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Topic: Uncharted 3: Drake's deception (Read 1401 times)
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Jeff Kelly
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6921
I'm an apathetic, hedonistic, utilitarian, nihilistic existentialist.
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My local electronics superstore sold the game early so I had a chance to pick it up yesterday.
Summary up front: If you enjoyed Uncharted 1 and 2 then you won't make a mistake buying and playing 3. It's more of an evolution than a revolution. You'll be instantly familiar with the characters and the control scheme and story and game play wise it's more of the same that made Uncharted 2 such a great game. Don't expect something radically different (or better), though, because Uncharted 2 is still the better game, at least in my opinion.
Having said that I quite like the game so far. I've loved Uncharted 2. In my opinion it is one of the best games yet and you could easily make the story into a movie or mini-series. Uncharted 3 doesn't grip you in the way Uncharted 2 did, in fact the intro to three is a bit boring in comparison. After the first chapter however things pick up speed and it doesn't take long until you are once again climbing up walls while shooting at and chasing bad guys (or being shot at and being chased by them).
Naughty dog have a knack for crafting scenes and Uncharted 3 is no exception. Every level they did shows an exceptional attention to detail and they focus their attention in every outing to make a certain scenery look great (1 was jungle, grass and water, two was snow, three is desert and sand). The levels are, however, built in the same way as in previous installments. They are beautiful and great to look at but you usually have only a single path through a level with staircases being conveniently destroyed and doors locked.
The game is now in 1080p which is noticeable. The graphics are just a tad better than uncharted 2's though. The game also offers a 3D mode which I couldn't test yet because the manual doesn't tell you how to activate it and the game can't be bothered to show me any 3D option even though I have a 3D capable TV. I expect it to be nothing more than a gimmick though.
After El Dorado (Uncharted) and Marco Polo's treasure and Shangri-La (Uncharted 2), Nathan Drake is now searching for the "Atlantis of the Sands", hidden in North Africa and supposedly uncovered by Sir Francis Drake and later T.M. Lawrence (from Lawrence of Arabia fame) while fighting against a secret shadow society that want's to protect that secret (or have it for themselves). It's the kind of plot you'd expect from Uncharted but it's more linear and less crafted than the plot of Uncharted 2.
It is quite a bit shorter than 2, though. I'm now three hours in and the game already puts me at 50% completion. Expect the 10 hours stated in reviews to be a optimistic estimation on the length of the game.
This makes me a bit sad because it makes Uncharted 3 another victim of the "let's shorten the single player campaign so that we have more time to focus on multiplayer" stance on gaming. A lot of time and effort has gone into Uncharted's multiplayer (that just like Uncharted 2's multiplayer nobody will play anyway, with Battlefield 3 and MW3 coming out at the same time)
I'll probably never get why every game needs to have a multiplayer option even though it doesn't make much sense and most people won't play it ever. It makes me sad because Uncharted 2 was such a brilliant game exactly because it had more story and you can tell that Uncharted 3 suffers a bit from being too short and from the focus not being 100% on the single player campaign.
The game feels easier than 2. I've probably died less often and had to replay sections less often than with two. The game sections and levels are also shorter than in 2. So no extensive race through a half destroyed nepalese town while being chased by bad boys and tanks. Comparing it to 2 there were a few scenes that were similar (lots of bad guys, rocket launchers, scenery that crumbles while you race on) but seemed to be less difficult. For me it feels odd because on Normal difficulty Uncharted 2 wasn't that hard to begin with and it somehow dampens the rush and the excitement that made the action in Uncharted 2 such a great experience.
The game begins with a bar brawl and shows you the unarmed controls before you fire the first shot. This is intentional. The way the NPC AI works (NPCs now advance more quickly on your cover and from different directions) you'll be doing much more unarmed combat than before. This is because the controls for taking cover and shooting haven't improved (they are basically the same as in 1 and 2) yet you now have even less time to aim and shoot before they are on top of you.
Uncharted 3 is a worthy sequel and for those of you that liked two and/or one buying it is probably a no-brainer. It suffers from too much focus on multiplayer though, efforts that should have been spent on honing and extending the single player experience in my opinion. Then Uncharted 3 could have been a truly exceptional game because it already is a great sequel that has everything one loves (and probably hates) about the predecessors. I wouldn't shower it with the same unabated praise, though, the gaming mags and sites did.
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Segoris
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2637
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Nice BiiF, it sounds like it is about everything that was to be expected from Uncharted 3, right down to the time investment on multiplayer. though I'm glad to hear that it is still an overall good game still.
I read another review saying the money earned in co-op mode is usable in competitive mode, I'm not sure how i feel about that yet, but my first thoughts are that it is good for those who aren't first-day purchases of the game.
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Azazel
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Thanks for the review - I'll definitely pick it up when it gets cheaper instead of early on. A real shame, too. Uncharted 1/2 was a great SP game.
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Nonentity
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2301
2009 Demon's Souls Fantasy League Champion
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I'm 5-6 hours into the singleplayer at this point.
I honestly think the only major downside I can say about it at this point is that it isn't as much of a generational leap as 1 was to 2.
Sure, there are a few combat scenarios that ended up being kind of obnoxious, but I haven't been able to put the game down in one six hour sitting. That's what I come to Uncharted for, and it delivers in spades just as easily as 2 did.
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But that Captain's salami tray was tight, yo. You plump for the roast pork loin, dogg?
[20:42:41] You are halted on the way to the netherworld by a dark spirit, demanding knowledge. [20:42:41] The spirit touches you and you feel drained.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Count Nerfedalot
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1041
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Wow, he's sure getting old. 
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Yes, I know I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
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