Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Review (PS3)

PS3


NOTE: PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THE NATURE OF THIS REVIEW IS A BRIEF OVERVIEW GIVING YOU A SMALL IDEA AS TO THE GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE IN AS MANY AREAS AND WE'VE WORKED TO KEEP AND ARE CONFIDENT WE'VE KEPT THINGS AS MINIMAL AS POSSIBLE IN ORDER TO AVOID SPOILERS. PLEASE READ THEN AT YOUR OWN RISK! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! THANKS FOR READING!

By Neal "NeoMahi" Evans

"Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence

When I look back on the years past and the struggles in which Sony Computer Entertainment and the PlayStation have had to endure; harsh criticism of some supporting developers, of fans of previous consoles and critiques from within the gaming industry; and the press as a whole, it constantly amazes me what has transpired in so few years since the consoles launch so many years ago. But, I also remember as well—and again think back often, to the point at which things completely turned around for the PS3 as well—in November of 2009, not more than two years ago.

While the rest of the development community were complaining; of consumer adoption and numbers up against the competition, cost of the console as a result, complexity of the development tools; and Sony Computer Entertainment’s marketing of the console as a whole, there were other studio’s that set out to take on the challenge of the new hardware and unmask its capabilities using those challenges to learn, grow and gain experience. You also found the occasional developer speaking of how easy the tools were to use compared to previous experiences on older consoles—yes I speak of Itakgaki Tomonobu—but that the challenge wasn’t as so complicated as implied by others.

“Outside” development studio’s looked on in fear wondering at what cost it would be to develop within such unsure ground and what the repercussions of such a business decision would in fact be. Many would port to the console quickly to make some quick money and call it good, while others would develop for the competition and either; use additional resources; like profits from the first edition of that software to fund a port over a longer period of time, hire on a middle-man to work through the project for them handling the port or give up on the PS3 version altogether. But Sony continued on in support of the ten year lifecycle vision while Naughty Dog believed just as strongly in that vision as well, and that their goal as a development company was to push the console to its limits. Naughty Dog eventually introduced UNCHARTED: DRAKE’S FORTUNE to the gaming world hailed as one of the best looking games on the PS3 and in 2009 when Sony Computer Entertainment altered their approach a little bringing, Vice President of Everything, Kevin Butler on board and dropped the price of the PS3 to a ‘more affordable’ $299, UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES launched alongside that campaign and the two together carried a lot of consoles bringing Sony’s PS3 ‘Black Beast’ that could “Only Do Everything” into more homes and Uncharted 2 became not only critically acclaimed as the best looking game on the PS3, but also the best looking console game on the market to date and new gold standard that development studio’s then set out to make.

The overall perception of the console among third-party developers was starting to change and consumer interest had piqued at what this Uncharted was all about. Other development companies claimed they had met that bar or even exceeded them and maxed out the consoles but, I’m glad that Cliff Bleszinski stepped forward and spoke out that consoles had not been maxed out, as Crytek had claimed, but that there was still plenty of growth and not long after was Gears of War 3 released and viewed by many and excellent looking game; my opinion was it was the best Xbox 360 game I had ever seen to date. Even Crysis on the PS3 looked as though it were lacking and I’d certainly seen better.

Rumors began to surface, video’s and announcements were teased and we were finally let in on Naughty Dog and Sony Computer Entertainments secret and we knew without question that UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE’S DECEPTION was real but, the question on all our minds was that if Uncharted 2 had maxed out the PlayStation 3, then how could it be possible for Uncharted 3 to look or play any better? This question is what we’re set out to find in this review and I’m ever so thankful that I get to tell you, that Cliffy B. was absolutely right.

As well-- I remember, while viewing the 2011 E3 Sony Press Conference the intro video Sony opened with, the lyrics to the song on the new Jane’s Addiction “Great Escape Artist” album’s song ‘Irresistible Force’ lyrics as: “An irresistible force met the immovable object.” I sat and wondered exactly what that meant and as I sit here and write this review for you looking at earlier Sony releases this year, at Uncharted 3 and the games to come, all of those preconceptions or notions of yesteryear have just struck the immovable object (the PlayStation 3), and this year has been, in my opinion a testament to all of that with the sales continually increasing as history repeats itself as the PS3 receives its next price drop at the dawn of a new Uncharted game.

