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Hands On: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
By Lance Yerelian | October 26, 2007
Sorry about the long absence but a combination of laziness and the San Diego fires kept me away, but I am back with a preview of one of the Fall’s most exciting games and possibly the first AAA for the PS3.
I am sure you are asking yourself how someone you’ve never heard of, with little writing talent got some hands on time with Sony’s highly anticipated title. It is simple, just be lucky and be at Fry’s while there is a Sony bus there with their tons of games, including Ratchet and Clank, Madden, Lair, and other PS3 games. When Uncharted was finally free I stepped over to the screen and got my chance to play PS3’s AAA fall release.
I expected to play the jungle level which has been seen in so many previews, but surprisingly, I had 3 levels to choose from, the jungle level, a level where you climb into a ruined building, and an action scene in the ruined building. I skipped the jungle demo because I had read about it enough and selected to play the climbing into the ruined building stage. If you have played any Prince of Persia or clones (looking at you Tomb Raider Legends) you will be able to pick up and play this section with no problem. Compared to similar games, scaling walls, and jumping felt much faster which added to the excitement. You are able to grab vines and run alongside the walls to gain speed for long jumps which I found a lot of fun because the animations of the character looked so natural.
Next I played the action scene which included some shooting and a short jumping puzzle. This next comparison might get the Sony fanboys going crazy, but this game mechanics are very reminiscent of Gears of War. That’s right Mr. Average Guy Drake has combat similar to the Cole Train and Marcus Phoenix which is a very good thing in my opinion. As many of you know Uncharted has a cover system (which seems to be popping up in most games), a 4 weapon select method (with a grenade selection, 2 main weapons and a pistol), and an over the shoulder 3rd person camera. The guns felt very solid but since it was a quick demo, I never really felt comfortable with all the controls and the over the shoulder camera felt a little too floaty and I never felt like I had exact control when shooting. The cover system is solid but I was dissapointed at times when I could not use most barriers for cover as some were too short.
Visually the game is fantastic and vibrant giving the feeling of being in a real tropical location due to its color scheme and great lighting. The animations were varied and natural looking.
My play session ended when a PR person came behind me and was acting all into the game which I found terribly annoying. When I would die he would give all kinds of encouragement like “This game is so awesome I know you can’t walk away from it”, and other PR mumbo jumbo.
So that ends my preview of a fantastic game coming exclusively to the PS3 this fall. It’s combination of Prince of Persia platforming and Gears of War action truly makes an average Drake feel like Indiana Jones.
PS. Why do the Sony’s TVs that are used for all PS3 displays suck balls.
Trailer:
Topics: PS3 Games, PS3 General | 2 Comments »
October 26th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Lance, that is an awesome article. I am much more excited for Uncharted after reading your experience. I really enjoy gears and love platformers so this should be perfect. Plus I love to see quality exclusives come out for PS3 because it justifies my purchase of the system even further.
Thanks taking the time to write this.
January 27th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Uncharted was great and so will be the sequel, Among Thieves!