The post Let’s Travel the World with Uncharted 4 (Part 1) – April 17, 2017 appeared first on The Scribbling Geek.
Right. I’m going to start on a theme I’ve been thinking about since starting this blog. Travel
Not wanderlust, top-10 places you must see kind of travel lists. But travel the world through the magic of video games.
Virtual tourism is not a new concept, but as of this moment I think it’s remains pretty undefined. Depending on who’s writing about it, it could be anything from a stunning hour with the latest VR gadgets, to enjoying a slideshow of static travel pictures.
For me, virtual tourism is that teleportation experience when I’m completely lost in a video game. With today’s graphics and technology, and especially with open-world games, this could get amazingly immersive. Addictive even, I should say. Anyway, for this inaugural post, I’m going to use images and locations from the PS4 exclusive title Uncharted 4. This Indy Jones / James Bond like adventure is undoubted one of the best 2016 titles when it comes to world trekking. Just to share, I actually bought the game purely for that purpose.
Uncharted 4 Travel Itinerary 1: USA and Italy
Foreword
Accolades for Uncharted 4 could easily fill an entire web-site, so I wouldn’t go into that.
I’d just share that I’ve never played any Uncharted games prior to this, so the whole hook and wall-scaling system was more than a little challenging for me.
On top of which I had absolutely no idea who Nathan Drake was. That the game quickly “hooked” me and that I ended up loving all the main characters is a testimonial of how well-designed this game is. In every way, it deserves the acclaim it received.
One of the functions I love most in Uncharted 4 is photo-mode. Now, this Instagram-like function could get quite distracting at times, because oh gosh, how easy it is to lose yourself in all those filters and adjustments! At the same time, it also suited my original purpose for buying the game, to the extent I felt Naughty Dog was thanking my purchase through it. I can’t begin to tell you how often I died, after exiting photo-mode, because I forgot what I was doing prior to go into screen-shot craze. Instead of rampaging through every chapter, I also lingered and gawked, just to drink in my fill of all that CG splendor.
Before All Else …
Our “facilitator” for this tour. Mr. Nathan Drake, Thief Extraordinaire.
USA
Other than being a tutorial, the first chapter of the game gives a good feel of the quality of graphics and scenery diversity to expect from Uncharted 4. There is just so much detail in every room and corner. Regularly, the game also throws at you “oh-wow” moments, for this brief chapter, those glimpses of a modern skyline against the bluish night sky. My only disappointment here is that the game isn’t clear on the location of Nathan’s orphanage. Based on various online discussions, the city is either Boston or New York.
Italy: The Rossi Estate
Italy conjures up many images for tourist. One of which is that of exotic villas perched atop precarious cliffs, basking in golden sunlight and surrounded by fragrant citrus groves. Spread over two chapters, the Rossi Estate arc of the game brings you around, thru, and even atop such an estate as Nathan and gang attempt to steal an important artefact. Unless you actually own such a villa and have superhuman acrobatic skills, I think this is the closest you can ever come to exploring such an estate. Incidentally, the first of the two chapters was also the one I found the least treasures in. I was that distracted with taking screenshots every other minute.
Reference
Two images of the real-life places that inspired Rossi Estate.
The post Let’s Travel the World with Uncharted 4 (Part 1) – April 17, 2017 appeared first on The Scribbling Geek.
