Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Review
- Posted November 28th, 2007 at 12:57 EDT by
- 28,762 views
- 42 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 9.0
- Avg. user review score:
- 9.4
Summary
Classic adventure tale, combining beautifully rendered landscapes with pirates and treasure. Be whisked away to an undiscovered island where puzzle solving, fluid platforming, and loaded guns are used to unearth an ancient mystery. If you are looking for a solid title, Naughty Dog's Uncharted Drakes Fortune is no less than a masterpiece.
We like
- Some of the most beautiful environments and colorful characters yet on the PS3
- High quality voice acting and facial animations
We dislike
- Slight amount of screen tearing
- Gun battles could have been more diverse
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
Deep in the jungles of an undiscovered island lurks a legendary treasure. Known as El Dorado, this treasure has been sought by many, and now has fellow adventurer and lead character Nathan Drake out on a vigorous scavenger hunt to find it. Teamed up with a foxy blond reporter, Nathan must jump, swing, and climb the landscapes, finding new clues to the location of the mysterious gold statue. Developed by Naughty Dog Studios, Uncharted Drake's Fortune is what I'd call the bread and butter of the PlayStation 3, offering beautiful graphics, solid platforming, and movie quality storytelling.
To jump right in, the control scheme of game seems to follow what is easily becoming an industry standard for 3rd person action games. Players will use a single button to perform many different actions whether it’s taking cover, leaping to ledges, or activating doors; the layout is set up to simplify the feel of the character.
In Uncharted, this scheme is mapped to the triangle button, which is utilized to execute most of your interaction commands, including anything from kicking open rusty gates to jumping in vehicles. Then you have the square button, which handles your characters punches and combo attacks, leaving the circle as your cover and roll command and X for jumping. Moving on to the back buttons, L1 is used for aiming, R2 for reload, R” for fire, and L2 for manipulating the camera, allowing you to look around. You may also use the D-pad to switch through your weaponry and throw grenades.
It is rare to find a game that mixes third person shooter with platforming, and have both concepts actually harmonize in unison. More than often, I found it refreshing to finally have a title that allows the user to have a great experience in leaping ledges and scaling cliffs, but then shake it up with intense shotgun battles with treasure hungry pirates. The only other game that comes to mind that puts these two genres together so well is Tomb Raider. However, Lara Croft has nothing on Nathan Drake; Naughty Dog has done a great job to push the limits and offer something that is unique, standing out from others in the genre.
One notable annoyance in the game was when it came to jumping from one cling hole to another, as it was hard to tell where exactly Drake was jumping. Sometimes it shows his head turn, looking back, when making a backwards leap, or he’d look up if you were looking to scale upwards. However, sometimes it was hard to get him in this “tell” situation, leading to a blinded bound, occasionally resulting in death. Other than that, the jumping controls in Uncharted were perfect for it’s pace allowing you to not have to time your leaps. Just line it up and fly.
The cover system was easy to use as well. When near a wall or protruding chunk stone, simply press circle and Nathan will lean against the object for cover. Indeed, one of the key points in Uncharted is cover. Whether it’s stealthily sneaking upon an enemy for a neck break or taking a hail of fire and needing a place to restore your health, taking cover is a must. There really are not too many Rambo moments in the game. Most of the time if you rush up into a group of pirates, the end result is a red screen of “continue from last checkpoint.”
Earlier this year, hands on experiences lead some people to relate the shooting and action experiences in Uncharted Drake’s Fortune to something like Gears of War; and they were right. Now Uncharted doesn’t have all the chainsaws, exploding bodies, and curb stomps but the third person shooter controls are nearly the same, and you feel that same intensity when enemies come at you with shotguns and grenade launchers. Also the close up slow-motion combo sequences when fighting a pirate hand-to-hand help immerse you more into the visceral, kick ass action Uncharted provides.
Also worthy of mention are the SIXAXIS controls. Naughty Dog threw in the ability to hock grenades and balance across fallen trees, both using the SIXAXIS motion controller. In our experience, however, it didn’t add anything to ... (continued on next page)
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Comments
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leeman99 |
Bedsidelee- 9:51am GMT - November 28th, 2007
- 5
This why my ps3 takes pride and place above my xbox 360 and wii, theres something about ps3 games looking so good on my 42inch hd lcd honestly they do look much better than any of the other consoles games but drake is so special i can't wait to be in that tropical jungle kicking butt brilliant.
