One could argue that Naughty Dog was one of the driving forces that helped make the PlayStation 3 a success. While developers initially railed against the console for its complexity Naughty Dog not only met the challenge, they found ways to push the envelope and squeeze more power out of the machine. The result? One of the finest trilogies of this console generation. After Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Naughty Dog was ready to set its sights on new properties but Sony wasn't quite ready to let Nathan Drake throw in the towel, tapping Bend Studios to create an entirely new adventure on the PlayStation Vita. Uncharted: Golden Abyss manages to recreate the Uncharted experience on the handheld and makes use of the Vita's features quite well at the expense of turning the game into a showroom of numerous gimmicks. While the adventure is everything you'd expect from an Uncharted game, Golden Abyss' biggest problem is the lack of Naughty Dog's panache.
Set a number of years before Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Nathan Drake finds himself under the employ of Jason Dante, a Brooklyn-accented treasure hunter who isn't as spry as his more athletic counterpart. Dante leads Drake to his mutual partner, a young woman named Marisa Chase, whose archaeological dig has unearthed the remains of several Spanish Conquistadors. The find is disrupted by the appearance of Dante's silent partner, the revolutionary General Roberto Guerro, who takes over the dig and kidnaps Chase and Drake. Once freed from Guerro's clutches, Chase reveals that she is following in the footsteps of her grandfather after his research led him to the Sete Cidades, a Christian sect tasked with locating the fabled seven cities of gold.
From a narrative perspective, Golden Abyss does everything right by weaving an engaging tale around familiar themes of friendship, love, loyalty and betrayal. Backing these elements up are strong performances by Nolan North and a new cast of villains and sidekicks with a dash of fan service thrown in with the reappearance Victor "Sully" Sullivan (voiced by the lovable Richard McGonagle). Although I am biased, the game's story gets decidedly better when Sully arrives as North and McGonagle positively shine when they are together. That warm, friendly father/son-style banter feels absolutely genuine, a credit to their talents.
The gameplay treads familiar territory, but not with the same level of bravado as Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves orDrake's Deception. In each chapter, you'll be expected to navigate your way in and out of various locales, shooting through an army of Guerro's thugs and solving a number of environmental puzzles. Where the Uncharted trilogy broke up shooting sequences with incredibly feats of daring do, Golden Abyss lacks these exciting set pieces. The only remotely thrilling sequence involves having to shoot enemies while scaling a rope, but as it is repeated several times throughout the game it quickly loses luster. You won't be running from flaming cars, jumping from truck bed to truck bed at high speed or getting into a fist fight in the belly of a Russian-made cargo plane. Instead, you'll spend the majority of time engaging in gun fights and creating charcoal rubbings.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss is filled with all sorts of Vita-implemented mechanics that require the handheld's gyroscope, front and back touch screens and camera. The front touch screen ends up getting the most attention, as it is used to create charcoal rubbings, clean dirt off artifacts and input quick time event commands. These interactions seem novel the first few times and by the end of the adventure, they will have decidedly worn out their welcome. The Vita's SIXAXIS-style gyroscope comes into play while aiming weapons (this function can be shut off) or help Drake to regain his balance - yes, the much derided shoehorned activity from Drake's Fortune has returned.
Gimmicky gameplay touches notwithstanding, Golden Abyss is an entertaining adventure that has all the trappings of the franchise despite feeling stifled, but the quality of the narrative makes up for the gameplay's shortcomings. Golden Abyss does not have a multiplayer mode, but the special bounty items you collect from killing enemies can be traded to other players on the Black Market, via Near. The graphics, while a measure down from the console games, are stellar and I cannot feel anything less than amazement that Bend Studio was able to cram such a good looking game into a tiny cartridge.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss may not have the flourishes that made the first three games a memorable experience on the PlayStation 3, but it is a satisfying adventure nonetheless and a worthy purchase for your new PlayStation Vita.