Uncharted: drake's fortune
Matthew Cash
One of the first games I ever played was Crash Bandicoot 2. No matter how much it annoyed my 5 year-old self, it was still one of the most entertaining thing to do while sitting at home. I wasn't much as a toy kid, you see. I'd rather play Super Mario on the SNES and Star Wars on PSX. It was so much damn fun. Almost a decade later, I still played Naughty Dog games. Sure, I only ever played one Jak game for PS2, but when I saw the critical acclaim for Uncharted 2, I knew I had to get away from my 360 fanboy-self (seeing Uncharted 2 get a 10 in GameInformer annoyed the crap out of me, to be honest) and start trying to get a PS3. A year and 3 months later, here I am with both Uncharted games. But I'm gonna stick with the first one for now.
Remember from your 6th grade history class when your teacher told you about Sir Francis Drake? Well, you play as Nathan Drake, his supposed descendant. Drake himself is a cocky guy who wants nothing more than a little adventure and some cash as a tiny bit of incentive. As Drake reads the journal of Sir Francis, he find clues on the whereabouts of El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold. While the story focuses on finding El Dorado, so many things get in the way and are crafted very in a very intelligent fashion to create one of the best stories I've ever had the pleasure to play through. It's all pulled off due to the work of the cast, which I'll mention later, but just know for now that the story is simply fantastic.
People have repeatedly compared this with Tomb Raider but I really don't see it. Because he climbs and looks for treasure? Maybe so, but the overall gameplay is much different than that. Tomb Raider is more climbing and exploring while this is more exploring and shooting. Think of it like a mixture of Gears of War and Assassin's Creed and there ya go.
My problem with the game is that some parts are highly inconsistent. For instance, I might pull off a headshot and the person will die. Now, I find another enemy, but have to pull off 3 headshots to knock him down. This is even more noticeable on Crushing difficulty, sometimes taking around 7 headshots to kill one enemy. The cover system is fine, but there's also a way to peek around corners and kill enemies without exposing yourself to fire by just aiming around the corner that you're standing behind. I'm not whining about this part because I couldn't have beaten the game on Hard without it, but I'm just saying you can cheat the game a little bit.
Also, there are times in the game when Drake simply won't grab something, causing you to fall to your death. This may happen several times in a row before you try it once more and luck lets him grab the damn thing. I found this to be one of the most annoying things ever. That, and the damn jet ski part that had me grinding my teeth in frustration and impatience. Though, the majority of the gameplay actually does perform well and is really quite fun. The issues stated above will likely happen once or twice in a playthrough, but not much more.
The game rewards you for doing special tasks in-game. SAy, you do a few things on the list like killing 5 enemies in a row with a brutal combo or kill 3 people in an explosion 5 times. Completing these tasks earns you medal points and when you have enough, things unlock such as making-of videos or alternate skins for Drake. This is a very good incentive and I've actually played the game enough to get every item on the list. Getting awards like "Donut Drake" aka "Really Fat Drake" always makes me chuckle.
Presentation-wise, the game is a beast. The voice acting between Nolan North, my favorite voice actor, Emily Rose as the charming young Elena Fisher, and Richard McGonagle as the sly and father-like figure of Victor "Sully" Sullivan. The motio capture was fantastically done for all characters by all of the actors. Yes, I'm also including the 3 different enemies in the game. THREE NEMESISES (What's plural for nemesis? Nemesi?) The music is very memorable and is some of the most well-orchestrated scores I've ever heard. The graphics are beautiful, though you don't really have much variety in terms of environment and you're mostly just in a jungle the entire game. The faces on the characters are also kind of weird with awkward over-saturation of light. They're well modeled, sure, but the faces are just weird is what I'm saying. Not ugly, just weird.
If you have any interest in this series, I say go out and buy this one now. While perhaps far inferior to it's sequel, it's still a great game, faults or not. If you've never played this but have Uncharted 2, it's time to shell out $20.
