Ok ok, so here's my question: everyone says it's not as good as UC2. I tried to dislike, but eventually really enjoyed 2. Is it worth my time for 3? Also, goty or non?
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Review
Game Emblems
The Good
Uncharted 3 is a bar-raising triumph for action gaming, with amazing visuals, subtle innovations and superb multiplayer.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception continues where its predecessor left off, delivering a memorable adventure that pleases on all fronts.
Uncharted is at its best when the difficulty rises. During many of the game's fights, you can relax and dispose of foes with easy grace. Though this is certainly fun, being forced to play smartly makes things even more exciting. Enemies aren't scared to charge at you when you're hiding behind cover. When you see someone sprinting in your direction, you have to decide quickly if you're going to run or fight, and that decision is frequently the difference between life and death. Dealing with flanking enemies while a sniper is keeping you pinned down forces you to act with determination, and though you may die repeatedly in certain sections, it rarely feels like the game is at fault. However, not every aspect of the combat is flawless. There are times when the AI forgets you're trying to kill them and they just stand around, taking in the impressive view. On the other end of the spectrum, your location may be uncovered when you're trying to be sneaky, even if you stay out of sight. There's also a small quirk with the hand-to-hand killing animations. One of these involves pulling the pin from an enemy's grenade. This looks painfully delightful, but if this randomly triggered event happens at the wrong time, you could be stuck with nowhere to flee.
The occasional flaw doesn't prevent the combat from being immensely thrilling, and the excitement continues in the platforming sections. As in previous games, there are times when you must climb up walls, swing from pillars, and shimmy up trees, and these sections are linear. You can't jump unless there's a handhold to grab onto, and there's only one way out of your predicament. Thus, it's not as empowering as in games where you move with unrestricted freedom. Aside from the combat, every other element is structured to limit creativity, with the focus placed on the beautiful sights and unexpected pitfalls. You might think you're safe climbing a strong wooden ladder, only to see it deteriorate in your hands. And it's these moments that inject some excitement into your leaping. You never know what is going to hold your weight, so you move quickly and purposefully, hoping you can reach solid ground alive.
Puzzles also return from previous games with few changes. While Drake is wandering around ancient cities, he stumbles upon seemingly impassable barriers, but the solutions are hinted at in his handy journal. You may need to complete a mural by casting a shadow or light up certain sections of an enormous globe, and these aren't particularly difficult, but they are still a great diversion from the thrilling action sequences. And that's one of the most impressive aspects of Drake's Deception. The pace smoothly moves between action and puzzles, with entertaining cutscenes thrown in the mix. You never spend so long on one activity that you grow tired of performing the same tricks repeatedly. The chapters bleed into one another, so it's easy to lose a dozen or more hours before you realize just how long you've been playing. And once you wrap up the campaign, you'll want to go through one more time. Ramp up the difficulty, suss out the hidden treasures you missed the first time, and soak in the sights once more. This is a fantastic game that grabs your attention and never lets go.
But if you do become lonely, there's a chaotic cooperative mode. There are three different options, but the best of these is Adventure. Here, you team up with one or two friends and take part in five reconstructed levels from the campaigns of Drake's Deception and Among Thieves. Puzzle and platforming sections have been removed, so the focus is placed entirely on combat. And it's incredible. Enemies are more susceptible to your fists than in the single-player campaign (two punches should finish them off), and it's a hoot to sprint around the battlefield cracking necks and punching groins until you fall to a barrage of gunfire. Just hope your friends resurrect you because you have a limited number of shared lives and the difficulty can get steep. There are sections where you can't rely on your fists to come out ahead, and these require you to carefully coordinate to stay alive. One friend may unleash suppressive fire with an assault rifle while you move in with a shotgun or just snap someone's neck when he's distracted, and there are so many ways to play that going through these levels multiple times is still fun.
The other two cooperative modes aren't quite as good, but they have their charms. Arena is a series of co-op challenges against an onslaught of enemies. You may have to reach a certain kill count or steal a treasure, and it's fun teaming up with some friends to take on the unrelenting horde. The other mode mixes competitive play with cooperative strategizing. Hunters is a two-versus-two assault where one team tries to steal treasures while the other tries to stop them. The defenders also have AI teammates, which makes it pretty tricky when you're trying to nab their goods. Although both of these modes are good fun, they get tiresome more quickly than Adventure. Things enter a predictable rhythm after a few rounds, and though the core mechanics are satisfying enough to overcome this, they have limited appeal.
