When Uncharted 2 came out in 2009 it set a new standard for cinematic action games. Where the first game had some solid ideas that didn’t do a whole lot for the industry, the second game was a huge leap forward. It did characters, story, and action in a way that no other game had done before. It was hugely cinematic, beautiful, funny, and simply enjoyable. It was as close to perfect as you could find and topping it seemed an insurmountable task. But leave it to Naughty Dog to improve what was essentially a perfect game.
It needs to be said right off the bat that Uncharted 3 is not a leap forward like its predecessor and how could it be? What Uncharted 3 does is exactly what Uncharted 2 did, which is phenomenally well written and believable characters, exciting set pieces, and a globe-trotting storyline. In 3, Nathan Drake and crew set out to find a lost city in the sands of the Rub’ al Khali desert while trying to stop an old and surprisingly sinister Catherine Marlow. The story is similar in setup to that of Uncharted 2, but we are provided with some great backstory to the relationship between Nathan Drake and his mentor Victor Sullivan along with some questioning as to what keeps Drake going and where his limits are. It’s as tightly written and believable, while still being fairly far-fetched, as Uncharted 2 without some of the questionable paranormal elements that showed up in the later parts of 2. I don’t want to spoil anything about the campaign’s story, but it is engaging, exciting, heart pounding, and occasionally heart wrenching in ways that most other campaigns aren't.
It is truly remarkable what Naughty Dog is capable of achieving with the ageing hardware of the PlayStation 3. The quality of the animations, the fidelity of characters faces, the flowing sand, the incredible draw distances, and gorgeous colour scheme combine for one of the most impressive visual experiences you will have this year. In addition to the incredible visuals is some very solid orchestral music. The music does a good job of complimenting where you are in the world and what is happening to Nathan Drake, as opposed to being simply music to shoot to. The soundtrack didn't really jump out at me in Uncharted 2, but it really shines in 3. Of course the vocal performances are virtually unmatched in quality and believability. I think the fact that Naughty Dog records audio while it does motion capture with the actors helps sell the fact that these characters are interacting with each other. It still has the best banter dialogue out there and all of the actors manage to get across a slew of emotions while still maintaining the games believability.What really makes Uncharted 3 feel more special then Uncharted 2 is that all of the pieces of 2 are improved in some way or another. The number of original animations that you see is astounding, from the touch of a wall as you walk close to it or the shuffling of feet as you start moving in a different direction, it really makes the game feels like less of a game and more like an interactive film. One of my favourite parts of Uncharted 2 was the waking up in the village and preceding traversal through the mountains with Tenzin. What made this so great was the lack of combat and the engaging of characters and environments without having to be shooting guys every 5 seconds. In Uncharted 3 there seemed to be a lot more of this. The first hour or so of the game doesn’t have you shooting a single person, there are fist fights, but the majority is you moving around in a stunning environment. This is important to me because I hope that one day we can play engaging and exciting games that don’t have you committing mass murder. For example, the desert scenes are some of the most powerful in the game, and you are the only character around.
And that is where my biggest problem with Uncharted 3 comes in. There are many times throughout the 8-10 hours storyline where you are simply traversing the environs, solving puzzles and interacting with characters, and these are the best parts of the game. Then you will be forced to sit in one large area shoot 20+ enemies before you can continue. I didn’t notice it in the second game, but in 3 these long, fairly ridiculous enemy encounters feel somewhat out of place. Here is the character of Nathan Drake, a charming, funny, likeable guy who is committing mass murder every hour or so. Yes, I understand that it is a video game in the 21st century and that killing enemies in games is pretty standard. But the parts of Uncharted 3 where you are not killing, like your trek through the desert, alone, are so ahead of everything else in the industry, that I feel this idea of the only way a player can interact with a game is through a gun should change. I would have no issues playing an Uncharted game where all I did was traverse, solve puzzles, and interact with characters and the world, no killing involved.That being said, the combat in Uncharted is still pretty solid. While I did find the gunplay to be more difficult in this game, sometimes to the point of annoyance, it didn’t bother me all that much. The biggest improvement comes in the melee combat. You can now attack multiple enemies at a time, grab enemies, and throw them. Something that makes this melee combat more interesting to play then the gun combat is the randomness of it all. If there is a chair nearby, Drake will grab it and smash his enemy with it, the same goes for an empty bottle. If there is a window, Drake will throw the fool out that window. It’s the contextual environmental additions to the melee combat that make it so much fun to do.
In addition to a very, very good single player campaign, is one of the better multiplayer games on the PlayStation 3. Like its single player, there is still nothing out there like Uncharted’s multiplayer. The combination of frantic gunplay, verticality, and some very innovative cinematic set pieces inside the multiplayer maps makes for an incredibly enjoyable experience. There is a huge amount to unlock and customize, much like the second game, which will keep you coming back for a very long time, despite the fact that you level up very quickly.
There is also a co-op mode, just like Uncharted 2, with various modes. One sees you holding out Horde-mode style against waves of enemies, and the other allows three friends to play through story driven missions. These missions take place separately from the main story, but incorporate some of the locations form both Uncharted 2 and 3’s single player game. This is definitely the better of the co-op modes. It provides a healthy challenge without being overly difficult, has a light story to it, and has original and entertaining dialogue.I thought that I should also credit Naughty Dog for not including a boss battle at the end of their game. That was one of Uncharted 2’s failings; it had an out of place boss fight at the end, like so many other games. While I won’t spoil the ending of Uncharted 3, I will say that not having to do a pattern based fight against some super human is very welcome. It is still climactic, but not in the stereotypical ways that most video games are. It’s a small thing but a bad boss fight can really leave a bitter taste after finishing the game. And if Naughty Dog were to never make another Uncharted game, I think I would be okay with that because they have produced two of the most profoundly entertaining, high class games in history. Uncharted 3 concludes in a way that if we didn’t see Nathan Drake or any of the other characters ever again, you would be happy with where you last saw them, something not enough games are able to do.
As a package, Uncharted 3 is more than worth the asking price. It’s fantastic, decently long campaign is enough to make you satisfied with your purchase, but there is also some of the best multiplayer and cooperative gameplay you can get regardless of system and the best the PS3 has to offer.
Beauty is defined as; pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically, of a very high standard; excellent. Uncharted 3 is a beautiful game in every sense of the word. Everything in it is stunning, from the environments, to the characters and right down to the animations. Its cinematic presentation is still unmatched by anything in the industry as are its characters and their interactions with each other. Uncharted 3 is a game that makes me proud to say that I love video games and it should make you proud to say that too.