{"id":15405,"date":"2011-11-08T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T08:08:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-11-17T15:22:27","modified_gmt":"2011-11-17T13:22:27","slug":"uncharted-3-drake-s-deception-review-ps3-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/reviews\/15405-uncharted-3-drake-s-deception-review-ps3-exclusive","title":{"rendered":"Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Review (PS3 Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Everything he touches, turns to poop.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Or every monster who hasn’t.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This is a Drake adventure, on a new, even more epic scale.<\/p>\n

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A feast for the eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right, so, let’s get the obvious out the way then, shall we?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

From French ch\u00e2teau’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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

And it has the most incredible sand you have ever seen in a game. Seriously.<\/p>\n

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However, it has to be said – as amazing as the visuals are (and really, they really, really are), they aren’t completely without fault.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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More than skin-deep<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

And when you’re dealing with a story on such a scale – you’ll be thankful that you have that quality leading the way.<\/p>\n

You’ll learn a lot more about the relationships between Sully and Drake – and how antagonist, Katherine Marlowe, fits into the picture.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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The entire idea behind Drake’s Deception is to find the path to the lost city, following the crumbs Sir Francis Drake left behind.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Shooty-shooty climb climb<\/strong><\/p>\n

And it’s in this “physically” part where the cracks in Drake’s Deception begin to show.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Lasting impressions<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Pure gold<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

Pure gold, baby; pure gold.<\/p>\n

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception reviewed<\/strong><\/a> << Comments and views<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t