A great game, with few complaints
Let me start off by saying that this game is great fun.
I'm a bit late to the party. I only got a PS3 about a year back, but I've been waiting for this game to drop in price, something I would have thought would happen well before now. That just shows how liked this game has been over the past two years. And while I don't completely disagree with all the rave reviews, there are few items that bothered me throughout the game that led to some frustrating moments, especially for a completionist.
GRAPHICS & CONTROLS & WRITING
The graphics are stunning, and the animations of the Drake as he bounds about imperfectly are amazing. Having just come from playing The Force Unleashed, it was refreshing to not be wrenched from the experience by poor walking/climbing movements. Drakes Fortune features incredible animations and motion capture, and I'll say I enjoyed it more than some movies I've seen lately.The control scheme was also perfectly laid out, I never had issue with how the layout worked and they kept it simple but fun, leaving out 10 hit combos and keeping with run & gun areas and quick take-downs.
The writing and story was enjoyable, but I swear the whole thing was a reshoot of Indiana Jones 1 & 3, sans Sean Connery. While predictable, the acting and writing was top notch - I found myself laughing along with the characters at times and once or twice jumped out of my seat towards the end of the game.
CHALLENGES
So all that good stuff aside, there are couple items that drove me crazy at times. I spent an inordinate amount of time exploring for the treasures (represented by occasionally shining points in places) and thought I did pretty well until the game finished. I found just over 2/3rd's of the treasures. That I can handle but the missing ones aren’t in difficult to reach places or requiring off-the-path exploration, they were just missed in the peripheral. I wish that the game let you explore more, for all the lush environments and creepy caverns; you're on a track that can't be changed. I spent plenty of time falling off ledges and hitting walls falling to my death because the game won't let you explore your surroundings. This leads to very obvious platforming and ledge-hanging, which would have been more exciting had there been false leads and even more difficult puzzles (the diary was a neat concept, but silly in practice as it requires no thought to use. It's an answer-book).FINAL WORD
I'm looking forward greatly to the sequel, not only because the first game was overall an enjoyable experience, but the inclusion of online Multi-Player will give more reason to keep it in the drive.Keep up the good work Naughty Dog, if half the games in the PS3 catalogue were as good as this game, I'd be broke.
