Uncharted Drake's Fortune, just as Gears of War was suppose to do with the 360, was to show what the PS3 can achieve. And it Delivers (in most places).
Story.
A 400 year old clue in the supposedly coffin of dead fortune hunter Sir Francis Drake sets modern day fortune hunter Nathan Drake on a wild adventure searching for the fabled treasure of El Dorado.
With the help of Elena Fisher, a presenter of her very own archaeology programme who helps Nathan Drake originally in finding Sir Frances Drake's coffin.
And also Victor Sullivan "Sully", Nathan's business partner and mentor, a seasoned adventurer himself, he's always buy Nathan's side bringing in the comedic lines.
You wouldn't be mistaken if you think the script could come straight out of Hollywood film, a.k.a. Indiana Jones or even National Treasure, both great films with great scripts.
The game plays out like an Indiana Jones film with the running, gunning, jumping of ledges, girls, explosions and of course the treasure. And as I said before this is no bad thing as it paves the way for a great playable gaming experience.
Gameplay.
The most important aspect of any game is its gameplay. Controls are well balanced with L1 used as manual aim and R1 used as fire.
X button used for jump/climb and square used for the melee attack. Finally we come to O (circle). This is where the cover system comes into play. 2 guess's where they borrowed this from. Naughty Dog has stuck to the same system as used in Gears of War, and this is no bad thing, in Uncharted the cover system works well within its surroundings. I would of hopped they would of worked on the cover system to make it there own and add a few new touch's but this was not the case.
Next comes another comparison and this is its platform roots. And yeah you guessed it. Tomb Raider, the running, climbing, ledge jumping can all be found before in Lara Croft games. As I played through the game I did have thoughts of "I've seen this all before" as I was jumping from one falling ledge to another, but this was to be expected I guess.
Graphics/Sound.
Now this is where Uncharted shines. As Gears of War was for the 360, this game was to showcase what could be done with the Power of the Playstation 3, and it doesn't disappoint.
The animations on the characters faces are incredible, it actually looks like the characters are talking with the right facial muscles moving in time with the words spoken.
The Fluency of motion when Nathan is climbing or running is like nothing i have seen before.
And the Scenery is breathtaking, I actually stopped while in the fort just to look at the backgrounds and take note of the fabulous achievement Naughty Dog has achieved with their game engine and the Playstation 3.
Some People are comparing it to the 360's poster child Gears of War, who could blame them, both games were made to show the power of each console, both games came out roughly a year after the console's were launched and both game's were graphic powerhouse's.
I for one think that it is unfair to compare the two. Both completely different styles, Gears is dark and gritty set in an on going war with a death mood, while Uncharted is set in a bright, open world with around 50 different shades of green (Ok that might be an exaggeration) but two complete different styles of graphics and therefore unable to rightly compare the two.
As for all games now in this so called ‘Next-Gen’, Multiplayer play’s a big factor and sadly Uncharted lacks and multiplayer what so ever. What really could of set this game apart from over platformer’s would have been co-op. Hopefully Naughty Dog takes this into consideration for Uncharted 2.
I for one thoroughly enjoyed this game and would recommend this game to anyone that has a PS3. It brings nothing new to the genre and it does feel like deja vu in some places and lacks any mulitplayer but that should not put you off this little gem.
November 19 marks 15 years since the release of the Uncharted game that started it all.
I hope they don’t make another until the end of the ps5 lifecycle…. Show us a better jungle
VGChartz's Issa Maki: "I finally have a proper designation akin to what I've always referred to internally as 'the line that must be crossed' or 'The Line', for short – ludonarrative dissonance – the separation from a video game's story in relation to its gameplay. Why isn't PETA all up in Mario's grill for jumping on turtles and killing fish, or charging Samus Aran with the extinction of the Metroid species? Ever notice how fire has that habit of making bosses in Resident Evil stronger? Read on my friend, for I endeavor to imbue you with the ability to engage in basic queries concerning the concept."
KeenGamer: "Which Uncharted game is the best? Uncharted is widely recognized as one of the most groundbreaking and consistently great franchises in gaming. For both long-time fans and newcomers to this action-adventure classic, here’s a ranking of the franchise’s four main games."
No Golden Abyss -_-, otherwise I agree with the order.
UC2: Best overall
UC4: Best graphics, best gameplay, best locations, best environements
UC3: Best set pieces IMO (the boat and desert fights will always be amazing)
UC1: A rough Draft of what was to come
UCGA: Basically UC1 on Vita
Great list and great article nicely writen and explained. Although for me personaly i would put Drakes Fortune above Drake’s Deception and Uncharted 4 is absolutely my favourite of the franchise and number 1 for me.
U2 is the only game playable on crushing without causing a great amount of frustration. Not to mention just how much influence it had that they redid some of U2s set pieces like the caravan twice, and armored truck chase in U4.
I'd rate it as the following.
1.) Uncharted 2
(Close to perfection of any game I've played in years. Single Player/Multiplayer/Co Op all amazing.)
2.) Uncharted 3
(On par with UC2 multiplayer/co op wise minus the kickbacks [aka killstreaks]. I really liked the Lawrence of Arabia story.)
3.) Uncharted 4
(Single player is amazing. Multiplayer was meh. Co Op had potential. Absolutely hated the health revive system it slowed down the game way too much. Always preferred the fast pace action of UC2/UC3. Made it way more fun that way. Recoil was too ridiculous that most people in lobbies would only do hip firing, using power weapons and using that OP grappling hook to melee people after dropping them. Nobody wanted to revive anyone.)
4.) Uncharted
(It's the first in the series so it's hard to judge. Though I loved the story.)
I agree here but it’s also a series you can play from front to back and truly enjoy. Story-wise, they are all great and flow so well. I wish they threw both Golden Abyss and Lost Legacy on this list. Lost Legacy is the best mechanically in my opinion. You can see it’s stepping stone framework for TLOUS2.
uncharted 2 is one of the few games that actually surpassed its pre-release hype.
I am a single player gamer...I barely ever touch a multiplayer component. The only exceptions over the years have been the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, TLOU factions, and the Uncharted 2 multiplayer. The Uncharted 2 multiplayer saw me spend more time playing it than all my other multiplayer experiences over the years combined. That game really was a masterpiece all around.
I agree completely, those are all stellar MP experiences, coming from another SP gamer who only occasionally gives MP some time.
Come to think of it, the step between Uncharted 1 and Uncharted 2 is huge. It goes from the weakest in the series to one of the best games ever made.
I think I'm going to play all of them again soon.
is multiplayer still up for the remastered trilogy? or did it never have UC2 mp?
Nice. I would have suggested higher score for graphics since each console should be judged on it's own and so far, Uncharted is PS3's best looking title.
Nice review and work my friend :)
I think Graphics and epsecially sound could have been higher... dude Uncharted has REALLY good music... all live and recorded! Good review... I just beat it 5-6 days and enjoyed it so much... it is without a doubt one of the best single player campaigns on the market.
I think you scored the game pretty good... I mean you gotta leave some room for something that will undoubtedly come along and outdo it.
Its hard to say anything bad about a game as such but you did make a good point about the co-op... That woulda been great!
excellently written, but while i was reading it i was expecting a little higher than 8.8, but that's just your opinion