Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is another one of those games that should be able to shut the traps of the PS3 bashers. It does this by providing players with one of the most enjoyable third person shooters/platformers to date.
Story:
You play as Nathan Drake - expert treasure hunter - as he hunts for a lost treasure. Nathan believes that he is a descendant of famed colonial adventurer Sir Francis Drake. According to this game, Francis Drake lived longer than what people believed and went on to discover the lost city of El Dorado.
Accompanying Nathan on his quest is cigar-chompin\', debonair ladies man Victor ‘Sully\' Sullivan. He\'s kind of like the Han Solo to Nathan\'s Luke Skywalker (but less whiny). And along for the ride to keep the game from being a sausage fest is journalist Elena Fisher, who\'s willing to risk her life for a story.
It would be a piece of cake to nab an ancient treasure, but Nathan and Co. aren\'t the only ones after it. There\'s also an English man by the name of Gabriel Roman who is willing to do whatever it takes (willing to take more than a finger as far as Nathan is concerned) to get this treasure.
He employs the use of pirates (no you can\'t get a headshot on Capt. Jack Sparrow) to keep Nathan from obtaining the sought after trailer. You\'ll meet other characters that have had some kind of run in with Nathan in the past. The story is a little cliché, but the presentation makes it more than bearable and actually enjoyable. The writing is sharp and the humor and chemistry between the characters makes it a treat. It\'s like a watered down version of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but they decided to nix Short Round.
Gameplay:
For a while I\'ve been hearing people use the phrase "Dude Raider" (Tomb Raider with a guy) to describe this game and, as far as I\'m concerned, they are pretty inaccurate with this assumption. Sure you\'re jumping platforms and swinging off of ropes, but the platforming and puzzle aspects are streamlined and a lot more enjoyable.
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune plays like a Gears of War clone according to a lot of people because of its cover mechanic. Though this is somewhat accurate people never take into consideration that it isn\'t a stop and pop game. In Uncharted, you\'re not really supposed to stay at the same spot for the whole duration of the firefight because the enemies will constantly do their best to either flank your position or flush you out. Enemies will do this by either rushing you or lobbing grenades at you, which will cause you to flee from your current cover and out into the open. This causes the firefights to be quite frenetic. You\'ll find yourself jumping from numerous points of cover to keep from being overwhelmed by the enemy so you can maintain a good vantage point. At one moment the enemy had me flanked and I was ducking and rolling to avoid death. I managed to catch them completely off guard and just ended their existence with some well-placed shots. There is also another reason that will have you running from cover to cover. This reason is that there are parts in the game where the cover will actually be destructible. There are cobblestone spots that will fall apart with too many shots or a well placed grenade.
Because of the constant cover changing you\'ll find yourself out in the open at times. Gears of War had a problem with this because when you brought the crosshairs up, you walked slowly and if you had a shotgun you had to have a good idea of where your shot would land. In Uncharted, you\'re given the gift of an auto lock on for when you shoot without aiming. Aiming while you\'re shooting also yields pretty favorable results too, because the game is a lot more fluid (in my opinion) than what it is often compared to. I also must mention how cool the shotgun kills are. With the way and enemy gets rag dolled it get pretty hilarious. The best visual comparison comes for the movie Lethal Weapon. If you have seen this movie you\'ll remember when Mel Gibson\'s character gets drive byed with a shotgun. The force sends him hurtling through a glass window. You\'ll see many enemies go flying back and even back flip or do a mid-air corkscrew when they get shot with this.
You can also take the pugilist approach with the melee system. At first you\'re going to have some trouble with the timing but before you know it will be pretty easy. You have two main combos, but they don\'t always equal the same attack. One of my favorites is when Nathan punches the guy and then tries to kick him. The pirate or mercenary grabs his leg, but then he uses the other leg to pull off some kind of scissor kick. There is also a really sweet looking dropkick as well.
