I'm one of those people who prefers short games with momentum over long games that drag, and fortunately, Fusion is one of the former. I beat the game in just four hours, but every minute was incredible. Plus, I found only half of the hidden suit upgrades, so I know that at least another hour's worth of exploration awaits.
 
The Good: The pacing and the graphics, as I mentioned before. The level design. The boss fights. This is Castlevania set on a space station overrun by aliens, and I don't know what more any self-respecting gamer could want.
 
The Bad: Some of the writing and/or translation work. Some of the trickier hidden passages. Honestly, the biggest "problem" that I have with this game is that it's only received one sequel in the eight years since its release.
 
The Stand-out Moment: Coming face to face at last with the abomination that is Nightmare.
 
The Verdict: 9.0 (out of 10)
 
I played this game for a second time because I remembered it being totally awesome. It still is.

Fusion has incredible pacing: after less than half an hour, Samus already has both her missiles and her morph ball back. I was looking forward to re-playing this game even before I’d realized just how much better it would look on a DS than it ever did on a GBA!

When I was halfway through Uncharted, I had nothing but good things to say about the game. Unfortunately, that turned out to be where Uncharted peaks.
 
Once you head into the game's second half, environments start getting re-used and firefights start getting unfair, both of which contribute to a growing sense of been-here/done-this. Combine that with the game's unforeshadowed and unwelcome descent into survival horror in its final chapters, and you've got a recipe for what's perhaps the most frustrating type of game to review: Great But Flawed.
 
The Good: Everything I mentioned before. The controls. The lighting. The camerawork. The score. In the game's second behind-the-scenes featurette, it's noted that the game's composer also provided the music for Firefly. Considering the quality of the scores found in both, I'm not surprised.
 
The Bad: The handling of the story's villain characters. The bullet-sponge enemies. The big twist. In the game's first behind-the-scenes featurette, Naughty Dog's co-president notes that his team wanted to make a game that looked bright and felt different from all of the other shooters out there  "where you run down dark corridors and shoot monsters".  In that case especially, it's beyond me why Uncharted builds up to its climax by having you spend an entire chapter running down dark corridors and shooting monsters.
 
The Stand-out Moment: Drake running for his life straight at the player in an homage to Crash Bandicoot.
 
The Verdict: 8.5 (out of 10) 
 
However, if Naughty Dog had simply reduced the health of every enemy in the game by about 30%, I would've given it a 9.0. I find it hard to believe that there wasn't a huge amount of QA feedback screaming "THE ENEMIES REFUSE TO DIE!!". In a game where realism is your aim and indeed one of your greatest strengths, it's not the best idea to make your bad guys nigh-invincible!

Halfway through the first Uncharted, I've begun to ask myself "So... is this Ico with guns, or Prince without the Sands?" Either way, this game kicks ass: great writing, voice work, and facial animations; stunning environments, too. Well played, Naughty Dog... Crash and Jak are forgiven you!