This was my first published article for Castle Co-Op, a website dedicated to Film, TV, Music and Culture – published 21-11-2011

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the PlayStation 3 was an immaculately told action adventure story following the exploits of treasure hunter Nathan Drake as he uncovers the lost mysteries of history – the series heralded as this generations Indiana Jones. Undoubtedly Uncharted 2 was one of the best games of 2009, industry acclaimed with over 200 individual Game of the Year awards. Uncharted is not just a high-rated franchise but defined as ‘The PlayStation 3 Experience.’

A staple of the series have been deep character driven plot with an intrinsic twist on history as we know it. While Uncharted doesn’t do much to shake its third-person action-adventure cover shooter collar, it instead acts as a shining beacon for all other games to emulate. Put simply, the latest entry into the series, Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception is a masterpiece of storytelling.

Watch trailer … Remove jaw from floor … Please continue reading

This time around the story delves deeper into Drake and Sully’s mentor – protégée relationship. The story thickens with the introduction of villainess Katherine Marlowe – the apparent head of a 400 year-old cabal –- with a conspiracy inspired by the life of Sir Francis Drake, a privateer for her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and T.E Lawrence in his pre-military days, prior to his being Lawrence of Arabia. All in pursuit of the fabled Atlantis of the Sand otherwise known as the City of Ubar, the City of Brass or Iram of the Pillars hidden deep within the vast unforgiving Rub’ al Khali Desert.

The launch trailer deceptively presents an adrenaline pumping ride, however the overall campaign is expertly paced. The plot steadily delivers you from set-piece to set-piece, satisfying all elements of the genre. Whilst combat still conforms to your typical cover based shooter, there is enough diversity in the gameplay with climbing, platforming and environmental puzzles. Even though this is a tried and true formula, Naughty Dog merges these essences of gameplay with stunning environmental design to add to the immersive experience.

While the story is well paced, there does seem to an incredibly variable difficulty spike in certain chapters of the game where deaths seems cheap and no doubt thoughts of breaking your controller come to mind as profanity ensues. This does break the illusion of a perfectly fluid storyline however in some instances it does give you the benefit of choice. Running into a room guns-a-blazing may not be the most effective strategy and makes the player consider alternative measures of combat. Other times the enemy AI can truly be bastards, tactically swarming to your position and taunt over your mangled corpse as the screen slowly fades to black.

Thus the diversity of actual gameplay elements available in Uncharted 3 come in stark relief from the flood of shooting, action heavy games currently in the market with other triple A titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3 and Arkham City. The puzzle, platforming and shooting are accessible for new comers whilst the crushing difficulty still provides a challenge for seasoned veterans.

The new focus of Uncharted 3 is the revamped melee system, now emphasising combat with multiple assailants. During gameplay, switching between shooting and melee combat is nothing but satisfying with the wide array of finishing animations, whether it be swinging the butt of your rifle like a baseball bat or the infamous ‘pull the pin of the grenade attached to your opponent then kick him away,’ sadistically watching as desperate hands fumble trying to find the active grenade. My personal favourite has to be the classic ‘slide underneath a weakened enemy’s legs, punching him in the groin,’ ohh so satisfying.

Uncharted 3 continues the series legacy of raising the bar in terms of visuals, gameplay and cinematic flair. Not only is it a visually stunning game but a technological marvel pushing the console capabilities and establishing not only what games can look like, but instilling the idea of what games should look like. This is a technological marvel considering each iteration of the franchise has appeared on the PlayStation 3 console.

 Environments steeped with organic detailed bathed in incredible lighting. From the subtle artistry of sand clinging to our hero’s hair, wallpaper peeling from the outer edges as a wall is engulfed in flame to engineering the physics of an entire ocean, creating a memorable cruise ship level swaying with the swell of the waves.

Drake’s fluid animations are a product of his characters imperfections. He will rub his neck when puzzled, brush his hand against a wall when curiously walking along side it, reel from an enemy blow and stumbles through the harsh desert exhausted, dehydrated and hallucinating. This artistry reflects the humanity of the character making it feel like your controlling an actual person.

Thus the stunning visuals completes the perfect package courtesy of the magnificent writing coupled with the voice and body acting from Uncharted’s cast, captured on the mo-cap (motion capture) stage. Even outside the pre-rendered full motion videos (FMV), the one off quips Drake spouts as he lays the smack-down on the enemy in-game are just endearing and often hilarious. Uncharted 3 has once again broken the mold of what an action adventure should be.

Despite the campaign’s linear appearance in terms of level design, it’s well worth the time to explore the environments you inhabit as you progress through the game. Not only will you be rewarded with the lush vivid imagery of the breathtaking landscapes, but there are about 100 well hidden treasures to find scattered throughout the campaign.

Uncharted 3 support Steroscopic 3D, it is a nice advantage with numerous scenes from the campaign specifically tailored for the 3D experience. Despite its grandeur, gameplay is unaffected and is it is definitely not worth dropping a few thousand upgrading your current HD entertainment system.

Completing the Single Player Campaign does not mean the Uncharted 3 experience is over. You can then hop on over to the Multiplayer where players compete in competitive and cooperative modes. For those who wish the campaign would continue, there is Co-op Adventure where you can blast your way through a variety of missions set in an alternate story within the Uncharted universe with your fellow PSN friends.

The main appeal of Uncharted 3s multiplayer experience is the ability to play split-screen with dual login with 2 separate PSN profiles. The multiplayer experience offers the same addictive shooter aspect of Uncharted 2’s foray in multiplayer with a far more appealing progressions system of levels (‘Legacy’ similar to CoD’s ‘Prestige’ system), weapons and boosters, along with an array of collectable treasures to customise your character skins, there’s a lot to keep you coming back to uncharted long after the final credits role.

Uncharted 3 seems to do everything right. Pacing, storytelling, acting, dialogue, action, puzzles, design, environments, animation and the list goes on. Both online and offline, Uncharted is the definitive gaming experience creating such a vivid adventure and a memorable cast. Purchasing Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception for only the Multiplayer or the Single Player campaign would be the akin to visiting the Sistine Chapel and not looking up.

With quiet rumblings and rumours of Uncharted 4 starting up production, let’s hope Naughty Dog doesn’t follow too closely in Indiana Jones’ footsteps, would hate to see an older Drake in search of aliens. Although and older Drake ala Sold Snake from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.

Finally, for all those still with their quips and doubts about the game, let us see what Indy himself, Harrison Ford thinks of Uncharted 3.

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DEVELOPER: Naughty Dog