Score: 8.25
One of the first games I ever played was Crash Bandicoot 2. No matter how much it annoyed my 5 year-old self, it was still one of the most entertaining thing to do while sitting at home. I wasn't much as a toy kid, you see. I'd rather play Super Mario on the SNES and Star Wars on PSX. It was so much damn fun. Almost a decade later, I still played Naughty Dog games. Sure, I only ever played one Jak game for PS2, but when I saw the critical acclaim for Uncharted 2, I knew I had to get away from my 360 fanboy-self (seeing Uncharted 2 get a 10 in GameInformer annoyed the crap out of me, to be honest) and start trying to get a PS3. A year and 3 months later, here I am with both Uncharted games. But I'm gonna stick with the first one for now.
Remember from your 6th grade history class when your teacher told you about Sir Francis Drake? Well, you play as Nathan Drake, his supposed descendant. Drake himself is a cocky guy who wants nothing more than a little adventure and some cash as a tiny bit of incentive. As Drake reads the journal of Sir Francis, he find clues on the whereabouts of El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold. While the story focuses on finding El Dorado, so many things get in the way and are crafted very in a very intelligent fashion to create one of the best stories I've ever had the pleasure to play through. It's all pulled off due to the work of the cast, which I'll mention later, but just know for now that the story is simply fantastic.
People have repeatedly compared this with Tomb Raider but I really don't see it. Because he climbs and looks for treasure? Maybe so, but the overall gameplay is much different than that. Tomb Raider is more climbing and exploring while this is more exploring and shooting. Think of it like a mixture of Gears of War and Assassin's Creed and there ya go.
My problem with the game is that some parts are highly inconsistent. For instance, I might pull off a headshot and the person will die. Now, I find another enemy, but have to pull off 3 headshots to knock him down. This is even more noticeable on Crushing difficulty, sometimes taking around 7 headshots to kill one enemy. The cover system is fine, but there's also a way to peek around corners and kill enemies without exposing yourself to fire by just aiming around the corner that you're standing behind. I'm not whining about this part because I couldn't have beaten the game on Hard without it, but I'm just saying you can cheat the game a little bit.
Also, there are times in the game when Drake simply won't grab something, causing you to fall to your death. This may happen several times in a row before you try it once more and luck lets him grab the damn thing. I found this to be one of the most annoying things ever. That, and the damn jet ski part that had me grinding my teeth in frustration and impatience. Though, the majority of the gameplay actually does perform well and is really quite fun. The issues stated above will likely happen once or twice in a playthrough, but not much more.
The game rewards you for doing special tasks in-game. SAy, you do a few things on the list like killing 5 enemies in a row with a brutal combo or kill 3 people in an explosion 5 times. Completing these tasks earns you medal points and when you have enough, things unlock such as making-of videos or alternate skins for Drake. This is a very good incentive and I've actually played the game enough to get every item on the list. Getting awards like "Donut Drake" aka "Really Fat Drake" always makes me chuckle.
Presentation-wise, the game is a beast. The voice acting between Nolan North, my favorite voice actor, Emily Rose as the charming young Elena Fisher, and Richard McGonagle as the sly and father-like figure of Victor "Sully" Sullivan. The motio capture was fantastically done for all characters by all of the actors. Yes, I'm also including the 3 different enemies in the game. THREE NEMESISES (What's plural for nemesis? Nemesi?) The music is very memorable and is some of the most well-orchestrated scores I've ever heard. The graphics are beautiful, though you don't really have much variety in terms of environment and you're mostly just in a jungle the entire game. The faces on the characters are also kind of weird with awkward over-saturation of light. They're well modeled, sure, but the faces are just weird is what I'm saying. Not ugly, just weird.
If you have any interest in this series, I say go out and buy this one now. While perhaps far inferior to it's sequel, it's still a great game, faults or not. If you've never played this but have Uncharted 2, it's time to shell out $20.
Score: 8.25