Ok technically, this is not Uncharted 4 because the events take place before the first Uncharted game. However, I firmly believe this game easily deserves a spot in the Pantheon of the Uncharted franchise.
Now now, gamespot, 7.0? Seriously? Did we even play the same game? Some of your complaints about the game are valid but 7.0 is really really harsh even by your standards.
Granted, this is not Naughty Dog, but Sony Bend studios really went out of their way to create this game and not tarnish the Uncharted franchise. In some ways I feel that they have outdone themselves. They have succeeded in almost every way. I guarantee you that if you didn't know that it wasn't Naughty Dog, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the developers.
The graphics are extremely good, about 3/4 of the PS3 version. The water rendering, the distant vistas, the architecture, the crisp, the vegetation, the shadows, everything is there.
Anyway, the sheer amount of content in this game is insane.
And holy sh!t is this game long, there are 34 chapters, that's right - more than in any Uncharted game. Some chapters are laughably short and some are very long It took me an entire week (and around 12 hours total) to complete on Hard and only get 60% of all collectibles.
The amount of treasures, gemstones, jade carvings, charcoal carvings, artifacts, Turquoise Glyphs, Spanish gold coins, pieces of silver coins, minor and major god statues, 16th century deck cards, photo opportunities and countless mysteries concerning the Conquistadors, The Venezuelan Revolution, The Visigoth's discoveries, The Lost Civilizations, etc. amounts to around 300 collectibles in total. The first game had 50 collectibles, the second and third games had 101 if I am not mistaken. Thus, this little 4GB cramped up Uncharted game has more various collectibles than all Uncharted games combined. Every collectible has some history behind it. Some comment will be made upon retrieval of any one of these collectibles, either by drake,the author of the journal, or the companion at the time. The game really encourages you to approach every corner of the map and turn every leaf over to find something.
The amount of puzzles is astounding in general. The first game had what, 3-4 puzzles only? This game however features puzzles that will have you think long and hard and then leave you with a sense of accomplishment once you complete the task. And there are no auto solutions like in Uncharted 3 if you get stuck.
The little journal that you carry around with you is filled with history, long lost traditions, the author's reflections and comparison between peculiarities of ancient and modern cultures.
Up until Chapter 32 you may not even be sure what the hell it is you are looking for. I mean, we knew what the deal was in Uncharted 2, and 3. This game however shoots in so many directions and introduces so many past explorers, unsolved mysteries, double crossings, significant artifacts, that it is hard to keep track of everything. But the premise of the Golden Abyss itself and the liability of its find is pretty cool and original.
As for the enemies, well, their peripheral vision is greatly impaired as usual. You take someone out 5 feet away from another foe and they fail to notice you. The enemies still take about half a clip from M16 to die on Hard mode. BUT, for those who are tired from the PG-13 violence, BEHOLD! There is finally some blood. That's right, when you shoot someone, blood will burst through their chests or heads. Most of the familiar weapons are here, there are no shields but they have added a handgun that shoots explosives.
Unfortunately, there are not that many action set pieces where you have to escape or jump from truck to truck or escape helicopters. There are a couple of running sequences, a river sequence, the rest is platforming, shooting and watching cinematics.
Oh yeah, about those cinematics, the first 2/3 of of the game is filled with those, literally every 3-5 minutes. I mean, I guess they had to save on the cartridge space so there are no 1080p HD cinematics, instead, they are all in-game movies, but I think there are too many of them at first. Later on, more action and platforming is introduced. And when Sully is introduced in Chapter 20-21, that is when things really start to pick up. No more dialogue with the new chick, Chase, or the new guy, Dante, just good old manly original jokes between Nate and Sully that are guaranteed to bring many smirks and a few laughs. If only the entire game had those two running around through the jungle.
Now for the biggest minus of the game..... Are you ready?
FRAME RATE. That's right, whenever there are giant open areas and enemies attacking you from afar, the frame rate will drop to about 20-25 FPS. To add to the injury, the cursor is moving extremely slow even when set to highest setting. I tried Unit 13 demo and the analog sticks worked wonders with the control sensitivity. I just don't understand why the devs couldn't crank up the analog stick sensitivity more. Anyway, the frame rate made many firefights quite tedious. I am surprised that GS has only mentioned frame rate during action pieces, I honestly doubt that the reviewer even finished the game before reviewing because the game gets better and better as you play.
In any case, apparently Sony Bend did not compromise a single tree, leaf or faraway texture in order to present reasonable frame rates. I would much rather them prefer to get rid of some of the textures and not have as many trees for instance so that the system could process the world without slowing down.
The rear touch pads are being utilized to the fullest here. You need them to rotate 3d objects, row the boat, and at one point you actually need to shine bright light on the back of the Vita to reveal a secret. The front touch screen is also constantly used, especially in the melee fights. I didn't like that too much. I didn't like the idea of having to divert right hand thumb to the center of the screen and to follow the arrows just to win a melee match with the guy, it's tedious. Same goes for the machete use as well as having to hold on to the unstable ledges.
The story is written well enough however there are some boring parts. Also, unlike in part 2 and 3, the entire game takes place in only one area of the world - Mesoamerica. There are a couple of village settings, but mostly it's the jungle, the cliff hanging, old temples and underground caverns.
The trophies are very similar to previous installments, however completing even one segment of one of the numerous mysteries and gaining that one trophy is a pain. You really have to go out of your way and examine every suspicious path that may lead to a collectible. Upon completion of the game on Hard, the usual Crushing is available.
I did encounter a few game breaking bugs wherein Drake refused to jump from one ledge to another. So the only way to fix that is either to restart a checkpoint or turn off Vita for a few seconds and then try again. And there are some frustrating moments in the game where you will die over and over again because of enemies or because you jumped off in the wrong direction accidentally and died.
In closing, get the game.