Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune review

I won’t lie; I haven’t played an action-adventure-platform game in quite some time, much less a decent one. In fact, I think the most enjoyable one I’ve played last was either the lastest Tomb Raider, or, more surely, Prince of Persia.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, mind you.

Yes, it’s been a while.

Which, I suppose, is the sole reason I’m always apprehensive about picking up a game from this genre: there’s just so much out there that sucks that it’s disheartening to plod through another boring, disappointing game whose progression relies solely on shoot-shoot-shoot-dodge-jump, rewarding you with the next scene of some ancient Indian treasure. Woopty smack.

The refreshing thing about Uncharted, however, is that it does follow the traditional platformer-formula, and it follows it well. It also, believe it or not, posesses a story, something that usually helps people enjoy your game. As seemingly simple as the story sounds (The protagonist is allegedly a direct-descendent of Sir Francis Drake, following clue-after-clue in a wild goose chase for the fabled El Dorado), the pacing of the game — short, almost choppy, missions that work exceedingly well in conjunction with the action-adventure aspect of the game. There are very few times where you sit around, aimlessly wandering or jumping platforms and shimmying over ledges to get past obstacles to be greeted by a lengthier jump-and-shimmy combo. Most platforming is short and sweet, getting you quickly from point A to B, to battle more enemies, then lets you move from B to C. Here, you’ll either get a story scene or end of chapter.

It’s broken up in such a way that made reading The DaVinci Code enjoyable; everything was broken up into such small, nice pieces that you can digest as you choose and at your own pace.

While a majority of the game is great, there are a few snags that pull at me — there is an amazing lack of weapon variety in the game, especially when it comes to weapon effectiveness in certain situations; for most, using the simple handgun proves to be the greatest ally as it is very accurate and go dispose of an enemy, regardless of distance, in one headshot.

There’s also a twist towards the end of the game that, while it makes complete sense with the story of the game, just feels strangely out of place, almost to the point of ruining the game had the twist not been near the end of the game.

Bottom Line: Uncharted is the best exclusive game currently on the PlayStation 3. A great story with great pacing and solid platforming provide no reason not even to give this game a rental at the absolute least. The only downsides are the plot twist, lack of weaponry and length. As soon as the game starts getting in its groove — things start to end, which is a shame.

I can’t wait for the sequel.

Rating: 85%