Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Gamers generally associate the term ‘platformer’ with a medieval prince who’s out to rescue a beautiful princess from the clutches of an evil vizier… or perhaps a scantily dressed archaeologist with a British accent who could give good old Indiana Jones a run for his money.

But now we have yet another candidate to add to this list, and he goes by the name of Nathan Drake. Drake isn’t a skilled warrior like the Prince of Persia nor is he as literate and learned as Ms Croft; in fact he’s pretty much your average Joe who’s endowed with a corny sense of humor, a natural survival instinct, and a never-say-die attitude.

For his very first foray on the PS3, Nathan Drake’s out to procure the lost treasure of El Dorado with the help of an ambitious reporter who’ll go to any lengths to get the scoop of a lifetime, and a reliable sidekick who just happens to provide valuable backup in the nick of time.

Drake’s quest for this long-lost treasure takes him to a multitude of gorgeously detailed (and highly dangerous) islands in the Pacific Ocean. As expected, no treasure hunt is complete without bad guys, so expect tons of pirates, mercenaries and other menacing obstacles along the way. These, by the way, are fun to eliminate courtesy of the game’s awesome combat mechanics.

After my tryst with the crapfest that was Kane and Lynch , I have new respect for Naughty Dog for implementing a near-flawless cover system seen in games like Gears of War and Rainbow Six Vegas. With the flick of a button, Nathan can take cover behind any surface and just like Marcus Fenix or Logan Keller he can pop up from cover, pump his enemies with lead, and head back into cover once again. If you find yourself pinned down by enemy fire you could always blind fire with your selected weapon, but it won’t be too accurate.

As and when an enemy gets too close for comfort, you could utilize the game’s ’not too bad, but not too deep’ melee combat system. While mashing the square key will unload a bunch of punches and dropkicks on your enemies, pressing square, triangle, square will unleash a brutal attack on your opponent. But don’t worry, we aren’t talking Manhunt kind of brutal here, we’re talking punching and kicking people in the face kinda brutal.

Enemies in Uncharted may not be the smartest people on the planet but they are pretty efficient at what they do and what they lack in brain power they make up for in sheer volume. Unlike older third person shooters where you could just plough your way through the opposition, you’ll actually have to use the cover mechanics a lot to survive enemy encounters (just like in Gears of War).

Lowly pirates bring relatively mellow weapons to the battle, but in later levels mercenaries bring in some serious firepower in the form of grenade launchers and sniper rifles that can kill you in one shot.

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Besides kicking, punching and shooting people, a significant amount of your time with the game will be spent solving puzzles and platforming – which, by the way, plays out like an interesting mixture of both Tomb Raider as well as the new Price of Persia series; only it’s a lot more forgiving, which means you won’t have to backtrack too much in case you die while jumping from one ledge to another.

Puzzles aren’t that tough and usually involve something as simple as pulling a lever or finding the switch to a door and so on. In certain platformers camera angles can actually make things a lot tougher than they actually are but this isn’t a problem in Uncharted as the camera angle actually moves in the direction you’re supposed to jump making those leaps of faith a lot simpler, not to mention accurate.

As you’ve seen from all the screenshots and videos till date, Uncharted is nothing short of a visual orgasm to the senses and it seems Naughty Dog has managed to tap the raw power of the PS3 – the game maintains its sturdy 30 FPS, even during intense firefights and explosions.

While character models are well detailed, the locales are a mixed bag. Some parts of the island looks absolutely phenomenal while some are just meh. Voice actors have done a brilliant job in making this game feel as tongue-in-cheek as a B-grade action flick.

As you may have seen by now, the game scores pretty high in our eyes; in fact except for two minor annoyances (the short duration of the game and limited replayability), we would have given it a stellar 5/5. We love the fact that Naughty Dog has made this game accessible to the casual gamer, which means that it isn’t as tough and frustrating as most PoP or Tomb Raider games tend to be.

While I agree that this level of simplicity may turn certain masochistic gamers off, it’s a refreshing change to finally find a platformer that does not frustrate you with its puzzles. In fact, if you find yourself getting lost in a particular level, the game will actually drop a hint as to where you have to go… it’s that simple!

To sum up, if you own a PS3 you owe it to yourself to buy a copy of Uncharted. While it may be pretty short, with limited replayability, and no form of multiplayer, it’s a solid action adventure in the vein of a true masala flick that’ guaranteed to fulfill all those next gen platforming needs.