Hi! I finished The Last of Us 2 last week, and I loved it 10/10 etc. But gosh it's dark. And the world is so dark right now. I needed something happy and funny and freeballin'. So I decided to go back to my NATHAN DRAKE COLLECTION on PS4. I've played Uncharted 2 many times, as you might imagine, because of its goodness. And Uncharted 1...I've played that a few times but frankly who wants to play that in this day and age. As a side note, there's Uncharted: Golden Abyss, which I actually think isn't bad but I am not getting my Vita out of the closet. So that left Uncharted 3. I've only played it once really, back at launch. So I decided this is what I would play again.
For those of you who don't know me, I love Uncharted. I love everything about it. I love how it's like a male power fantasy but it's like simultaneously so goofy and unimposing so you don't have to feel so bad about it. I love all the characters and how beautiful the games look and how they sound. And, mostly, I love how Uncharted 4 has replaced the other games in my memory so they all PLAY really well too! And Uncharted 3 has always sort of been the black sheep. For lots of reasons. Like when it launched, if you remember, the controls were totally busted (wtf was that). And it got a lot of flak for feeling chopped up heavily in editing. And there are some things about it that still are so weird. Like how it can't make up its mind on if it wants to be the Serious Gameplay Uncharted, with set pieces like the ship graveyard, or if it doesn't, with set pieces like the ship ballroom (god that is so bad) and why they removed enemy hit reactions and like way over animated Nate walking. Back in the day I remember the game being good but there's this unshakable feeling it wasn't finished.
I wanted to sail through this play through so I put it on easy...because Uncharted 3 can be seriously frustrating otherwise. But let's talk about this game. Because I decided I love it.
So the beginning is marked by its unpredictable pacing, right? Like it starts with some brawling. BTW, that music. It's just so good in this game. Greg Edmonson we love you. But the Uncharted games to that point had not really been about big brawls. So this one is. And it shows you ND's new animation blending and how fun this can be in a big setting. And who doesn't love Sully and Nate together? No one. That's for sure. And then there's a long section without any combat. You're introduced to Cutter, who is such a fun character because he's a good foil for Nate (because he's not totally ignorant of the history and mythology stuff) and Chloe pops back into the scene. But whatever, the game really eases players in and I like that it's confident enough in itself to know it can take a good 90 minutes of you just walking and climbing and talking without needing to pepper enemies around because that's just the kind of chap Uncharted 3 is.
The Chateau in France is a lot of fun. I feel like this is the tightest gameplay in the series (I should note when I say series I mean Uncharted 1 - 3, because 4 I feel is like just on another level compared to the first 3) and it has some real puzzles. Or at least one real puzzle. That sort of checkerboard matrix right before Lord Godfrey's tomb. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway this is another extended set piece with no combat before you get to some combat. And then you do and it is a lot of fun. Isn't it kind of weird how Drake immediately manages to figure clues out sometimes? Like he managed to figure out they should go to Syria and France from a couple of napkin scribbles. He's so dreamy.
Syria though is kind of messy. First, it's not that visually attractive. And let's be honest, we play these games to look at beautiful people and things. I think the grenade toss-back mechanic is kind of unfortunate. Like yes, it's true that it's good you can throw grenades back. But it isn't so clear that the designers knew how to design their combat bowls around this. You still have so much verticality and now you can throw back grenades. So they now have bad guys spawn out from nowhere which is something that plagued (I guess this isn't such a bad thing anymore LOL AMERICA) the first game and not the second game. The number of times I was getting shot from offscreen TOWARDS me (the physical me, like towards the front of the camera) was bizarre. It's because they'd spawn like shotgunners in your face to keep you mobile since now you can throw back grenades.
The whole game-is-unfinished stuff comes to light in Syria. Talbot as magician is underused in the plot. I don't really think Marlowe is underdeveloped like a lot of people think, because who really needs to know more about an evil British lady who wants to control her enemies? Plus she doesn't have a ton of screen time anyway, so she's like the offscreen evil presence that motivates things. But Talbot makes frequent appearances and he's really underdeveloped. He gets shot by Cutter; no reaction. He disappears in Syria; no explanation. Cutter has a magic card on him but it doesn't really go anywhere. I'm sure people have heard this argument before.
OK then there's the big controversial part of the game, which is the SHIPYARD / SHIP diversion. And I contend that it is not a diversion. People say that it doesn't move the plot at all. That's true. But it clearly is part of the story. Uncharted 3: DRAKE'S DECEPTION is not really about Ubar and the poison water. It's really about Drake and Sully. So going off to rescue Sully, or rescue yourself AND Sully, like yeah, it doesn't directly advance the plot of getting to Ubar. But WHO AMONG YOU would not go rescue Sully in Drake's position? First, he got kidnapped, so escape is clearly part of the plot. Then he has to find Sully. Like yeah, he doesn't. But he doesn't KNOW he won't find Sully when he's doing it. And it provides perhaps the greatest AND the weakest set piece in the entire series up to that point: the ship graveyard, which is Uncharted 3's attempt to timetravel and become Uncharted 4, and the ship main ballroom area, which is just shit. Seriously it's ONE piece of cover basically while 3 lasers look at you intently like they just found the cover of that fake Out Magazine. OK so whatever. It'sabit messy.
