QJ.NET reviews Uncharted: Drake's Fortune |
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Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for the Sony PlayStation 3 has been quite the throw from left field in this gaming generation, what with its developer Naughty Dog known for the awesome Crash Bandicoot series that pretty much became an icon in the PlayStation One era, as well as the Jax and Daxter series that also grabbed its share of fans. From imaginative platformers that not only pushed the hardware it was running on but also the player's reflexes, you'd think they'd have come up with something similar in this Cell-powered generation of Sony's console.
Contrary to that, Naughty Dog instead came up with a game that could be very well summarized as a Tomb Raider without Lara's female endowments, or Gears of War with a forest setting. However, underneath the exterior is a game that definitely deserves its title as an exclusive for the Sony PlayStation 3. It looks great and plays even better, the level of production is literally off the scale - it's the closest thing we'll probably ever get to living a grand treasure-hunting adventure the likes of Indiana Jones often goes off to. That is, if one can get past the rather disturbing feeling that you've done it all a couple of hundred times before.
Let's start with a little back story about the game. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune puts you in the shoes of Nathan Drake, a wise-cracking adventurer that believes himself to be a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, a guy who may or may not have found a great heap of treasure somewhere that may or may not be El Dorado.
Joining him in his quest for the motherlode is Drake's best friend Sully, a cigar-toting hardass that likes to spit expletives now and then. There's also Elena, a spunky female TV journalist hell-bent on getting the scoop of a lifetime, hopefully with tank top and luxurious blonde hair intact. You'll need their help, as the game not only pits you against some very cleverly-designed tombs - er, ruins, but you'll also be going toe-to-toe with a capable workforce of about a thousand or so armed pirates. Aforementioned group of pirates is of course led by a shifty fellow with a sharp taste in clothes and a British accent (in case we mistook him for something else other than really, really evil).
But not to fear, as the game gives you quite a few tricks to survive - one of those being the ability to scale cliffs or any climb-able surface like a man-spider, and the other being able to take cover behind conveniently-placed walls and pillars, before poking out into view to pop a pirate head or two with hot lead.
While it's certainly clear that Uncharted: Drake's Fortune isn't exactly about breaking new ground, it does explore the tried-and-true genre of ruin-spelunking (and third-person shooting) with brilliant success. Scaling cliffs and crossing chasms with Nathan can only be described as pure platforming heaven. There are no control issues to speak of when it comes to controlling Nate, with the adventurer more than capable of tackling even the sheerest of cliff walls or the widest of chasms with the greatest of ease.
Dispatching pirates with firearms on an over-the-shoulder perspective has never been more fun, and there's a real sense of challenge in that you immediately see the wisdom of Naughty Dog implementing the duck-and-cover mechanic in the game - because if you treat it like any other third-person shooter and simply go into the fray with guns blazing, you're not going to live for very long. Yes, the AI is that smart, and yes, it's that hardcore.
I could rattle off a whole list of what's great about Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and in fact, I will. Nate is incredibly well-animated, and every movement he makes - from the half-stumble that he does whenever you're directing him through uneven terrain or the look of fear and panic that he gets whenever an enemy's grenade lands near his feet - oozes personality and realism.
The voice-acting also complements the overall adventure movie-like feel of the game, with each character sounding so completely natural and real that you can't help but fall in love with them (moreso when they actually help you in a firefight, and by helping I mean actually manage to kill someone else other than themselves). The graphics are some of the best we've ever seen rendered on the PlayStation 3, and the fully-orchestrated soundtrack is suitably epic to tie up the experience into one that definitely deserves to be called next-gen.
However, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is not without its faults - and while it's not inherently broken or flawed in any way, the massive deja vu attack is almost off-putting. Oftentimes, you'll wonder how Naughty Dog went from making whimsical, addictive platformers to a game that is pretty much a salad of gameplay mechanics that has already been done and better. It's not to say that the game itself is unoriginal, it's just that it feels like one giant reference than a fresh IP from a company that came up with a character who could hold his own against the likes of Mario and Sonic.
If Uncharted: Drake's Fortune sounds at all remotely familiar, that's because it is. The game makes no attempt to stand out from the titles it borrows heavily from. Taking cover will make you wonder when the aliens are going to show up, and the timed button sequences will often leave you with a cold dread that somehow, gods and goddesses from an age-old civilization has something to do with the fact that waves upon waves of pirates are trying to riddle your frail body with bullets.
It also doesn't help that the single-player mode - the game's only mode, as it has no multiplayer - is criminally short, with the game clocking in at around eight or nine hours at the most. Granted, those eight or nine hours are some of the most beautiful and action-packed hours I've ever had, but the brevity of it leaves you hanging. Not to mention that the stark contrast between the breezy platforming and the insane shooting segments make the experience a bit lopsided.
Despite these nitpicks, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune deserves a purchase - or for the more economical of gamers, a rental. It has more than enough to keep you rooted to your seat, holding your controller in a white-knuckled grip of pure tension and fun, with production values guaranteed to not only enchant you but blow your eyeballs out of the park. The platforming lends itself to some of the most harrowing don't-look-down segments, and the gunplay is definitely something that both the casual and hardcore crowd can definitely rave about. It's not the title that the Sony PlayStation 3 is waiting for, but it's definitely something to tide us all over.
