Amazing Graphics and fluid animations are marred by clumsy controls and unnecessary pop moments.....
But that's where you try to be heroic and instead of improving you instead depreciate its quality.
Uncharted 2 was an almost perfect blend of Amazing graphics, fluid animations, right amount of "Pop Moments", decent story (even if it was stretched a bit at the end) and compelling gameplay mechanics.
Graphically even though Uncharted 3 has improved upon its predecessors, you can now start seeing aliasing textures which were barely visible if not visible in Uncharted 2. The lighting and occlusion are amazing. The ship levels and the Desert levels are by far the best looking levels in the series.
The story as always is like a Hollywood action blockbuster. You have the usual twists and turns just like there were in Uncharted 2.
Three things which prevent me from giving this game a 9/10:
The first one is minor and the already talked about aliasing issue.
The second one is the control which brings me to the gameplay mechanics. You are no longer Drake. You are now Batdrake and suddenly you have a combat system akin to Batman Arkham City.
However i may like the Uncharted series, there are two attributes Uncharted series has been inspired from two games Assassin's Creed (Platforming) and Batman (Combat) in which they have been implemented fluidly but UC has been quite clumsy at its implementation. The first is the platforming in all three games, which while clumsy still is shadowed by the automatic aidings that help you automatically find which path to go.
But the second one the combat system which were of its own and fluid in the first two parts but in this game is where it gets irritating. You had Circle perform two things in UC2. One was for roll and other for cover. You now have the Circle button doing THREE things. Cover, Roll and grapple enemy.
Oh come on!!! Circle for grapple. Atleast you could have used some other button for grapple or if not grapple then some other button for roll in that case even though an analog mapping like God Of War is impossible due to adjustable camera. The grappling always gets in the way when you try to roll, you always end up grappling someone which in some missions leads to frustrating deaths
People say the AI is improved upon the last game. Actually they are not. You put your crosshair over their head, they move it. They are harder to target that's it. Also the grenades thrown by them can be thrown back at them. And they don't return those grenades again like it happens in the Modern Warfare games. Atleast they are not ridiculously accurate like NFL Quarterbacks in MW lol. Also the way they ambush you was already improved upon in Uncharted 2.
Other than that, the counter system is a good addition (Triangle for counter? Here too?), though unecessary. You encounter a tall guy every now and then. He's the same, has the same moves etc. just change of appearance. But its fun and reminds you of the Epic fight in the movie Punisher.
The third aspect - AHA!! - "Pop Moments" that are in high dosage in this game. Unlike in Uncharted 2 where it was a perfect balance, here for every step you take, you either trip or something falls on you. The ship level is understandable though and it has the best ocean mechanics ever.
The music score is by far the best in series. I have five songs of UC3 in my IPOD. The Nate 3.0 theme as usual is the same theme used in the main menu of first two games but with variation. The Museum bust and Second story themes have the best Spanish guitar in any game and really make some of the amazing sequences in the game like Chases a memorable experience.
All in all, if you have played the first two, you will like this game. But you may find some troubles with the controls or the unecessary pop moments if not the Aliasing (I am a AA freak being a PC gamer).
But do not expect this game to be the best in series. It has some elements as the best in series, but all in all, it falls quite short of the benchmark set by its predecessors.