Naughty Dog’s Uncharted as the new age Platformer
The Uncharted franchise is one that has been largely renowned for its in-depth narratives, lovable characters, enjoyable interactivity in its landscapes and puzzles, as well as being another take on the shooter/action genre. With all these stated, my proposition is that these all join together to create the modern platform game. I know it may seem almost offensive to refer to a game of great depth as such, however I have reasoning behind this bold claim. The definition of what qualifies as a platform game is a 2D medium in which the player traverses from point A to point B by moving along and up the level. Vintage examples being in the Mario games as well as Donkey Kong. Uncharted is evidently very different in terms of depth and design to these games, with the obvious being that the game is not 2 dimensional, yet at its core, can it be arguing that it carries same game design. Within the Uncharted franchise the goal has always been to progress through level-based sand-box areas, in which the player must scale different environments and buildings in order to proceed with the game. The paths in which the player must take are better hidden, yet they are not gone. The game pushes the player in a linear path by using collectables, dialogue, hints and enemy’s in order to continue the game and the narrative. In the same way that Mario uses jumps and suspended platforms, Uncharted uses the climbing mechanic and puzzle system in order to slow the players progression and give the potential for failure. In comparison with the likes of Donkey Kong, the player avoids the barrels whilst traversing the ledges; in the same sense, within uncharted one must avoid damage through bullets and grenades in oppose to the barrels, yet the avoidance of death whilst attempting to manoeuvre through the levels paths is similar. With this said, it is true this question has been raised once before. In a 2007 MTV News interview with Amy Hennig of Naughty Dog, before the release of Drake’s Fortune, the question was posed to her as to whether it was a platformer due to similar reasoning as my own. She did not fully discourage the narrative of uncharted being a platformer as she can see reasoning, however she also stated that with games becoming so in-depth and multidimensional now, the language of limiting one such game to a “platformer” is outdated. Due to uncharted puzzle solving, extensive narrative and emotional connections to the characters, to limit it in the same genre as a game such as Mario which is essentially just run and jump is as she stated ‘reductive’. The question remains here, if Uncharted is a game which has progressed from the traditional ‘platform’ game, the why has it done so. Well, as stated by Kerr “new technologies both shape and are shaped by social processes; moreover that the complexity of this interaction means that the results are unpredictable”[1], meaning that based upon the consumer reaction to original platformer games, as well as the nostalgia and interactivity that is associated to them, it is not absurd to state that newer games can base their core from the same basic design and player integration if they want to have the safest bet at success. In the case of Uncharted, whether it has been done consciously or not, the same cores have been placed within it simply due to the nature of the game and its goals. As it states this can be unsuccessful at times due to company’s jumping at trends in order for a quick cash grab, yet with such a proven and dated basis that uncharted had, whilst then pushing it further with gripping detail and further interaction for player basis, the success was imminent.
[1] Kerr, A. 2006. Digital Games as Text. In: 2006. The Business and Culture of Digital Games: Gamework/Gameplay, London: SAGE Publications Ltd. pp. 11–42 Available at: <https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446211410.n2> [Accessed 6 Apr 2022].