Eventually you end up in the desert and that bit is a visual treat but some pretty wacky storytelling. Like the game shows you at least 2 full days in the desert with no water. Drake should be basically dead. But he's fine because him dying would be a pretty sad way to end the story. Which I'm fine with. Like I said, the word is a dark and shitty place these days and who wants to see Drake die in the desert? Not me! The actual gun battles here are pretty fun, and I think the last 1/3 of the game, beginning with the plane set piece, is really special. Ubar itself is actually frustrating in a couple encounters unless you know what you're doing.
Actually, in general Uncharted 3 seems to be a long series of combat puzzles. Like it's a little too restrictive in many encounters unless you know what you're doing, and in others it is so free that I think a lot of people playing Uncharted didn't know what to do (because, frankly, that wasn't what the series was about up to that point). Like the Djinn die with two sniper bullets. You can fire these from blind cover even and it works perfectly. But if you don't do this, they're crazy hit sponges in an environment with little to no cover. On the other hand, the ship graveyard / main Syria bowl are incredibly frustrating if you're trying to play it in the way you'd play an Uncharted 1/2 encounter.
So all in all I think it does have the best "gameplay" of the first two games but it can be really uneven in spots.
Let's talk about why you're reading: Victor Sullivan. Uncharted 3's story is a little rough. It jumps around a lot and some characters do things that are illogical. Ends meet too perfectly in a number of cases, and in others they don't meet at all. People say ND designed the set pieces first and the story second, and I'm fine with that because this is a game, after all. And the set pieces in this game really are spectacular. They're sort of the logical conclusion of, "Well we took it as far as a collapsing building last time so what can we do this time?" And I just realized I've never once talked about Sully in this paragraph!
SO. SULLY. He's so cool and so manly. He's just such a good character because he's the mentor everyone always wishes they had. In this sad day and age, when going outside seems treacherous and the news is plastered with badness 24x7, having Victor Sully making dirty puns as you punch shotgunners in the face just feels right.
I don't think Naughty Dog will make Uncharted again, which is fine because they've made 3 and they have to do other things. I hope they're not done with this franchise though because there's so much potential in developing these side characters further. I really think a prequel with Sully would be just what the doctor ordered. Can you imagine his days before meeting Drake, doing jobs for clients and being in the Navy, I dunno, doing Navy things and smoking cigars? Or even Drake again. Or Drake's kids. I dunno, whatever. With the way things are, I want to feel the adventure. Taste the happy.
For those of you who don't know me, I love Uncharted. I love everything about it. I love how it's like a male power fantasy but it's like simultaneously so goofy and unimposing so you don't have to feel so bad about it. I love all the characters and how beautiful the games look and how they sound. And, mostly, I love how Uncharted 4 has replaced the other games in my memory so they all PLAY really well too! And Uncharted 3 has always sort of been the black sheep. For lots of reasons. Like when it launched, if you remember, the controls were totally busted (wtf was that). And it got a lot of flak for feeling chopped up heavily in editing. And there are some things about it that still are so weird. Like how it can't make up its mind on if it wants to be the Serious Gameplay Uncharted, with set pieces like the ship graveyard, or if it doesn't, with set pieces like the ship ballroom (god that is so bad) and why they removed enemy hit reactions and like way over animated Nate walking. Back in the day I remember the game being good but there's this unshakable feeling it wasn't finished.
I wanted to sail through this play through so I put it on easy...because Uncharted 3 can be seriously frustrating otherwise. But let's talk about this game. Because I decided I love it.
So the beginning is marked by its unpredictable pacing, right? Like it starts with some brawling. BTW, that music. It's just so good in this game. Greg Edmonson we love you. But the Uncharted games to that point had not really been about big brawls. So this one is. And it shows you ND's new animation blending and how fun this can be in a big setting. And who doesn't love Sully and Nate together? No one. That's for sure. And then there's a long section without any combat. You're introduced to Cutter, who is such a fun character because he's a good foil for Nate (because he's not totally ignorant of the history and mythology stuff) and Chloe pops back into the scene. But whatever, the game really eases players in and I like that it's confident enough in itself to know it can take a good 90 minutes of you just walking and climbing and talking without needing to pepper enemies around because that's just the kind of chap Uncharted 3 is.
The Chateau in France is a lot of fun. I feel like this is the tightest gameplay in the series (I should note when I say series I mean Uncharted 1 - 3, because 4 I feel is like just on another level compared to the first 3) and it has some real puzzles. Or at least one real puzzle. That sort of checkerboard matrix right before Lord Godfrey's tomb. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway this is another extended set piece with no combat before you get to some combat. And then you do and it is a lot of fun. Isn't it kind of weird how Drake immediately manages to figure clues out sometimes? Like he managed to figure out they should go to Syria and France from a couple of napkin scribbles. He's so dreamy.
