Nathan Drake is a very unlucky man; if there existed a curse that was the opposite to the Midas touch, that’s what Nate would have.
Everything he touches, turns to poop.
If his plane isn’t going down on some remote island, he’s being shot at, or thrown off of a cliff in a wrecked train, or being bombarded by helicopters in a war-torn city, or simply being attacked left, right and centre by every person who has a gun.
Or every monster who hasn’t.
In this, his third adventure, he hasn’t learned that it’s better to stay in-doors, and ventures out once more to track down things of legend.
This time around, Nate is in search of an ancient lost city – Iram of the Pillars – a city said to hold untold fortune, lost to the world.
But he’s not the only one who’s interested in the ancient city – a mysterious order also has their eyes set on the prize; a prize you soon learn may be more than what it seems.
This is a Drake adventure, on a new, even more epic scale.
A feast for the eyes
Right, so, let’s get the obvious out the way then, shall we?
Uncharted 3 has A-M-A-Z-I-N-G graphics. Seriously, you will be blown away at the set pieces thrown at you (sometimes literally) across the entirety of the game.
From French château’s, to the dingy London underground, Syrian castles to desert ghost towns – Uncharted 3 is going to take you places – with each new location featuring so much detail, I am stunned at how they managed to pack it all in.
It’s difficult to fully gush at how amazing this game looks without giving away some of the best parts – so to avoid spoilers I won’t say, but honestly, forget Battlefield 3 and its one-track art direction, Uncharted 3 will blow your mind.
And it has the most incredible sand you have ever seen in a game. Seriously.
However, it has to be said – as amazing as the visuals are (and really, they really, really are), they aren’t completely without fault.
While Nate runs around and interacts with the world with more realistic gestures – touching walls as he walks past them, stumbling, and climbing like a seasoned pro – sometimes his animations seem like…they’re trying a little too hard.
For some reason, between Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3, Nate seems to have lost touch with physics and lost his “grounded” feel, with the sense that he’s rather gliding as he moves – and bounces off of walls as if they were made from rubber.
It’s nothing that will make you scoff in disgust – but it does look awkward on occasion; making you wonder how the animation got…weirder, compared to what we saw in Uncharted 2.
More than skin-deep
But it’s not only what you see in Drake’s Deception, it’s also what you hear; and with most of the same cast from Among Thieves returning – as well as the addition of new talent – you know what level of quality to expect.
If you don’t – then just know that Uncharted 3 has some of the best dialogue and highest production quality when it comes to delivering an auditory feast.
And when you’re dealing with a story on such a scale – you’ll be thankful that you have that quality leading the way.
You’ll learn a lot more about the relationships between Sully and Drake – and how antagonist, Katherine Marlowe, fits into the picture.
She’s a mean piece of work – especially considering she looks like she could be someone’s nanna, and should rather be crocheting a bad sweater in a cottage somewhere.
The entire idea behind Drake’s Deception is to find the path to the lost city, following the crumbs Sir Francis Drake left behind.
While in Among Thieves you sort of bungled along and made discoveries as you went, here your goal is pretty set from the get-go, and the challenge is staying ahead of Marlowe, and uncovering the truth about not only Sir Francis Drake’s past – but Nathan’s as well.
Marlowe is ruthless – and you will hate her lap-dog, Talbot, the moment you see him – and frustratingly, you will be fighting them every step of the way as you race to the ultimate goal.
There are twists and there are turns and some real “no way!” moments – but this time around, you’re facing an enemy who chooses to to torment you mentally, as well as physically.
Shooty-shooty climb climb
And it’s in this “physically” part where the cracks in Drake’s Deception begin to show.
As an experience – Drake’s Deception is, so far, unmatched. As a game, however, it’s struggling to find the balance between holding your hand in exploration, and being frustratingly unforgiving when it comes to combat.
While exploring the world, it’s never much of a challenge to figure out where you’re supposed to go, as paths are pretty plainly indicated for you to follow – or supporting characters simply just tell you what to do.
It feels less like exploring, and more like you’re simply following a path to the next scripted, albeit epic, game event. In stark contrast – when it comes down to shooting and battling – you’re simply given a gun (sometimes not) and left to fend for yourself.
Enemies are relentless, and can quickly overpower you – almost unfairly so – and evasive measures are confounded by the game’s hand-to-hand auto lock. Suddenly, pressing circle to evasively jump away from the grenade that just landed next to you rather causes you to try to push the enemy.
And then, when you inevitably meet your end – you auto start in a position that may have been on the other side of the area to where you were – from a checkpoint you weren’t aware the game even tracked.
That means if you accidentally trip the alarm during a stealth section, and had progressed further during the ensuing onslaught and then died – guess what? You start in the middle of a gunfight, no stealth for you!
It doesn’t help that shooting is suddenly a pain, with enemies in your crosshairs sometimes seeming as if they’re impervious to bullets. Naughty Dog call it more technical shooting, with realistic recoil modifiers and all that malarky – but I call it a pain in my butt. So much so, that I’m pretty certain I killed more guys using hand-to-hand than with guns.
Lasting impressions
Luckily, the game at least gives you that option – perhaps giving you incentive to tackle the adventure again with a different approach; clocking in at around 10 hours, you won’t be spending a lifetime getting through the plot – but there is enough here to keep you pre-occupied.
The multi-player modes take a new spot in the limelight with Drake’s Deception, being a full feature, as opposed to a tacked on extra. As such, it wouldn’t do it justice to give Uncharted 3’s multiplayer a half-hearted review – so we’ll tackle that in its own feature.
Its contribution to the overall score, though, comes from the fact that it extends the amount of time you’ll be playing Uncharted 3 quite significantly – especially if you’re the type of person who, you know, has friends.
Pure gold
Uncharted 3 is one of those games that you just can’t hate – despite all that it does to you; you simply can’t hold it against the game because it goes out of its way to astound you.
That’s not to say that you’ll soon forget the blatant flaws that you’ll run into during your adventure – it’s just that they aren’t quite enough to make this game anything less than spectacular.
If nothing else, the unforgiving gunplay, occasional graphical glitch and sometimes downright frustrating navigation simply means that there’s another level to which Naughty Dog can elevate Nathan on his next adventure.
Drake’s Deception is a sequence of unforgettable moments – with each trying to top the one that came before; and even though, in-game, everything Nathan Drake touches turns to poo, here in the real world:
Pure gold, baby; pure gold.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception reviewed << Comments and views
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