PRESENTATION & STORY

UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE’S DECEPTION overall doesn’t change the series’ core DNA by any means. It’s a game filled with a great plot presented in that good old fashioned pulp action-adventure genre that whips you around like a rag doll causing you to think and believe things one way and then completely flip you around and send you in a different direction, and it all makes sense and flows with ambiguity keeping you at the edge of your seat wondering what lies ahead. It’s difficult to put the dualshock down as you, as in other Uncharted games, become so invested in these characters and their unique, relatable average-man; or woman-like, characteristics in the sense that they are fallible, that they feel, have a sense of humor, have a life-long goal and aren’t some uncaring angry space marine set to eliminate the enemy in some Starship Trooper sort of fashion; I think is still fun sometimes with others included.

Uncharted 3 brings back that brilliantly created cast of our hero, Nathan Drake and his “dirty old man” father-like mentor Victor “Sully” Sullivan as well as some other well-known characters from previous games of the franchise pitting them up against a villain, or should we say villainess, that isn’t anything like what you’ve experienced before in an Uncharted game. Drake’s Fortune pitted you up against Gabriel Roman and his accomplice Navarro hiring on other men to carry out their jobs for them much like Lazarovic whom had the money and the resources at his command to seek at out what he wanted But, ol Zorin still had things he couldn’t do on his own, and he was reliant on Flynn, who was reliant on Nate. In Uncharted 3, Katherine Marlowe, voiced by the brilliant and talented Rosalind Ayres, is much more cerebral and is all about getting inside your head.

Marlowe is actually the current head of a 400-year-old cabal linked to Queen Elizabeth and her explorer Sir Francis Drake. She rallies her forces led by her right hand man Cutter, voiced my Graham McTavish (previously Lazarovic in Uncharted 2) with a pretty obvious resemblance to Jason Statham, stand in need of Drake's ring in order to uncover the secret as to the location of the 'Aram of the Pillars' or the Atlantis of the Sands, previously sought out by T.E. Lawrence during his visit to Arabia as a writer and British Solider still unable to find the Atlantis of the Sands himself. Nathan, whom has lost his ring to Katherine Marlow, is set after the same goal and again traverses the globe to many locations obtaining what he needs to accomplish his mission and is presented with a long list of sticky situations and a lot of pitfalls, quite literally, and struggles within himself as well as others throughout the journey.

Nate’s relationship with Sully runs much more deep this time around than any previous game, and is referred to by the games writer Amy Hennig as a ‘Bro-mance.’ The two fighting one for another in this search for Aram of the Pillars. It’s a lasting experience in which the games Lead Animator Josh Scherr, without an actual count by me, stated the cinematic cut-scenes of the game were comparable, in terms of length, to Uncharted 2 clocking in at a full feature film length of 1.5 hours which we loved and felt kept the story moving right along with that sort of interactive cinematic feel you’d expect in an Uncharted 3 game.

The games menu system is very straight forward complimented by the absolute genius of writer and composer Greg Edmonson scoring the game with an excellent and unique style to the series capitalized with the excellent talent of the symphony and Sony Sound Technicians working at the Skywalker Recording Studio in Southern California gifting Uncharted 3 not only with an excellent Dolby Digital track but, thanks to the storage capacity of blu-ray bonus’ you’re getting a DTS option as well as finally, the quality of voice acting the game exhibits with Naughty Dogs signature style that comes from Gordon Hunt directed mo-cap and carefully inserted ADR work. There are also more audio tracks in more languages and a lot more subtitles than previous ventures. The whole thing altogether completes the presentative work the studio and teams have crafted truly giving you that cinematic experience that could keep so many at home within their own home theatre in awe and laughter at all the comedic comical relief brought to the game by Nolan North. Yes, “kitty got wet.” PRESENTATION (10)

GRAPHICS (3D)

Naughty Dog carries on the tradition of what you would expect from an Uncharted game filled with beautiful vibrant colors that pop, accenting the breath-taking cinematic set pieces and level designs filled with top-notch animation and textural detail that would cause your eyeballs to melt and drain from their sockets as though you were in the presence of some being of extravagant light and holiness. When someone may have told you Uncharted 3 looked like Uncharted 2.5, you best put that crap out your head right now and rethink what has been told to you.

