Almost, but not quite.
It has almost been a magical month for the PS3. First came Eye of Judgment, a title that betrays it nerdy hobby store roots by being much more then the sum of its parts. Then Ratchet and Clank arrived, all polished and colorful, proving that good developers make good game regardless of the system they work on. Uncharted takes these two good steps forward and raises them one step back; it is three quarters of an excellent game, but much like Indigo Prophecy and Far Cry it runs out of things to do, opting for diabolus ex machina, instead of finishing what it started.
There is very little that is original about Uncharted. This is not a failing, however, because everything it steals it takes from the best places. The platforming is right out of Tomb Raider: Legend. Controlling Drake as he makes impossible jumps and scales sheer cliffs is never difficult. The environment does a good job of subtly guiding the player while maintaining a very random, organic (and often times absolutely gorgeous) look. Levels themselves have a definite 'Indiana Jones' feel; old ruins, rotting tombs and creepy skeletons are the norm. It is a pity that Drake doesn't fit this adventure game feel. Uncharted needs a different main character. It is aching for some machismo and instead gets Will Ferrell with a gun and a ridiculous vertical. He just doesn't fit.
Uncharted sports the 'stop and pop' cover system that has become this generations light bloom. Again, this is not a negative, it adapts the Gears of War/Rainbow 6 Vegas technique very well. For the first three quarters of the game the combat is excellent. Ammo is scarce, forcing Drake to constantly advance on his foes to scavenge ammo from corpses. The bad guys will rush in or flank given the opportunity and are pretty good shots so learning when to hide and when to shoot is essential. The number of weapons is a bit low and ranges from the useful and never available sniper rifle to the I would rather throw rocks shotgun, leaving the starting handgun as the best fallback option. Skill and good aim are rewarded with gratuitous headshots and over exaggerated death animations. The whole thing clicks along very nicely for about 10 hours. There are unfortunately 2 hours left.
Games take odd left turns for any number of reasons: they run out of money, time or ideas, there are fights between developers, publishers and writers; who knows what happened here. Without spoiling too much, Uncharted changes its combat from cover based to run and gun with the introduction of an un-needed enemy accompanied by a silly plot twist, and it is just as bad as the first part of the game was good. I would have preferred just about anything to more Doom refugees, and instead am faced with pinky demons literally coming out of the walls. It was depressing and frustrating at the same time. There is some occasional interplay between the new monsters and gun toting bad guys, but what could be an interesting new combat tactic is not used enough.
Naughty Dog took a risk with Uncharted. They could have turned out another Jak and it would have come out just fine. New IP is almost always good and Uncharted is very close to being a great game. The inevitable sequel needs to pick a genre and stick to it and not have Drake complaining all the time. As it sits right now this is just another good, all be it great looking, action game when it very well could have been a classi
