Late last year, Naughty Dog released their first game on Sony’s newest console, the PS3. After becoming known for their cartoony platformers (Crash Bandicoot on PS1 and Jak and Daxter on PS2), ND took a step in a different direction with their first PS3 game. Their latest game, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, is a realistic and mature offering and it’s also a lot of fun.
Uncharted puts you in the control of modern-day treasure hunter, Nathan Drake. You see, Nate believes that he is the descendant of Sir Francis Drake and a clue in his supposed ancestor’s coffin leads Nathan on a hunt for the lost treasure of El Dorado. The story here is a great of mix of action sequences and plot twists with a bit of humor mixed in which is made even better by the sky-high production values. Another big plus for the story are the great characters. Drake and his videographer friend Elena steal the show and their interactions are always amusing, but Nate’s friend and mentor Sully as well as the game’s multiple antagonists are good, too. Overall, Naughty Dog has spun an interesting tale full of excitement, adventure, mystery, and humor that will help drive you through the game.
The game's environments are beautiful whether it be a jungle area like this one or the various indoor environments Nathan will find himself in.
Lucky for us the gameplay is also very well done. The gameplay consists for the most part of platforming and combat. The platforming is similar to that seen in recent Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider games. Expect plenty of gaps to jump and ledges to shimmy along. You can also climb vines and chains as well as use them to help you run along walls to propel yourself to hard to reach spots. Uncharted also featured a neat mechanic where you could walk along trees and keep yourself balanced with the Sixaxis' tilt controls, but oddly it is only used a few times. There are also some sequences where platforms or ledges will fall or crumble which keeping the platforming more fast-paced. The platforming portion of the game isn’t as deep as some of it’s competition that I mentioned earlier, but it’s still a load of fun and controls extremely well.
The combat is for most part cover based gunplay. You’ll be able to take cover behind different pieces of the environment and then pop out to take shots at enemies (mostly pirates and mercenaries) or roll to other cover spots similar to what is seen in Gears of War. I’ve played with quite a few cover systems in recent years and I think Uncharted’s is the best. You can shoot from the hip as you run around which decreases your accuracy, but is good for repositioning yourself in the environment. You’ll have a number of weapons at you disposal and can hold one pistol and one larger weapon at one time as well as a few grenades (who’s trajectory is adjusted with the tilt controls). There is a decent selction of weapons including 9mm pistols, revolvers, assault and sniper rifles, shotguns, and grenade launchers. You also have the ability to shoot your pistol or lob some grenades while hanging from a ledge which does a nice job of blending the gunplay and platforming together. To go along with the gunplay there is nice melee component. While it consists of only a few combos, each has a number of different animations and you’ll perform different moves which depend on where the enemy is or how much damage he has taken. Sneak up behind an enemy or soften them up with some gunfire and you can take them out with one hit. Attack someone near a wall and you’ll throw them up against it a beat on them a bit. The Brutal combo which is timing-based will also give you a bonus ammo pick-up. It’s not a huge part of the game, but it’s a lot more than being able to just hit someone with the butt of you gun. It’s also fun to just duke it out with opponents to change things up a bit. Throw in some smart enemies and the combat system comes together really well and it’s a lot of fun to pull off headshots or just run up and dropkick some pirates.
The cover-based gunplay featured in Uncharted is top-notch.
There are a couple other elements to the gameplay to help mix things up. For instance, there are a few puzzles throughout the adventure. For these, you’ll usually have to consult a journal. Unfortunately, while you clearly are meant to use the journal, the puzzles are too easy for the most part with it and too vague without it. I like the idea of the journal, but I wish the clues were a little less obvious. As is, I thought the puzzles were too easy and too infrequent. Uncharted includes a few interesting vehicle sections as well. One plays more like a rail-shooter, but it’s fast and exciting and fits in well with the game. The other has you riding around on a jet ski while another character uses weapons to fend off enemies as you drive around. You have control of both and it retains the stop and pop style of gunplay of the rest of game. Unfortunately, this seems odd when you’re riding on the jet ski because you want to just zoom around on it, but you’re busy taking out explosive barrels and enemies. It was still fun, but I wish they would have added some more opportunities to just zoom around on the jet ski. There are also a few sections of the game where an AI partner will follow around and help in shootouts or work with you to open doors. All these additions help add some variety to the game.
There are a few other things gameplay-wise worth mentioning. For one, there isn’t much in the way of boss fights. It doesn’t necessarily hurt the game, but I would have liked to see more as I enjoy boss fights and think it could have improved the game. Also, the game is linear, but personally I feel like this was fine and that story driven action/adventures work better like this. Though a bit more exploration would have been nice. One other tiny gripe I have is that the game keeps a good balance between platforming, combat, and it’s other elements throughout most of the game. But in the last few chapters it kind of drops the platforming elements and becomes very shooter-focused. I’m not complaining about the shooting elements or the ways they change up how you approach the combat in these chapters, I just wish they would have mixed in more platforming.
The game features plenty of exciting moments where you'll be leaping across large gaps, running on walls, or climb around old structures.
The sound design in Uncharted is just about as impressive. The game features a fantastic score that can fit the situation whether it be an action scene or a moment of suspense. The voice acting is top-notch and voice-actors did the motion-capture for cutscenes which really helps to improve the acting and the cutscenes. Naughty Dog has done a good job with the sound effects too.
"No one makes fun of my beltbuckle."One minus for Uncharted in my opinion is it’s length. My first time through it took me a little under eight and a half hours. I think this type of game should be around 12-15 hours to complete. On the plus side, the game has some pretty good replay value. ND has implemented a medal system which is similar to the 360’s achievements. For doing different tasks like getting a certain amount of headshots or melee combos, you earn points which will unlock different bonus content. The medal system has also recently been patched to unlock trophies in the PS3’s new accomplishment system. As I said you can unlock all kinds of bonus features like different skins, a weapon select, concept art, and behind-the-scenes features. There are harder difficulties to tackle plus a chapter select and cutscene gallery, too. I wish they had the cutscene commentaries that the last few Jak games had, but overall there are a plenty of bonus features and reasons to come back to the game.
Summary
Story
An enyoyable, treasure hunting tale with a great mix of excting moments, plot twists, adventure, and humor. Great characters and presentation help bring it to life.
Gameplay
The cover-based gunplay is superb, the platforming is solid, and the game controls like a dream. There are a few bumps in the road (the puzzles could have been harder and more plentiful for one) and it isn't too inovative, but overall it's extremely well done.
Graphics
Great from the technical and artistic sides. There is a bit of screen tearing and texture pop-in, but not too much. A truly stunning game to look at and probably the best looking game on consoles right now.
Sound
An incredible soundtrack. Terrific voice-acting. Both top of the line. Quality sound effects round out the excellent sound design.
Replay Value and Extras
A bit shorter than I'd like it to be, but it's got a lot of replay value. With treasures to find, medals (and trophies with the new patch) to earn, and harder difficulties to tackle, you'll have plenty to do even if you're likely to finish the game in under ten hours the first time through. There are also a ton of extras to unlock like skins, concept art, and behind the scenes features.
Overall
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is my favorite game on the new set of consoles. That may not mean it's the best (seeing as how I haven't played all of the big games that have come out so far it would be hard to say). I mean I wish it were longer and there were a larger focus on puzzles, but what's here is great. Uncharted is an extremely fun action/adventure game with a good story plus great graphics and sound design. I'd recommend it to just about anyone.
Score-9.25/10
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