Freedom Criticism of Uncharted 3 Is Unfounded, Says Developer

Uncharted 3 has come under some criticism for being too close to movies and lacking the freedom that defines video games, but one of the leading developers working on it at Naughty Dog says that the developer is thinking hard about how to mix freedom and story.

When confronted with the criticism that says the series takes too much control away from the player, Richard Lemarchand, who is a co-lead designer working on Uncharted, told CVG that, “I've been thinking about storytelling action games for a long time, as has Amy, as has Evan, and the other people at Naughty Dog. I like to think we've helped discover one good way of making storytelling action games. That's not to say we believe it's the only way.”

He went on to highlight the work that the development teams at Rockstar had done to push open world game and interactivity forward, while still keeping a high bar when it comes to the narrative structure of their games, both in terms of acting and in terms of writing.

The developer added, “Every approach has its own strengths, weakness. Overall I'm really satisfied with the way the Uncharted games have come out. It's a deliberate creative choice on our part. It lets us deliver these emotional performances in a way that meshes really well with second-to-second action. I think the response from audiences to U2 and U3 is proof that for a lot of people, it does work really well.”

Lemarchand also believes that much depends on the player when it comes to the mix between scripted action and freedom, saying that players can look for ways to add a personal touch to every gameplay sequence, even though the broad results remain the same.

Naughty Dog has confirmed that they are working on The Last of Us, a PlayStation 3 exclusive video game that foxes on the interaction between a father and his daughter in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by zombies.

No plan for a new Uncharted game has been announced.