Spiderman and his cheesy melodrama return.
I was once under the conception that the film and video game mediums were separate genres and were – to the delight and hope of us many gamer entities- to never be intertwined. Uncharted series has been exceeding at this contrived art for the past two games, almost to the extent where I’m watching a movie with a button element. The arrogant bastards at Naughty Dog–to no surprise- transcended the third release desperately further as monotonous twists in the environment fall into the story of the level design, creating a familiar experience that’s exhausting. Oh so you wanted something new? Nah.
I think the real question we contemplate is: Why is Naughty Dog not giving away complimentary popcorn with each purchase of Uncharted 3? The onslaught of eye rolls complimented this stupid grin I had while I played. You will like it; you will hate yourself for liking it. It’s very sharp the way Naughty Dog pieced together this terrible script. A corny alleviation, if you will. As you watch the story press on, Drakes one dimensional character is complimented with an extra dimensional layer of background. This feels half forced, half relevant. I will not spoil any of it, but it can give some much needed depths to these cheesy characters. The tale proves to be something enjoyable but still drops some sour notes. I like where the story took itself in some areas, but the bickering amongst characters (which I adored from the previous) Became tiresome in its ‘attempt’ to retain some of the previous enjoyment.
Game play design returns to embody the contrast of identical, which I’m fine with, if the entertainment of environmental factors remained, which they do. This seems to be the life blood of your short experience in Uncharted 3. Put a cliché level into the game then inject it with a Jose Conseco level of steroids, and go through the linear ride; A ride that usually involves these 4 elements: Gunplay, climbing, occasional puzzle and necessary environmental twist that has you racing to a specified location. That last one gets milked like the cow it is.
To digress, I was thoroughly pleased by the overall presentation Uncharted delivered. This surpasses the Uncharted 2 precedented level of visual treatment. Almost to an extent where as without the graphics, this game would topple Jenga style. Uncharted 3 also manages to do something that most games claim to have but don’t actually deliver, Atmosphere. Nathan’s adventure takes you to the most pristine environments ever located in my time in video games, from the sun baked juiceless drought of the rub’ al Khali desert, to the sea-sickening buoyancy of a soon to be sinking gargantuan ship, needless to say its stunning. On its tail is the occasional pop-up, but ignore that fact, Uncharted 3 is the greatest looking game on a console.
Summary:
Uncharted 3 is an amazing experience, again. But acknowledge that it is more like the previous. As Uncharted 2 provided something new and shocked us all, Uncharted 3 brings more of the same, which admittedly I’m fine with. If you’re interested in an extremely interactive movie, look no further, or if you just want more Uncharted, enjoy.
