User Review : Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Drake is not the only one who found treasure

I was saddened around Christmas 2007 when Uncharted: Drakes Fortune came out. I had thought it looked very cool and interesting but wait... It would be 8 months until I finally owned my PS3, but I knew I wouldn't forget this game when I did own one. One faithful afternoon, my brother surprised me with a birthday gift and when I noticed it was Uncharted my face lit up.

I had never played a Naughty Dog game in my life, but after Uncharted I think its safe to say that I am a fan. Drakes Fortune succeeds at the heart of its rather short interior and rather easily at that. But that doesn't go without the many minor flaws that surround this otherwise great title. Let me walk you through them ^_^

The game impresses in the graphics department. The characters look good, the environments look great and the water, is some of the best water I have ever seen in a video game. The cutscenes are very concise and look good as well, Uncharted really displays the raw power of the PS3 and does it justice. The environments you'll be playing in are really lush and bright. It really makes you the experience one that's meant to be happy event though you're doing a lot of killing. I thought the jungle parts were the best and really made the game funner, I prefer the outside fights to the inside ones because I for one love the outdoors especially when the sun is out. Not to be outdone though the scenes where you're inside and its very dark are also pulled off exceptionally well and deliver the spooky feel that it sets out to do. It really is a great showcase for the PS3 and displays the raw power a PS3 is capable of.

I myself have never played a game that focused on using cover for gunplay, which made playing Uncharted rather refreshing. Though the cover system was a great add on at times it could get rather annoying, for instance, there were times when I was trying to go behind cover and Drake wouldn't do anything it would take me two tries to realize that you simply couldn't use this as cover and by that time I was already severely injured. Also Objects that are round, I found, are really annoying to use as cover, because I could never seem to get the right angle so the enemy shooting at me couldn't see me and became a real drag. Aside from the system worked marvelously and really made the fights fun. There is a huge array of weapons to choose from so fighting doesn't get overly repetitive. Though with the short supply of ammo from enemy weapons you'll usually be sticking too one handgun and one rifle for a lot of the game until it forces you to rely on new ones. A small problem I had with the crosshairs was that some of them looked obnoxious while others (like most of the pistols) were done well. Also when you meet up with those demons I felt they seemed unnecessary and didn't exactly fit in with the rest of the game. This did grow and me towards the end and I eventually thought they did work the demons well into the story

When you're not immersed in the addictive combat Uncharted throw fun environmental puzzles at you. As I played through these puzzles I found it brought back good memories of my time with the Prince of Persia series which really nailed the puzzle aspects of their games. Some of these are blatant and obvious while others are rather challenging and force Drake to look at his diary/map for clues as too what to do. One in particular where it shows you three roman numerals, which are planted all over the place with corresponding directions and you are only supposed to go in the direction that has your number was done very well and was one of the more memorable parts of the game. Controlling Drake while he tackles these tasks is somewhat primitive. At times I could just hold the analog stick in one direction and press the jump button over and over again and he would move to the next ledge when my analog stick wasn't really pointed in that direction at all. Not having to think about controls for the most part gave me a chance too look at Drake as he did his acrobatic moves and I noticed that they were rigid as hell. His movements while platforming don't flow and don't look human like, at times it was a bit of a nuisance to watch him do these stiff movements.

Despite problems in both parts of the gameplay, the environments oyu do both combat and platforming in are marvelous and deliver a certain feel that make the gameplay more enjoyable. Also worth mentioning is the vehicle fighting sequences. There is one where Drake is manning a turret on a truck and a few where he drives a ski-doo and Elaina fires grenades. The turret sequence almost seemed like a movie and was a high octane thrill ride. Although id seemed somewhat easy to just use the grenades to take out each vehicle. The ski-doo on the other hand was an interesting concept but became a chore after a while. On harder difficulty's it becomes a handful when your killing enemies and clearing the drums in the water but it isn't all bad as I found the scene where your driving it upstream to be pretty badass.

Uncharted's story is eerily similar to that of a typical Hollywood action/adventure movie with high production values. It is interesting but it's nothing you haven't seen before. I myself don't find the National Treasure series to be particularly good movies but they are entertaining and fun to watch which is what Uncharted delivers. It is clear from the beginning that the story wasn't its main focus. Along with a typical story you get very generic characters who remind you of someone else you've seen form another movie. **SPOILER** I also didn't much like the way they ended it. There are absolutely no boss's in the game whatsoever and it seems like Ronan is going to be a cool final battle. Though he does get betrayed by his right hand man Navarro and killed. You then get the final mission with him and though it is a cool boss battle, he doesn't posses the characteristics of a final boss which was a real let down for me **END SPOILER**

The sound in many cases isn't a very deciding factor, but in Uncharted its just bad enough to realize it is not that good. The gunfire seems a little off when i listened to those sounds over and over again it just didn't sit well with me when I thought about it. The dialogue was also cheesy and a little forced at time in dramatic scenes. It occasionally does shine though and I have to admit there were times where Drake is pretty funny. Mostly I can tell when they are trying to force a joke in there and I'd say to myself "where is the funny?" but there are times where he can be genuinely funny. The music was done decently it was nothing memorable but it worked hand in hand with the mood of the game. Some say it was typical to which I respond well yeah... but it's still awesome.

As my most eagerly awaited game yet on my next gen console Uncharted: Drakes fortune had it's issues but at its core is a very fun combat system with a fun platforming puzzles which kept me coming back for more. Those two aspects far overshadowed its problems and made me appreciate other games that have used a good cover system as a main pillar of its gameplay. When I looked at the numbers it said I had put just under 10 hours into the game, I knew it was short from prior reading but the length didn't lower my spirit and hope for this game. As a whole it did slightly disappoint but was still a very solid game that I came to love despite the many cliches in it, and I think I will be going to my local gaming establishment in the first week of Uncharted 2's release thank-you very much.

wow, I think that's the most in depth review I've written thus far. w00t! Go me! *high fives self*