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TheBlackMamba |
tofast4ya- 10:18am GMT - November 28th, 2007
- 7
This game was AWESOME. Finished the entire game on normal level finding all 61 treasures, yes there are 61 treasures not 60. Can't wait until part 2.
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DeadOnArrival06 |
DeadOnArrival06- 11:17am GMT - November 28th, 2007
- 8
This was an amazing game. I hope it's one of the PS3's best sellers.
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Mecha_Daddy |
mecha_daddy- 3:01pm GMT - November 28th, 2007
- 11
Very good game, accurate review. This one was close to perfect, just not quite.
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Hyourinmaru |
DAT1AZNPAN- 3:19pm GMT - November 28th, 2007
- 12
i downloaded teh demo the graphics are just HOT I mean liek literally 1 of teh BEST graphics I ever seen but teh game play is just not god enough like I had a shotgun n it took me 2 blows to keep some1 n i was liek 1 feet apart and the AK 47 was just retraded soo weak the pistols >.> unless u get a headshot it'll ake u like 4 shots to kill some1
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bloodwarg |
bloodwarg- 4:42pm GMT - November 28th, 2007
- 14
played demo and pretty good but endless amount of enemies makes it frustrating as it makes it unrealistic i mean if how many mercenaries are there on this supposed !!secret!! island where theres the !!secret!! buried treasure.
i gonna get fm 08 on psp then after that orange box in next few weeks
then ill get god of war for psp and a few ps3 games at christmas,, gonna get shivering isles on ps3 when it comes out on disc. anyone know when that out in europe.
i might get this. oh nearly forgot about meatl gear solid quite a few decent games out this christmas for both psp and ps3.
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marronthered |
MarrontheRed- 8:07pm GMT - November 28th, 2007
- 20
i am hearing reports of this game being very short!! that seems to be the case with a lot of these next gen titles... cod4 etc. if oblivion can offer over 150hrs of gameplay why cant this?????
def gonna buy it tho - the demo is the most played on my ps3...lol
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MatrixSixaxis
- 5:18am GMT - November 29th, 2007
- 23
Simply....awesome!!! Can't wait for the on-going sequels!
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91761jimhoffa |
jimhoffa1982 - 4:16am GMT - December 1st, 2007
- 26
Playing this game is like watching a movie get your popcorn. score 9.75/10.
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badz149
- 11:12pm GMT - December 6th, 2007
- 28
I agree that this is a great game! played the demo and will definitely get it - probably today!! And @wiggsj, about the pirates, just assume that they are wearing pirate uniform of something! even in CoD4, I don't remember how many of those same guys I've killed throughout the game! they even have same faces with beard and also the guys under the mask!! if you want to see variations, play Assassin's Creed!
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zbamf
- 8:30am GMT - December 8th, 2007
- 29
This game is a definate for me. I was expecting a higher score to be honest.
In the demo the gun play was awesome because the AI made it tricky and that drake isn't an awesome shot like in most games when a normal person holds a gun. UNless it was just me on my first play? lol.
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badz149
- 12:04am GMT - December 10th, 2007
- 30
bought it, and although I'm still in the middle of the game - at the jetski scene, I'll give all of you my opinion. THIS GAME ROCKS! Not just the graphics, the sound and the story really pulls you into the game - If you have surround system! This is really a MUST HAVE!
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dreginate86
- 9:52am GMT - December 21st, 2007
- 33
love ie so much I have the strategy guide to find all the treasures and to unlock all the cool stuff!!!
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GoldenEwok
- 4:55pm GMT - December 27th, 2007
- 35
i got the game and its really good, repetitive though, just like assasins creed, repetitve but awesome and gorgeous graphics
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Dark_Halo34 |
Dark_Halo34- 10:43pm GMT - December 30th, 2007
- 37
gr8 game it is game of the year material 4sure!!!!!!! 10/10
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jonnyfalmouth@g
- 10:27am GMT - January 3rd, 2008
- 38
http://www.YourPS34free.com/index.php?ref=4538826
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greengnomes
- 4:09pm GMT - January 27th, 2008
- 41
I love this game can't wait till uncharted 2 comes out
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