In the early days of the PS3's life, owners of the system didn't have much to grab at for original content, or more accurately content in general. So when a game like Uncharted: Drakes Fortune was announced, I gave a sigh of apathy. I didn't like the Tomb Raider series and this new franchise seemed to be a copy paste of it with less boobs. But with nothing better on the horizon, I lethargically reserved the game just so I'd have something on the console. What I received was a fast paced 3rd person shooter with excellent characters, superb voice acting, and some of the best storytelling I've ever seen in a game. On top of all that, the game was blast to play. This caused me to jump on getting Uncharted 2: Among Thieves without even a second thought. Not only did I receive what I got from the first, they did an even better job with it. So one year later, here we are again with another of Nathan Drake's adventures in......
The game starts off with our now iconic protagonist, Nathan Drake, walking with old sidekick Sully to what appears to be a seedy bar to make an exchange. A well dressed British man named Talbot opens a case to unveil a buttload of money and in exchange he is handed the ring that hangs from Drake's neck. As the British man authenticates the ring Drake inspects the money. We find that the ring is legit but the money is not. They try to take the ring back and bar room brawl breaks out where you then take control of the game. You find out that the ring belonged to Francis Drake, and it works as a key to a decoder which will unveil the secrets connecting Francis Drake to Lawrence of Arabia, and why his voyage took a six month detour. The goal is made that you are trying to find the "Atlantis of the Sands" and a valuables it holds.
The gun combat feels the same yet different. Functionally, the buttons and engine are the same as before. If you played either of the other two games nothing about the game will seem foreign to you. Shoulder up with the L1 button, Fire with R1, Reload R2. Its the same run and gun, cover based 3rd person shooter that has worked in so many over these games before. Yet as I played through the game something just didn't feel right. As I would play through the game it dawned on me that I would have to hit them with an pretty large amount of bullets before the enemy would drop. On more than one occasion I would land what I could clearly see was a well placed head shot and yet the enemy would still not fall. Sometimes it would take 2 or 3 shots to the head before some enemies dropped. The other big thing that bothered me is that the movement controls did not feel very tight this time around. Several times I would try to run my way for cover only have to Drake bobble step right into a wall or miss my turn completely because he was doing some over the top stagger animation. I would try to move from ledge to ledge while hanging but I'd really need to shove on the controller to get him to put his stupid hand up so he would make the right jump instead of just jumping in place. Some other glitchy things kinda bothered me too. There would be an occasional instance where I would be playing the game and then the music would just cut at random, then seconds later would continue on. There were jarring and was surprised to have that happen. Naughty Dog usually polished the hell out of the game.
 |
| Marlowe rubbing salt in the wounds sustained from the bar fight. |
Essentially the play in the Uncharted series is virtually unchanged from previous two games. The hand to hand combat feels even more dumbed down in this one. In the first game you had a few options: Square five times for a quick combo, Square Triangle Square for a brutal combo, Punch gun combo. It was simple, fast, efficient. In the 2nd game they took away the ability for brutal combo but the 2nd game it still played pretty fluidly. In this current version, it feels more like aimless button mashing. It still works but in the very first combat sequence I was already feeling a bit bored with it. The grab move never seems to push the way I want it to go. They changed the Triangle to a counter and it seems to work fairly well, but that might be because the attack telegraph is retarded long even on the games hardest difficulty. They also have a run and melee thing were if you are blind firing on a guy (shooting without aiming) and hit the melee when you close in, it switches to a short cinematic kill. I found this to be the most effective as I played.
The gun combat feels the same yet different. Functionally, the buttons and engine are the same as before. If you played either of the other two games nothing about the game will seem foreign to you. Shoulder up with the L1 button, Fire with R1, Reload R2. Its the same run and gun, cover based 3rd person shooter that has worked in so many over these games before. Yet as I played through the game something just didn't feel right. As I would play through the game it dawned on me that I would have to hit them with an pretty large amount of bullets before the enemy would drop. On more than one occasion I would land what I could clearly see was a well placed head shot and yet the enemy would still not fall. Sometimes it would take 2 or 3 shots to the head before some enemies dropped. The other big thing that bothered me is that the movement controls did not feel very tight this time around. Several times I would try to run my way for cover only have to Drake bobble step right into a wall or miss my turn completely because he was doing some over the top stagger animation. I would try to move from ledge to ledge while hanging but I'd really need to shove on the controller to get him to put his stupid hand up so he would make the right jump instead of just jumping in place. Some other glitchy things kinda bothered me too. There would be an occasional instance where I would be playing the game and then the music would just cut at random, then seconds later would continue on. There were jarring and was surprised to have that happen. Naughty Dog usually polished the hell out of the game.
I was wondering if I was just seeing the older titles through rose tinted glasses, so to make sure, I put in both of the previous titles. The graphics were not as detailed as the 3rd, but the games animation moved faster, the controls were much tighter, and when I hit a clear headshot the enemies dropped. It almost feels like the game sacrificed some of its playability to look nicer...
