"Uncharted" Review Anthology

And now, a review in which I address treasure hunting and jet skis. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is the first game in a trilogy by Naughty Dog, the company responsible for the recent masterpiece, "The Last of Us," which will most likely receive my game of the year award for 2013. So, needless to say, despite being made way before "The Last of Us," Uncharted had some big shoes to fill in my book. I'm happy to say that it does a pretty decent job of fitting in those shoes, because, save for a few drawbacks, this is a fantastic game.
I'd like to say first off that this is a game that excels at doing things that I traditionally DESPISE, and making them work enjoyably. There are three main things: For one thing, the game is short. I beat Uncharted in the first hour of my second day of playing it, which is something that normally drives me absolutely nuts. My philosophy typically is that there is no excuse for me to beat a game in that short a time, not even if I'm violently rushing on easy mode. But Uncharted is really the perfect length for its story and pacing. If it were any longer it would have felt stretched, and unlike SOME games (*cough* Bioshock Infinite *cough*) it isn't short because of laziness on the maker's part. It is short because it makes sense to be the length it is. 
The second thing is the combat pacing. I DESPISE super-dee-duper fast paced combat, but unlike in SOME games (*cough* Bioshock Infinie *cough*), the fast paced combat can be managed without having to take 15 Ibuprofen for headaches, and it doesn't tire the eyes out. The secret to combat is not to button mash the fire button until your fingers hurt like in games like Bioshock Infinite. While the combat in Uncharted is fast paced, you have to approach this fast paced combat with different pacing to survive. That is really the only way I can think to describe it. Cover that you hide behind crumbles as enemies fire at you, causing you to need to move around occasionally  which makes surviving an active thing, but not insanely chaotic. Really, I find it hard to convey my thoughts about the combat, you'll just have to see for yourself.
The third thing that I traditionally hate, but that this game makes work: "I can handle/take care of myself." This line has been spoken by the female love interest of video games since pressure started being put on developers to make stronger female characters. And frankly, women ought to be utterly offended by this line. Every time I hear it, I don't think, "wow, this is a strong woman," I think  "Developer: Look, look, look, I'm throwing you a bone." The line, "I can handle myself" typically serves as a thrown bone to the feminine demographic in hopes that they will accept this character as "strong." It is as if game developers don't know how to make women strong in their actions anymore, it is as if developers can't make their protagonist's love interest lead by example. Instead, just speak the phrase, "I can handle myself," and you instantly become a shining example of feminist ideals. I am so doggoned sick of hearing this doggoned line in every single doggoned game. Even in The Last of Us this line was spoken, so how does Naughty Dog make it work in both of these games? It is simple. The character speaks this line, and then leads by example afterwards. 
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

One of the many puzzles you will face in Uncharted (1)

Now that I've knocked out that three-part chunk, it is time to start the main thing. Uncharted is an Indiana Jones-esque treasure hunting game that follows the story of Nathan Drake, a descendent of Sir Francis Drake...and I have no idea who that is, but if he was an actual guy, then he was a bigtime treasure hunter guy. Nathan has found his ancestor's journal, and sets out to find El Dorado, the city of gold. Despite how generic the story may sound, it is an incredibly well done plotline with absolutely zero filler parts (it is part of that whole "perfect length" thing I mentioned before), so it is to the point the entire time. 
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Nathan and Elena (2)

There are three main characters: Nathan, Sully, and Elena, and all three of these characters are well thought out and executed. Nathan is your smooth-talking, charismatic treasure hunting protagonist whom Elena describes as a "girl in every court kinda guy," yep, he is pretty much your standard action movie protagonist, but he is so well executed and acted that I forgot that his character wasn't all that original...and that his voice actor voiced the creepy pedophile villain in The Last of Us (Nolan North is a talented individual). Sully is the older, "remember that barmaid in the Philippines " sort of father figure cigar smoker character. And Elena, as I mentioned before, is the love interest. She is a camera woman for a tv show who is documenting Nathan's adventure and ends up being caught in the same mess that he and Sully get themselves into. I have been calling her a love interest, but that is not entirely accurate. Not a single kiss or hug is ever exchanged between her and Nathan. He sort of puts his arm around her at the end, but that is really as close as they get to actually being an item. She is really more of a crush: a really smiley, punch you on the arm sort of character. None of these characters are anything new, but they are well-done, which makes a huge difference.
Another thing that is well done is the soundtrack. It is a soundtrack that fits the genre and goes a little beyond in quality.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Need I say more? (3)

