Review: Uncharted Drake’s Fortune.
Here it is, Naughty Dog’s latest: Uncharted- Drake’s Fortune, a gorgeous cinematic game. It puts you in control of Nathan Drake, a reckless treasure hunter and descendant of sir Francis Drake, Nathan finds sir Drake’s lost diary at the bottom of the ocean, it contains clues on how to find the hidden treasure of El Dorado. Along with tomboyish TV Reporter Elena and fellow grave robber Sullivan our hero embarks on an action packed journey.
This could be the story premise of any Hollywood blockbuster action flick and that’s exactly what Uncharted feels like. With incredible graphics, the lighting effects and animations are the star here, filmic camera use and a sweeping orchestral score it’s like the best Indiana Jones game that was never made. The story isn’t very highbrow, it doesn’t try to be and it doesn’t need to be. Great facial animations really bring the characters to life and help you to empathise with them. This is tale full of twists, cheesy one-liners and action filled cut-scenes.
Uncharted consists of three main gameplay components: shooting, platforming and, occasionally, puzzle solving. The shootouts are cover-based; you get behind an object, pop out and shoot. There is a huge chance that this would get stale but the great enemy AI keeps you on your toes. They will flank you, use all the weapons you use and get behind cover to make life really hard for you. The cover system works well, occasionally you stick to the wrong wall or pillar but it’s extremely easy to use.
Then there’s the platforming…pure bliss. Nathan leaps from pillar to wall to ledge with one beautifully lifelike animation; it looks so graceful and feels so good that those rare moments of camera problems are easy to forgive.
All this shooting and jumping can get a bit tiresome. And that’s were the puzzles come in. They’re often very easy, a quick peek in Drake’s diary often solves the problem, but they work well as moment of relaxation.
High praise here but the game is definitely not flawless; towards the end the gameplay relies a bit too much on gunplay, this breaks the near perfect balance between the serenity and calm of the platforming and puzzle sections and the frantic action in the shoot-outs that the early levels managed to maintain so well. Even though this makes it feel like the game is building up to a big conclusion it still breaks the game and must be said. Other minor quibbles I have with the game are the existence of a few weird animations, some texture pop-in and a hell of a lot of recycled character-models, every bad guy looks like the one standing next to him. There’s also some occasional slowdown, nothing that ruins the fun though.
All these minor problems really don’t matter when a game can look as good, sound as good and be as much fun to play as Uncharted.
David Henry 13/05/2008
3 comments:
Hi Dave,
just want to say , I read your review and enjoyed doing so.I realise it is still early days, but I make the following comment and hope that you see it as constructive criticism: the prose style is amusing and easy to read, but you have yet to find your own unique voice. I have no doubt that it is fermenting deep in your psyche, and will soon burst forth. Keep up the good work!
Reading these kind of posts reminds me of just how technology truly is something we cannot live without in this day and age, and I think it is safe to say that we have passed the point of no return in our relationship with technology.
I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Societal concerns aside... I just hope that as technology further innovates, the possibility of uploading our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's a fantasy that I daydream about almost every day.
(Posted on Nintendo DS running [url=http://kwstar88.insanejournal.com/397.html]R4 SDHC[/url] DS SysBro)
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