Topic: UC1 vs The Order

So I'm playing through Uncharted 1 right now, and the gameplay started to remind me alot of The Order: 1886, in that you basically move from one arena to the next, with the enemy funnelling in on one side, and you on the other, you both take cover and shoot at each other. The AI in both is basically the same - stick behind cover and take pot shots. you can just aim your gun above their cover and headshot them when they come out. There isn't too much variety in enemies either really in UC1. And both use QTE's.

So that lead me to wonder why UC1 became a classic and TO:1886 was panned, given they have nigh-identical gunplay, and gameplay. Even when the remaster of UC came along, it was well received. And honestly, UC's story while well executed is basically ripoff of Indiana Jones, while The Order has a shred of originality.

I do admit that uncharted is much older and if released today might score differently.

Flame on

Simple at the time of UC 1 release it was new and revolutionary a step forward in game. Now look at look at.when The Order came out and there is your answer.

Different times, different standards. Given how far third person action adventure games have gotten The Order was simply disappointing, UC1 was groundbreaking. I wouldn't say it was critically panned, it holds a 63 on metacritic, that's a 'not bad' by pushsquare standards.

I enjoyed The Order bought it on sale (£13), for me it represented value for money, but I can understand why others that paid full retail were p####d. I really hope for a sequel though, they basically made all their mistakes in 1 game, a follow up could follow in the vain of a UC2 and AC2. The IP has tremendous potential.

Uncharted may have been influenced by Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider but at the time the game offered something no others had - something Naughty Dog has continued excelling in - characters. These characters and their interactions with each other gave them very real personalities. We are left feeling that we could bump into Nathan Drake, Sully etc and know them. Yes the combat may have been a bit basic although over the years its been refined and developed. Since Uncharted, Naughty Dog have gone on to create 2 sequels and the Last of Us before The Order released. Both U2 and U3 as well as the Last of Us had longer, more impressive stories as well as the added bonus of MP. Therefore the Order was expected to offer a lot more which of course doesn't help when you finally play it.

Uncharted may have a few QTE's but rarely (if ever) through an unskippable lengthy cut-scene!

Whilst there maybe similarities between ND's 3rd Person games and The Order, ND's games filled the space between the action with depth of story, character development, platforming/puzzles. The Order also offers very little replayability too.

From a review of the Order...

In fact, The Order: 1886 often seems to have been designed to antagonise a certain group of gamers – and most game journalists to boot. Think of anything that annoys you about blockbuster action games and it’s here, from the aforementioned reliance on QTE to pointless lock-picking and circuit-breaking sequences (both mercifully easy), uninteresting traversal, AI companions bossing you around, poor cover mechanics and rotten stealth sequences where getting spotted once means instant death. I swear, there’s a section later on where the combination of insta-fail stealth and Galahad’s propensity for getting stuck to low-lying shrubbery caused me to scream at the TV in incredulous rage. Don’t even get me started on the stupid werewolf battles, which mix shooting and QTE to bizarrely comic effect.

No game does quick-time all the time, and for most of its length The Order; 1886 is a straight cover third-person shooter in the mould of Gears of War. While there’s some traversal a la Tomb Raider or Uncharted, it’s basic and hived off from the blasting bits. As a shooter, it veers from passable to solid to sporadically great, but there’s not enough variety or intelligence in the enemies or enough va-va-voom in the set-pieces to keep the pace at fever pitch for long. There are some brilliant weapons, like the electricity-spewing Arc Gun or the spray-then-ignite Thermite Rifle, but you don’t get to play with these often enough. It’s a Gears of War without the invention and breathless intensity.

And when you’re not in combat, you can’t help but notice how restrictive the whole thing is. This is a world full of closed doors, where immovable objects and weirdly immovable people can stop you from going anywhere the developers don’t intend you to go. You can investigate a handful of documents or cupboards, but the rest are off-limits and utterly non-functional. Even when you’re playing detective, you’re merely looking for all the objects in the scene you need to interact with to trigger the next cut-scene.

Bar a few sequences where the action opens out, it’s a game where there’s one approach and just one way to tackle the situation, and you’re just going to have to play it by the book. You can’t even decide between lethal and non-lethal takedowns. Just tap the button you’re told to, and let Galahad do the rest. By comparison, it makes even games as heavily orchestrated as Uncharted 3 look as rich and open as a Far Cry 4.

Verdict
A stunning graphical showcase that can’t hide a so-so game. The Order: 1886 has a great premise and a decent, albeit clichéd narrative, but the cost of its cinematic values comes in restrictive gameplay, mediocre shooting and an over-reliance on quick-time events. It’s a fantastic looking game with which to show off your PS4, but it’s too short and too unimaginative for its beauty to be anything more than skin-deep.

I used this (typical) review as it demonstrates all that is wrong with this and compares to other 3rd Person Shooters that came before it and illustrates why it doesn't live up to the expectation for a 'modern' game. Had this been released before Uncharted, maybe it would have been far better received but because games like these set high standards, it comes across as dated and disappointing

Order was a pretty short but impressive tech demo, that had a cool setting and plot but shallow gameplay and terrible ending and while Uncharted 1 isn't as impressive as say UC2 or UC4 it was a different time and people had different expectations.

I really enjoyed the order, I personally preferred it to unchartered in all of its guises. The story* and characters were cool, as too the weaponry and locations.

Reviews are opinions, I personally enjoyed the shooting a whole lot more than unchartered. Is the game short? Well there's no replay ability - and if the reviews were basing it on pounds to game time ratio then the order will always come up short. But I got it a couple of months after release for half the price and I thought it was worth every penny.

Taking screen shots in the order is an enjoyable sub game too, just browse the pushsquare community on the ps4, the order has some of the most photogenic graphics you can find.

*I really don't understand the dislike for the orders story - its great. Clichéd? About as clichéd as heavily armoured knights of the round table fighting monsters in industrial London under a corrupt regime can be I suppose.

@Mega-Gazz great topic, thanks for bringing it up.