Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
by Sony
Platform: PlayStation 3 | Rated: Teen
Rating: 
List Price: $59.99
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Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception Playstation Sale Black Friday
- An interactive cinematic experience that blurs the lines between games and Hollywood films.
- Nathan Drake’s journey will put you through new challenges and take you to stunning locations around the world.
- Epic single player campaign with evolved signature UNCHARTED gameplay.
- A new breed of Action Adventure Multiplayer that brings the exciting cinematic elements of the single-player campaign, into the multiplayer.
- Experience the thrill of UNCHARTED in stereoscopic 3D
Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception Playstation Sale Black Friday
A search for the fabled “Atlantis of the Sands” propels fortune hunter Nathan Drake on a trek into the heart of the Arabian Desert. When the terrible secrets of this lost city are unearthed, Drake’s quest descends into a desperate bid for survival that strains the limits of his endurance and forces him to confront his deepest fears. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is a unique third-person Action-Adventure game for play exclusively on PlayStation 3 that incorporates significant Shooter and Platformer gameplay mechanics resulting in another must-have game for PS3 players. The third game in the Uncharted franchise, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception continues the adventures of the swashbuckling treasure hunter Nathan Drake, this as he finds himself in a new variety of challenging environments. Features include: interactive cinematic experience, stereoscopic 3D, an epic single player campaign and multiplayer support online as well as offline. Search for the fabled ‘Atlantis of the Sands’
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GREATNESS from small beginnings…,
Greatness is a word I want to stress regarding this game. Drake’s Fortune was great fun, a welcome departure from the end of the world/futuristic shooters predominating at the time. Among Thieves was the ultimate sequel and built wonderfully on all aspects of the first. Drake’s Deception, the third entry in the series, is something else altogether. This game sets a new precedent for how inclusive and engaging video games can be. There will be some who won’t feel so strongly but anybody who loved the first two is going to LOVE this.
>Graphics 5/5 – As always, fantastic! They have managed to improve on the sequel. While the game still looks the same overall it is the details that ND continues to add that makes each game an improvement over the previous one. This entry specifically seems to push the already present cinematic feel – as evidenced brilliantly by its opening scene and chapter as well as numerous times during the game in cutscenes and gameplay.
They show off their abilities by purposely trying to show us different settings than the previous games. The London Underground is wonderfully designed, the Colombia streets are populated and lively, a temple found in Syria has a wonderfully cinematic design, etc. They also show off their ability to render fire, sand, some excitingly trippy hallucination style sequences where everything is warped, and a fantastic (if slightly out of place) swaying environment on a ship. Another nice touch is some levels occurring during day and others at night.
Character acting has again improved as much between this and the last game as the last game did over the original. Faces are fuller and more expressive (Chloe’s face is major evidence of this). This game looks so good family members will stop to see what I am watching and so entertaining they then wind up sitting down to watch me play.
>Gameplay 4.5/5 – Drake’s Deception has everything you loved about the first two games, only more finessed and perfected. Enemies are now slightly smarter and diverge on your position quicker (though in some ways I’d argue this makes them easier to take down, no more pin downs). The weapons system has been updated and tweaked (anyone who played the beta knows aiming is more particular, but you quickly adapt). Drake now grabs weapons automatically when out of ammo, another nice added detail.
The best new feature seems to be the updated brawling system. In what reminds me of the recent Batman Arkham games, Nate can now evade, counter and take on multiple opponents. It’s all great fun and plays well. The ability to dive underwater becomes well utilized in later chapters. The new ability to ride a horse is simple but works well, think of the jet ski from the first game only updated, you sort of just steer and shoot. Another nifty new detail is the ability to throw back grenades, though you have to time it well.
Having finished the game I will say objectively that any faults to be found are in gameplay pacing.mechanics. All games I’ve experienced have a sometimes clumsy quality to gameplay. On occasion you press a button and it doesn’t do what you want, that’s just part of gaming. In Uncharted this manifests itself when sometimes trying to reach for a specific ledge, it can look like Drake is doing calisthenics.
The other issue is more subjective but this game seems to have less prolonged gun fights (which I always enjoyed) and more of the game plays itself in a sense. Another reviewer said it best noting that the game holds the players hand more this go around (press square now, circle now, etc), this may please some but will definitely aggravate others looking for more challenge.
>The story 5/5 – I won’t give anything away but well crafted stories are a key reason for the popularity of this franchise, this entry doesn’t disappoint in that regard. The actors perform great as always, so many nuances brought to the characters. This game takes the world of the previous games and expands on it. If the second game was a continuation of the story from the first then this game is an opening up of the characters, their world and the story being told.
A wonderful backstory for Nate and Sully is crafted and played out and a flashback of sorts is handled in a respectful way when it could’ve felt cheap or forced. There is a very Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade feeling here. This game has the mix of action, humor and romance that previous games had with strong emphasis on emotion in some key scenes (and for those concerned I felt Elena and Chloe’s respective returns were well handled and logical continuations).
Another possible criticism though, the villain in this entry is formidable and compelling but when you finally reach the ending I don’t feel she is as well utilized a final boss as either Navaro or Lazarvic. There is no real boss showdown.
>Online Content 5/5- It was…
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|Uncharted 3, a glimpse into Drakes past…,
Greatness from small beginnings is the phrase that starts out this story.
Uncharted 3 takes us to a whole new world of treasure hunting like never before. In this game, not only do you play as Drake, but as a young (child version) Drake as well. The story jumps back in time through out the game, where we learn how Drake and Sully met and become friends. A new woman is brought into the picture. This time, she’s a former love interest of Sully and not Drake.