But, unfortunately, there is one aspect of the game that makes me seriously question whether or not I will replay it. The flipping jet ski section that I made an angry Facebook post about a few days ago. This is without a doubt the most horribly designed, poorly conceived section of any videogame I've ever played. There has never been a mechanic that was more poorly made, not even the climbing in Brink (the WORST game I've ever played EVER) was as amateurly created as the jet ski section. In this section you ride against the rapids up rocks and steep inclines...that is, if you aren't slamming into the walls and having the camera refocus thirty times until you can finally see in front of you again because you dared to turn the left stick a little bit too much to the left or right. The steering is too sensitive and the game camera just flips out on you, and that is bad enough. But then come the barrels. There are explosive barrels that start flowing towards you after a while, and if you touch one, you die. This might not be as bad if the steering weren't so broken. But it is, and the barrels only serve to make things unnecessarily difficult. And then enemies with grenade launchers start coming at you from the sides of the canyon. But you can't move and shoot. You have to stop and have Elena shoot, during which time you get pulled back by the waves and most likely drop down or hit a barrel. This is an awful, awful stretch of game. 
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Nathan and Sully (4)

Uncharted, despite the jet ski section, is a must-play. It is an immersive, cinematic, fun experience that is leading me to make a trip to my local game store to buy Uncharted 2 and 3 soon because I want more. I was going to take off two points for the jet ski section, but in the end, I decided I like this game too much to take off that much.
9/10
Nice work, Naughty Dog, nice work. 

Picture sources:
Cover: www.dereklieu.wordpress.com
(1) www.ign.com
(2) www.ps3trophies.com
(3) www.uncharted.wikia.com
(4) www.giantbomb.com




"Uncharted 2: Among Thieves" Review

In my humble opinion, a good sequel is one that uses the original as a pair of sandals; using it to travel to greater places and higher heights. And I'm proud to report that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves gets to take a place among Gears of War 2, Half Life 2, and Lost Planet 2 as a fantastic sequel. More than that, I can safely say that Uncharted 2 takes a place on my top five favorite games of all time list, without exaggeration.
Yes. Uncharted 2 is that good, but let me go ahead and tell you why.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

You begin by hanging on for dear life (1)

The game opens up with Nathan "upper body strength" Drake, the protagonist, sitting inside of a wrecked train with wounds all along his body and with blood staining his clothes from top to bottom. He makes his way along the inside of the train, and part of it falls off of the cliff that it is hanging over, causing Nathan to hang on for dear life at the bottom of the train that is still hanging. As he climbs his way up the train, more and more pieces of it start falling apart. This is a good bit of foreshadowing for the game itself: throughout the game, Nathan is constantly striving for different things, only to be knocked back and told no by the world. But I'll talk about that a bit more later.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Dense jungles are always more fun to go through in higher graphical quality (2)

First off, the basics. The graphics have been majorly improved since the admittedly dated graphics of the first Uncharted, and now the scope is much greater. Enormous mountains loom darkly in the distance, trees paint the backdrop of the forests of Borneo, everything is larger and more vertical. In Uncharted 2, you are not on a single tropical island the entire time, so there is a lot more variety to be found here. You will travel through forests, frozen wastelands, ancient temples, dense Asian cities, and other grand scenic places.
The soundtrack is also greatly improved, it was phenomenal in the original Uncharted, but the soundtrack to Uncharted 2 brings a cinematic feel that is much more potent and fitted for the situations. My mouth stood wide open as the credits rolled and a beautiful foreign voice began riffing to the backdrop of the orchestra.
And on the note of cinematic feeling, Uncharted 2 also greatly surpasses the original in this regard. Things are constantly falling apart as you climb on them, and there are more than a few scenes where Nathan brushes with certain death. Uncharted 2 is an unparalleled movie-seeming experience.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Melee combat is heavily improved in Uncharted 2 (3)

