Complete (and Mostly Unedited) Thoughts on Uncharted 3

Let me get this out there right now: I’m a huge Uncharted fan. I know the series isn’t without faults (as many series are), but I can’t help but be drawn in by the Indiana Jones-like plot and awesome characters. I can with certainty that Uncharted 3 was one of my most anticipated games of this year. When I got the game on the day it was released, I play it non-stop (except to break for sleep) until I finished it the next day. When I finished it, I wasn’t sure what to think. It’s hard to describe your complete thoughts of a game right after you finish it. Most of what I thought was “that was amazing!” or “this is totally Game of the Year”. But as we all know, it’s better to wait a few days and let things mull over in your brain before presenting your full thoughts on the game. This is what I give to you now.

Now I know many of you have finished the game, as it isn’t very long, but I still want to warn everyone else that there will be MAJOR SPOILERS in this post. If you don’t care, or have already beaten the game, then please read on.

I’ve not really going to segment the post in way by separating story or gameplay from each other. Instead I’m just going to write everything out as it comes to me. It’s going to be sporadic, sure, but if I try and sort everything out in my head I’m going to forget something and I’d rather not do that. So please, forgive me.

I’d like to start by saying that Naughty Dog’s newfound focus on melee gameplay is completely unneeded. It felt extremely forced and like a very lite version of Arkham City’s combat system (the buttons are even the same). It seemed interesting in the beginning of the game, but as the game continued to force you into areas where you had no choice but to use the melee combat it got more and more tiresome.

That said the opening of the game is awesome. I really enjoy the idea of Drake and Sully globe-trotting for treasure/making deals and being just general thieves/collectors of fine treasure. I also really like London as a location so I was really glad to see that in the game.

The flashback chapter was another fun sequence. I saw that a lot of people felt it was very “Uncharted-like” and I would agree. But to me that’s why it felt interesting. It was a change of page from the normal run and gun of Uncharted’s big moments. Sure it closed off with a chase sequence, but it presented a lot of interesting questions to the story and gave us how Sully and Drake came together. Considering how much I enjoy these characters, I’d say this one was a win.

The rest of the London sequence was “alright”. It didn’t have any huge problems with it. I was glad to see Chloe there again and I rather enjoyed Charlie as a character. My problem here is something that continued into other segments in the game. The parts where you have to look in order to find something are very floaty and require a very specific angle in order to count. What I’m referring to in the London segment is the whole Golden Fleece puzzle. I looked at that goat statue from many angles, but never the one the game required until I stumbled upon it by accident.

Another folly of Naughty Dog’s is the stealth in Uncharted 3. I honestly believe that the AI has two modes. It has its “shooting” mode and it’s “stealth” mode. When in stealth mode the AI is probably one of the worst I’ve ever seen. I can’t count how many times I’ve “snuck up” behind one of the guards and killed him right beside his partner. If you want to know how to do stealth AI, take a look at Deus Ex. This was a big problem I had throughout the game. While it would never force you into doing stealth, failing to kill as many guys as you could would leave you in a firefight with a ridiculous amount of soldiers (almost unbeatable). It was an extremely frustrating mechanic that didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped.

Back to the story for a bit, I really enjoyed the Chateau segment in France. It was definitely one of the games better set pieces and the puzzles weren’t ridiculously hard or specific to the point of being obnoxious. There wasn’t a whole lot of “story” here per say, but it definitely turned into an exciting set piece once the place began burning down. If anything I’d say this is one of Uncharted 3’s finest moments.

The part right after in Syria though was… aggravating. It basically included all the mechanics of Uncharted 3 I disliked. It made use of the stealth, had an ultra-specific puzzle (those lens puzzles were awful) and stuck me in a firefight with almost unbeatable odds. While story wise it certainly helped move things along, the gameplay was some of the most frustrating I had to deal with in Uncharted 3.

It was here we saw Chloe and Charlie exit Uncharted 3. I found their exit to be reasonable. After all they were nearly killed by a crazy old lady. Their goal was no longer worth the price. I also like the idea of not having all the characters throughout the entire story. Many people cried foul when Sully disappeared after the beginning of Uncharted 2. I think I was one of the few people who liked the idea of not having every single character in the Uncharted world in each Uncharted game.

From here we moved on to Yemen. Yemen was… a long, long haul. I know it lasted until the end of the game, but there were many, many unneeded sequences in last half or so of Uncharted 3. It also demonstrated more flaws in Uncharted 3’s gameplay. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t great moments though. There were plenty and I plan on going through as many as I can remember.
I’ll start off by saying I really enjoy it when Uncharted has populated areas. I really enjoyed the village in Uncharted 2 and I enjoyed the cities in Uncharted 3 just as much. I hope to see more of these in the series as it continues.