Rather than starting out the game in the middle of nowhere like Uncharted 2, this time you’re in the heart of Europe in a British pub. But just as in past games, you are quickly jumping from location to location throughout the world. Each scene remarkably done and visually stunning.
On thing I really like that’s different in the Uncharted 2 storyline is this time there’s less issues with your team mates turning on you. In Uncharted 2, people on your team were often taking off, and you lost your allies as quickly as they joined you. In Uncharted 3, your team of 4 sticks with you and works together. Your not getting abandoned because you partner ran off with the bad guys, even if they were just pretending to be on their side.
The story is just as compelling as it has always been. Uncharted 3 plays out like a blockbuster movie, only you get to control the moves. Climbing, running, fighting and shooting your way through everything you can imagine, Uncharted 3 has managed to even out do their last game. As usual, while playing you also look for treasures throughout the game to collect. You have your journal again to help you solve puzzles as well.
Online game play is set up by using a pass code that’s included in the games case. Once set up, you have game play options such as:
Team Deathmatch
Plunder
Team Objective
Three Team Deathmatch
Free-for-All
Hardcore
Co-op Arena
Co-op Hunter Arena
Co-op Adventure
The online game play benefited quite a bit from the open beta testing. The online matches are smoother and have less issues than there were months ago when they first opened the testing. I played quite a bit during that first month and can definitely see much more fluidity in the online game play movement versus how it was during beta.
This is not a game you will want to rush through. There is so much to see, treasure to collect and story behind it all.
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|High expectations = slight disappointment,
Uncharted 3 is truly a video game masterpiece. The graphics are above and beyond most titles available to both systems and Drake’s interactions with his surroundings (ex: placing his hand on a wall as he passes) makes you feel a sense of realism not found in other games. It is truly an experience worth every penny of the pre-order.
However, I believe I set my expectations way too high for UC3 and was left feeling slightly disappointed. After the UC2 experience (which left me bored with nearly every other game I own) and IGN’s perfect 10 rating of UC3, I expected to be blown away with something groundbreaking and new. Unfortunately, though executed nearly perfect, Uncharted 3 could almost be described as Uncharted 2 with a slightly different story (right down to some of the chapters feeling like near remakes of the previous game).
The combination of puzzle solving, platforming, and shooting is balanced extremely well, but is nothing we haven’t seen in the previous Uncharted installments. Though I’m unsure of the specifics, the weapons seem to be mostly the same as UC2. A real improvement has been in the hand-to-hand realm, where Drake will interact with his surroundings during fights, whether it’s picking up a bottle or crowbar lying nearby or using a table to throw his enemy on his back. Some of the sequencing involving stealing other people’s guns during fights were exhilarating. I recall one such instance where Drake threw his AK47 into the hands of an unarmed enemy, clocked him the second the enemy caught it, and then caught it back out of the air.
One annoyance with the hand-to-hand combat is the mini-boss fights, when Drake fights a Goliath of a man. The sequence is repetitive and boring. Dodge the kick, kick the enemy in the groin, give him 3-4 good hooks while he takes a knee, rinse, repeat. It would have been fine had this been one boss, but there are roughly 10 of these mini-bosses throughout the game with the exact same sequence.
Multiplayer was given a definite boost as there are now more perks to choose from, a greater variety in levels, and a leveling system for your perks. The increase in health, however, makes the MP seem a bit over-the-top and challenging, as I can now chase somebody, unloading clips during blind fire and still not manage to kill them. Aiming down the “scope” seems to be extremely ineffective even attempting to shoot someone from a distance is a complete waste of time and ammo. While I can easily hold my own in UC2′s MP, I’m lucky to break 500 with UC3s. I rarely get the chance to react before someone with a much better gun (with better perks) dances around me, blind firing just enough to give me a solid melee. I did notice some major graphics glitching during the train map and the airplane map. The train map made it look as though I were riding on trains in a tunnel made of clouds, while the airplane map had vehicles that would freeze for a second, then warp ahead, then freeze, then warp. This may have been a server issue, but those were my only experiences with those maps.
These issues on the MP make the single player one of the only things worth playing the game for.
2 of my largest complaints have to do with the single-player replay-ability and the aiming system. Though Naughty Dog has claimed that the controls are the exact same as UC2, there is a definite lag in UC3 aiming and the controls feel stiff and rigid. I have a great deal of difficulty shooting enemies and had to actually decrease the difficulty on some areas of the game because the controls add an entire new difficulty factor (one based on poor programming, not design).
The largest issue with UC3 was the lack of single-player achievements and perks post-game. In UC2, you could earn money by getting kills with certain weapons, this money would then unlock different render modes (one-shot-kills, black and white, etc), character skins, and weapons to call in-game. This entire function was completely removed. These gave me reasons to go back to UC2 again and again, but unless you want all the treasures or to defeat the game on all difficulties, there will be little desire to go back through the game.
Though my review tended to err on the side of the negative elements, I must note that UC3 is still probably one of the greatest games on the market. The Uncharted franchise has been a masterpiece of gaming and will likely go down as one of the greatest sets of games in history. That being said, these few flaws keep it from being absolutely perfect and, after releasing Uncharted 2, we all know that Naughty Dog can and has done better. I hope the future of the series will improve on these issues and keep releasing amazing games.
UPDATE:
I have now finished the game and the lingering disappointment still stands. Had I expected nothing going into it, I’m sure I would have given it a…
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