PREVIEW: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)

Scribbled on November 9th, 2007 by Devin Grimes
Filed in Action, Game Demos, Previews, Sony PlayStation 3

With MGS4 and several other key titles skipping this holiday season on the PlayStation 3, the success of the console in the immediate future falls on so few games’ shoulders. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is being touted as one of the PS3’s front-running AAA titles this year, and a demo just released on the PlayStation Network. How does it stack up? Hit the jump for our full impressions.

The Background (In Short)

Shown off at Sony’s E3 2006 press conference as the “Unannounced Naughty Dog Project” from the guys that brought us, of all things, Crash Bandicoot, this realistic, Tomb Raider-esque game caught the public’s attention from the lush visuals and a pretty sweet trailer to boot.

Now, after several appearances at trade show events, we have a name, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and quite an imminent release date of November 20th in the future. PS3 owners are starving for content and Uncharted might be their last hope for a Holiday blockbuster title. Without further ado, let’s get into the details starting with the most obvious feature of the game…

The Story

Not too much is explained in the brief demo, but it starts off with main character, Nathan Drake and a girl, presumably his partner in crime, documenting their travels in looking for an ancient treasure within the jungle. While traveling to an unknown location, their plane gets shot down and they are forced to escape or…well, die. They each parachute off to safety after some comic relief in dialogue, and for this demo’s purpose, that’s the last you’ll see of mystery girl.

From there, you’re thrown in the middle of the jungle with ancient ruins and artifacts scattered about and do what any good game makes you do: kick some ass and/or shoot dudes in the face — you may even take names, but we’re not 100% on that issue yet. It doesn’t take long to run into your first foes: a band of look-alike pirates that want you dead for some reason…most likely because this takes place in the fourth level of the game, and everything is out of context, here.

None of this would be possible, of course, without the framwork holding it all together, the…

Gameplay

Uncharted seems to have an identity crisis at hand. Is it a third-person shooter? Kinda… Is it a Tomb Raider rip-off? A little bit… Is it a platformer? Yep, exactly…okay, we lied with that one — it’s got a little bit of that, too.

As you can see, it’s a mixed bag that works pretty well together. The third-person shooter elements of the game are very reminiscent of Gears of War, of all things — the cover system in particular is pretty much 1:1 with how Gears works: Pressing circle near a pillar or other piece of cover will slam you into it, and then pressing L1 lets you peek out to shoot. You can even transfer pillar-to-pillar by pushing towards that direction and hitting the circle button. I know I sound like a broken record here, but it’s pretty much the same.

If you don’t have any firearms handy, you’ll need to scrap it out hand-to-hand by mashing on the square and triangle buttons. What really works here is Naughty Dog’s stress on the animation system and making Drake fight like an “average joe.” Nathan’s no boxer, and it’s evident by the way he throws a punch.

Then, you have the platforming sections which feel slightly underrepresented in the demo. You can get the idea of where Naughty Dog is likely going in the retail build of the game, but what’s presented here is very basic in that you basically jump from platform to platform — it’s not too tricky, though there are a few keen areas where you need to get up on top of a pillar that you might otherwise walk right past.

All of the controls for these gameplay options work really well. The best part, though is that the camera isn’t terrible. So many action games do everything right but the camera, and it’s so nice to see it well implemented here. The aiming for the guns feels a tad slow for my tastes, but that could be easily fixed or acclimated to.

The downer for me, though is the enemy A.I. — the fact of the matter is they don’t really do anything besides stand there and wait to get shot. They take cover, sure, but there’s not much left to be afraid of provided you’re behind a decent slab of concrete.

Oh, yeah. There’s one other thing about Uncharted:

The Visuals…oh, the visuals

Take a look at these screens and try to say Uncharted doesn’t look beautiful — it won’t happen…okay, it might, but you probably wouldn’t be sincere. Colors are vibrant in this jungle-themed demo that does a great job of giving you that sought-after immersion that just about every game shoots for with its audience. Naughty Dog did a great job of creating enough variety and high quality textures that nothing feels forced — the environment just feels natural.

It wouldn’t be a current-generation without some sweet water effects, and Uncharted has that on wrap, too. It flows and glimmers like it should, but the best part about it is how it effects the character model of the main character, Nathan Drake, by actually making his attire look wet. It’s a small thing to praise for, but it’s this kind of detail that sells the rest of the believability of the game and its environments.

A (Gasp) Good PS3 Game?

This glimpse at Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune only left us wanting more. As long as it remains as solid of an experience throughout the final build of the game the PS3 might actually have a bona fide hit on its software menu.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is set to ship out in just a few weeks on November 20, 2007 for the PlayStation 3.

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