In 2007 and once again in 2009, developer Naughty Dog have enabled Sony fanboys to point and laugh with glee at their Microsoft rivals. Now, in 2011 the third installment of the Uncharted series has been released, so will Drake’s Deception make it a hat-trick of success for the Playstation 3? (Click ‘Read More’ to find out…)
Uncharted features a lot of gunplay and the typical amount of violence you’d expect to find in a modern video game, but what sets it apart from most is the depth of the characters and the intricate plot of each game. Once again, in general, the story continues to pique the interest of the players; we delve a lot deeper into some of the relationships between characters and even get to explore their pasts. Despite a few irritating plot-holes, the story is satisfying. Some parts are arguably unnecessary but worth playing for the extraordinary situations they lead to. A small gripe is that I was hoping for a longer period in the actual desert, some solid time to wander around with the feeling of being hopelessly lost. There is not as much of that as I would have liked.
The technology for this game is very similar to Uncharted 2 but a lot more refined and used to more effect. Every now and then there are certain moments where your jaw may cost you a floor-board replacement such as the sinking cruise ship or the horse/truck chase through a beautiful desert canyon. These set-pieces are truly the best around at this point in time and I came across very few glitches or bugs.
At first I was unsure about the different guns in this game, it was just quite a big change from the first two instalments but I got a lot more used to it as the game went on. The melee has been greatly enhanced to a style reminiscent of the recently released Arkham City. A new feature is the ability to use objects on nearby surfaces to hit your opponent with; whether the item is a glass bottle in a pub or a slippery fish in a busy market, it’s bound to tell your enemy who’s boss.
In Uncharted 2, a common complaint was how easy and simple puzzles were; this time Naughty Dog have nailed the scale and difficulty of puzzles, in the sort of way that, after a minute or two of head-scratching you will suddenly have that ‘”Ohhh, I get it!” moment. Unfortunately these fun little challenges don’t stick around and don’t really appear in the second half of the game.
Multiplayer is also far better designed this time with many new features and bigger maps. The pace of each match is way more hectic and exciting than it was in the previous game. The improvements in Multiplayer are especially important for this game due to less re-playability of the story caused by removal of the ‘tweak’ modes, single player skins and weapon select.
Soundtrack is lovely as usual, my personal favourite being a variation on Nate’s theme on plucked strings during an exotic scene that takes place in Cartagena-and that’s another thing; the environments are just perfect. I was particularly pleased with the portrayal of a night in London even though some of the English characters were overly stereotyped. The French chateau is also pretty amazing, even more so when it is relentlessly burning itself to the ground with Nate and Sully inside. I could go on and on about the spectacular detail in the settings of this game, but my hands would get exhausted from typing.
In conclusion, yes it is linear, yes there are parts of the plot that don’t quite fit together, but lets be honest, Uncharted 3 although not perfect, is pretty darn close. Some of the best character driven story entertainment and clever gameplay available make this game fantastic; my main complaint is that it would be even better if it was longer! For these reasons Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception gets a 98/100 from me. Trust me when I say that you simply cannot own a PS3 without getting Uncharted!
Thanks for reading.
~Sam
The technology for this game is very similar to Uncharted 2 but a lot more refined and used to more effect. Every now and then there are certain moments where your jaw may cost you a floor-board replacement such as the sinking cruise ship or the horse/truck chase through a beautiful desert canyon. These set-pieces are truly the best around at this point in time and I came across very few glitches or bugs.
At first I was unsure about the different guns in this game, it was just quite a big change from the first two instalments but I got a lot more used to it as the game went on. The melee has been greatly enhanced to a style reminiscent of the recently released Arkham City. A new feature is the ability to use objects on nearby surfaces to hit your opponent with; whether the item is a glass bottle in a pub or a slippery fish in a busy market, it’s bound to tell your enemy who’s boss.
In Uncharted 2, a common complaint was how easy and simple puzzles were; this time Naughty Dog have nailed the scale and difficulty of puzzles, in the sort of way that, after a minute or two of head-scratching you will suddenly have that ‘”Ohhh, I get it!” moment. Unfortunately these fun little challenges don’t stick around and don’t really appear in the second half of the game.
Multiplayer is also far better designed this time with many new features and bigger maps. The pace of each match is way more hectic and exciting than it was in the previous game. The improvements in Multiplayer are especially important for this game due to less re-playability of the story caused by removal of the ‘tweak’ modes, single player skins and weapon select.
Soundtrack is lovely as usual, my personal favourite being a variation on Nate’s theme on plucked strings during an exotic scene that takes place in Cartagena-and that’s another thing; the environments are just perfect. I was particularly pleased with the portrayal of a night in London even though some of the English characters were overly stereotyped. The French chateau is also pretty amazing, even more so when it is relentlessly burning itself to the ground with Nate and Sully inside. I could go on and on about the spectacular detail in the settings of this game, but my hands would get exhausted from typing.
In conclusion, yes it is linear, yes there are parts of the plot that don’t quite fit together, but lets be honest, Uncharted 3 although not perfect, is pretty darn close. Some of the best character driven story entertainment and clever gameplay available make this game fantastic; my main complaint is that it would be even better if it was longer! For these reasons Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception gets a 98/100 from me. Trust me when I say that you simply cannot own a PS3 without getting Uncharted!
Thanks for reading.
~Sam
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