Beauty in need of brains
A Review by Chris Camz of UnfashionablyLateReviews.Blogspot.com
Uncharted was one of the first games released onto the PS3, back when it was still a beefy, $400 machine, reserved for die-hard Playstation fans and people with absurdly large amounts of money in their wallets at any given time. It was designed to show off the PS3's graphical capabilities, boasting: lush jungles, ruined temples, and improved water-effects.
Let's not dance around the obvious, the game is gorgeous, but once you catch your breath, Uncharted is more than happy to submerge you once again, this time in the plot. The story follows Nathan Drake, a wise-cracking treasure hunter, who behaves like a genetic hybrid of Spiderman and Indiana Jones. Nathan is on the trail of El Dorado, a treasure that his great-grandfather Sir Francis Drake had died chasing, which makes the matter personal for Nathan. Joining Nathan are: Elena, a reporter who avoids the role of damsel in distress quite well, until the very last scene, of course, because it wouldn't be a game without stereotypes; and Sully, a man who I simply cannot understand the importance of. Sully is introduced as a man in debt, looking for a big score to pay back some unsavory customers, however, aside from that, he serves very little purpose. He is shot within the first half-hour of the game, and honestly, I didn't care. He then later appeared to have survived the shot and was leading the enemy astray, and by astray I mean he led them to the building that rested DIRECTLY ABOVE THE TREASURE. Nice one, Sully.
The game advertises itself as an adventure/platformer, so I was all geared up for wall-running and leaping over bottomless pits, like something out of Prince of Persia. While there is a great amount of platform jumping, the segments are clunky and hard to follow, but maybe that's just because I played InFamous first, which has become a deity in platforming for me. More often than not, I found myself jumping too far, or off to the side, which is very bad for a game that makes such a fuss about its platforming elements.
Something I found more frustrating, however, was the combat sections. Nathan seems just a little too comfortable with military-grade weaponry. Every third area he moves through is the site of another shootout, and despite being 15 or more to 1, Nathan always comes out unscathed, which sort of flings the concept of an ordinary guy right out the window, making Drake more of an immortal commando. Overlooking the enormous plot hole Drake's invincibility creates, I was quite shocked to find a competent shooter underneath. The cover-based combat system, while nothing original, performs quite well among the game's ruins.
The game progresses well, with an effective balance of jumping, shooting, and the occasional puzzle. For a long stretch, I genuinely enjoyed playing and had fun watching the hours fly by. Sadly, the dream ended during one of the later scenes in a cave underneath the villa, when Drake and his enemy are attacked by what are referred to as "the guardians of the treasure," which look like a cross between Gollum and that creature from 300, only more primitive. They were explained to be the Spanish explorers that found the treasure centuries ago, which I lovingly dubbed "Trogs," whose very presence made so little sense that it ruined the larger part of the ending for me.
Overlooking the clumsy jumping, Drake's godly powers, and the "Trogs," the game is very well done. Naughty Dog has already released a sequel, and is making third at the time of this review, which means we can add Nathan to the list of characters we will never see the end of, alongside Mario, Sonic, Master Chief, Link...
Sound..........7
Gameplay.......8
Graphics.......9
Replayability..6
Average........7.5