I hate to say this, because it has some of the coolest technology in the game, but the part with the pirates/rusty shipyard/cruise ship feels totally out of place and tacked onto the game.

The water mechanics are incredible, and the devs at Naughty Dog are amazing, but the whole thing felt more like a tech demo inserted into the game at the most random moment. In fact, it kind of feels like DLC because the only main character from the rest of the plot is Drake.

Considering the plot of the game picks up right after where Drake was kidnapped (back in Yemen), it feels like it could have been completely cut and nothing would have been missing from the plot. Instead of being kidnapped by the pirate boss, Drake escapes and goes to Elena's little hotel room. Boom. And we're back on track with the main adventure of the game.

I actually enjoyed the shipyard and cruise ship setpieces just because it was all visually so cool and, like I said, I really liked the water mechanics. And the idea of pirates tooling around in this massive luxury cruiseliner is cool. But, storywise (to channel Sully from earlier in the game) "I'm losing the plot here, Nate."

Who is this pirate boss? Why is he working with Talbot and Marlowe? Oh, who cares about any of that because he's killed off quickly.

Honestly, I really imagine that Naughty Dog had developed the water technology stuff and wanted to get into a game so they just Team Ramrod'ed it into this one where ever they could.

There are definitely a few parts during Uncharted 3 that felt rushed, obviously including their haphazard attempts to introduce some context behind the whole pirates & cruise ship set-piecin' besides ''look at the pretty prettiness''. It did look cool and all, but it was incredibly superficial; it was also home to some of the most frustrating gun battles during my first playthrough as well.

But then imo, Uncharted 3's story is rather weak overall compared to the prior two. No doubt because a lot of manpower was also put towards working on The Last of Us; it was their first time separating into multiple teams working on different projects, so I guess there had to have been some compromises here and there maybe. In any case, if The Last of Us turns out to be as great as it's shaping up to be, then any qualms I'll have over Uncharted 3's single player campaign may be forgiven :P

Agreed. It is pretty obvious that has nothing to do with the story.

But hey, if you make something that cool I guess you got to get it in the game somehow.

That section pissed me off for that exact reason, it wasn't necessary. To me, all momentum was lost, a better idea would've been to imprison Drake in Yemen, with a riot breaking out in the streets, forcing him to stealth his way out of the prison, contextually would've made more sense and could've added more character to Marlowe and Talbot.

Man, I hated that part. Probably where 90% of my deaths in that game came from. Came very close to not finishing the game.

Uncharted 3 is so disappointing and that section really shows why. I just finished that part and kind of don't want to keep on playing.

I felt very confused by that part. Suddenly I'm getting kidnapped by pirates and Drake is talking to their leader like he knows him somehow? Huh? And then you go through this long, frustrating and frankly really boring gun battle in the ship graveyard out in the middle of nowhere, only to go aboard a sinking ship so Naughty Dog could show off their (admittedly awesome) water tech. Yeah.

Uncharted 3 overall had a very rushed and kinda haphazard feel to it. It's like their brainstorming sessions had everyone going "Wait guys, wouldn't it be awesome if..." and then everything got put into the game. It came as no big surprise to me when Amy Hennig said that the story was written around the setpieces rather than the other way around. Characters are introduced, then suddenly disappear or are totally forgotten about until the very end of the game. Their motivations felt really muddy too. What exactly happened between Elena and Drake and why does she want to help him again? How come Drake trusts Chloe after she betrayed him in virtually every cutscene in Uncharted 2? Now, my memory of the game isn't that great, so I might be missing something, but the whole game felt both confused and confusing to me. A real shame. :/