Oh Nathan Drake, you careless adventurer you. How you made me not give a single damn in the first unchartered, then flipped my perception on its head in the 2nd is beyond my comprehension. So here we are with your third outing, and I must say, you’ve certainly impressed.
The Uncharted series have been a mixed bag of highs and lows for myself. The first one, I was extremely unimpressed. I could see why people enjoyed it, but I felt like it was a poor mans Tomb Raider and was just a knock off. It was stunning in graphics, it wasn’t original in gameplay or story telling, it was just meh all the way through. This all changed with the second game. In Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog left me stunned at every turn. With improved art assets, and dynamically scripted sequences like the train level, (a level in which the game keeps dynamically generating a train journey whilst you progress across it, giving the feeling of a real train ride and not scripted/linear) I felt convinced that Naughty Dog had found their true potential, and had run with it.
Uncharted 3 was more of Uncharted 2, albeit with quite a few bugs and a detracting story. It felt like a game that was never intended to be made, and quite a few plot points felt arbitrary, maybe even pointless. The action sequences were fantastic, bringing the series to a high point (but maybe not topping) of what was achieved in Uncharted 2. One example of this strength is a level in which Drake is fighting on a plane, all whilst enemies are trying to throw him off, with the back bay door open and crates falling out. This all adds to a dynamic feel of the game, as if you wouldn’t get the same scene twice if you tried. It truly adds to the immersion of the moment, and allows Uncharted 3 to feel more intense than any action movie.
Uncharted 3’s game mechanics are still the same as old, ensuring old and new players alike feel in control the whole time. Enemies are the same as before, which can be a bad thing at times, for example when a level has multiple floors and enemies above are slaughtering you. This could be attributed to bad level design, but most of the levels are gorgeous and well thought out, so I’ll give Naughty Dog the benefit of the doubt.
Nathan Drake and all the cast are fantastically well thought out, and compliment each other in everything that is done. Relationships are brought to tearing point, but it helps to portray an interesting character development arc that ends on a high note. I would gladly say that Naughty dog make some of the most believable characters in any game series of this generation.
Pros:
- Gorgeous landscapes and cities add to an immersive world
- Great witty banter between characters
- Fantastic action sequences that rival a film production any day
Cons:
- Very buggy (my character would fall out of the world often)
- Story had many plotholes
So to conclude, Uncharted 1 was meh, Uncharted 2 was AMAZING, and Uncharted 3 was alright, therefore I feel the whole series would rate as a 4/5 in a game review chart.
3/5
