The game has like 8 chapters with no combat and just walking and climbing. these go on for almost an hour. some are even back to back. it kills the pacing. there is zero tension in the platforming. its basically a walking simulator.
the last half of the game has zero puzzles for some reason. zero. i didnt even realize this at first but i recently played through it again, crazy considering puzzles are a big part of this game.
lack of setpieces. there is only one real setpiece in the game and that was spoiled at e3. the rest are basically your elaborate breaking bridges scenes. the final atc chase was good i guess, but again, a big downgrade from uncharted 3's almost half a dozen amazing setpieces.
Gun Combat. This is the one i cant forgive. the game has fantastic shooting mechanics. the gun fight arenas are expertly designed. you can go in and out of stealth. there is verticality. Drake feels more nimble than ever. And yet, because of one small thing, every fight felt like a chore. the enemies had laser aim. they never missed. your screen went black and white after just a couple of hits even on easy difficulty. its extremely frustrating to play a game that wants you to run and gun and move around, and yet penalizes you for doing so. some small tweaks here and there wouldve made the game a whole lot more fun.
Lastly, Lost Legacy does everything better. it makes good use of its open world level by adding optional puzzles and trials everywhere. it is much better paced with almost no levels without gunfights. you never climb for 45 minutes straight. the puzzles are also much better designed and dont require you to refer to your handbook every few seconds. the setpieces come at just the right time. they arent as elaborate as U3 but the final setpiece is the best setpiece in an uncharted game to date. chloe is also a much better protagonist. hell, they even redeemed Sam by making him far more likeable.
that said, U4 has flashes of brilliance tinkled through out. i only picked up on this on my second playthrough because i was so thoroughly bored during my first. the graphics still hold extremely well even after playing RDR2, GoW and Horizon. they blew me away all over again. there are a couple of scenes with Elena that are remarkable like the one where he finally apologizes at the pirate dinner table. the mystery of libertalia is extremely well told in game. every level tells a story as Drake and Sam then Drake and Elena piece together what happened. its realtime storytelling at its finest which is funny because ND is dismissed by its detractors for using cutscenes to tell a story. Everything from chapter 13 when they first find the Market sector to Avery's mansion is brilliant world building. that setpiece that they spoiled was also fucking amazing even though it was topped by Lost Legacy a year later.
those small moments almost tricked people into forgiving its numerous issues imo.
