Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

“Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” was a perfect sequel. If “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” was a diamond in the rough, Uncharted 2 was its refined counterpart; a pristine gem devoid of the blemishes that marred the first. In terms of visual fidelity, style and overall scope, Uncharted 2 raised the bar dramatically – arguably, Naughty Dog pushed the hardware to an unprecedented degree. Considering the immense success of its predecessor, it’s difficult to determine the path down which the latest iteration of the Uncharted series could meander. As it so happens, Uncharted 3 plots a well-charted route, but one that’s strikingly picturesque and alluring all the same.

The guiding philosophy, that ‘bigger equates to better’, is becoming ever more prevalent among developers of this generation, to the extent that its almost endemic – Cliff Bleszenski, the creator and lead designer of “The Gear of War” series, is unsurprisingly a keen advocate of this train of thought. Splashes of bombast are all well and good, but on those occasions that it exists at the expense of intuitive design, I’d argue it can sometimes contribute to the stagnation of a franchise.

The Call of Duty series perfectly exemplifies this point; although I frequently play and enjoy each new sequel in the monolithic franchise, it would be remiss of me not to concede that each new iteration has become increasingly incremental and light on savvy design features.

Although Uncharted 3 conforms in some respects to this design philosophy (in its ostentatious nature and formulaic structure) it exhibits no lack of imagination or creativity, and as such is a true joy to play.

One thing becomes immediately apparent from the offset of Nathan Drake’s adventure: the game looks stunning. Naughty Dog has clearly eked out every last drop of processing power from the PS3 and harnessed it to unparalleled effect. Subtle touches, like the way in which Drake’s drab garbs hangs off his lithe figure in a convincing fashion, are just as impressive as the richly-detailed set-pieces.

The absolute highlight comes in the penultimate chapter when Drake and Sully (Drake’s seasoned adventuring companion) discover the fabled Atlantis of the Sands – a cavernous underground metropolis with a deceptive beauty that betrays its true nature. Think “Gears of War” in terms of sheer grandeur, and” Assassins Creed” in terms of fastidious detail to architecture, and you’ll have a good understanding of this segment’s laudable visual impact.

Animation is an often overlooked area of critique in game reviews nowadays, which I believe accurately reflects the stalling of its development this generation. It’s refreshing then, to see that Uncharted 3 takes such pride in the betterment of this facet of design, as it can truly aid immersion into a well-realised world. Gone are the robotic facial contortions that afflict the humanoid populace of other game worlds, substituted instead with naturalistic movement and expression, convincing lip-synching, and all the quaint mannerisms that constitute human behaviour.

The Uncharted series embodies an eclectic mix of play styles; it’s primarily a third-person action-adventure shooter, but with a generous serving of platforming and puzzle-solving thrown into the mixer. Although each of the constituent elements are not outstanding in their own right, they shine as a package, offering up varied and ingenious scenarios at regular intervals – the frenetic horse-back chase through the sun-bleached canyons of the Arabian Peninsula is a key highlight.

Although the tightly-scripted flow of the gameplay lends itself to some awe-inspiring set-pieces, it also contributes to the game’s lowest ebb. At certain points throughout the game you’re required to control Drake, as he hurtles inexorably into the foreground or background to evade some imminent threat. These sections at times feel needless, restrictive and clumsy – as soon as you stall or stray from the beaten path and succumb to the threat, you have to repeat the segment, which somewhat breaks the illusion of immersion. On a similar note, the second half of Drake’s adventure is far less formulaic (explore, solve puzzle, shoot bad guys) with divergent gameplay at premium, so is more enjoyable as a consequence. However, these are excusably minor gripes in an otherwise stellar journey.

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This, I did.” As Drake recites this affecting quotation above a wave of jarring strings, I can’t help but theorize whether the production team adopted T. E. Lawrence’s utterance as an in-house mantra of sorts. Regardless, you’d be hard pressed to argue that these words hold no pertinence, upon personally experiencing the exceptional ambition and scope that underpins and colours the vibrant world of Uncharted.