Since I am on a budget these days, I have turned to Gamefly for most of my gaming needs. This allows me to play games that I would normally never buy. One such game is Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. To clarify, this is not a review, as our review process has yet to be finalized, but merely my thoughts on the game as I close in on the final few levels.
Uncharted will not win any points for innovation, that is for certain. The cover system is from Gears of War, the platforming is from Prince of Persia and the jungle setting and general idea is from Tomb Raider. Not a bad pedigree and not a bad game. In fact, it’s very fun.
The gun play, while initially tough to get used to, becomes a fun escape from the platforming. The enemies have uncanny accuracy, but thanks to the cover system and the health system swiped from Halo, the game is never too frustrating. There are some parts where you will have to think carefully about your next move when ducking and covering, but nothing that will keep you from coming back.
The platforming is the part that really made me want to have a long…chat…with the developers. First off, Drake was touted as an everyman, which is literally funny since he does the kind of death defying leaps and ledge grabbing that would make the Prince of Persia hesitate and HE HAD A FREAKING REWIND ABLITY! There were jumps I made in this game that I actually guffawed at! I never guffaw! What makes this annoying is that if you jump somewhere that is not the correct path, then Drake goes from Luigi to Toad in terms of jumping ability (SMB2, if you don’t know what that means). He can’t jump any distance at all unless its on the path specified by the designers, which is a nifty way to make sure you are on the right path, but not when said path is obscured by mood lighting and poor camera angles.
I may be making too much of this, it honestly only happened about five or six times, but they were traumatic enough that I remember them well. The story of the game is grounded in reality, until the later chapters when the “twist” arrives, but its not much of one since its obvious to everyone that SOMETHING unnatural is going to happen, other than Drake’s anti-gravity Timberlands conking out when exploring something UNCHARTED by the game makers.
This game is very fun, don’t let my sarcasm stop you. Worth a rental and not much else, unless its on sale. You can easily beat it in about 10 hours at the most. The graphics, which I have failed to mention until now, are actually gorgeous. The lighting and atmosphere, coupled with the sound effects and music make for a great experience. The voice acting is stellar, even though some of the characters are kinda generic, you can tell the voice actors didn’t phone it in. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who liked any of the games mentioned above. It’s from the makers of Jak and Daxter, so judge from your own experience what that means, but trust me: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is worth taking a look at it.
This game certainly has some great elements (I actually loved the platforming and hated the shooting), but I think its greatest asset is the way that it tells the story. It feels like watching a Hollywood adventure, and the way that they use some of the walking, exploring, puzzle-solving to get some of the narrative out of the way is pure genius.
Yeah, I totally agree. I did feel like they set out to make a Hollywood blockbuster type of game and they succeded.
I liked how when you entered certain areas, Drake would walk and not run so the dialogue would have time before you go off and do something stupid to mess it up.
I dont own a PS3, so I wouldnt know, but it looks decent. I always try to be as light as I can with a game, so I might pick this one up if I ever get a PS3
[quote comment=”195″]I dont own a PS3, so I wouldnt know, but it looks decent. I always try to be as light as I can with a game, so I might pick this one up if I ever get a PS3[/quote]
I would certainly recommend it. It’s definitely a good time, especially for a bargain. It actually does a really good job of creating an atmosphere, something that you don’t always find in games these days.
[quote comment=”201″][quote comment=”195″]I dont own a PS3, so I wouldnt know, but it looks decent. I always try to be as light as I can with a game, so I might pick this one up if I ever get a PS3[/quote]
I would certainly recommend it. It’s definitely a good time, especially for a bargain. It actually does a really good job of creating an atmosphere, something that you don’t always find in games these days.[/quote]
Yeah, totally. For most games, atmosphere consists of rap music or heavy metal music.