Syria though is kind of messy. First, it's not that visually attractive. And let's be honest, we play these games to look at beautiful people and things. I think the grenade toss-back mechanic is kind of unfortunate. Like yes, it's true that it's good you can throw grenades back. But it isn't so clear that the designers knew how to design their combat bowls around this. You still have so much verticality and now you can throw back grenades. So they now have bad guys spawn out from nowhere which is something that plagued (I guess this isn't such a bad thing anymore LOL AMERICA) the first game and not the second game. The number of times I was getting shot from offscreen TOWARDS me (the physical me, like towards the front of the camera) was bizarre. It's because they'd spawn like shotgunners in your face to keep you mobile since now you can throw back grenades.
The whole game-is-unfinished stuff comes to light in Syria. Talbot as magician is underused in the plot. I don't really think Marlowe is underdeveloped like a lot of people think, because who really needs to know more about an evil British lady who wants to control her enemies? Plus she doesn't have a ton of screen time anyway, so she's like the offscreen evil presence that motivates things. But Talbot makes frequent appearances and he's really underdeveloped. He gets shot by Cutter; no reaction. He disappears in Syria; no explanation. Cutter has a magic card on him but it doesn't really go anywhere. I'm sure people have heard this argument before.
OK then there's the big controversial part of the game, which is the SHIPYARD / SHIP diversion. And I contend that it is not a diversion. People say that it doesn't move the plot at all. That's true. But it clearly is part of the story. Uncharted 3: DRAKE'S DECEPTION is not really about Ubar and the poison water. It's really about Drake and Sully. So going off to rescue Sully, or rescue yourself AND Sully, like yeah, it doesn't directly advance the plot of getting to Ubar. But WHO AMONG YOU would not go rescue Sully in Drake's position? First, he got kidnapped, so escape is clearly part of the plot. Then he has to find Sully. Like yeah, he doesn't. But he doesn't KNOW he won't find Sully when he's doing it. And it provides perhaps the greatest AND the weakest set piece in the entire series up to that point: the ship graveyard, which is Uncharted 3's attempt to timetravel and become Uncharted 4, and the ship main ballroom area, which is just shit. Seriously it's ONE piece of cover basically while 3 lasers look at you intently like they just found the cover of that fake Out Magazine. OK so whatever. It'sabit messy.
Eventually you end up in the desert and that bit is a visual treat but some pretty wacky storytelling. Like the game shows you at least 2 full days in the desert with no water. Drake should be basically dead. But he's fine because him dying would be a pretty sad way to end the story. Which I'm fine with. Like I said, the word is a dark and shitty place these days and who wants to see Drake die in the desert? Not me! The actual gun battles here are pretty fun, and I think the last 1/3 of the game, beginning with the plane set piece, is really special. Ubar itself is actually frustrating in a couple encounters unless you know what you're doing.
Actually, in general Uncharted 3 seems to be a long series of combat puzzles. Like it's a little too restrictive in many encounters unless you know what you're doing, and in others it is so free that I think a lot of people playing Uncharted didn't know what to do (because, frankly, that wasn't what the series was about up to that point). Like the Djinn die with two sniper bullets. You can fire these from blind cover even and it works perfectly. But if you don't do this, they're crazy hit sponges in an environment with little to no cover. On the other hand, the ship graveyard / main Syria bowl are incredibly frustrating if you're trying to play it in the way you'd play an Uncharted 1/2 encounter.
So all in all I think it does have the best "gameplay" of the first two games but it can be really uneven in spots.
Let's talk about why you're reading: Victor Sullivan. Uncharted 3's story is a little rough. It jumps around a lot and some characters do things that are illogical. Ends meet too perfectly in a number of cases, and in others they don't meet at all. People say ND designed the set pieces first and the story second, and I'm fine with that because this is a game, after all. And the set pieces in this game really are spectacular. They're sort of the logical conclusion of, "Well we took it as far as a collapsing building last time so what can we do this time?" And I just realized I've never once talked about Sully in this paragraph!
SO. SULLY. He's so cool and so manly. He's just such a good character because he's the mentor everyone always wishes they had. In this sad day and age, when going outside seems treacherous and the news is plastered with badness 24x7, having Victor Sully making dirty puns as you punch shotgunners in the face just feels right.
I don't think Naughty Dog will make Uncharted again, which is fine because they've made 3 and they have to do other things. I hope they're not done with this franchise though because there's so much potential in developing these side characters further. I really think a prequel with Sully would be just what the doctor ordered. Can you imagine his days before meeting Drake, doing jobs for clients and being in the Navy, I dunno, doing Navy things and smoking cigars? Or even Drake again. Or Drake's kids. I dunno, whatever. With the way things are, I want to feel the adventure. Taste the happy.
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