14 DAY TRIAL // Just as Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception has been released all over the world, its developer, Naughty Dog, has talked about one of very few aspects of the series that has been criticized, the linear story, which doesn’t allow gamers as much of a choice throughout the narrative as full pledged role playing games.
The Uncharted series has always delivered a quality, cinematic gaming experience that presents the various adventures of protagonist Nathan Drake, impressing both in Uncharted 1 and 2, and are bound to do it again with the third game, launched yesterday across the world.
Talking about the third game, Amy Hennig, the creative director of Uncharted developer Naughty Dog, has defended the decision to keep players in a linear story, instead of allowing them more choices like in other kinds of games.
"That's not really our genre," she said to GameTrailers, via Edge. "We like those kind of games, as players and fans of other games, but for the action-adventure - especially the pulp-adventure genre - that doesn't really make sense."
"It's about having a very clear, linear story arc that doesn't allow for a lot of the dilution that is created by player choice in some cases. We always call it 'wide linear' - within the path that we give, you have a lot of choice within it, it's not just hit this button, and this button, and this button. But we need that authorial control over the story to do what we're doing," Hennig added.
An early review of Uncharted 3 caused quite a lot of waves on the web, as the reviewer criticized the linear nature of the experience, drawing in heavy disapproval from the legions of Uncharted fans.
Still, it's worth remembering that the series doesn't aspire to rival established role playing franchises like Mass Effect or The Elder Scrolls. As such, even if it delivers a linear narrative, it's filled with all sorts of great moments that make the player forget they didn't have much choice in regards to how Nathan Drake behaves.
What do you think? Would you like more choice in Uncharted or should Naughty Dog continue what it does best?