A must buy for adventure fans.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a third person action-adventure game that has you take the role of treasure hunter Nathan Drake on a quest to uncover the true fate of 16 century explorer Sir Francis Drake and the treasure of El Dorado. One of the earlier games to come out on the PS3, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune really shows off what the PS3 is capable of: from the beautiful shadows created by the canopy to the uncanny life-like water, it gets very easy to get immersed in the world. The subtle reactions and motions that Drake undergoes are fluid and adds to the realism. If you step from higher ground to a slightly lower one, Drake reacts accordingly just as any normal person would. If your clothes make contact with water, you can see them get soaked and start dripping, eventually drying out. All these little touches unfold fluidly without effecting gameplay and make the game much more of a visual treat than it already is.
The main strength of the game is really in its cast of characters. The characters feel real: you can easily relate to them and see what they are going through both physically and emotionally. All this is made even more realistic by the high quality of the voice work, which can easily rival those found in a Hollywood blockbuster. Although these characters do fall in certain archetypes from your typical action-adventure movie, the dialogue is executed well enough and is cleverly structured which gives the cutscenes a fresh and original feel. The story of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is no slouch either. The story follows Nathan and his companions as they try to reach the lost treasure of El Dorado before their pursuers do. Again although this sounds generic, the plot holds up pretty strong and even has a few good twists up its sleeve, some which will definitely shock you.
Bonus content are plenty which include various concept art of the cast of characters and environments and also several approximately 15 minutes long videos on the making of the game. While not exactly game changing or important to those who just want to play the game, these are a treat for anyone who’s interested in the Uncharted universe but have not yet played/bought this game.
Of course Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is not without its flaws. There are a few sequences in the game that felt really cheap: the one that sticks out the most being the larger gun battles. The gunplay in this game is satisfying but it is ultimately marred by the fact that occasionally really large swarms of enemies are thrown at you all at once. To make things worse it doesn’t take a lot of damage for Nathan to go down. These factors together with the occasional poorly placed check point (most checkpoints are well placed and forgiving) can cause quite a bit of frustration especially in the last quarter or so of the game. Fortunately if you are already invested in the characters at this point, this flaw can be easily overlooked.
All in all Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is a great game: it is visually stunning, it controls well and it tells a memorable story of adventure with a cast of lovable characters. Recommended purchase if you own a PS3 and would love to experience an adventure.