Within minutes after playing the game you\'ll be able to insert your bullets into medulla oblongata\'s with little effort. Over time you\'ll realize that being able to get off a quick headshot means the difference between living and dying in this game. This is because the game has a good habit of throwing different kinds of enemies at you. Most of the time you will just deal with pirates armed with pistols and assault rifles. But then there are times where you\'ll see a pirate with boomstick (shotgun) in hand barreling towards you. You have to make the decision of "who the hell do I shoot first" and it adds a nice dynamic to the game. And that\'s not even the half of it. Along with these generic foes you\'ll run into a guy manning a gun turret or packing a grenade launcher along with all these guys mentioned and then it really gets interesting.
In the middle of the game the enemies get an equipment upgrade and carry heavier more powerful weapons and have laser sights on their assault rifles. This becomes a nuisance because if you don\'t dodge them or stay in their sights for too long you\'ll wind up with your brain on the floor. If this wasn\'t enough they throw in a new enemy later on that you cannot take cover while fighting because they are fast and rely on melee attacks so you have to take a more run and gun approach. Later on they both appear at the same time and start fighting each other. During this time I used the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" approach and let them pick each other apart and I just killed the leftovers. It was quite an enjoyable experience.
My only actual complaint with the game is that sometimes the enemies take one too many bullets. Maybe the enemy\'s tank tops are made out of 75 layers of woven Kevlar, but pumping eight bullets from your AK-47 into a guy at times can be infuriating. If it\'s happening to a mercenary with heavier armor on I can deal with it, but not from the introductory pirates.
The cover system is just shy of flawless and looks really natural. It\'s highly responsive and one button does not control every action either. If you press X while on an obstacle you will hop over it and if you press circle you\'ll either roll towards the wall or press up against it for cover so you\'ll always know what you\'ll get.
Platforming as I previously stated is a lot more streamlined than the likes of Tomb Raider. It\'s easier to determine your distance, but you\'ll occasionally fall still. Sometimes you won\'t know where the proper foothold is for grabbing and sometimes you\'ll get the timing wrong for the vine swings, but that\'s it. Anybody looking for complex puzzles will be disappointed because they are not that hard. This is because Nathan carries around with him the diary of Sir Francis Drake, which just happens to have the hints to all the puzzles in the game. I only got caught up on one and that is because I wasn\'t paying close enough attention to what the diary was telling me, but that is more my fault than the games.
Also in Uncharted are driving segments. They are a lot more fun than the motorcycle segments of Tomb Raider: Legend too. One has you riding on the back of a jeep shooting a machinegun with a grenade launcher attached to it. You\'ll shoot your pursuing foes and watch them go up in an explosion. Accompanying this is the shrapnel shower of what is left of their vehicle. At times I managed to see their bodies fly through the air. The other driving segment is a Jet Ski ride up a river with Elena armed with either a grenade launcher or pistol. The first one isn\'t as fun as the second, but it\'s fun to watch the bodies fly up and then land in the river and float downstream.
Uncharted may not be creating a new genre, but it\'s some of the most fun I\'ve had this year beating out several "innovative games". Sure it\'s linear, but I\'d rather follow a predetermined path with an entertaining story, than do what I want in a bland repetitive free roaming game any day of the week.
Graphics:
Minus what I\'ve seen in Crysis, this game has easily some of the best looking jungle environments to ever grace a game. You can see the lush texture work in the foliage, and the water is to die for. In the game you\'ll move through water and see it ripple and separate under your feet. Also when you swim in it you will notice it drip off of Nathan and some other characters. Also your character actually gets visibly wet, which is a nice looking effect. The other environments are designed nicely as well. A lot of the game takes place in the jungle, but the game also has you inhabiting abandoned facilities, a temple here and there and some other things.
The texture work in the game is really just mind blowing, I shouldn\'t keep bringing it up, but everything has this ancient, corroded, natural look to it. The walls in numerous environments are infested with moss along with pretty much every rock in the game. Indoor environments are dimly lit, but once you hit outdoors you\'ll be blown away. The lighting sets the bar to a new height. There\'s definitely a good amount of self-shadowing in this game. You cast a shadow on the ground and even plants that you can\'t see unless you look up casts a shadow on you and the ground. It\'s definitely a noticeable treat for the eyes going from the shade of a tree on to a sun-drenched area.
