Amy Hennig, creative director at Naughty Dog, has moved to defend the linear structure of its celebrated Uncharted franchise, pointing out that the addition of multiple paths and dialogue options would weaken the narrative.
Speaking to GameTrailers, Hennig said that while the team enjoys games that offer an open-ended approach to storytelling, Uncharted is better suited to a more controlled, linear structure without any possible dilution to its story arch.
"That’s not really our genre. We like those kind of games, as players and fans of other games, but for the action-adventure – especially the pulp-adventure genre – that doesn’t really make sense,” she commented.
"It’s about having a very clear, linear story arc that doesn’t allow for a lot of the dilution that is created by player choice in some cases. We always call it ‘wide linear’ – within the path that we give, you have a lot of choice within it, it’s not just hit this button, and this button, and this button."
"But we need that authorial control over the story to do what we’re doing," explained Hennig.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is available in U.S. stores from today, and will be released in Europe on November 2.
Stay tuned for our full review later this week.
via Edge