HEAR ME NOW! This is Naughty Dog we’re talking about here in this current generation of consoles, alright? When Naughty Dog has told you that (in this console generation) their goal is to set the new gold standard for limit pushing, you listen and believe them. They say they’ve optimized Naughty Dog Engine 2.0, but that almost seems like an understatement.

Everything they do with Uncharted games are all in-game engine meaning that cutscene’s aren’t exactly on some other level. No, everything is created equal here. Naughty Dog have worked insufferably long hours putting their animation crew together working with the equally as talented programming crew with animations that really add that mortal man feel to Nate; trying to maintain balance on a wave-tossed cruise ship, jumping from a high point and upon standing from the fall grabbing his arm or the impact and trying to brace himself from a fall from an explosive shock, which happens a lot, as well as shielding his face more and more the closer you become to flames, ash and flame embers and smoke the behavior of that water swishing back and forth in the pool or draining off the top of the boat, Nate both climbing and stumbling down the side of the hill, sand collecting in his hair and on his clothing and the wind blowing it away (much like water drying in previous games), as well as attention to detail as Nate’s feet sinking into sand at every footstep and his footprints trailing. It was also interesting to see even during desert sequences as Drake was parched that he'd wipe away the corner of his mouth in total thirst to stumble about in the heat or even if you stop, he'll sort of bend over catching his breathe. The list goes on so much that I can’t list them all here. Even facial animation is beyond Uncharted 2. Sand carries by the wind whichever.

I can’t help but compare such detail to that of Gears of War in which in my review of it, stepped into puddles at the start of the game with no splash feeling dead, or blood staining my armor as it did in Gears of War 2 and more memorable my environment. Looking into the sky and seeing a sun but clouds that looked as though they’d been water-colored up there were Uncharted 3 displays the clouds above your head drifting and moving in the wind.

The lighting of Uncharted 3 best shown to you at whichever point during E3 in which he turns the corner off the deck with the light hitting him and splitting cutoff by his body and the shadow work from that lighting. The physics engine, pay close attention to you as your footing is blown out from under you and crumbles of you take out a pillar and watch it crumble. Naughty Dog have re-written the engine in area’s to allow new technology to work along with the 3D as well the creation of more moving environments like the plane sequence as well as the horseback sequence. Also, there’s a puzzle that requires you to work with a statue holding a golden shield. Take the time to really stop and look at the lighting working with that shield. There are a lot of area's be in carrying a torch or being in a lighted room that will cause to shock and amaze.

When it comes to the games 3D, all I can say is that if you have a 3DTV, you’re extremely fortunate and lucky to have one and I strongly recommend you use it. Uncharted 3 is the Avatar of 3D gaming and Sony, it being their tech, easily uses it best. Its setup in comparison to Microsoft’s Gears of War on Xbox 360, you simply turn on the 3D in the options display menu and adjust the 3D depth and your ready. The television and PS3 will take care of the rest. (We used a Samsung and Sony Bravia with the PS3 SYS-LINK) The Xbox 360 was a more complicated process in which we had to go into the TV options and select the proper setting after initiating the 3D within the game and then upon the games completion we had you had to shut off everything the same way. It’s the Mac versus PC syndrome is which the PC takes several more steps to accomplish the same task than the Mac. The 3D is simplistic as is with all other PS3 games and Sony can clearly do it better. Again, Uncharted 3 is the Avatar of video games. Uncharted 3 once again sets the new gold standard for video games not only as the best looking PS3 game, but once again the best looking game on any platform.

GRAPHICS & 3D (10)

GAMEPLAY

Gameplay is much like you'd expect from an Uncharted game in the sense that its still all about cover based shooter action gameplay, leaping from ledge to ledge, swinging from a vine ale George of the Jungle, solving puzzles and collecting treasures.


What's so different this time around with Uncharted 3 is its newly revamped melee system as well of more of those great sort of moments from Uncharted 2 that we really don't want to cover too much and spoil the experience for you. When I first started playing through and really got a good hands on experience with the melee system, I couldn't help but notice how much it reminded me of Shenmue from those great days back on the Sega Dreamcast as well as my time playing Batman: Arkham City and really caused me to worry about going back to play Batman and that the melee system was going to feel clunky and unpolished like Uncharted 3 was. But, there's nothing like leaping off a ledge pummeling your enemy, stealing his gun and bashing him in the face with his rifle stock, grabbing an object and bashing him in the face or pulling the pin on his grenade and kicking him back watching him scramble for his life and go flying in there air. The new system with the grenade's I found awesome as well as you can grab the grenade and huck it back at your enemy. The bottom like is that the new melee system is everything you could have ever hoped for in a game.



