-priced game and people would stand in line to hand over their
cash.” This was said by a reviewer at naughty dog and sums up all the
information I’ve been presenting. Naughty dog made this game bigger and better
in every conceivable way putting their full production team into use. It also
got 9.5/10 from gamestop, 10/10 from Game informer and 10/10 from GamesRadar.
Uncharted 2 sold 537,000 within its first month in North
America, from 2009-2015 as of march Uncharted 2 has sold over 6 million copies.
That statistic blows Uncharted’s original 4 million copies out of the water,
Uncharted 2 was also the most sold game out of the trilogy although Uncharted 3
was awfully close to beating it.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Finally we have Uncharted 3, the 2011 follow up and to be
honest there isn’t much to talk about in this game that I haven’t talked about
in the others. The platforming was the same, just a tiny bit improved. The
graphics looked the same but were a lot more upgraded due to the fact of new
technology coming out, the combat was the same except for a few tweaks such as
being able to throw grenades back at the enemy, the music used the same wood wind
instruments to create the effects needed and they suited the game perfectly
once again. The entirety of the game mechanics was the same as Uncharted 2 but
with the smallest upgrades to make them that little more enjoyable.
The voice acting was once again fantastic with the actors
bringing each character to life and making you feel as though they really are
treasure hunting people with hardly any professional training. They are a gang
of misfits just looking for treasure so that they can become rich and I highly
commend each voice actor for being able to let me feel as though they are real
life people instead of fictional characters.
Creative director Amy Henning explained that the team wanted
to push themselves in both the creative and technological part since elements such
as fire, sand and water are
"technically difficult to credibly render with animation.” This step to push themselves set the theme of Uncharted 3 which is mainly based around a desert and Middle Eastern areas such as Yemen. Game director Justin Richmond stated that this Uncharted would feel more open than any other Uncharted. He also said that they weren’t aiming for a fully open world gameplay as Uncharted is not that type of game and it just does not work but they will allow the player to “just ride a thousand miles off into the middle of nowhere and still find action and adventure as you go."
Naughty dog attempted to market Uncharted 3 the best they could with one of the promotions being to enter a completion (if you were 18n or older). If you won you would be part of a group of 20 people who would be put through challenges in the Arabian Desert from October 2nd to October 6th they also each got to play Uncharted 3 before public release. The 20 adventurers had to compete in mental and physical challenges and the winner of the 20 would win $10,000 worth of prizes. Sony Computer Entertainment UK spent £5 million on its marketing push for Uncharted 3. Another marketing technique was for subway to promote Uncharted 3, this was done by purchasing certain items and allowing you to have access to Uncharted 3’s multiplayer.
The story of Uncharted 3 has Nate and Sully attempting to sell the ring worn around Nate’s neck to someone known as Talbot (Robin Atkin Downes). Nate calls out the money being offered as a fake and end up having to fight his way out of the pub (that the negotiation went on in) along with Sully. They become pinned and get confronted by the main antagonist Katherine Marlowe (Rosalind Ayres) who steals Nate’s ring. Charlie Cutter (Graham McTavish, the man played as Lazarevic) shoots Nate and Sully sending the game into a flash back about how Nate and sully first met and setting the objective of the story. The deal was a set up to lure Marlowe out of hiding so that they could claim an artefact that Nate saw 20 years ago (during the flashback) which will show them to the lost city of Ubar. During the present it is revealed that Charlie was a double agent working for Nate instead of Marlowe. The gang faked their deaths so that they could find the hang out for Marlowe and her crew, the gang then meet up with Chloe Frazer and the adventure begins.
In my opinion, the game didn’t feel that upgraded, fair
enough the mechanics and visuals were improved but there is more to games than just what
makes it playable. I must also admit they made sure that the puzzles really felt like puzzles in this game though as I did get stumped at a few.
However, for me the game’s story just felt a little dry for Uncharted’s
standards, they rushed into too many areas and then left them to never dig
deeper into the mystery or stories that could
be explored and expanded upon
such as the flashback, it happens once and instead of doing more that would
explore their relationship through the following years they just instead left
it there. It just felt like there was something missing the whole story and as
though it was all over the place at one point, but it was still a great story
to play through and done in Uncharted’s great fashion including the most whit
and sarcastic comments that will ever be heard keeping you chuckling all the
way through.
The multiplayer got expanded upon and became better just as
expected, I again didn’t get to experience the multiplayer but from videos seen
it looks as improved as the last and better than the last. With more maps, more
abilities, more customisation and so much more as expected from naughty dog.
