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    Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

    Game » consists of 11 releases. Released Nov 01, 2011

    On an expedition to find the mythical "Atlantis of the Sands" in the heart of the Arabian Desert, Nathan Drake and his partner, Victor Sullivan, encounter a deceptive organization led by a ruthless dictator. Terrible secrets unfold, causing Drake's quest to descend into a bid for survival.

    cyclonus_the_warrior's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PlayStation 3) review

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    Fails to capture greatness that was Among Thieves.

    Fortune seeker and adventurer Nathan Drake along with his best friend Sully fall victim to a botched exchange, that was being fronted by Sully's former business associate Marlowe. The duo pursues Marlowe to her hideout where they learn of a failed voyage lead by Sir Francis Drake, an ancestor of Nathan. This leads them searching for a lost city located somewhere in the Middle East. -summary

    When I heard Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception was slated for a 2011 release I did not come into it with built up expectations. In fact, I prepared myself for just a regular outing because I felt there was no way this sequel could equal much less surpass the greatness that was Uncharted: 2: Among Thieves. Even coming in like this, I couldn't help notice how this game shot itself in the foot so many times. Uncharted developer, Naughty Dog, definitely delivered another very beautiful game. Unfortunately at the same time they not only took a backwards in regards to the combat, but they expose the Uncharted franchise's one weakness that any objective gamer should have seen coming, and that's the game play formula. I mean just how many situations can be created pitting Nathan and company in bridge and building collapsing dilemma's until it all feels routine and silly? Well, Uncharted 3 indeed answers that question along with delivering a mixed story to boot.

    Game Play:

    The game is still a third person shooter, action and adventure that heavily relies on Nate finding cover and picking off enemies. While he's not doing this, either he's solving puzzles to uncover some type of lead, or engaging in daredevil plat-forming moving from point A to B. Those whom have played the first two games are going to find themselves in very familiar territory for the most part. The series saw such an upgrade from the first game to second, and received so much praise for it; that it boggles the mind on why Naughty Dog would even dare to alter their winning formula at all. Here's one of the things that really annoys me about the game play and it's the melee system. This portion of the game didn't need fixing as it was just fine in the 2nd game. Now there's more of a focus on it to the point where it's clearly forced. Naughty Dog knew that most players would rather shoot their enemies, so they program many of the enemies to rush you and engage in QTE fist fight's. It's a mediocre feature from the jump off, and it becomes damn annoying and boring by the 50th altercation. It just involves the player mashing a single button, and hitting two others whenever prompted to, and this just really wasn't fun to me; and to make matters worse, the shooting enemies have such amazing marksmanship they never hit their friend from any distance while they're shooting you.

    Naughty Dog just seemed intent on walking backwards. The combat is flawed again as enemies show no reaction towards getting hit with bullets anywhere on their body, and can they soak up bullets. To top it off, during every encounter there's some over-powered enemy with a shotgun approaching you with intentions to get a one shot kill on you. So while in the second game the battles felt more random and unpredictable, here they feel more scripted and predictable which hurts that sense of immersion the second game had down to a science. Plus, like everyone else, these slow walking shotgun handlers take so many bullets to down, this also includes head shots that aren't always easy to get thanks to the return of that bad targeting system. These things are made even worse, since there is obvious cover in some places Drake isn't programmed to use, and as a result while you're fighting to hide and cover, you're taking damage leading to your demise. Among Thieves is just so much more polished here and believable in the way enemies attacked you. That game also had armor wearing goons with shotguns, but not even they always rushed you though.

    Despite these glaring flaws, I can't lie and say that I didn't have fun with a lot of these battles. The game throws some pretty good encounters at your way with plenty of snipers, vehicles mounted on collapse-able platforms, plus one of my favorite settings being an abandoned ship yard, where you can create your own unpredictable battleground. I didn't feel like I was playing Drake here, I felt like I was Drake as I climbed platforms, shot up or beat the hell out of enemies, then dived right back into the water planning my next big hit to take down as many enemies as possible. It felt like a true battle where luck played just as much a role as skill. There are fast paced vehicle stages to be found here that I won't spoil; but I'll say they were just as fun as in the second game.

    The puzzles have also gotten better with at least one stalling me for a few minutes involving a world map. The plat-forming segments have their moments of fun but these really could have used an upgrade instead of the melee combat. For example, there are chase scenes injected in the various plat-from segments that either requires Drake to run away from people or chase someone. The set designs are so huge and it appears that you can take numerous routes to avoid capture; but it quickly becomes painfully obvious that the scenery is all show with only one path Drake can take. These moments feel limited and there should have been effort expanding on this.

    Now speaking of the plat-forming portions; like I mentioned earlier they reveal the weakness in the game play formula and it hurts the story too. It appears every door is locked, and climbing is always the option and you can now predict when that loose brick is falling or some of the landscape collapsing. Yes it does look very cool but I rolled my eyes just as often at the silliness of it all. It gets old really, really, fast to see Drake once again holding on for dear life with a single hand.

    The second story could never be accused of originality, but the story and subplots in this game couldn't be even more derivative as Naughty Dog shamelessly apes off one of the Mummy movies along with Batman Begins. If that wasn't enough, the bad guys add little to the overall plot with that pirate whom appears mid-story being the best example as a throwaway character; and another thing, I just couldn't help notice how robotic the grunts feel. They even stand and fight to the end in burning buildings and sinking ships. Just how good were their bosses paying them?

