Uncharted 3

[Nik Drou]

Oops, spotted a mistake and pressed 'Quote' instead of 'Modify'. Never mind, it's a new page, so here it is again. My slightly incoherent whine about Uncharted 3. Enjoy!

Finished the story mode today. Largely enjoyable, but lordy does it fall apart plot-wise, particularly in its final stages.

Spoiler alert

Firstly, the game does an admirable job of doing something a bit more sophisticated with its story in comparison to its predecessors. There's an attempt to resolve a few outstanding plot points, such as Drake's ring (steady) and his relationship with Sullivan (which, incidentally, should provide much kindling to slash-fictioneers). As well as that, there's some slight meta-analysis going on, where other characters start to question Drake's flimsy motives. The moment where it finally crumbles, revealing itself as a hollow mess, is where Sullivan is reintroduced in a wholly flippant manner, revealing that his death and all subsequent japes were a moot hallucination. This effectively vindicates the character of Drake and ruins any of the ambiguity that the game had developed.

Shortly afterwards, the entire city begins to crumble, because Drake fired a flare gun. He's spent the past hour or so ducking, dodging and supplying explosions and firepower, but nope. It's the end of the game, so everything has to collapse like the last time. An earlier bit has an entire cruise liner sink because of a single grenade. It might be a bit of a petty issue, but if they want to play with the big boys and get some of the credibility they now appear to be gagging for, they need to cut out that sort of malarky. The main villains disappear in the second half of the game and remain underdeveloped. Who was that Helen Mirren lady anyway, and how did she know Sullivan? What happened with the other characters? Last thing we saw, Charlie had been mind-raped by one of the villains. Is he alright now? Was it just so that we fight for a bit in that bit? Jolly good.

Gameplay-wise, besides an improved melee combat system and a nifty mechanic for throwing enemy grenades, there isn't much different. The first act of the game is pretty glitchy, but it's presumably nothing a good sofware update couldn't cure. The first rooftop chase sequence, for example, is infuriating. The camera can't keep up and there's frequently no clear indicator of where you're supposed to go. There is a sense that the game is pushing the hardware to its limits, particularly in the moments where the camera pans out to reveal a big thing whilst still being able to control the character (always fun). I did enjoy the desert sequence, even if it did culminate in just another gun battle (which the character should be in no fit state to embark in).

[close]

I'll try out the co-op and give the main story another go through at some point, but it's still rather a disappointment considering how much I liked Uncharted 2.

[falafel]

How do you mean vindicate?

[Nik Drou]

How do you mean vindicate?

Spoiler alert

Before that point, Drake is told by more than one supporting character that he may be doing this for the wrong reasons (or perhaps no reason at all) and he was putting Sullivan in danger as a result. This point is proven somewhat when Sullivan dies. Soon after, though, it's revealed that he's actually alive and that the bad guys were after some crazy mind control thingie that could destroy the earth or something. It vindicates Drake because it removes his guilt, justifies his motivation and leaves both the character and the audience with nothing to think about come the end credits. It's a clever twist in a way, as it lets them deliver the requisite emotional beats without doing any damage to the ongoing franchise.

[close]

[falafel]

Spoiler alert

I dunno though, it seemed quite clear to me after Blake drank the water that the eclipse and everything after was a hallucination - presaged somewhat by the desert section, which makes it known that what we see in the game won't necessarily be what is actually going on. If anything I think seeing Sully gets shot, being a figment of his imagination, shows that Blake knows deep down that he is vulnerable. Which is confirmed when he has to save him from drowning. Although of course Sully then goes on to save Blake a couple of times. Vulnerable, then, but tougher than people think. Meh, maybe they ARE trying to please everyone.

That said, my having realised about the hallucination brought with it a different problem - the dramatic irony of knowing that Blake isn't really seeing what he thinks he is kind of broke my suspension of disbelief. The spinning and warping effects made me dizzy too. And when the fire demons killed him with all their whizzing around I just got confused because I thought they weren't real and therefore shouldn't pose a threat.

On another note, the city / liner falling apart sections were ludicrous but no more than in an action movie, and in the city at several points Drake does say "I'm surprised the place hasn't fallen apart yet" - that grenade is the straw that breaks the camel's back. At least a giant spaceship didn't fly out of the ground a la Indy 4. On the whole though I agree that the ending was a bit of a let-down, if only because it was so markedly similar in many ways to the ending of the second game.

[close]

[momatt]

Moan about U3 plot

I loved every bit of this game, yet can't really fault your list of faults.

It's a shame Drake is doomed

Spoiler alert

to destroy every lost civilization he rediscovers

[close]

.  It'd be fun if just once it

Spoiler alert

survived, but got turned into a theme park

[close]

or something.
It was a fantastically fun game, but the plot was a little predictable overall.  I'll still probably replay it to get platinum.
My favourite parts were the

Spoiler alert

boat graveyard

[close]

and when Drake was

Spoiler alert

tripping balls in the desert

[close]

.

The Macuffin wasn't properly explained like in previous episodes either.

[Consignia]

I finished this last night, and I felt really disappointed with the game as a whole. Maybe it's because it's been ages since I played 2 and nostalgia kicked, but this just felt lacking in many ways. I'm sure there was too much gun fighting in 2, but here it was incredibly frustrating and seemingly endless, especially in the latter half. I honestly preferred the Vita instalment despite it's lack of variety of locations.

[thehungerartist]

Not long finished it myself and I too found it disappointing. Given how eye-popping they were in the previous game, my response to even its most vaunted set-pieces was "is that it?". Seemed much shorter than U2 as well.

[Thursday]

Just finished playing through this, it was fun but at the times the set-piece contrivances get too insane for it's own good. I kept waiting for the reveal that Drake was still tripping, because horses can't run faster than cars.  And why did Drake, knock that box out of the cargo plane, which eventually led to the plane crashing? He had that guy beaten, There was no reason to do it. And why is everyone willing to die,  just to be able to kill Drake? Hordes of enemies are willing to burn to death, drown and be lost forever in a crumbling city. Just to be able to shoot drake. They could have all just waited by the exit. And where do they all keep coming from? How do all these people you face manage to keep an army of thousands of trained soldiers?

I know these are accusations you could level at all the games and indeed lots of films, and you can just put it down to artistic license, but it just bothered me more in this one. Why do developers think it's fun to go "Oooh you thought that was the last one? Here's 100 more!" It isn't satisfying to structure it that way. It's compels you to play on, but in the most annoying way.

All that said, the game seemed much more evenly balanced, and I found myself dying far less in gunfights this time. Although that's largely because the melee system is improved, and I spent much of my time brawling with enemies which was actually more fun than shooting them. You also seemed to have more life this time, it seemed to be a lot more forgiving so that made it more fun.

I will say that for a game that seems to almost take control of your actions (In one of the bits where your chasing Talbot through the streets, it literally pushes drake to the left of the screen if he's going too far right in the bit where he gets hit by a car.) It does a terrible job telegraphing where to go at times. It really needs to learn how to divert your attention in the right direction rather than going for what looks more cinematic.