Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception takes place about two years after the events of Uncharted 2. This time Drake is looking for a treasure that both Francis Drake and T.E. Lawrence were after. Ubar, Iram of the Pillars, The Atlantis of the Sands. Drake's gotten in over his head this time as a mysterious woman named Katherine Marlowe is looking for the lost city along with her group of men, and they'll stop at nothing from preventing Nate and Sully from getting to the city alive.

Nathan Drake, Victor Sullivan, Elena and Chloe are all back to go after this incredible treasure and the world is throwing everything at them. First let's talk melee combat. Uncharted has gradually gotten better with hand to hand combat as the series goes on and I think Uncharted 3 has just about mastered it. You can take on more than one enemy, pick up an object nearby and hit your opponent, and counter with relative ease. Gunplay is still the same, with the same duck and cover routine as the previous games.

The puzzles in Uncharted 3 can range from easy to mind-numbingly hard. I'll admit I had to look up how to solve a puzzle or two but once you find out how it goes it becomes fairly simple.

Of course one of the things that makes Uncharted so appealing are the graphics. They look amazing. The characters are even more realistic than last time and some of the environments are really mind blowing. Two things that stood out for me were the areas with fire and the desert areas. The sand looks real, the fire looks real. Sometimes it feels like you could just reach out and touch the locations. Nate makes subtle movements as he's walking too that give him a bigger sense of reality, though sometimes it feels a little awkward.

All I can say is Naughty Dog has delivered once more. While the climax felt a little rushed to me and the game is a bit short, Uncharted 3 is a game that is just as good if not better than its predecessor. I'll be playing it a lot more times in the future and I recommend it to any Play Station 3 owner.

First off, I enjoyed this game a good deal. I do not want anyone to think I thought this game was bad or was in need of a major overhaul. I just do not think it was as good as the very epic second game in the series. There was nothing like the war torn city you had to navigate your way through, there was no super great action scene on the train, and there just was not as good a villain to fight. With that being said, it was still a very good game and still better than the first game in the series, though all have been great so far and I will most certainly buy an Uncharted 4 should it come out. I feel this one was rushed a bit more than the second game, and that may account for some of the small faults I found, but even though it came out relatively quickly after the second one they still managed a rather good story and some incredible game play. Nate is back and he is going against a mysterious lady from his and Sully's past named Marlowe as there is a great poolroom brawl to start the game. Seems this time you are once again following a path of Sir Francis Drake as Nate tries to find the Atlantis of the Sand before the villain of the piece. You get a peek at Nate's childhood and his first meeting with Victor Sullivan and through the game you see how important Victor is to Nate. Chloe once again returns as does Elena as Nate goes from one interesting locale to the next. The most interesting of the places you get to visit to me in this one was the ship graveyard and the level where the ship is sinking was easily one of the best and most rattling levels in the game. The game play is essentially the same as the previous two games, though hand to hand combat was once again improved upon. I did find that during some of the levels the game regressed to being a bit like the first game where you do some jumping and climbing and then make your way to a shoot out type layout, not as bad as the first, but it was noticeable where the second game was a bit more seamless in transition. All in all though it was a very good game and loads of fun to play and it has me wanting to replay the first adventure once again. The characters are some of the best in video games and the story was very sound too, though I will say there was really not all that much in the way of a super ending fight as there was in the second game. Which sums up this game, it is a very good game, but just a step behind the second.

1.

Bought my PS3 Uncharted 3 bundle and immediately bought the first two in the series before I started playing three. The first two were just amazing, especially the second one. Now I'm on Drake's Deception and I have to say, I find it a real clunker in comparison. You need to be much closer to ammo to pick it up, when you are close to objects and you pan around the objects become transparent totally confusing you, the controls are slightly altered making it confusing when you're in a fistfight, the hint button barely ever shows up and I've found myself wandering around in frustration wondering what the heck I'm suppose to be doing. The only frustration I had with the first two games was the final boss battle in Among Thieves, which was a real bitch, but I've already felt like throwing my controller at the TV at least a half dozen times during number 3 and I'm still really early on in the game. Hope it gets better. I don't understand why they feel like they needed to change things. The second game was rated perfect by just about everyone, so, what, they decided they had to change it? Makes no sense.

