Uncharted 2 is widely regarded as having some
of the most exceptional pacing in action/adventure
video games.
But what does that mean exactly?
To answer the question, we will chart our
way through the pacing of Uncharted 2 in this
special In Focus video series.
Let’s start by defining what pacing actually
is.
Pacing is the rhythm and flow of a game that
keeps players engaged throughout the experience.
Doing the same thing over and over again will
leave people bored, while raising intensity
in a linear fashion will make them tired.
Good pacing is all about varying things up
through peaks and valleys, all while keeping
true to the base rhythm of the game.
There are two facets to pacing - high-level
and low-level.
High-level pacing is more about the overall
changes in intensity, relative to the genre
of course.
Broadly speaking, a lower intensity action
sequence would have less enemies on screen
than a higher intensity one.
This intensity we are talking about is influenced
by many things - from narrative set-up, to
music, location, difficulty, how many stimuli
and gameplay elements you have at the same
time, everything influences how intense something
feels.
As a general rule of thumb, you would like
the high-level pacing to move like a heartbeat
- increase the intensity until a certain peak,
and then slow it down to allow for some breathing
room, increase again, slow down.
Now, low-level pacing is more about the variety
of actions and parameters that players encounter
from moment to moment.
So in a game like Uncharted it would touch
the variation between action, navigation and
puzzle sequences, what kind of enemies appear
and when, in which combination you have different
mechanics, and so on.
Again, as a general rule of thumb, you don’t
want scenes that are next to each other to
have the same types of obstacles, enemies,
or what have you.
And in terms of production, with smart use
of low-level pacing you can avoid creating
hundreds of gameplay elements, as even a single
one reused in different set ups and contexts
can provide a lot of variety.
So to sum up, high-level pacing is more about
feelings, while low-level pacing is more about
mechanics and gameplay elements.
And in the following videos of the series,
we are going to look at how Uncharted 2 handles
both.
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