When I was halfway through Uncharted, I had nothing but good things to say about the game. Unfortunately, that turned out to be where Uncharted peaks.
 
Once you head into the game's second half, environments start getting re-used and firefights start getting unfair, both of which contribute to a growing sense of been-here/done-this. Combine that with the game's unforeshadowed and unwelcome descent into survival horror in its final chapters, and you've got a recipe for what's perhaps the most frustrating type of game to review: Great But Flawed.
 
The Good: Everything I mentioned before. The controls. The lighting. The camerawork. The score. In the game's second behind-the-scenes featurette, it's noted that the game's composer also provided the music for Firefly. Considering the quality of the scores found in both, I'm not surprised.
 
The Bad: The handling of the story's villain characters. The bullet-sponge enemies. The big twist. In the game's first behind-the-scenes featurette, Naughty Dog's co-president notes that his team wanted to make a game that looked bright and felt different from all of the other shooters out there  "where you run down dark corridors and shoot monsters".  In that case especially, it's beyond me why Uncharted builds up to its climax by having you spend an entire chapter running down dark corridors and shooting monsters.
 
The Stand-out Moment: Drake running for his life straight at the player in an homage to Crash Bandicoot.
 
The Verdict: 8.5 (out of 10) 
 
However, if Naughty Dog had simply reduced the health of every enemy in the game by about 30%, I would've given it a 9.0. I find it hard to believe that there wasn't a huge amount of QA feedback screaming "THE ENEMIES REFUSE TO DIE!!". In a game where realism is your aim and indeed one of your greatest strengths, it's not the best idea to make your bad guys nigh-invincible!

When I was halfway through Uncharted, I had nothing but good things to say about the game. Unfortunately, that turned out to be where Uncharted peaks.
 
Once you head into the game's second half, environments start getting re-used and firefights start getting unfair, both of which contribute to a growing sense of been-here/done-this. Combine that with the game's unforeshadowed and unwelcome descent into survival horror in its final chapters, and you've got a recipe for what's perhaps the most frustrating type of game to review: Great But Flawed.
 
The Good: Everything I mentioned before. The controls. The lighting. The camerawork. The score. In the game's second behind-the-scenes featurette, it's noted that the game's composer also provided the music for Firefly. Considering the quality of the scores found in both, I'm not surprised.
 
The Bad: The handling of the story's villain characters. The bullet-sponge enemies. The big twist. In the game's first behind-the-scenes featurette, Naughty Dog's co-president notes that his team wanted to make a game that looked bright and felt different from all of the other shooters out there  "where you run down dark corridors and shoot monsters".  In that case especially, it's beyond me why Uncharted builds up to its climax by having you spend an entire chapter running down dark corridors and shooting monsters.
 
The Stand-out Moment: Drake running for his life straight at the player in an homage to Crash Bandicoot.
 
The Verdict: 8.5 (out of 10) 
 
However, if Naughty Dog had simply reduced the health of every enemy in the game by about 30%, I would've given it a 9.0. I find it hard to believe that there wasn't a huge amount of QA feedback screaming "THE ENEMIES REFUSE TO DIE!!". In a game where realism is your aim and indeed one of your greatest strengths, it's not the best idea to make your bad guys nigh-invincible!