2. Farther into the game now. It's starting to pick up but so far the characters have been much more wooden. It seems like they are just going through the motions at times. Also, way too many cut scenes and periods during which you don't have full control of Drake. It's like you are just watching a movie and you don't really have any control over what happens next. Sometimes Drake can't aim his gun. Sometimes he can do nothing but walk to the next cut scene. Finally Elana is back in the picture so the romantic tension is beginning. Hopefully that will cure what is wrong with this installment. Also, the fights are very redundant and the prompts are annoying. Okay, I get it, I'm suppose to press O and triangle, do I really have to be reminded every single time just to see the exact same fight scenario played out? The graphics are better than the previous games but seems that came at the expense of plot. Also, Sully giving hints every five minutes about stuff that is obvious and vague hints about stuff that isn't obvious gets pretty annoying.

3. About three quarters of the way through now and I must say the game has picked up considerably. The cruise ship chapter alone is worth getting this far. This game starts off slowly but stick with it; during the second half it delivers the intensity that made part two such a masterpiece.

4. Just finished it. Great game. You just have to get through that clunky first third of it and it really kicks off.

What Nathan Drake does to Sony is truly like Mario does to Nintendo or Sonic to Sega. He is certainly Playstation's long-lost lover and once found, inseparable. He was born from the same womb that gave birth to the once-considered-Playstation mascot, Crash Bandicoot.

Uncharted series prove to enjoyable in all its iterations, and every new release gets better charm upon the previous. As you might expect, Uncharted 3 is the best among the whole series. The graphics and gameplay are naturally the most gorgeous, the actions are engaged and virtually non-stop, but the biggest improvement in UC3 is its amazingly diverse settings. If you got bored of running in the woods just like in UC1 and some in UC2, worry no more, UC3 got you explore a lot of gorgeous landscapes: from the bleak underground, remote castle ruins, market, airport, seaport, desert, and even a ghost town. Not to mention, the game also has the longest time to complete, in fact it was so long that I remember when I finally finished the game, I recalled playing the early chapters like it was years ago.

With all those cramped in a single disc, you might not notice that UC3 has the largest data size ever released as a video game to date - over 50 GB! Finally, a game that justifies the sheer capacity of blu ray disc! I can't imagine if it is not a PS3 exclusive, how many discs it will come on PC or Xbox 360.

One glaring omission out of the box somehow is the movie viewer feature! In past UC games, I really love viewing the cutscenes I've passed over and over again through movie viewer feature to admire the scenes and as an enjoyment bonus (in fact, I do think that the movie feature is among the feature you love in UC series, right?) Now in UC3, with all those major overhauled in graphics and others, can't you imagine the passion to watch it over and over again? And this time, Naughty Dog has removed that lovely feature, do you believe that? I wonder if they were too busy finishing the lengthy gameplay that they forgot to include this. Fortunately, Naughty Dog realized this and through patch 1.03, they returned this little nice feature. If you own the earlier version (just like me having the 1.00 version), you will only need to update the game. No big deal indeed, unless you have no proper internet connection. Unlucky me, I am among the second one. Oh well...but OK, this should not ruin the whole UC3 experience..But if you purchased the game recently (or just plan to purchase) chances are good that you will get the updated version, which means the feature is already available out of the box.

Move over Indiana Jones. Nathan Drake has come to claim his crown. His adventure is not over, there's still plenty to do out there, UC series could continue as much as tenth of iterations. Let's just imagine what mad quest he will engage next..Or, get this...how about he meets Lara Croft and they venture together (and eventually, maybe get married?)? They are surely match made in heaven. Sounds really unlikely, but hey...it's cool!

I had high expectations for Uncharted 3. They were exceeded and smashed. Naughty Dog did what many, many people thought impossible and made a sequel that was even better than its predecessor.

The game feels so much more whole as an experience, it feels complete. It answers questions, and asks a few new ones as well. From start to finish, it's a tight, enriching and wholly engrossing experience; not just a game.

I won't reveal any spoilers. But I'll just say that a few new features go a long way in enhancing the Uncharted experience. Different takes on the way the story is told and set up is also another plus.

As a game, it may seem like more of a playable movie. BUT, it's so much more - it remains a GAME. It pulls you in until you can't put the controller down.

Once you've finished, there's a hint of sadness - you'll find yourself wishing you'd never finished it, just so you could discover and experience it all again.

Easily Game of the Year. I can't fault this.