Paul Plays Playstation: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Yes, yes, <3 Elena, but I prefer the sassy brunette ex-girlfriend who inexplicably disappears halfway through the game.

There are three main segments to Uncharted games, and all are present here. One has improved significantly over past games, puzzling. The ancient riddles in these games have come a long way from their first iterations in earlier titles, and now are genuinely interesting to try and solve. Well, try and solve before you take too long and the game starts giving you blatant hints as to how to beat them.

The other two aspects? Combat is the “fun” half, where I’ve remarked that tougher enemy encounters can turn into puzzle like segments themselves as you decide the best way to take down five snipers, three armored shotgunners and a scattering of grunts.  There are some tough firefights here, and some cool environments to do battle in. I particularly liked the “pirate ship graveyard” area, which had Drake diving in and out of the water, and climbing on and off wrecked ships while fighting hordes of enemies.

Climbing has now become the “not fun” part of these games. It was innovative when the first game was released, as it was the most detailed the platforming style of gameplay had gotten, but over time the luster faded. Climbing sections either feel too linear, as there is practically a glowing path of protruding items leading up a wall, or too confusing, or in some sections you’ll be tearing your hair out to find your very first foothold in the room. Most tiring perhaps is the “unsound ledge” principle which has whatever pipe or bit or rock Drake’s holding unexpectedly crumble or fall. Though “unexpectedly” is no longer the right term, as when it happens dozens and dozens of times in every game, it doesn’t quite have the desired effect.

“I’m getting a refund from Carnival.”

I mentioned before that the environments are where these games really try and up the ante, as they’re content with their standard combat and climbing gameplay. Uncharted 3 is no exception, and as the second game blew away the first, leaving the jungle behind for a whole host of locales, the third game surpasses them both.

There are some truly astonishing sections here, namely a plane ride from hell that got a lot of airtime in the trailer, and also a matching boat ride from hell which got a lot of play in the demo. Pretty much if Drake is in a house, it will burn down, if he’s in a city, it will collapse and if he’s in a vehicle, it will get wrecked. The boat section in particular was quite stunning, as the shifting weight of its contents in the stormy open ocean made it fun to traverse, but when the ship pulled a Titanic and went vertical? The level design to pull something like that off effectively is astonishing.

I also enjoyed the end sequence where Drake escapes from the collapsing mystical city he was trying to discover. The platforming sections here are pulse-pounding, though I will admit I was more than a little annoyed when Drake shot one pillar with a few rockets and the ENTIRE CITY was somehow swallowed up into the earth as a result. I understand the need for constant destruction in these games, but come on. Is every environment in these games made of toothpicks and crazy glue?

I have to briefly comment on the multiplayer aspect of the game, which I didn’t play much, but was disappointed when I did because I was looking forward to some truly great cooperative gameplay, which I felt this series could really use. Rather than an actual story, it just seems like kind of a bonus mode as dollars rack up for every kill you make to buy upgrades, and the levels are nowhere near as complex as they are in the story with the graphics looking half as sharp. Also, rather than actually being splitscreen on a flatscreen TV, there are giant gaping black squares in two corners of the screen filled with your “badge” as it were. This not only shrinks the playable viewing area to about a quarter of the TV, rather than half, but we found ourselves staring at two giant pink hearts (our unmodified badge) as the most prominent objects on the screen. Terrible, terrible design, co-operative local multiplayer should have been a much larger, more well-thought out part of the game than it is.

Seriously? Weak.

In the end, Uncharted 3 is as much fun as the other two titles, and as perhaps the best franchise on the Playstation, that’s saying something. But even if the core fundamentals of each game are good, by the third time around you can’t help but feel it’s all getting a touch repetitive, which is why I’m glad to see Naughty Dog moving on to other projects.

Now, we just have to sit and wait for the movie.