Now, lets talk about gameplay. I know I have been comparing Uncharted 2 to Uncharted 1 a lot in this review, but I'm going to do it again. The gameplay to Uncharted 1 was compelling, but in Uncharted 2 it is taken to the next level. One qualm that I had with the gameplay in the original Uncharted was that enemies were always on the same level as you, save for a few snipers in high places. Well, in Uncharted 2 enemies are on several different levels in each firefight, which makes things seems a tad bit more desperate. This is a game that also heavily encourages adaptation and tactic changing. An example that I knew I was going to use in this review the minute it happened was this: I was hiding in cover that was dangerously close to cliffs on two of the three sides I could run to, and I was skillfully picking off enemies with my pistol. Then one of the enemies threw a grenade right to where I was, so I leapt off of the edge to my right, grabbing onto the edge as I did so, and, hanging there, I continued picking enemies off with my pistol. There are also a few segments where you will have the opportunity to use a mounted gun if you so desire, but these mounted guns have limited ammo this time around, so once you run out of ammo there, you need to find something else to do. Like I said: adaptation and tactic changing is the name of the game. Melee combat is also more fluid and fun to do: it is less complex this time around and it is a great strategy to resort to if you run out of ammo. The grenade system, I'm happy to report, is also greatly improved. Gone are the days where you have to manually equip the grenade before throwing it. Instead, now you have a small sidebar next to your ammo counter that shows how many grenades you have, and you have a specific grenade throwing button.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

"I'm Elena Fisher, last year's model" (4)

Now, the big thing with me: story and characters. All the usual suspects are back: Nathan Drake of course, Victor Sullivan, and Elena Fisher, but we also have a new cast of characters as well, including a second love interest character: Chloe, who is voiced by Claudia Black (better known as Morrigan from Dragon Age). Throughout the story there is visible tension between Elena and Chloe, which adds a little something to the overall immersion factor. Naughty Dog knows how to make characters work and interact together, and they prove it in Uncharted 2. Honestly, it is as if Naughty Dog knew how deeply in love with Elena Fisher their players were, so they made her more prominent as a love interest and as a character in general. I can't say too much about the story without spoiling anything, but trust me when I say that it is incredibly well crafted, and just like the original Uncharted, it has no filler parts, pretty much everything is vital to the story in some way, but it still manages to be longer than the original, which is something that I was hoping for.
There is so much that I want to say about this game, but I don't have the time or the space to get all of it in. But in short, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a cinematic experience that is unparalleled by other games of its genre.
10/10
Nice work, Naughty Dog, nice work.

Picture Sources:
Cover: www.game-ost.com
(1) www.uncharted.wikia.com
(2) www.espadakiller.wordpress.com
(3) www.videogamesdaily.com
(4) www.gameinformer.com

"Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception" Review

I spent the entire first three hours of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception thinking about what a scalding review I was going to write, but I knew that I had to keep my head and reserve my final judgements until the end. And its a good thing that I did, because after the first three hours the game is no longer the worst in the trilogy, but it by no means can hold a candle to its predecessor, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. For this review I'm going to focus on the negatives first, then move on to the positives.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Young Nathan Drake...the only time that you play as him (1)

The game's first sin is the segment where you play as 15 or so year old Nathan Drake, and in this segment we see how Nathan first came to meet Victor Sullivan and how the conflict of this particular game began. But then, you never play as this young Nathan again until an "acid trip" sequence at the end. And really, the events of this sequence aren't at all important. One could argue that it is important to know how Nathan first met Katherine Marlowe, the game's antagonist, but while it does this, it doesn't develop the conflict at all. It doesn't explain why she waited until now, several years after first meeting Nathan and being thwarted by him, to strike. It doesn't explain how, despite being kinda/sorta a member of the evil society that his love interest at the time was in, Sullivan has no clue how the society behaves or what it is. It doesn't show how Nathan came to learn of his ancestry or how he first got interested in treasure hunting. There is so much unfulfilled potential in this sequence, and this is a decent description of the game: unfulfilled potential. Don't get me wrong: this is not a bad game, in fact this is a great game, but I'll get to that later, for now I'm focusing on negatives, but I didn't want to give readers the impression that I'm crucifying this game, because I want people to experience it. But, moving on...
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Not exactly the most fitting place for Arabic riffing...(2)

