Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)

I’m in my shop, my part-time job, looking at the PS3 games and wondering whether to get Drakes Fortune with my new PlayStation. I’ve heard it’s a brilliant game, and that there’s plenty to do, so I’m confused to see twenty copies of what is a two week old game when its considered essential for PS3 owners.

I decided to give it a whirl in the end.

Forget about all of the comparisons to Gears of War you have read about. They are nonsense, if every game in the third-person camera view from now on is going to get a comparison to Cliffy B’s Chainsaw Adventure Game then the media portion of the games industry is broken. Firstly, the camera is not over the shoulder, its more Lara Croft – which thinking about it is the perfect example of a game that Drake is like.

Take your typical Croft game, with some very pretty but linear levels and take the jumping about of a certain Persian Prince and you can pretty much summaries the game play at that. Of course for me to leave the rest to your imagination would be silly. The gameplay is sublime, Drake is fast and furious, always ready to leap and then look.

The jumping about is perfect, Drake catches on to things well, he jumps and runs acrossa wall – whilst holding a vine, he isn't some sub-human freak like the Prince – and the diving and snapping on to the scenery is all brilliant. The gun play is probably the weakest element of the game, shooting is a bit flaky. In a nod to Gears, you can only carry two weapons and grenades and in real honesty this hurts Drake.

You’ll often find yourself down on ammo but pinned in a corner with no chance of surviving a quick exit, ammo pick up and get back to cover. Shooting and aiming work, they just aren’t as tightly executed as Gears or any other third person shooter.

However, don’t get me wrong. Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is a brilliant game. Despite the absolutely, sometimes I just stop and stare awesome graphics, this game is funny. I mean really funny. The humorous cut scenes and the little snippets of frustration the Drake and Elena share are enough to have you wetting yourself. The sarcastic humor is nice and when you’re watching a cut scene (they usually fall in around 10-15 minutes of gameplay) you can expect at least a smile.

However, herein lays the possible problem for an overseas audience, US developer Naughty Dog have implemented comedy that some Americans or other internationals might not understand and react too. Even though Naughty Dog themselves are American, they have truly captured a British sense of comedy that really should be applauded.

Back to the graphics though, Drake looks awesome, some of the best that PS3 has to offer. It’s the little details, the way that some cover crumbles away after a grenade goes off, the way that plants move around, the way that Drakes clothing gets soaked when he gets in the water, but only up t where he was submerged. These little details are really well designed.

And so are the levels, the level that involves driving a jet ski up a river past waterfalls is beautiful – the best graphical level in the game. I kept getting washed down river just marveling the surroundings, the grand waterfalls and the way that water foams at the sharp increases in height. The levels have a lot of variety as well, in the opening hour you leave an old temple, drive through the jungle and end up inside a Nazi U-Boat perched on a bed rock in the middle of a huge open canopy.

However, for those who have completed everything that Ubisoft have given the Prince to do, then Uncharted will be fairly easy. You can blast through puzzles in seconds- not minutes, its second nature and you do it thoughtlessly. You get put in an area and aren’t told where to go or what to do but thirty seconds later you have climbed, run and jumped your way to the destination. It’s a great game, but the similarities to games of last generation make this game easy. Another disappointment is the use of Simon says action cut scenes are annoying, except the one of the exploding truck but that’s all I’m saying on that.

Another disappointment is the music, the game is fairly tame in the sound division – it lacks the urgency of Gears or the melodic feeling of Lara and more work could have been done there. The music just doesn’t fit the pace of the game and that’s a shame because there was lots of potential. The sound effects are brilliant; as ledges crumble away the rush of rubble falling down a wall gently reaches your ears.

The game is almost non-stop action, the pacing, up until the end is brilliant. Its fluid, it’s dramatic and then, it’s short. Although this does pose one little question, can an action filled game, with the best action-adventure pacing in a game I dare say ever, not end disappointingly. For this game to be any longer would have been a terrific strain on the developers, and I suppose the pressure from Sony to get this on the shelves probably didn’t help. It’s pretty obvious that Drake will return some time soon, with this first game Naughty Dog have really set in stone the foundations of a potentially un-missable action series, and whilst the first title may not be wholly original there is certainly promise.
- Unparalleled pacing thats epic until the very end
- A compelling, well thought out story
- Brilliant use of body animation and voice acting to develop well structured characters
- Well implemented ideas, and good use of well established concepts
- A very funny game, very, very funny - Falls short at the last twenty minutes
- Shame that no co-op was included
- No variation to the drab, predictable musical score Overall, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is a very good game, not a great game but whilst PS3 releases are thin on the ground it is essential. It doesn’t deserve any awards come winter, just a small amount of your time until the bigger fish come along. It’s a game I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend it. A game with a lot of potential for the sequel and a lot of care and attention.