The co-op mode also made a comeback and told a smaller story involving
previously
deceased villains forming an alliance. It involved more missions and
was again improved upon especially in the story telling area.
Where I don’t agree with the ratings, Uncharted scored
pretty much perfect across the board with a 10/10 from IGN. “IGN defines a 10.0
-- a masterpiece -- as "the pinnacle of gaming, a masterpiece may not be
flawless, but it is so exceptional that it is hard to imagine a game being
better." That's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. From start to finish,
single player to multiplayer, this game sings. The characters, the graphics,
the sound, the story &#Array; they&#Array;re all top notch. If
you&#Array;re willing to skip Uncharted 3, be prepared to miss one of
gaming&#Array;s finest moments.” Contary to my beginning words of this
paragraph I can say that I agree with this statement to an extenet, it did
things perfectly right in some areas but just dropped a little in others. It
also got 9/10 gamespot, 9.5/10 from game informer and 9/10 from gamesradar.
Within its first month Uncharted sold 700,000 copies beating
its predecessor by over 100,000. By 2015 it has sold over 6 million copies but
has not sold more than Uncharted 2’s copies. Uncharted 2 sold 6.89 million
copies while Uncharted 3 sold 6.77 million. Still an impressive number none the
less for both games.
In total the three games have accumulated over 21 million
sales including the Uncharted collection on ps4, this makes it safe to say that
Uncharted got a big fan base and following with many gamers who love to see
Nate and the gang battle through different adventures with their charms and sarcasm
th 2016.
Naughty dog have stated that this will be Drake’s biggest adventure yet and
will “test all of his physical and mental limits, his resolves and ultimately,
what he will be willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves.” Now for me I
cannot wait to get my hands on the game as I have already had some play time on
the Uncharted 4 multiplayer beta and it was so much fun to play I am quite
exhilarated to see what Naughty Dog can do for Drake’s final adventure.
taking the hearts of millions of gamers.
Naughty dog also has a fourth game planned for March 18
Sources:
I have conducted primary research myself when I have played video
games, this can be considered secondary research as well as primary research since
these video games were not created by me. However, it was my experience that
made it primary. When playing the games I looked at the mechanics of the game,
how they made the movement of the characters, the animations and graphics put
into the games and I listened to the sound and the music placed into the games.
While looking at each of these aspects I thought about how they made me feel
and why they were used.
Secondary research is where you interpret or analyse another
piece of information or project that has been created by someone else. It
mainly consists of taking information from an article of primary research and
turning it into your own work, this does not mean that secondary research is
where you plagiarise (copy the work word for word) and say that is your own
work, it is in fact where you get inspiration from that amount of information and
turn it into your own words. Again, there are some advantages and
disadvantages:
only talks about the story and a
certain character. He doesn’t want to make an expansion about his experience
with the graphics, sounds or any other aspect of the game, he just gives a
small rant about the story which could give me a warning to not get my hopes up
but also tells me that this guy isn’t a fan of the uncharted series in the
first place as he doesn’t want to expand into any other territory which could
hook another gamer in leaving this to be very biased. As for the second review
it likes to expand on why they enjoy the game in multiple areas but this still
gives me a biased view as this reviewer could just enjoy naughty dog games or
the uncharted series and wants to defend it in as many ways as possible. From
my experience on the game I can agree with the second reviewer more as I quite
enjoyed the story, visuals and everything else about the game which goes on to
tell me even more about how these reviewers think, what they are interested in
and how biased they are being proving the point of how secondary research can
be both good and bad to use.
Quantitative research is research that consists of getting
the thoughts and views of a numerical amount of people, it produces amounts of
data and information that can be measured and counted. You get the varied
thoughts and views from vast amounts of people giving you a wide range of
information, again there are some advantages and disadvantages:
The
advantages of Qualitative research are since it gives you the personal
preference from people 
The disadvantages of qualitative research are the opinion
gathered at hand could be biased or unneeded as it is the view point of an
individual. This could lead to them not knowing enough on the subject or just
choosing a side that they believe is correct. Another disadvantage is since
qualitative research is used to gather opinions then the subject at hand does
not have a hypothesis that you can base your questions, where this can be an advantage
(as it can lead towards an hypothesis)it doesn’t allow the researcher to
determine the best possible solution to choose from an array of options.
The
advantages of Qualitative research are since it gives you the personal
preference from people 