The soundtrack, as I'll say later in the positives section, is really good: most of it is arabic riffing, and that really works in the desert sequences...not so much in the french chateaux. The soundtrack only really works for the desert sequences, otherwise it is just weird and out of place. And another thing, the sound in this game is incredibly bugged. More than once I would be in the midst of a firefight, and the music would just fade out and stop for a while. Other times it would stop and then switch to a different track with a huge gap between the two.
The visuals just weren't impressive. They were pretty lame and boring, and the firefights in them were just annoying. Sorry, but the stereotypical desert is just not interesting, neither are supposed french "jungles" that are just really flat, and neither are gigantic rusty ships and flat docks. And even if they were amazing, they would be hard to appreciate behind the choppy display.
The display was really choppy for a lot of it, it would hang up for as much as 1.5 seconds in the larger firefights, just long enough to notice something was wrong and be annoyed with it. But even in minor climbing sections the display would hang up every few seconds for just long enough to be super annoying. And, on the note of climbing sections, here is another negative.
The climbing sections were actually poorly done in this game, now, this is something that is more noticeable near the beginning, but it is present in the entire thing. Heaven forbid you want to reach for a ledge and jump for it if you need to turn around to reach, because if you do then be prepared to leap up like a total moron a few times before you finally manage to get Drake turned around for long enough that he doesn't just turn right back around like he doesn't care what you think. This was one of the more frustrating aspects of the game, trying to get the stupid climbing mechanic that was never broken in the other two games to work.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

This unmoving photograph is an accurate depiction of the speed at which you can move your gun. (3)

Now lets talk about what Uncharted 3 got wrong with combat. First off, they got rid of the "reaction" mechanic that existed in Uncharted 2. In Uncharted 2 every bullet felt powerful: enemies would lurch back on the area that you shot them on, they were still able to shoot at you and function, but they reacted to every bullet you hit them with. This is completely removed from Uncharted 3. Enemies stand perfectly fine as you pepper them with bullets and don't have any new animations until they die. This makes combat crawl by because you don't ever feel like you're accomplishing anything. You might say, "But Reagan, that is to make you feel how desperate the odds are for Nathan." To that I would say, "That doesn't change the fact that it makes no sense and doesn't work." Another thing about combat: the aiming. It is as if Nathan has a gigantic Rhinoceros sitting on the barrel of his guns the entire time. The minute you enter aim mode it is as if you can no longer function like a normal human being. The crosshairs craaaaaaaaawl across the screen in a way that is obviously an attempt to make it seem more realistic, but it just doesn't work and it makes me want to take points off. Another thing, firefights are flat again, just like in Uncharted 1. Gone are the days of verticality in firefights, nooooooo, now you have to fight everybody on the same level save for snipers and rocket launcher people who happen to take a higher stance.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Concept art for an idea that served no practical purpose (4)

Then, there are the spiders. No, this isn't my arachnophobia talking. I'm talking about the fact that it makes no flipping sense whatsoever that they are there, like, are they defending the Atlantis of the sands or something? Well, if they are, they're doing a crappy job, because they aren't there in the actual Atlantis of the sands segment. They are just put there to make things seem more desperate even though they don't actually make any sense or serve a practical purpose that has any impact on the story.
And what exactly is the story, anyway? It feels so incredibly rushed. The gang finds their way to each destination with no trouble at all, no big hunts for places, none whatsoever. They quite literally STUMBLE onto EVERYTHING they need to find. Every. Single. Thing. I'm amazed that the Atlantis of the Sands remained hidden for so long when people can just walk right in the huge flipping front door that is just sitting out in the desert! And another thing, we don't find out there is foul play involved until the end, so why is it such a huge doggone flipping deal that Marlowe and Talbot are looking for the Atlantis of the Sands also? I understand that Nathan Drake is a prideful individual, but this hasn't stopped him from working with others before. And also, what is up with the cards thing? There looked like there was going to be a supernatural element to the villains when, after falling off of a tower, our heroes find a card reading "the tower" in one of their allies' pockets. But no, they completely drop this entire twist off for the rest of the game.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Cutter, one of the new characters...who only exists for half the game before being dropped off the face of the Earth (4)

Also, this game suffers from Fallout: New Vegas/Skyrim character syndrome...which I HATE. Fallout: New Vegas/Skyrim character syndrome is a model in which characters serve a purpose in the story for some time, and then they drop off the edge of the earth never to be seen again. You deal with characters a and b in the first part of the game, then x and y in the second, never knowing what happened to a and b.
Lastly for the negatives, the ending, which isn't really a negative, it is a positive, but I'll go more into that later. Despite it being a really good and really appropriate ending, I was unsatisfied. So much wasn't tied up, it is as if Naughty Dog couldn't get their thoughts together long enough to make the ending cover all the bases. This makes no sense after the spectacular ending to Uncharted 2 that kept my jaw dropped for the credits. With this ending I knew that it was great, I knew that I enjoyed the ending, but I wasn't satisfied by it. It didn't cover enough to successfully bring the game to a close. It didn't shut all of the cans that it opened.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Nathan Drake feels more alive than ever before in Uncharted 3 (5)