The real draw of the online offerings is the competitive mode. Uncharted 2 introduced multiplayer competition, and Drake's Deception builds on that strong blueprint. The versatility of the single-player combat is well realized here, so a wide variety of tactics can be employed to kill those who challenge you. Hand-to-hand fighting, long-range sniping, grenade tosses, shotgun blasts, and all of the other great maneuvers from the campaign are here, and the well-designed levels give you plenty of different options. One big difference is the speed. Playing online is much faster than offline, so hunkering behind cover isn't nearly as effective. The sprint button is far more useful, and you better use it frequently or you'll be run down by someone who knows what he's doing. Sprinting to a safe place, firing a few choice shots, and then moving on delivers a satisfying rhythm, and the fear that someone may be sneaking up behind you keeps you from becoming lax. Experience points give you money to buy new weapons and perks, which changes things as you sink more time into it. And if you want to start on the same page, a hardcore mode strips out those bonuses so skill, and skill alone, is what determines a winner.
All of these different modes and gameplay types look phenomenal, thanks to impressive technology and strong artistic design. A stirring soundtrack beautifully complements your journey, drifting between hard-edged riffs and delicate acoustics, depending on the situation. Everything that Drake's Deception attempts, it pulls off with flying colors. This is a beautiful, cohesive, and, most importantly, fun adventure that cements the Uncharted franchise as one of the best around. More of a good thing is welcome here. You'll laugh with joy, yelp with excitement, and, above all else, be thankful that you're playing something as expertly crafted as Drake's Deception.
By
Tom Mc Shea, Editor
Tom Mc Shea loves platformers and weighty moral decisions. Some call him a T-Rex with bigger arms, some call him a gorilla with smaller arms -- you can just call him the jerk who hates all the things you love and loves all the things you hate.
60 comments
It's not as good as the other Uncharted games, but it's still captivating and worth all 9 points given in this review. Read more on my impressions at: http://gameanight.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/uncharted-3-ps3/
Very solid game, not quite the game that Uncharted 2 was, but a must play for nearly anyone this generation.
This is the genuine next gen game. A lot of memorable moments. Impressive presentation and entertaining plot and characters' personalities. Visual artworks, refinements including great sense of involvement are just to name a few.
Dumping a clip in enemies felt very cheap and weightless in this game. The bullets don't mark up enemies like they should. When a game has this much gun violence, it's imperative to show some realism so people playing this can know that guns are NOT TOYS. if this game had the carnage of Max payne 3 or Red Dead, than I would love this game.
I love the first Uncharted (though not on my initial play through, but so many times after), and when it came to the sequel, I was very disappointed. The reason behind that is because I personally felt the shooting was weightless with the majority of weapons, and the soundtrack, save for one song, didn't do it for me, and yes, that is about it. So while it's hard not to call it a great game, it's definitely not on par (to me at least) with the first or second when it comes to entertainment.
I was thoroughly surprised to see Uncharted 3 was as superb as it was. I played it late, just back in June, and before that, I knew I wanted to play it, but I really only expected to enjoy it from a character level; I just wanted to see where they go next, and how their story ends, and I just hoped that the game would be fun as well, and then to my surprise, it was fantastic, and still is. It's one of the games I just started playing again. I understand why people love two so much, but I don't share the same feelings.
Everyone always says Uncharted 2 is better, but I can't see how; the story in 3 is far superior, and so are the gameplay mechanics. This should be a 9.5 easily.
The second game was a huge leap over the first UC game. UC 3 doesn't do that major jump. On the other hand, UC 3 has an outstanding story, multiplayer and visuals. UC 2 had all those but MORE. The story was more emotional and epic, the soundtrack is among the best in videogaming history and the multiplayer was an addictive experience.
1 Like UNCHARTED 3 é o melhor jogo de sempre. Qem ainda nao tiver, vale a pena comprar, é muito cool pessoal.
A historia está muito boa, os gráficos săo otimos muito mesmo muito realistas... o Modo online também esta muito bom.
awesome it looks like firefly by Joss Whedon/Tim Minear. minus all the scifi technology. the chandelier in the game reminds me of shindig ep 4. i would be swell if they made a game of the series, or an offshoot like it.
hey guys im looking for a good ps3 game, uncharted 3 has got great reviews all round. im just asking if i buy this game i will know whats going on? i have bearly touched the first 2 in the series, is it nescessary to play the first before this one? or is the story easy to pick up on?
@Nerdies It's easy to pick up, but I prefer playing the first and the second before the third. It's great to witness how the game evolved and developed over the years in graphics, gameplay and story of course. Enjoy.
@digi-demon yeah it breaks PS3 if you consider how much graphics this game churns out. UC3 has some of the best graphics this generation & that is why i love the series & was one of the reasons i bought a ps3.
