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!