Every character in the game is nicely detailed and well animated. During firefights I had a blast watching enemies roll and slide for cover because none of the physics behind the animations look unnatural. I will admit that once you shoot some guy in mid-jump you\'ll notice that the guy switches to a standing up injured stance so not everything is perfect. Outside of that problem this game has some of the best animations. There was this one time that I managed to shoot someone in the midst of throwing a grenade. Instead of the grenade arching towards me the grenade just went straight up and then just landed on his corpse, so there is definitely a nice physics engine at work. You\'ll notice while taking cover that Nathan will take different stances. I\'ve noticed that at times he\'ll change a certain part or two on the fly. While I was leaning up against the wall I noticed that at times he would place his foot up against the cover (I guess to get comfortable). At times the animations do a really good job of showcasing that he really is just stressed out or nervous while in a firefight. I also like how when the bullets are flying you\'ll notice Nathan making a panicked mad dash to cover or wince as bullets are impacting near him. So stuff like this really makes the lead character just feel a little more human.
On top of this every cutscene was voiced and motion captured on a soundstage. So it adds a little more professionalism to the end product and ensuring that every line of dialogued is timed properly. A good bit of notice has to go to the quality of the facial animations as well. You\'ll notice every cocking of an eyebrow, cynical smile, sneer and everything in between. The only thing that I had a problem with was the obscene amount of motion blur that occurs if you rotate the camera too fast.
Sound:
From beginning to end you\'ll notice the pulse-pumping soundtrack that accompanies you on your journey. The tempo increases during firefights and adds to the adrenaline rush and then it fades into a somber score while you\'re exploring the environments. There is this one cutscene where the score is just sweeping. It\'s the one at the beginning of the demo (on the PSN now) where you are jumping from a plane. The drums become so thunderous and tribal that it just gets your blood pumping.
The voice acting is perfect for this game and I wouldn\'t ask for anybody to get changed. Nathan and Sully are easily likeable and Elena is spunky and more than holds her own amongst the men in the game. I even like the in game clips as Nathan starts panicking about the looming explosion as a grenade lands between his legs or how he complains about having to scale a massive wall. It adds a nice bit of enjoyable and comic relief to the game.
Replay:
For some people linear games or games sans multiplayer don\'t have a replay value, but I\'m not one of those. The developers at Naughty Dog actually managed to give you reasons to play the game again (besides enjoying the story). The game utilizes an in game achievement point system called "medal points." You can get these by getting headshots, kills with the weapons or a bevy of other stuff. One of them has you killing a set number of people while hanging from a ledge, which I didn\'t even think was possible until I skimmed through the list. On top of this there are numerous treasures for you to collect (60 to be exact). I\'m currently on play through number two and I\'ve only managed to collect about 24, so these things are definitely well hidden. So if you\'re motivated enough you will definitely be scouring every nook and cranny of the game for these things.
Also the medal points unlock numerous things like cheats and character skins. One of the ones that I like the most is having the ability to swap out weapons that you\'ve unlocked by obtaining enough medal points. It allows you to use the more powerful weapons at earlier parts of the game and restock them as well. So to sum up what I think about the replay; right after beating it I just started a new game and played for another two hours and I still look forward to playing the game.
Overall:
From beginning to end this game was easily one of the most enjoyable games that I\'ve played this year. Even when I was stuck in spots I didn\'t want to put the game down because I knew that I would eventually persevere. Seeing the personalities of the characters unfold before my eyes and enhance a clichéd (by cinema standards) story is a true accomplishment. I\'ve lost countless hours of sleep and showed up to work and class red-eyed because of this game. I\'m willing to go as far as say that if you do date, you might not be dating for long because of this game. It\'s addictive and highly enjoyable. It\'s not genre busting either, but it\'s done insanely well.
Rating: 9.0
"Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)" is on sale November 20, 2007 and is rated T. Adventure.
