if like me over christmas you have been enjoying the adventures of the ever so present modernday tresure hunter that is nathan drake you just said wow how can this get anybetter but i have been hearing reports that a lot of people believe that the series is becoming dated and its just more of the same any opinions ?

Any series that gets to a number 3 will always have some critics call it dated or a synical attempt to milk the public for more cash - in some cases it's true... I haven't played Uncharted though.

in any opinion i will say yes uncharted 3 is more of the say but that doesnt have to be a bad thing i see uncharted as a cinematic experience that will just continue to get better and better.

Its not so much that the series is dated rather that the second game had more impact than the third. Uncharted 3 was a pretty spectacular game as a whole but there certainly was a creeping feeling of the game being just "more Uncharted". Not that thats a bad thing, but the second Uncharted blew people away when it was released.

in a way yes you right the second game was better but what stuck out about uncharted 3 for me is the fact its not about the tresure this time around and the fact you get more insight into nates and sullys past and its this type of thing that keeps me coming back for more.

I'd say they're equal, but that whole desert sequence is better that anything in U2.

@getgaming: You can use shift on you're phone or keyboard to make 1 letter after it a capital one, furthermore punctuation is something that should not be looked down upon.

But back to the point, what little Uncharted 3 I played was awesome so I'm just glad it was good :)

I completed Uncharted 2 a month ago. That is why I have decided to give it some time to at least the first price drop before playing the 3rd. So the experience of the 2nd isn't so fresh in my mind to hinder my enjoyment.

Uncharted 2 had a much greater impact on me but Uncharted 3 was every bit as good. Maybe even better. I really liked the brawling that they added and some of the combat scenarios and setpieces were really, really great.

I have played all three, and in my opinion Uncharted 2 was the best. I think when it comes down to it, Naughty Dog did a good job with the first game. The second game, they made great improvements and it was really hard to live up to it with a third game. Not to say that the 3rd game wasn't good, it just didn't have the same impact on me. After a while, the novelty of the game play and story will wear out. Was cool to see young Drake and Sully though, but cut scenes does not make a game. Let's just say that if they plan on a 4th game, I won't be holding my breath. I'll wait until it goes to the bargain bin.

I felt the game peaked a bit to early.I loved how the story was the focus during the first half of the game but then it just patters off in favor of set pieces during the second half. Still a good game but the second half was disappointing when compared to the spectacular first half.

edit: that said I think overall the second game had a better story but the third was better game play wise. That first half of uncharted 3 is better than anything in uncharted 2 but the second half just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Uncharted 2 did have more of an impact than UC3 but it's also just a better game.

UC3 's combat scenarios are not as well designed and the aiming is a lot worse.

Locations like London and Syria are just a bit crap whereas I can't think of a location that I didn't enjoy being in in UC2.

As the bombcast said whilst the whole boat/water bit is cool in UC3 it doesn't do anything for the story really slowing the games momentum down. In UC2 It always felt like you were driving the story forward.

I do think that all the cutscenes and character stuff is really good in UC3 up until about halfway through the game, around the boat part really, after that every things a bit more meh. I always enjoyed the character and cutscene stuff in UC2 though.

I'm also a weirdo who enjoyed the blue men in UC2 (I love the flood also) and was disappointed at the lack of more late game mega enemies but I understand why stuff like that might of been taken out for good reason.

The set piece stuff is very impressive in UC3 but just isn't as impressive as it was in UC2. Especially because of the wide media coverage a alot of the moments seemed to have. Also some of the set pieces like the horse/jeep chase feel a bit too much like they were just trying to one up set pieces from UC2.

I do keep thinking about what the reaction would of been if UC2 and UC3 had come out the other way around, would I be thinking the same thing or would I be disappointed at the scaled back set pieces in UC2?

I really enjoyed the third game, I was however slightly disappointed at the lack of a final battle so to speak. I feel however that this is perhaps indicative of intentional design decisions throughout the entire game and sentiments that can be found echoed in various facets of the UC 3 'experience'.

For example the main villain is less a maniacal person driven by violence to satisfy their greed and lust for power but instead the game opts for an antagonist that satisfies a point of adversity driven through Nathan's past. Various references are made to mind games and the cerebral impact that Marlowe has on Drake especially.

Without spoiling anything the enemies towards the end of the game and the various sequences that deal with isolation and other more left field characterisations of Drakes trials all play on this. The supernatural element is handled in a way that is a reflection of the internal predominantly or as its impact is in fact felt, in a more unobtrusive way. This is key in to me in differentiating this game from the second allowing it to stand toe to toe and perhaps a inch or two taller in some respects.

All these decisions were bold and make for a less radical game on the surface but I personally feel serve the series far better than a brash attempt at a simple upstaging would have been. On balance I think they did a fantastic job serving those who have played the previous games, there is something new here that the second game didn't necessarily offer. That was a damn fine game too though, It's all win win baby.

@thefreeman: I am playing through this for the first time. I am on Chapter 15, and have to agree with your sentiments.