    I don't believe I'm exaggerating when I say that the plot and many twist in this game feel copy and pasted. This story is in shambles and it feels less coherent with some things left unresolved such as one man named Talbot appearing to teleport I think. Plus the whole thing concerning Drake's greatest fear. The characters on Drake's end is part of what salvages this story into something worth viewing; Drakes development, origin, and his father-son relationship with Sully are indeed highlights, along with the story concerning Sir Francis Drake's motive. So there are good things to look forward to.

    Multi-player:

    There's a co-op mode that I didn't really find to be fun at all since the AI was just terrible. There are certain enemies who's only purpose is to run straight to you for a choke. You will found yourself having to shift your attention to them constantly. This was pretty annoying for me. The multi-player has the Free-For-All, Survival, etc, plus you can build your character; but the problem here is that newbies will be at a huge disadvantage against those who spend more time in multi-player. In the end though, I found it kind of addictive at first but I don't bother with it now.

    Controls:

    This area is nowhere near as fine-tuned in the previous. I noticed how wonky it could be very early in the game. When I found myself on a pillar or something that required me to scale around it, and then leap to a pillar or something behind me. It was like I had to search for this sweet spot in the controls to perform the leap. I would find myself moving left and right when that wasn't at all what I was trying to do. I did not experience this at all in Among Thieves, and it made a task that should have been so simple kind of annoying. I also noticed the level of strictness needed to perform some jumps. There were times I missed jumps that I thought were easy because Drake some how drifted. I kind of think there was a glitch I probably didn't notice; and of course, the iffy targeting which made combat more difficult. The controls aren't totally bad though. They are manageable and never felt broken, so there were still plenty of battles I breezed through and plat-forming segments I quickly conquered. I guess patience will probably be your best friend here.

    Graphics/Sound/Music:

    The people constantly raving about the visuals do not need new glasses or laser surgery. This game is beautiful to look at as Naughty Dog propels you into many incredible looking scenes. The desert feels so life like and atmospheric. There was no narrative necessary to describe this place as a hopeless, barren wasteland. The wind blowing the sand along with Drake walking through it was well animated. There's also a battle segment that takes place inside of a sandstorm under a violet dawn light which is not only gorgeous, but also creepy in a death like way. There is a wonderful use of lighting and camera work in various places. One moment where the camera work truly shines takes place inside of a sinking ship. I won't spoil this part, but if you understand how to appreciate various camera techniques then this part will blow you away. It's true that I found some of the collapsing bridges and such to be silly on occasion, but I can't deny how great it all looks though. This game makes a burning French chateau look absolutely breathtaking; it almost seemed as if I could actually smell the smoke.

    The character designs are well intact but I did notice some jaggy moments at times; and as great as the visuals are, I did notice a slow-down in frame rate. In addition, as great as the camera can be, it can also be a pain too. I recall at least two occasions in a very heated gun fight, Drake got completely lost off screen and no matter how much I rolled or jumped, I couldn't get the focus back on him which lead to unnecessary deaths. Thankfully this wasn't often. The sound effects concerning gun fire and voice acting are still just as good, and this time around we get a lot more of Richard McGonangle as Sully. I can't get enough of this character, especially when he goes off about those "damn spiders". Once again, although the soundtrack wasn't memorable it does a great job capturing drama and most importantly tension. It brings out the best in those close call segments where it seems as if Drake is living on borrowed time.

    Final Thoughts:

    Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception has problems that are too in your face for objective gamers to ignore. It's far away from a masterpiece and it's not as great as Among Thieves, not even close. The villains are boring, story is shaky, targeting actually got worse, melee system is disposable, the plat-forming segments are limited with no improvement, plus it's shorter taking around 8-9 hours to finish. Still, is it actually a bad game? Even with all of this it's not; it's a fun and challenging game to play with continued character development. I didn't like Drake in the first game at all, but his development across the three games has changed that for me. The games took place over a four year period, and I watched him grow from a common treasure hunter, a thief, into a world saving hero which actually answers a question that was asked at some point in the game. It was a fun trilogy for the most part and I can see myself playing through these again.

    Rating: 7/10

    Pros:Characters, visuals, plat-forming and action has very good moments

    Cons:Action has some bad moments, shaky story and controls

    Other reviews for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PlayStation 3)

      A mixed bag 0

      Let me say straight away that Uncharted 2 is my favourite game of all time so Uncharted 3 had a lot to live up to. Reading other reviews of the game, with a general consensus of "more of the same", I was hugely looking forward to this. After just completing it however I have to say that it most certainly isn't Uncharted 2.2, it's more like Uncharted 1.7.Let me start with the good : when Uncharted 3 gets it right nothing else can touch it. The standout moment for me is the cargo plane sequence wh...

      5 out of 5 found this review helpful.

      The one ring to rule them all. 0

      For what it was, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was near perfect in my honest opinion. It bridged a chasm of platforming, shooting, puzzle and some occasional stealth obstacles, all smoothly fitted and handled like a dream (well, some of the stealth stuff was a little kooky). The storyline wasn't particularly deep, but it had style, flair and a great cast of characters. It's completely subjective of course, but many would likely consider Uncharted 2 as one of the greatest games of this current gener...

      11 out of 14 found this review helpful.

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