The puzzle system in Uncharted 3 is a blast as well. You're still going about solving those puzzles by using a journal as well as you had in previous Uncharted games. The puzzles aren't overly complicated but still cause you to think and if you get stuck, the game will help you solve them, though I strongly suggest you think it through and do it yourself. Its awesome and a gratifying feeling to know you stuck it out and did it on your own.


The boss battles, I guess I would call them, are excellent as well and bring back to memory those awesome moments of Uncharted 2 much like the train sequence that are all excellent right up until the final encounter. There were a few moments in the game in which I found myself getting a little upset but just from difficulty of the game, which was great, rather than design and I relish all of those moments.


The controls for the game are tight and responsive. I thought back to my replaying of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and how buggy the cover system really was and how Naughty Dog have really refined that system. As well, for the first time, in the controls option menu, you can adjust the sensitivity of your cross-hairs as well and invert your controls if you so choose too. I cranked the sensitivity up though and did well.


I really want to talk about many of the moments of the game as far as how they've taken the train sequence of Uncharted 2 and really applied that to Uncharted 3 as there are many moments more much like the train sequence that really just blow your mind, but will wait until a different day in an article in which we can talk about spoilers.


At the end of the day, its just a big step forward for Naughty Dog and is executed brilliantly. The multiplayer is as important as well but, we're going to have to save that for a different day as well as I've been unable to play through the Co-op portion of the game. But, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception gameplay will meet all of your expectations and I'd dare even say obliterate them. You can play through the campaign probably in about 8 hours on normal but, seasoned Uncharted fans I would suggest playing though on Hard giving you a excellent 10-12 hours. There are some one-hundred treasures to find, medal's to be earned in multi-player and trophies to collect in the game that are filled with many we've seen before in Uncharted 2 and Drake's Fortune but, also throw in plenty of new ones as well giving this along with the multiplayer bringing you back begging for more. I'd finished the game in 3D with a few moments of 2D and am set to go back through again solely in 2D. There's a lot of reasons to keep coming back even just to play Single player.


On a side note, Naughty Dog have completely done away with the cash system, as far as single-player goes, and as you play through the singleplayer campaign, you'll unlock all the bonus' you get such as the Featurette's, Art Gallery and Cutscenes allowing you to focus your funds on multiplayer and decking out your arsenal as customized character.

GAMEPLAY (10)

OVERALL

I believe this is our first perfect score to date but at the end of the day, I find it difficult to do this masterpiece justice. I fear that it will become the game that sits on store shelves and so many glance at it and then move on. It an experience unlike any other created by a development studio that really knows how to put their heart and soul; sweat, blood and tears giving it there all. I didn't expect Uncharted 3 to be as big of a leap over Uncharted 2 as I now see it is. Its a game that when you show off your PS3, is the disc that belongs in the tray and is the Avatar of the PlayStation 3 in more than one way. Naughty Dog have once again set the bar for the new gold standard not just on the PS3, but for console gaming as a whole. They've truly done it again.

Its a really engaging experience and has been perfected one step at a time and it seems that on the third try, Naughty Dog really nailed it. There are so few games that can emotionally grip you and continually keep you investing your time into it. I wish I could do the whole 'Paul' thing touching your forehead and causing you to see what I see because, its one wild ride and is unmatched by any. Uncharted has easily become my absolute favorite franchise this console generation, that actually started out as a HUGE Gears fan.

This is a game that will be remembered through the ages and even a game the competition won't be able to resist asking themselves how Sony is able to find such talent. Its a game that the Xbox 360 gamers will covet eternally as it is an experience second to none. Naughty Dog have really outdone themselves again.

If you're still reading this review, STOP RIGHT NOW and get out of here and GO BUY THIS GAME--NOW! 

So, happy gaming and keep checking back as we bring you all things Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception, all things PlayStation and all things gaming keeping you inside the X-Gaming Zone every day right here online at the XZONE!