Now I don’t know if it’s just me or not, but I do not enjoy desert locales in films. It didn’t work for me in Quantum of Solace and it doesn’t work for me too well in Uncharted 3 either. I don’t want to keep saying “but with that said”, but to be honest it’s late and I’ve run out of transitions already. In short I didn’t wind up hating the desert locale as much as I thought I would.

It was in Yemen that Elena came into the story. Like everyone else the first thing I noticed was the ring on her finger. One thing I was never clear on was how far after Uncharted 2; Uncharted 3 took place. The fact that Drake and Elena had been married at some point didn’t help that matter. It was also something they never cleared up (neither the marriage details nor the time – all we ever found out was that it took place four years after the first game).

The puzzles in the city were fairly easy, even though they continued to have that floaty/really specific angle to them that drove me nuts while playing the game. I did rather enjoy the chase sequence against Talbot in the city. What I didn’t really enjoy was the drug induced haze I went through after that. I realize the point was to seem really confused and disoriented, I felt like it went on for too long. About half through I just started to sigh and push forward on my controller while waiting for it to be over. The reveal at the end was nice, but holy crap was the road to it long.
 I like the idea of Drake not really being Drake’s name. It seemed kind of obvious that the name was fake, but it’s still interesting. I also enjoyed the backstory on Drake’s parents. Things were things I’d never thought I’d find out about Drake, but I’m glad Naughty Dog put those details in there.

Now comes probably the worst section in the entire game. The boat yard. Holy crap I’ve never been more frustrated in my entire life. The shooting was bad, there were way too many guys to fight, and the platforming was some of the worst in the entire game. I literally spent a half an hour trying to swing from one pipe to another because for some reason when I would go for it, the game would just think I let go and Drake would fall to his doom. Yeah. That was a lot of fun.

The sinking boat sequence was fun and definitely one of Uncharted 3’s better set pieces. The same goes for the plane fight and subsequently exploding. The scene on the plane was definitely one of the best parts in the game. I loved watching the plane explode around me as I struggled to climb back on the cargo straps.

My personal favorite part of Uncharted 3 is what happened right after landing. The desert sequences that involve you just walking through the desert, seeing people and things, all in all Drake in just the most hopeless situation you could imagine. It was very… well, cinematic. There was no HUD, there was nothing except Drake and sand, and for you to walk. It simple, and elegant. Yes the conclusion of the desert wandering was a tad unbelievable and led into more frustrating gameplay, but that doesn’t demerit the awesomeness of what game before it.

It was here that I knew the game was headed towards a finale, and I was definitely curious how things were going to wrap up. What I played was an exciting horse chase very reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a very, very frustrating sandstorm gunfight, and finally a drug induced firefight between Drake and bunch of fire demons (with the best sound effects ever).

I was definitely glad to learn that there was in fact nothing supernatural about the city itself and it was just the water. There was something in the water. The explanation was simple and easy enough to digest that I supposed it made sense. The thing that I wonder is what Talbot was using in his drugs when they were causing Charlie and Drake to hallucinate. Sure there are plenty of drugs that can do that, but the way the game made it seem was that there was some sort of connection between them. How did they get it? Did they find remnants of it in other areas of the world?

The death of Barlowe was nothing special, although I’m glad there wasn’t some sort of supernatural transformation and then a terrible boss fight (oh wait). I also don’t know why Drake tried to save her. I guess it was to prove that he was better than her?

The melee fight against Talbot was nothing spectacular. In fact it seemed like Naughty Dog’s way of addressing the fact that their boss battles have sucked in the previous games. Unfortunately this doesn’t solve anything. I would have much rather had a quicktime knife battle similar to the one in Resident Evil 4 than some awkward melee controls and lots of rapid button presses.

The ending of the game also felt short to me. It wasn’t bad, just not as long as I’d have liked it to be. I like that Drake and Elena have somewhat resolved their problems and are moving on to… get married? Not sure on that one but it ended on a good note which I’m happy about.

All in all Uncharted 3 is an amazing game. It had a few more gameplay issues than Uncharted 2, but the story was strong and in Uncharted that’s what makes me the happiest.

A lot of people have been comparing this one to Uncharted 2 and that is of course expected. In fact a lot of people have been saying that they liked Uncharted 2 more than Uncharted 3. I think the reason for this is because Uncharted 2 reinvented the wheel while Uncharted 3 simply built upon it. It didn’t do much new and simply refined what was already built from Uncharted 2. It doesn’t seem as new so people aren’t as excited about it. I admit that I feel the same way a bit. Looking back on Uncharted 2, I enjoyed the set pieces and story moments a bit more. That said it’s been a long time since I played Uncharted 2 and I could only be remembering the good parts.

Food for thought perhaps. 

So there are my long winded thoughts on Uncharted 3. If you have any questions for me, I’d love to answer them. If there’s something you’d like to discuss about the game I’m all for that as well. Hit me up in the comments!