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Comments
Bad review, I thought. Focused way way way way too much on the concepts borrowed from other games. The facts is that every game has been done before in some context, but you don't have to constantly badger the reader with this, as it never really dampens or affects the game in any way. The fact is that Uncharted takes basic concepts many games, treasure hunting and TPS, and for the first time, combines them better than any game before it. Also no mention of the Crushing difficulty, which should be looked at, as Hard presents a challenge, but is definitely very doable. Crushing difficulty (unlocked after beating Hard), on the other hand, takes much skill, is exponentially harder, and is, in my opinion, a welcomed challenge. Probably also could have mentioned the Medal points (Akin to Achievements on XBL) made available by completing challenges and collecting any of the 60 treasures hidden throughout the game world, in order to unlock skins, fun game changes (like slow-mo, fast-mo, mirror world, etc.), and developer documentaries. Overall, this review doesn't have a whole lot of substance. It doesn't make any real good points that get to the heart of the game, instead it dwells too much on the inspirations this game draws from. It's a shame, too, because Uncharted is one of the best games of the year. This review makes it sound like a rental, when it is definitely, without question, a must-buy for PS3 owners.
While I loved the demo and all the neat little tricks they added to it....I was still disappointed. The controls for aiming sucked to say the very least. I hated them. I would have a MUCH better experience playing this game with a mouse. It simply takes too long to zero in on people.
i loved the controls, we they were different but after playing the demo 2-3 times the controls seem natural
was a lot more informative than QJ. Thanks for filling in the blanks.
It's a must-buy because the PS3 has a very, very limited game library of good titles.
But if u are somewhat NOT DUMB, u wud ready ur aim BEFORE u aim - center the target, THEN hold down aim. Dont complain jus coz u lack simple ability. Controls are perfect.
simply a beautiful game. played it lots of times in all difficulty. those textures are amazing. Yet another hole in my pocket(sigh)
u unlock stuff(a new playable character) so y does QJ think its the end after 9 hrs???
@na2rul 1. You are wrong, it is NOT like gears. The sensitivity is completely different. Gears was much better. Aim before you aim? Yeah, please explain how you aim at a moving target before you aim to shoot! You fail! 2. "somewhat NOT DUMB"? Let's take a look at what dumb is: "u wud ready ur aim BEFORE u aim" 3. What did any of your drivel have to do with my opinion and thinking I would like it better with a mouse? Some people are just born with issues!
"it is NOT like gears. The sensitivity is completely different. Gears was much better." not sure wot ur comparing Drake's aiming with - PC or xbox GeOW? well im assuming u play gears on PC, not xbox since u argue mouse keyboard is better. But you wud be wrong to say geow on xbox is better to aim with, since u simply cannot overcome UR problem wit aiming hence analogue stick. Adding on, it may even be a crime 4 me to say, but 360 control pad has less sensitivity than 6axis - my experience wit geow where im constantly aiming too far to the right/left. or mb its due to the game. I said wot i said because i hav no problems doin it myself..... guess i hav supernatural talents :]
People complain that the aiming sucks in this game. It's not the aiming that sucks, it's you. When you aim, a small circle appears on the screen which is smaller than the circle that pops up when you aim in Gears of War. This makes aiming more challenging but in the end you shouldn't have any problems shooting your targets accurately. The AI is also good in this game. Enemies constantly try and flank you out of your position hopefully trying to get a few shots at you while you move to another source of cover. They also try and sneak up beside you so make sure you check your left and right once in a while. All in all, Uncharted is a great third-person shooter that every PS3-owner should check out. It's definitely a must buy game.
@na2rul Once again your ASSumptions are wrong. I was reffering to Gears on xbox. "But you wud be wrong to say geow on xbox is better to aim with" No, I wouldn't. For me it was easier and much better. Drake is too slow to move around. "my experience wit geow where im constantly aiming too far to the right/left." HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! So I guess in your own words: But if u are somewhat NOT DUMB, u wud ready ur aim BEFORE u aim - center the target, THEN hold down aim. I guess you're as DUMB on Gears as I am on Drake. HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!
ah the blind respons as usual u prefer mouse but gears is fine with xbox. Adjust the speed then u muppet.
"ah the blind respons as usual" HAHAHA!!! Explain then what is blind about it. I can't wait for that response! You cry at me about my opinion but then you give the SAME opinion about gears and you call ME a "hypocrite"? Do you even know what a hypocrite is? "u prefer mouse but gears is fine with xbox" Proof that you are unable to understand the issue. Which begs the question, if you can't understand the problem then why do you keep discussing it? The control is multi-speed. Too slow on one end and too fast on the other. No good middle ground for me. Changing the speed would do nothing to help. I just don't like it and you are just going to have to live with that. HAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the laughs kid!
My biggest complaint about this game is the inconsistent visual feedback of the character movement. In one moment he's slipping and sliding around in the next a certain amount of balance is required to precisely control the character so that he does not fall. Good game but nothing to brag about since it's been done a thousand times already.
shut up get a girl.......gears of war sheesh
For the people who don't see it, there are people making comments with UserNames who are SO FAKE (read: just created accounts to make comments to cheer up the game). Don't you guys see it? People from the developping team of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune are makings comments: PSPHax0r9 na2rul BrendanL
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