PixlBit

See, I loved those moments. It worked kind of how Spring worked in The Last of Us, though not quite as effectively obviously. But it was the moment after a shocking moment where Druckman was like "have some pretty shit to look at." I feel it worked, especially with the dialogue between the couple and the way it actually felt like interactions between two grown ups who are accepting their lot in life.

 Where you see a failure of pacing, I see the best part of the game. I'd have loved to be with Elena for the entire game, but then we wouldn't have a story because she would've seen through Sam's shit in an instant... though arguably Sully should have seen through it quicker since he distrusts Sam to begin with.

You are absolutely right. I think we're a bit more desensitised than most, but Bilby will often chime in about how weird something is. I think the modern Tomb Raider games are exceptionally bad at this since the cutscenes and the gameplay tell a very different story. Uncharted 4 also suffers from this since Nate and his brother are very clearly in the wrong and the bad guy is actually more morally justified in some things than you are.

Bioshock Infinite does have this problem, but to a lesser degree than most people (including myself) seemed to think at launch. Going through now, it kinda makes sense to be killing all these people, and if I were given the option of stealth, I'd still kill every last one of those racist extremist fucks.

 And yeah, seems odd in Xenoblade Chronicles X, like someone anime'd up Shadow of the Collossus and tried desperately to hide the moral ambiguity. I will get around to playing it eventually, but it's still $100 here and I ain't spending that much on it.

It's a problem games have yet to shake honestly. The more we dive into serious or at least semi-serious storytelling, the more ludicrous gameplay feels. 

Nope, the survival is in it for maybe 20 minutes then promptly forgotten about.

Really? This game's pacing is all over the place. I don't have a problem with Uncharted 4's pacing personally outside of the intro. I think it flowed pretty well.

 Also, the puzzles aren't amazing. Most of them are solved by pressing the right thumb stick. I know Uncharted has the same problem, but I'm just pointing out that neither game is all that good in this regard.

 Also, in terms of stealth they're pretty much identical save for a few good bits. You can throw shit in this one, but the AI is so profoundly stupid that it's not really all that satisfying in my opinion. And if combat, story, spectacle and characters are better, the only thing Rise does better is puzzles and platforming, neither of which are really challenging enough to be called amazing.

 And Treyarch are the guys making the best CoD's at the moment. Infinity Ward are making the utter shit. 

It is. It has some problems, but if you like Stephen King, old Spielberg films, or John Carpenter you'll have some fun here. 

He actually does a really good job. I was surprised.

I honestly feel like that would improve every game.

Firstly, play Uncharted 4. It has very little shooting surprisingly, and what is there is vastly improved over the other games.

 Yeah, it's coming to PS4 at the end of the year with a bunch of new DLC. Some of it looks interesting, like the Craft Manor stuff that throws in the Manor from the old games and adds some Gone Home elements to it. The other mode seems to be the Zombies mode from CoD, so eh.

 One thing I will commend is how little time I've spent in combat in this game. There hasn't been that much honestly. Maybe that's because I've sought out all the optional tombs and done some of the side missions, but I kinda like that about it.

This is fun, but a challenge it ain't. The Tomb puzzles are mostly easier than the stuff you'd see in Uncharted, the platforming is fun but never becomes difficult, and the combat is pretty easy even on the hardest difficuly. So on that front it is definitely nothing like the original, and it's one of those games that constantly trying to hold your hand.

 That said, when everything is going well, the game can be pretty enjoyable. It just won't blow your socks off.