365//365: Day 006 – Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)

Back in my day, we didn’t have no “good Indiana Jones games”. Back in my day, if you wanted to decipher numerous puzzles, go treasure hunting and perform death defying leaps, you played Tomb Raider, and every atrocious sequel after that. That’s the way it was and we liked it!

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Actually, we had no real alternative. While Tomb Raider innovated in the form of its gameplay, pacing and lead character choice, no one else wanted to step up and steal the crown, or even push for competition, especially after some abhorrent sequels on Tomb Raider’s behalf. Hell, even Indiana Jones failed in his own gaming exploits. So while Lara Croft slowly faded into mediocrity, fans of treasure hunting and Indiana Jones type story-lines and gameplay were left behind. It wasn’t until years later, Naughty Dog decided to pick up where Lara Croft had once dominated with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Was Naughty Dog able to establish their new franchise as the new gem of the gaming world, or are we still on the hunt for the next big treasure?

Lets take a look at our tour guide for this adventure – Nathan Drake. Naughty Dog went to great lengths to make him feel as life-like as possible. He looks nearly photo realistic with clothes that, although its predetermined, folds and bends when he walks, blurring the line even further between real and computer generated. His voice matches his look, every line comes off with legitimate emotion, and becomes one of the most believable characters you’ll encounter in a video game. Throughout the game, you’ll notice that Drake comes off as a bit cocky, yet bravely pushes forward through some crazy twists and turns and shows more ranges of emotion than Robo Croft, or most other characters you’ll encounter in any other game. He’s not as powerful a character as Indiana Jones, but you’ll find your attachment for him will grow more and more as the game progresses.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a visual marvel, with some of the most beautiful backdrops in any console game.

As I mentioned, Nathan Drake looks almost photo realistic. The rest of the game looks absolutely gorgeous as well, with only a few minor blemishes. You spent a large amount of time in a lush, fully realized jungle setting, with enough variation between the foliage, the trees, leaves and branches to eliminate the feeling of visual repetition. Branches and leaves sway around, helping provide the illusion that you really are in a living, breathing jungle. When you swim back to land, you see your clothes reflect this with a darker tint to it. Interiors look appropriately detailed, shaded and overall fit the mood to a near perfection. Two minor issues I had though, were how glossy the scenery comes off as on occasions (especially throughout the jungles), and the amateurish explosion and fire effects.

Matching the stellar visual presentation is an audio presentation that you’d swear came out of a blockbuster action film. The musical score is filled with emotion, perfectly bending with anything going on at any given time. Most times it feels more of an action related vibe with the music rather than an adventure, but regardless, its undeniable that there is a rich and quality set of tracks you’ll encounter throughout the game. The voice acting is top notch, conveying emotion and quality with each line spoken. The quality of the script as well goes above and beyond anybodies expectations, as you get gripped hard and pulled along with Nathan Drake throughout his adventures with solid scripting, excellent acting and the idle banter that comes up every so often.

Running Nathan around during his adventures, you’ll notice quite a few nods from the Tomb Raider series, including ledge shimmies, ledge to ledge jumping and more. For the most part, getting around by means of ledge jumping works well, with little frustration. In fact, the only frustration comes in the form of occasional disjointed camera placement and frustrations trying to find the initial wall ledge to jump onto.

Combat mostly revolves around a cover system, which for the most part, works well enough, though you'll encounter plenty of moments where enemies flank you hard, rendering you cover useless.

Combat, however, is one of the few weak points, or head scratching oddities you’ll encountered in Uncharted. Weapon variations are there, but you really don’t feel like you’re picking up something significantly different from the next weapon you pick up. The cover system works fairly well, however even on lower difficulties, enemies will often flank you, rendering cover useless on occasions. That’s not necessarily a problem, as I do enjoy aggressive enemy AI patterns that actually give effort. The problem is it renders cover nearly useless in a lot of situations. The hit detection and damage absorption by enemies seems a bit off as well. There were times where I’d shoot an enemy point blank in the chest from a distance, see the bullet trail lead into his chest, and he doesn’t get hit. Not only that, but head shots seem to give a random percentage of success, whether they hit or miss. Sometimes I’ll hit one guy in the head from medium range with a handgun shot and he’ll reel back but not die. Other times I’ll shoot my AK-47, fire two shots that whiz by an enemies head, and they die.

Then there’s some weird oddities with animation both in natural, and AI induced forms. When going from idle to either a slow creep or jog, you ice skate forward slightly before you get traction and properly walk around. Then there’s these annoying and just plain goofy evasion animations enemies perform when you shoot at them. Not only that, but they perform it a few times in successions, which looks and feels unnatural. When they get hit, they do an over-dramatic staggering towards a random direction, and then right back to their normal AI routine. Sometimes, a random explosion goes off behind a gunner turret and kills the guy on it, unprovoked and unknown as to how it happened.

The platforming segments are never dull, offering some breathtaking moments and some edge of your seat suspense.

There’s no question that Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune has some impressive production value and contains a fresh and engaging story-line that hooks you in and won’t let you go unimpressed. The AI oddities, underwhelming weapon selection and some minor graphical/animation issues don’t hurt your experience as much as you’d think, thanks to such a quality audio/video/story combination. Although there’s not a huge incentive to play the game again immediately after you beat it (trophies and treasure hunting are not really a hook for me) you’ll definitely find yourself coming back soon after, like any exceptional game you’ll encounter. If you still have not played Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, you need to do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

Rating: 9.0