How does Uncharted's Nathan Drake survive so many bullets? They aren't hitting him.

midian182

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WTF?! Video games aren’t famed for their realism, especially when it comes to representing the damage done by bullets. In most titles, protagonists can soak up multiple hits before their ‘health’ finally runs out and they expire. But for Nathan Drake, star of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted games, the bullets aren’t actually hitting him.

Those who have played the games will probably imagine that as Drake comes under fire, the red that fills the edges of the screen represent his life draining away. But animator Jonathan Cooper has revealed that this actually shows Drake’s luck, not his health, running out. Once he’s taken a certain amount of near-misses in a short time, enemies finally get a clear shot at the treasure hunter and kill him.

The explanation does require the suspension of disbelief—Drake must be the luckiest person alive, or all of the bad guys in Uncharted are terrible shots—but it offers a better explanation than other action games, where characters take physical damage from bullets before slowly self-healing while not being hit.

Amy Hennig, who directed the first three Uncharted titles, confirmed the ‘luck’ design was the original intention of the games, adding that it aligned with the "spirit and tone" of the movies it was homaging, such as the Indiana Jones franchise, where the heroes survive despite being shot at by multiple enemies.

So, if you find yourself wondering how a video game character can seemingly take hundreds of bullets and keep on going, maybe they’re not being hit at all and are just really, really lucky.

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I always think of how ridiculous movies and TV shows are that have the "bad guys" with these assault rifles and can't hit anything and then the "good guy(s)" has a little pistol and takes everyone down. So I guess Nathan at least has a reason.
 
If this is being explained now, isn't this a fail to educated your customers? Maybe a tutorial or hints in-game would have helped?
 
I always think of how ridiculous movies and TV shows are that have the "bad guys" with these assault rifles and can't hit anything and then the "good guy(s)" has a little pistol and takes everyone down. So I guess Nathan at least has a reason.

Tonnes of examples. One that got me the most was when I watched James Bond 'Spectre' again the other day Bond manages to take out a twin engine turbine helicopter from range of about 200 yards at the end. With what appears to be his favoured pistol. The fabled (but relatively puny) Walther PPK.

The fact even an incredible marksman would hit the damn thing a couple times with that weapon while it's flying so far away and he was bouncing up and down in a speedboat at full tilt is bad enough.

Nevermind the idea a weak pistol round could do enough damage at that range to both engines (it can fly on one) so the helicopter immediately crashed is another problem by itself! They could at least given him a high powered rifle or something to make it (slightly) more believable.
 
Nevermind the idea a weak pistol round could do enough damage at that range to both engines (it can fly on one) so the helicopter immediately crashed is another problem by itself! They could at least given him a high powered rifle or something to make it (slightly) more believable.
I guess the luck of the helicopters engines ran out really quick.
 
If this is being explained now, isn't this a fail to educated your customers? Maybe a tutorial or hints in-game would have helped?
Yeah, seems like a case of "too little, too late" for me. They could have easily made this a fun, unique in-game mechanic if they wanted to.
 
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