Review
Release Date: 11.15.2007
Platform:
PlayStation 3Developer:
Naughty Dog, Inc.Publisher:
Sony Computer Entertainment AmericaReviewed by
Richard Brownell on 12.21.2007
| Review Rating: 9/10 | User Rating: 8.88/10 |
What if I told you there's a game where you can play as an everyman who stumbles when he jumps and punches with the finesse of an overweight gorilla? Your reaction may be the reason why
Uncharted hasn't sold as well as
SCEA would hope for, but don't let it stop you from reading the rest of this review. There's a lot more to
Uncharted than the idea of a "normal" hero. It's the fantastic adventure of a few heroes as they find lost islands, battle modern day pirates, and seek out treasures originally discovered by Sir Francis Drake.
The dirty little secret of
Uncharted is that the hero, Nathan Drake, is not the "ordinary man" the box claims him to be. Sure he's not a genetically engineered bald space marine, but he's not a chubby American with Cheetos stains on his fingers and some extra tater tots stuffed in his pants pocket. He's the last descendant of explorer Sir Francis Drake and an expert treasure hunter. And to get him through all the exploits he must contend with, he's also in peak physical condition. So if somebody like Bear Grills from "Man Versus Wild" is an ordinary man, then the
Uncharted box is right on the money.
Which brings us to the heroes' motivations. At face value,
Uncharted is an almost perfect video game adaption of the
Indiana Jones routine. There's a mystical treasure, exploration, some bad guys, ordinary people in extraordinary situations. But a key difference is motivation. Indy is an educated man, not out to find lost treasures for the money or the power. But for Nathan Drake and his partner, Victor Sullivan, money is the sole motivator. They are accompanied by a reporter, Elena Fisher, looking to get a major scoop: the unearthed coffin of Sir Francis Drake. In that sense, perhaps the characters have more realistic aspirations than Indy, but some charm is missing when your central cast is a bit on the shady side. The bad guys, on the other hand, are your typical one-sided pulp baddies. They are bad dudes willing to lose all their minions' lives in the pursuit of money and power, and that's why we love them.
So what are these three actually after? The setup is that they're looking for Drake's coffin. But it quickly turns to a search for El Dorado, the city of gold. Gold, as you may recall, is worth a lot of money. And it would make a rather big story for Elena. Their search brings them to a small, and of course uncharted, island that once supported an entire colony of people. It's now deserted except for, you guessed it, some pirates also searching for the treasure. There are several twists and turns throughout
Uncharted, each one coming right before the story would be dragging on.
The pacing feels very similar to an
Indiana Jones or
Librarian movie. There are three basic gameplay types that you rotate through: platforming, puzzle solving, and combat. The platforming I found to be most similar to
Shadow of the Colossus. Drake and Wander both have similar running and jumping as the aim of the creators of each was to create a realistic character. And both platform in similar ways, even down to the occasional leap in the wrong direction or awkward turn. But the platforming in
Uncharted is really quite easy. Point towards where you want to go and you will most likely get there with no effort.
The puzzle solving can get a bit trickier, but not by much. In the beginning of the game, you acquire Francis Drake's diary. Throughout the rest of the game, there are puzzles that pop up where clues must be used from the diary to proceed. These range from blissfully simple to moderately difficult. I didn't need to consult gamefaqs, something I shame myself by doing on many games, so it can't be too hard.
Combat in
Uncharted will remind many who play it of
Gears of War. In fact, you could almost go so far as to say it
is Gears of War with a different coat of paint on it, and running on a PS3. Almost all of your time will be spent hiding behind cover which is easy to snap yourself to. From there, you use a button to pop up and aim at the baddies. Console gamers used to other shooters may need to adjust initially because
Uncharted doesn't seem to help you very much with aiming, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, just more of that ordinary guy style gameplay. At any given time, Drake can carry one handgun, one large gun, and up to four grenades. He can't carry a great deal of ammo for the guns so looting the dead is done constantly. The combat comes in nicely paced chunks, but there are sections of the game that seem to drag on a bit too long. Every once in a while, a scene could have been cut down from 30 pirates to 15 and the story would certainly not have suffered.
And the pirates have some ruthless AI. They don't stand still like the shooting galleries of some games. Some are the more inexperienced pirate types who fire madly and don't use good tactics to get you. Others will wait until you are distracted and sneak up along the side of a level to get close to you. Later in the game, sharp shooters ensure that if you stand still for a moment, you are toast.
The worst part of combat, without spoiling too much, is when the last fourth of the game makes a sudden change in the combat. After spending so much time perfecting your duck and cover combat, you are faced with new enemy types that charge you quickly, and you have no cover to hide behind. The aiming reticle is designed for precise aiming and deliberate movements, but in this part of the game you have to move in a spastic manner and shoot wildly in hopes of not dying. When thinking in terms of
Uncharted's pacing, it makes perfect sense to up the combat ante in the last act of the game, but the established gameplay doesn't lend itself to run and gun style shooting.
That isn't to say there aren't occasions where
Uncharted successfully breaks its own mold. A few sections take place in vehicles. The jetski sections can be fun but tricky where you must move towards your destination but also fire on the pirates shooting at you from dry land. The most fun in the vehicle segments takes place in a jeep. It's crazy easy, but also mindless fun where you are charged simply with aiming and firing explosive rounds at all the vehicles chasing you.
Of course, while
Uncharted is fun and tells a good story, many of you probably became interested in it for a different reason.
Uncharted is one of the most gorgeous games ever. Sure, PC gamers can have their
Crysis, unlikely to be matched for years in console gaming. But
Uncharted really takes the cake in my home entertainment center. The outdoor vistas are majestic, with beautiful panoramas, claustrophobic lush green jungles, and rubble-filled ruins. But much as
Oblivion wows the eyes once you walk outside for the first time,
Uncharted brings it to a whole new level when you walk inside. The lighting effects from flashlights, candles, and torches are very convincing.
And it's the little things that really make you stop and look. In one level I saw a strip of yellowish pixels on the left side of the screen. I thought I had found a glitch in the level, but upon walking over to it, the light accurately shone across Drake's body. Upon looking up, I saw there was part of the roof that was damaged. The game is littered with moments like these. The attention to detail put into the entire game is just maddening. Somebody on
Naughty Dog 's graphics team is the "put holes into the roof guy" and he deserves credit. And while you're at it, walk in some water. Just up to your knees, though. You'll find that's the only part of Drake that will get wet. Walk under a waterfall and all of him is wet. Walk around for a while and he gradually dries off. It's a little, completely useless thing but it makes the world that much more complete.
The PlayStation 3 has really come into its own. Unlike last year where you had almost no choices for quality games, you now have several.
Uncharted is the best exclusive PS3 game out there right now and it certainly holds its own against the multiplatform AAA titles as well. The story, characters, music, and setting make
Uncharted a surefire cinematic hit. The combat and a rewards system based on the way you play and the treasures you find make me want to come back for more.
Uncharted is one of the best experiences to be had on the PS3 to date.