So far, it has been an incredibly negative review, so what is it that saves Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception from the depths of Oblivion?
Well, first off, this is the most movie-like game of the trilogy. Granted, it isn't as good a movie as Uncharted 2 would be, but it is more like a movie than the other two games, and as a result it draws you in a tad bit more, it makes you feel a bit more like you are there. Despite the boring backgrounds and the choppy display, it still manages to seem realistic enough to make you believe that you are on a search for the Atlantis of the Sands just like Nathan "Upper Body Strength and Part Camel" Drake.
And on the subject of visuals, facial animation and graphics are absolutely stellar. Characters feel more alive than ever.
And like I said earlier, the soundtrack is pretty darn good. Not as good as Uncharted 2's soundtrack, but it is a soundtrack that makes sense for the hunt that Drake is on, even if it doesn't fit specific places on his hunt.
Naughty Dog is always great with characters, and in Uncharted 3, we have something that the other two games did not have: compelling villains. Marlowe and Talbot are aristocratic british villains who seem to thwart you at every turn.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

Elena Fisher, a monument to great character development (4)

And then there is Elena Fisher. I always have to take a moment out of my Uncharted reviews to write a section about her, because she is truly a grand model to character creation and development. She changes with the times and with the situations in a way that remains true to some unseen model of her behavior. It is as if an actual person is reacting to things.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

"I'm sorry" (1)

Another thing that Naughty Dog always does well is to put emphasis on the unsaid, to make the things that are between the lines really stand out. When we first meet Elena Fisher in Uncharted 3, Nathan tells her, "I see you're still wearing yours," pointing to a ring on her ring finger. It is never actually said that they were married between Uncharted 2 & 3, but it is implied because of this, and it makes it all the more potent when another between the lines occurrence comes up: Nathan has had a hard day and he lays with his head across Elena's lap, he takes her hand and gently strokes the ring that she wears on her finger, and he just says "I'm sorry" in an utterly defeated voice. We never learn what he was sorry about or what caused this division between the two, but the unspoken things in this scene are brilliantly told, and that is a HUGE thing for me. This is really the major thing that gives Uncharted 3 points, the unspoken events that make the story three-dimensional and full.
Once again, voice acting is at a high in this game, as it was in the other Uncharted games. I often forget that Nathan Drake's voice actor, Nolan North, voiced the pedophile antagonist in "The Last of Us," and this is a tribute to the talent of this voice actor.
The big thing that combat brought to the table was the ability to throw grenades back at opponents. This kept combat moving at a decent pace and gave you the ability to turn what could be an unpleasant situation in your favor.
---------------------                                                           ---------------------

The Atlantis of the Sands (4)

Now, the ending. Despite my lack of satisfaction with it, it was an ending that was really appropriate given the events of the game. They could have really done a whole lot more with it, but it was a perfectly fine ending that brought the game...and maybe the series, but I don't know what Naughty Dog has in store, to an end in a way that worked. If this is the end of the series, then I am disappointed, but I won't deny that it worked and that it was a good ending.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is a game that had so much potential, but just didn't live up to a bunch of it. It is an extremely flawed game, but it is not a bad one, in fact I enjoyed it despite the many, many flaws that it had. Some of these flaws infuriated me to no end, but in the end the things that truly mattered to me, the things that I really wanted out of this game were done well. It is getting a lower rating than Uncharted 1 received, but that doesn't mean that I think it is a worse game. I know that seems utterly contradictory, but I liked it more than Uncharted 1. Despite the fact that I'm giving Uncharted 3 the lowest score of the series, it was my second favorite. It can't even hold a candle to Uncharted 2, but it was more enjoyable than the first, and the first was incredibly enjoyable. Maybe it isn't fair, but Uncharted 3 was a game that needed to have points taken off for so many things, but I still really liked it.
Honestly, this game was the hardest to score of any game I've reviewed. But I have decided to take the high road with this one, because despite all of its flaws, it is far above average and worth paying for.
8/10
Maybe next time, Naughty Dog. I still have faith in you.

Picture sources:
Cover: www.gamingirresponsibly.com
(1) www.tumblr.com
(2) www.gematsu.com
(3) www.1up.com
(4) www.uncharted.wikia.com
(5) www.playstationlifestyle.net