Uncharted Review

Uncharted is a 3rd person shooter/platerformer which was developed by Naughty Dog and released in December 2007, it was dubbed a "key buy" for the Playstation 3 and is an exclusive for that platform.

If you are looking for a fast-paced Indiana Jones style shooter then you need look no further as Uncharted will offer you that, with fantastic graphics, an easy to follow interface and controls with awesome characterisation and voice acting all tied together with an incredibly immersive well written story it is easy to see why Uncharted is said to be one of the best titles for the Playstation. We follow the main character Nathan Drake as he embarks on an adventure to recover a lost ancestors secret treasure. Along the way he'll discover it isn't as plain sailing as he would like as he faces off against pirates, huge walls to scale, jungles with vines to swing on and a whole host of other obstacles all following the simplest possible clues you find throughout. Luckily you aren't left alone on the adventure as you are joined by your friend Sullie and the random newswoman Elena who you paid at the beginning of the game to help you who now feels as is she has some ownership to the adventure.

You are given a basic set-up that most 3rd person shooters give you, you'll get a weapon and you'll target enemies similar to every other shooter. You have a nice selection of weapons, you are able to have dual pistols, a shotgun and other basic weapons, however you'll only be able to equip one at a time which may seem frustrating but it is there for a purpose and will stop the game being easy and broken with multiple weapons. Unlike most "puzzle adventure games" Tomb Raider I’m looking at you... You won’t continuously fall to your death if you can't achieve a jump making you restart until the last checkpoint, instead you will just have to do the same jump over and over until you get it which is definitely better because we all know how easy it is to just rage quit after dying 700 times in the same part right?

Graphically Uncharted is really good for its time, there are some moments when you just wish you could firmly place your palm to your head. You can fall what appears to be hardly any distance and automatically die, but then in another part you can fall the equal if not more of the distance and Nathan will land just fine, it just highlight the low quality depth graphics that the game has, however as said previously, for its time it is still graphically fantastic and custscenes are smooth. When you leap towards cliffs or vines it comes across quite choppy as though they haven’t honed the hit box completely and it skips a frame, but just don't jump if you aren't facing exactly where you need to jump because you will miss it and you will die. The actually in game movements such as how Nathan walks and such are very well done though and he has very realistic movements which I guess makes up for the slightly shoddy jump animations. The camera pans excellently throughout the gameplay allowing you to see exactly what you need to see, whether that be an open area for clue hunting or exploring through a claustrophobic cavern.

From the moment we hear the first song on the soundtrack for Uncharted we immediately get a feel of what we are going to expect, it's simple yet extremely compelling. It is able to achieve what most games strive for – immersing the player into the world. With this, coupling it with the fantastic voice acting and great attention to detail regarding the sounds of the area around you such as stepping on branches. Which in all makes for a wonderful experience. The sounds to this game are ultimately a huge part of why this game is so successful.

Uncharted doesn't have an online mode, which while isn't really necessary due to how single-player heavy the game actually is, it doesn't add anything to the games replay ability. However due to the game being a plat former and follower an extremely streamlined play style it is possible to play over and over without any monotonous amount of side quests and other exploration that open-world games have. There are multiplayer split-screen modes which prove very fun but other than that there isn't really very much replay ability at all.

Uncharted is special, in which it has been able to do something most games wish they could and that is creating a timeless game. The graphics may not compete with the games of this generation, but it has its special aura that'll mean people will be playing this game 10 years from now and still loving it like they used to when they were younger, following the likes of The Legend of Zelda and Crash Bandicoot. Uncharted is fantastic game and one I recommend anyone to play, it has something for everyone. I give Uncharted a big 9.5/10!