Speaking of, the graphics in this case definitely appeared to be much more cleaned up and defined. Especially in some of the cutscenes. I played this game pretty much start to finish on a bitchin' 62' LED TV with a digital smoothing setting. The game was borderline lifelike and was definitely very impressive, with most of the characters getting a very detailed graphical overhaul, with the exception of Chloe (Naughty dog's Eff you to the Lara Croft character) who's new bigger hair makes her look a bit cartoony. Aside from that little issue the graphics in this game have never looked better. Elena's eyeliner was a great touch guys.
 |
| Elena tries to provide reason but usually ends up right in the fray. |
Naughty Dog actually assumes you have a brain this time around too. In this one when you have a puzzle to solve it doesn't just give you the answer outright like it has in previous games. Or at least not immediately anyways.
There is Multiplayer as well but really I didn't find it all that interesting to cover. You get two teams of 5 and you play the standard multiplayer fanfare. Death match, team death match, capture the flag (plunder). You get base equipment but as you level up you get money to unlock new weapons and attires for your character. I played it for a little but online multiplayer never seems to do much for me. There is not level matchmaking so you get thrown in with noobs and vets alike. Usually it will randomize the teams per game to keep things fair but sometimes a clan will get together and just mows through new players. It was a bit of turn off for me. I suck at the multiplayer games. The one plus is the people I played with were pretty cool. One game some loud child was in the game, so of course I quit immediately.
 |
| Don't be mad, I brought Subway! (There are no in game advertisements. Thank god) |
Why don't the online services provide something for this. You have to put a date of birth in the online account to activate it. Why the fuck cant they make a filter so I can choose to not play anyone under the age 15. Nothing ruins a game experience for me like racist little shitdicks screaming obscenities into their stupid headsets because they can do it anonymously. Parents? I got a news flash for you, if you don't want your children to be subjected to offensive games, don't let them play games online. The worst thing that can be found in a video game is the horrible shit that comes out of a kids mouth. Children are the fucking worst and will always be worse than their teen or adult counterpart.
 |
| Playing someone under the age of 12. Yeah, Feels like that. |
Ok, got that out of my system, back on topic. The storytelling is still this franchises strong point. I loved how they went with the villain this time around, instead of the usual gun toting psychopath we have Marlow. Marlow is an older woman who is cold, calculating, and definitely a cerebral opponent. She has a very ominous way of bantering with the heroes. She has that villainous politeness about her that makes every thing she says sound like you are eff'd. It was a refreshing change from the normal types like Eddy, Novario, or Lazarevic.
But even the new characters and great story telling something still bothered me. Tell me if any of this sounds familiar: Drake treks through a jungle and find a series of ruins. Elena gets mad a Drake because they disagree if they should continue or not. Drake and Sully find a treasure or clue they are looking for only to have it taken away by the villain immediately after. They learn what they are after is evil or an evil power that Francis Drake tried to hide. Drake escapes from a ruin or temple from burning or sinking into the ground. In addition to that this game really tries to go over to the top in every level. With the exception of the snow level, the game takes place in pretty much every setting they can squeeze into the game. You go from a bar, sewers, to a jungle, run down manor, ruins, a marketplace, ship graveyard, and so on. Each level with its own incredible Hollywood blockbuster action sequence. I understand that its an action game, but when you cram things in as much as this does, it causes a little bit of an overload and I feel the impressiveness of a scene is diminished because of the not stop onslaught of scenes of this nature.
Now, don't let this stream of complaints make you think this game wasn't great. I literally played the game from start to finish in a single sitting. None of the complaints were something that affected my ability to enjoy the game. The game has a familiarity at this point and the story is very compelling. Nathan Drake and the rest of the cast of characters are really what make the game so successful and with each passing title the characters have more life and nuance to them. They do a wonderful job of spacing the game out in the timeline so you have to take bits and pieces of dialogue to try to figure out what happened between the two games. The game has a pretty good pace to it and it goes just as long as it has to for a game of this type. My initial play through was about 9 hours. The only thing I fear is actually something said in one of the bonus features: "Where Do we go from here?" How many treasures can Francis Drake have hidden? How many more daring escapes can Nathan possibly get out of? Look, the bottom line here is that Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is another incredible addition to this franchise, and if you own a PS3 you would be doing yourself an injustice if you didn't play it. My fear is that this game is not preparing itself for longevity, and is starting to show signs of repeating itself. They are still fun for now, but they are going to really need to reach to come up with something new for a 4th installment.
 |
| Drake never learns his lesson to stay off Planes. |
Now, don't let this stream of complaints make you think this game wasn't great. I literally played the game from start to finish in a single sitting. None of the complaints were something that affected my ability to enjoy the game. The game has a familiarity at this point and the story is very compelling. Nathan Drake and the rest of the cast of characters are really what make the game so successful and with each passing title the characters have more life and nuance to them. They do a wonderful job of spacing the game out in the timeline so you have to take bits and pieces of dialogue to try to figure out what happened between the two games. The game has a pretty good pace to it and it goes just as long as it has to for a game of this type. My initial play through was about 9 hours. The only thing I fear is actually something said in one of the bonus features: "Where Do we go from here?" How many treasures can Francis Drake have hidden? How many more daring escapes can Nathan possibly get out of? Look, the bottom line here is that Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is another incredible addition to this franchise, and if you own a PS3 you would be doing yourself an injustice if you didn't play it. My fear is that this game is not preparing itself for longevity, and is starting to show signs of repeating itself. They are still fun for now, but they are going to really need to reach to come up with something new for a 4th installment.
No comments:
Post a Comment