Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

The ps3 had a pretty rough start, and it took quite a while for it to get out of the rut it was stuck in. It's no secret and even Sony I'm sure would admit that the ps3 had a very awkward start.
Soon enough though, with all the updates and some much more memorable exclusives came churning in, the ps3 was finally starting to reveal its hidden potential.

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is possibly one of the biggest boosters to get the ps3 flying off the shelves. It's extraordinary graphics had set the stage for just what was on offer from the ps3.

Yes, Uncharted is quite a looker, well no it's not just a 'looker'; the games environments you'll traverse through are a source of great beauty that should stop you in your tracks just to take witness of its wondrous sunset, its many run down castle's and even just to check out the amazingly animated hunk that is Nathan Drake. But it still has more to offer--it may not equal to what its graphics can give but it's good enough to keep you entertained.

So graphically, it can simply be said as one of the best looking games around; artistically its wonderful to explore around and have the immersion just swallow you up and have you truly feel your traversing through a vast jungle. Well, a jungle with only one exit.

It certainly would be a success as say a piece of art for all to admire, but even the animations that brings the game to life is just as flawless. Nathan especially, he runs through realistically with his arms slightly keeping to a pace that shows Nathan is obviously a lil tired after this all, his erratic jumps all seem realistic with his fluid movements in the air to his even sometimes incredibly flawed landings. Nathan is no superhero, even if his acrobatics and unanimous luck with the platforming sections may give that vibe off - the animations of it all will reassure you some that he's having a pretty tough time through all this.

The gameplay that connects it all together is overall fun, though not incredibly varied, but still able to keep you going for the 9 hours or so the game offers. It all boils down to platforming sections which will then lead to some gun fights.

The platforming is very entertaining to watch, again for Nathans animations of flaying all over the place and jumping, falling and swinging in every direction, but it's all much easier than it looks to pull off. Sometimes you may even just need to constantly tap the jump button and Nathan will literally do the rest. There will be some troubles involving the platforming sections; pieces of rock falling down at you or even the object your currently hanging off will start to crumble, which will certainly add some needed tension, but again it's all very easy and almost comes to instinct as to how to avert from the danger.
The gun fights though will completely mirror the difficulty of the platforming bits. The gunfights play out like any 3PS, but with keeping in cover a major necessity, much similar to Gears of War. Staying behind cover you will then have to pop out and take aim at each of the enemies. Charging with a death wish isn't the best of tactics, but it's still an option if you start to get desperate. The cover you crouch yourself behind may also be destructible too, forcing you to make some quick thinking, either running to another piece of cover, making your stand and hoping for the best or even getting close enough to get some melee moves in.
The melee at first may seem rather useless, but soon enough it's just as helpful as your usual ''taking potshots behind cover'' routine. If there's only one guard, charging at him followed by some melee attacks can easily secure a victory.

Weapons to fight your way through the hordes of pirates and mercenaries is varied enough but not to anything spectacular. You'll have some standard merc weapons at first, ranging from 9mm handguns, AK's, shotguns and grenade launchers. As the game goes on you will come across some new and violent toys, but they're practically just cooler looking versions of what you've been using. Everybody's favourite shotgun the SPAS 12 Gauge will replace the shorter barreled MOSS, the M4 will replace the AK and so on.
Ammo for all these is rather limited, but fortunately the corpses you create will always be willing to supply you abit more killing juice.
You're able to have two weapons equipped, one for side arm--(handgun, Uzi ect.) while the other for primary--(assault rifle, shotgun ect.). You will sometimes find yourselve running out of ammo forcing you to run around and quickly keep trading through all the other weapons. Grenades are also available, but they're severely underpowered and are nigh useless for the most part.

With the destructible cover and very limited ammo it can only get harder thanks to the impressive AI. The enemies you come across have got appropriately tough AI to set Uncharted as a difficult game for most. There aim is almost always dead on and they will take cover themselves when given the opportunity. They will swerve around to dodge your shots and will constantly flank you if they have the men to spare, at that. The gunfights are intense and incredibly fun at first, but sometimes they will make a habit of dragging on with you taking on hordes of enemies to then after all are declared deceased, have another wave to come straight after. You may question just when will it end and the limited checkpoints among the firefights may lead to frustration should you die amidst it all. Melee however, actually one of the highlights, though there's very little to it. You have two combo's, one which just requires you to press the square button in quick succession while the other, called a brutal combo, is to press square, triangle, square in a steady pace. The animations for the fights are impressive and will show Nate doing dropkicks, plenty of punchs to the face and even mid air swipes.

Mixed with the platforming is also a few occasional puzzles, but what is surprising considering its theme of treasure hunting, they're almost insultingly easy, and while they brake up the pace they seem like they were implemented for just that purpose, not to give any satisfaction of figuring out a clever puzzle. Plus there's no hidden puzzles either to garner you some goodies; all the puzzles you'll come across are all holes in the path that have to be filled to further the story.

The story itself is a fantastic achievement. Not that it's entirely original--infact it's all rather predictable, and the twists won't leave much shock in your system. It's the characters themselves that manage to really pull the story along at an enjoyable pace. Nathan especially is almost impossible not to like. He may be like some sort of spiderman wannabe at times with unimaginable gun skills, but he still manages to come off as a very ''real'' guy with plenty of personality and plenty of grief to share with through all the life threatening situations he keeps finding himself in.

Which then leads to the sound. The sound is probably tied with the graphics as Uncharted's greatest achievement. The voice acting is impressive to say the least and Uncharted also features a very grand soundtrack of grand orchestral tunes to set the atmosphere. It reminded me of Circle of Blood in fact, it's soundtrack is that great. The enemies however do have repetitive lines and the voices are all basically your typical 'evil' one sided foreigners. But the notable characters are all performed well with Nathan, Sully and Elena all giving good chemistry with one another and ending up as a likeable trio.

The game as a whole, unfortunately, still carried with it the curse that most of the earlier titles were tied to - it's very short - again taking at most around 9 hours long and with not much to go back for unless you find yourself becoming a serious fan. There is at least achievments (and trophies now) to strive for which in turn can unlock a few tid bits such as character skins, graphical rendering and some documentaries concerning the development. It's satisfying to be awarded some of the tougher ones, but I can expect that just completing the game is good enough for most.
4 difficulties - one of which is damn near cruel - can also keep the completionists occupied too, but there's nothing notable that can bring you back; no minigames or alternate endings.

But still it all adds up to an affectionately memorable game, and one that finally allowed the ps3 to spread its wings. A graphical masterpiece with a wonderful cast of characters, it may be just worth a rental for some, but for others it can be seen as an exclusive to be proud of and is just the start of a franchise with a great deal of potential to only get better.