I'm about halfway through the game at Chapter 13 and it really does keep ramping up in quality.
The first areas looked great, but the stuff that starts to show up really IS *MUCH* more impressive to behold.
What surprises me most is how intense the gunplay is. The enemies are brilliantly programmed and attack you in ways I never expected. I often end up getting pushed back from the front lines with enemies moving in on the sides (even if this means climbing over obstacles) and flushing me out with grenades (which do not always hit the mark, lending them some additional believability). That one circular room you encounter while making your way to the boat was brilliant. In most similar games, you could concentrate your fire on one or two enemies in a certain position and then move on. Here, you had to move constantly while watching your six.
This truly feels like some of the best AI I've ever encountered in a shooter and it demands skill. Headshots are extremely important here. You really can't just stand back and kill from afar either, so it forces you to become very active and fast with your attacks. A nice mix of gunplay with melee is critical here.
The rest of the experience is also kickass. I LOVE the level design as they really do carefully lead you through everything. You see something in the distance and wish you could go there, but before you realize it, you've circled all the way around an area and did just that. I'm glad the level design is so focused, though. Not everything needs to offer an open world these days (and quite frankly, outside of Crysis, I'm becoming tired of them). The level design here is perfectly tuned for a tight gameplay experience. Naughty Dog HAS delivered open world gameplay in the past (Jak II and 3) and Uncharted kicks the shit out of those games.
I also love the characters thus far.
The dialog is refreshing and fun while the whole ordeal feels so different from anything I've played in quite some time. The music is fantastic as well (they could not posisbly have chosen a better composer for the job). This game does NOT feel like a Naughty Dog game to me (it's much better). I'm really impressed with how good of a job they've done here.
