Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
A Puddle Jumper review
Without a question of a doubt, Uncharted 2 is one of the best games that the current generation of consoles has to offer. So, obviously, a sequel had to happen. That came in the form of the game I am reviewing now. A game so anticipated, it made some people pee in their pants. But, were their wet pants worth it?
Katherine Marlowe is after the ring that used to belong to sir Francis Drake. Both Nathan Drake as Victory “Sully” Sullivan are on their way to an English pub, where they plan to pawn off the ring to Marlowe's right hand man, Talbot. More than obviously, they hustle the man and follow him back to his lair, where they seek to find clues they need. As it turns out, Drake, Sully and Marlowe share a history.
This history is used as an emotional anchor throughout the story, using it to strengthen our view of the bond between our two heroes. We follow them from one end of the world to the other, where they try to beat Marlowe to the prize. As they discover more about both the prize as Marlowe, everyone starts to wonder if it's all worth it. If it's worth risking their lives. However, Drake is quite adamant to see it through to the end, no matter what the cost.
Unfortunately, the history between Drake and Sullivan is the only thing worth a damn in the entire overall story arch. This time, once again, the main pull for the story comes in the form of the characters, and the stories between them. Although, at the end of the game, this will be more than enough to satisfy your thirst for story.
Naughty Dog itself admitted that they first thought of the Setpieces to use, before binding them together with a story. This weakened the story by miles, making it feel quite uninspired. For example, a large portion of the game is set on a ship graveyard and a cruise liner, that contributes absolutely nothing to the story. Nothing what so ever.
Now, if there are two departments where everything clicks, then it's the sound and graphical departments. Graphically, the game is absolutely stunning. Naughty Dog once again pushes everything to the limit. Jak 3 was the end limit of the Playstation 2, quite literally. Uncharted 3 is the same. It's simply not going to get any better. From the flaming mansion, to the fully rendered ocean, to the vast desert wastelands, it's just not going to look any better than this.
Soundwise, the score for the game is once again sublime in all areas. Not to mention the superb voice acting that, as in previous games, is performed at the same time as the motion capturing.
Boasting about these two departments seem to be a pointless effort these days, as they will always be the best of the best. Naughty Dog has a habit of never settling with anything but the best. However, this time, they did fail somewhat in the following department. The gameplay.
What made the previous installment in the Uncharted franchise such a hit, was the entire package. It had near perfect gameplay and a pace that kept the player energized and in awe, making it extremely difficult to put down the controller.
Unfortunately, this seems to be missing in this installment. Uncharted 3 switches gameplay around, so that melee combat in favored instead of melee. This, so that it accommodates more to the leveldesign.
Previous games in the franchise dealt with a similar design, where the gunplay is switched with platforming sections. Instead of building on that, Naughty Dog decided to focus on this. In Uncharted 3, the player is put in to the same situations as before, only more of it. The flow of the game has changed significantly to its predecessor because of it.
Now, shooting sections are rooms, pretty much, where wave after wave of enemies pour in. All the time they are increasing in difficulty. Not just in the amount of bullets they can soak up before falling down, but also because of their A.I.. Enemies, you see, are programmed to circle around or go in straight for the kill. This is where the hand to hand combat comes in. Sometimes the rooms are much larger in scale, providing you with the option of taking these guys down with stealth. But, that rarely happens as you plan, as there's always one guy that can see you. Then, the alarms go blazing, sending in so many enemies that it's maddening.
On the other hand you have platforming. This is still as solid as it has always been, but there are two additions that stand out. One for the better … one for the worst. First, the better. There are certain platforming sections where you need to climb and shoot at the same time. These are very well done and really get your heart pumping.
For the worst, we have the fact that floors hate Drake. With a burning passion. I have never before seen someone fall down on his face so much. In U2, Drake gets battered up quite nicely in the train level. Imagine that, if you will, all the frigging time. Without relent. Not to mention the fact that he gets tossed out of a plane, smack in the middle of a desert where he wanders around for days, eventually running in to enemies again. And guess what? He's as fit as he's ever been. Bull. Shit.
M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-multiplayer, then. Yeah, I'm not a fan. Not in the slightest. Gameplay is once again simplified to make it easier on the players and everything that was there in Uncharted 2 has been improved. But, it's just not that good. If it was working properly, then maybe it would have been fantastic. It's definitely a large and filled multiplayer, that can and probably will add loads of hours to your playtime, but … I don't know. It has the same problems that Assassin's Creed: Revelations had with its multiplayer. You will feel robbed.
The more you play the multiplayer, the more you start to get a feel for things. Grenades need to be this close for an instakill, players take this much bullets before dropping dead, they need to be this close before you can pull them down / kick them off. And in the end, everything feels so random. Lag is a huge factor in all of this, because sometimes, things just don't make any sense what so ever.
Final Judgement:
Whilst still one of the best games that the PS3 has to offer, it fails in one to many departments to be better than Uncharted 2. Whilst not a candidate for Game of the Year, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is still a game that you have to have played at least once in your life.
8/10
Now, where's that Subway when you need one.
No comments:
Post a Comment