Naughty Dog has really set the bar incredibly high. Uncharted was a success, enough so to warrant the creation of Uncharted 2. It had a subtitle too, but it might as well have been called Uncharted 2: Video Game Gold. That is plenty of reason to wonder about Uncharted 3. So many franchises take a fall or stumble because the developers don't really understand what made their first game good or what would really make the game better.
Its nice to see that Naught Dog seems to get it with Uncharted 3. There are perhaps a few things to gripe over.
GRAPHICS
Uncharted 3 uses the same engine as Uncharted and Uncharted 2. This isn't your standard Unreal Engine game. That is not to say anything bad about the unreal engine. It is certainly capable of making things look really good, but it tends to be a very common look. As such, it feels very much like the B+ of graphics engines. Uncharted really utilizes the technology well. It creates rich environments with impressive lighting effects, directional shadows from in-game lights, tons of beautiful water, and plenty of dynamic particle effects (smoke, mist and dust).
It also doesn't hurt that this game has good art direction. With the PlayStation 3 more than a half decade old now, it is this sort of combination that can still create genuinely impressive visual experiences. There is really nothing, visually, to complain about here. This game is beautiful from start to finish.
SOUND
The sound in this game is well handled, and its hard to know where to start, but I would probably choose voice acting. Video games have come a long way from poorly localized Japanese-to-English games to flatly spoken lines in the late 90's and early 2000's and now to the point where most games have decent voice acting. Uncharted ranks right up there at the top for believably voiced dialog and in-game sound engineering to create the feeling that it is being spoken in a tunnel, or at a distance, etc.
Sound effects in this game are generally consistent with previous Uncharted games, and the same can be said for the soundtrack. There is a general feel for all three of them. The Drake's Theme is catchy. The rest of the music compliments the visual and emotional feel of the game throughout. It feels like a well directed movie.
GAMEPLAY
The game play remains pretty consistent for the last few games, and while the experience is similar, the way they do things and guide you through the adventure does make it still seem fresh. For the most part, you are running around in third person, solving puzzles, climbing, jumping, and of course shooting. There seems to be a lot more emphasis on fisticuffs now. The cover system in the game is among the most intelligent of those games I've ever played. There is nothing more aggravating than diving into the wrong bit of cover, and while this will happen from time to time--its kind of unavoidable without mind-reading I guess--Uncharted seems to do a better-than-average job of saving you. Now included in the game is also the added mechanic of swimming.
STORY
The story of this game is a little far fetched as you SHOULD expect for a game within this genre. It takes everything about 1 step farther than Indiana Jones or to about the same of fantasy as your average Tomb Raider game. I probably would not be very sympathetic to someone who purchased this game and held this to the strictest level of believability, but rest assured this never quite goes to completely absurd levels. The action that occurs throughout is huge. You could call it highly improbable or lucky, but there are rarely those moments where you roll your eyes and think 'boy isn't that convenient.'
All in all, there is a good amount of intrigue to this plot, but no whiplash inducing wild plot twists and the story does a good job evolving as you learn more about Nathaniel Drake's back story and his fascination with Sir Francis Drake and Lawrence's past excursion. When thrown together with a good place along with the gameplay, it actually makes for a very engaging and consistently entertaining story line.
COLLECTOR'S EDITION STUFF
- Ornate box: This is in fact a box made out of eighth inch thick high quality card stock. It is a box and all the other stuff comes in it. Its curious that they took the time to embed magnets within it because it has a curious status of being probably the nicest box I've ever owned, but still a box and probably headed for the dumpster sooner or later.
- Nate Drake Statuette: This is a pretty good piece. Its color is without errors so it doesn't look like some of the cheap junk EA puts in their collectors editions, though I think the Batman Arkham City model has a look feel that is slightly nicer by comparison. Its probably most impressive because of it height. You could probably expect a piece like this to retail for about $35-$50 if it was in its own box at a convention.
- Belt Buckle: I don't believe I'm qualified to speak about belt buckles. It is in the box though and it doesn't look cheap. I imagine if you are a belt-buckle kind of guy or gal, this is pretty neat.
- Ring: Considering how central this is to the story for quite some time, and that Drake is wearing it pretty much the whole game, its kind of a neat thing to have. I have neither worn it as a necklace (included on a leather strap) or as a ring though. No comments if this will turn your finger green. I would just guess that it would.
MULTIPLAYER
Once you have beaten this game, you will have a good deal of fun with the online portion of this game. Most games that utilize cover become annoying to play in multiplayer. It appears to run on a peer-to-peer system, though its connection process is pretty smooth and the match-making generally does a good job to make sure everyone has a fairly decent connection. It is about as good as peer-to-peer can be, but it is inherently inferior to a server based system because someone will always be running around with the upper hand (aka, no lag). This isn't as bad if you are into playing cooperative games, but when you're playing a death match, it can be kind of annoying.
COMPLAINTS
I would like to call this, perhaps, 'if I had to complain about something.' If you recently played Arkham City, you will notice that this game doesn't quite have as fluid a combat system as that game. It is actually unfortunate that they were released so close to one another because if you play the game alone, it actually is not lacking, its just that your mind will compare it to the best. There are some changes to the multiplayer that I wish they hadn't done, and this has mostly to do with randomizing the objectives of the cooperative mode.
CLOSING OBSERVATIONS
I remember when Uncharted 2 came out, Video Game Trailer's review said that Uncharted 2 was a game that invented nothing new, but did everything that is fun in video games over the last 10 years, and does it well. Thats still very much the case with Uncharted 3. You can take any one of these aspects and look at the game through that one window, but it really isn't until you play the game that you get the whole experience. It is nice to see a game that fires on all cylinders. I would highly recommend that anyone who enjoys a good single-player game. The multiplayer can also be great, legitimate fun too.
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Reviews with images
Awesome collectors edition for any fan of uncharted!
Being a fan of the Uncharted franchise this thing is pretty damn cool to own. I'm excited to have it up on display.The package comes with:• A old closet looks maybe 18th century pretty nice design overall. It opens up to reveal the rest of the package. The closet is made of cardboard, a thicker smoother cardboard, it does have a nice quality feeling overall.• The Steelbook copy of Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception. Unlike most steelbooks which have a matte feeling to them, this one has a shined/polished feel. Which isn't bad by any means it still looks really cool and has beautiful designs all over it, including Nates ring from the games.Disclaimer: Due to the more polished feel of the steelbook, it really looks like it's more prone to getting scratched easily. Fortunately I keep mine in little plastic bags and I recommend you do as well.• Nathan's horseshoe belt buckle, which is wearable. It's made of medal not sure what kind.• Sir Francis "sic parvis magna" ring which is also wearable. It's pretty cool. The ring is made of medal as well not sure what kind. The strap in which the ring is tied onto is a suede material and will snap on you very easily so watch out for that.• Last but definitely not least, the Nathan Drake staue. At first seeing images of this thing online I wasn't too interested in it, but its actually really really cool! It feels good not cheap, has some good detailing. The stand it comes with I really like, which BTW you do have to put him on the stand yourself just by attaching his foot to a little peg and his gun (The Kal 7) from the game also must be attached to his hand just by sliding the handle into it.Overall I'm very pleased with this package as a collector of anything (Well most things) that has to do with uncharted and TLOU and of course being a Stan of the franchise. Pricing I see was fair, no complaints there.