2 Like Yeah. I put the disc into my PS3 and it blew up. I still haven't found all the pieces of it. :P
4 Like Best game in the series, which is saying a lot, actually.The human factor punctuated by the clever dialog trade-in between characters is what elevates this title above it's predecessor.Melee combat has been much improved too, now making it a useful combat tool.Set-pieces are of an all-time high quality, ozzing cinematic, blockbuster movie-like moments, but with added inmerssiveness due to total interactive qualities.One of the best experiences I've ever had as a gamer.
@ploodie i was thinking exactly the same thing about drake touching the walls, ridiculously over used and very annoying after a while. Its supposed to be realistic but who touches walls every time they pass one in real life? nobody. ND need to up their game big time for the next one.
im a big fan of Uncharted 2 but this is nowhere near a 10, even 9 is overrating it. id give it an 8, good game, good mp but not as good as its predecessor.
i have played on a couple of 3d tvs, one expensive 800hz samsung model and im not all that impressed by it. Wipeout hd is prob the most impressive but even thats not amazing. Its ok but completely unessential, many textures are downgraded and the depth effect isnt that great. For me the 2d gaming experience is still superior at the moment.
I agree, rating should be 9.5 tt has to be up there with the best of all time, it is revolutionary in many ways.
I agree with Bubnux. This game is just mind blowing in 3d. The atmopsheres are amazing in 2d, but in 3D you can see what the game was really designed for. Many items pop out right in the perfect places, not in your face but right "next" to you or above you. Fantastic use of 3D in a game, might be the best so far of all 3D games.
Game is KILLER in 3D, if you've got a 3D rig & don't own it yet you should be ashamed. I can't say "deserves a 10" Cuz I haven't finished yet- but dang what more do you want from a game?
@Shoinko I just finished Uncharted 3 yesterday, I got it late. I agree that the never ending waves of enemies were not enjoyable. At times I thought I had to advance through the level or complete a certain objective because the waves seemed to last forever.
http://www.gamespot.com/uncharted-3-drakes-deception/user-reviews/784634/platform/ps3/ Check out my review for more details. I think that Uncharted 3 is an amazing game. The multiplayer is vastly improved, and the single player campaign had some awesome moments. Yet, I have to give my favorites game in the franchise to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. It changed so much from the original that I honestly didn't think that they were part of the same franchise. Uncharted 3 seemed to build upon the ideas of its predecessor (which is good) but didn't really change the way that I played the game. That being said, the story also felt somewhat lacking in the third entry. Characters were introduced and dropped quickly (Chloe and Cutter) and the story felt disjointed in the end. Elena and Drake get married...then divorced after Uncharted 2? That was a bit much Naughty Dog. There were just so many things that I enjoyed about the first game that made me love it more than this one. Now, is Uncharted 3 a bad game? No. Is it an incredibly good game? Yes! Is it better than its predecessor? In some ways, totally! Is it as revolutionary as its predecessor? I personally don't think so. Great game nonetheless! 9.5
This is great adventure game.. i like it .so is not a FPS loll but the gun control is hard great game in overall BUMP
hello again to answer everybody that gamespot hates sony yes it does it deserves A 10 and THAT MEANS A 10
I played the game agree to some extent with the review BUT the rating should have been 9.5
Heres yet another underwhelming over priced internet ready blu ray player game. Meh. "Xbox 360 is the BEST console EVER made." --John Carmack
1 Like @buying1999 I don't feel like sticking to a futuristic shooters which are all the same. So no. Exclusives do their job.
this is the best game I've ever played it deserves a 10 i finished the game around 4 times and I'm still enjoying it the rate shouldn't be less than gears of war 3 and the same of batman it was better. a lot better
This game is a stepback for the series... the first three chapters are too short compared with the previous games; and chapter 18 is a rip off, Nate doesn´t do any thing alse but walking, lame for a high action series. The game is still good but could have been better.
Such a nice written review but the score is just 9.0 .... gamespot just hates sony man, and I have no idea when they are going to end this.
Good review, Tom. Played some of the game myself and thought it was pretty great, as the bar of "Uncharted" quality is usually at. More involving plot, nearly seamless gameplay, impressive graphics, and a fairly enjoyable multiplayer to boot. 'Tis a shame that it had to come out after its nearly perfect predecessor, though, since it doesn't make as much of a groundbreaking gameplay experience as UC2 did. Still a pretty great game in its own right, though.
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Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
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- Publisher(s): SCEA
- Developer(s): Naughty Dog
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- ESRB: T
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