Uncharted 4’s gobsmacking extended E3 demo up close

By Patrick Garratt

Seriously. Games have never looked this good before.

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Uncharted 4 is, without question, the most graphically impressive console game I have ever seen.

You have no idea how good Uncharted 4 looks. I didn’t, until I sat down to see E3 2015’s extended demo in a small room on a TV. Away from the big screen of the Sony press conference, the advancement over previous console take is plain to see: Uncharted 4 is, without question, the most graphically impressive console game I have ever seen.

This extra look at the game that finished Sony’s E3 press conference on Monday follows on from the stage demo. Everything about it is technically insane. I’ll run you through the action, for what it’s worth, but you’ll find the (money) shots down below.

Carrying on from Nathan swinging from a crane from the side of a bridge, he smashes through the water, dodges a boat and then pulls him up the opposite bank. A shooting section follows, in which Drake is being dragged across the ground by a vehicle. The animations on the character as he swings through the mud are spectacularly realistic.

He climbs up onto the back of the truck and shoots bikes, then swaps to his AK and destroys another jeep. He leaps to another truck, leaves flying past the lorry and everything exploding on fire and commandeers a jeep running through some kind of mangrove surrounded by enemy motorbikes with a friend on a bike in front.

Nate gets hit by a truck and his jeep flips over. The screen fuzzes. Then the interior starts burning. The flames look real. They light up his face as they crawl over the seats to escape before opening the door, upside down, to shoot two baddies.

The armoured car reappears and Sam arrives on his bike, picks Nate up and hands him a gun. The following section is mind-blowing. Framed by flawless lighting and shadowing, Sam and Nate race through alleyways followed by the armoured car. There’s so much happening on the screen it’s difficult to describe how this looks. Check out the screens below. There’s constant chatter between the two men, and the shifting camera puts the action firmly in the uncanny valley. It ends with the bike sliding under a truck and the armoured car exploding, leaving them smiling on the bike in a fog of glowing ash. They drive off into the sunset.

They find Sully waiting for them back at the Ikona Motel. The facial animations look borderline real. There are lights in the eyes, and the expression work is near-faultless. Uncharted 4 is a beautiful video game.

The demo ends with Nathan discovering Elena in the backroom with a map.

Now go look at the screens below. Uncharted 4 releases as a PS4 exclusive next year.

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