Sort of like a flawed diamond; from afar it looks great, but up close you can see some of the problems.
Positives:
The game looks absolutely beautiful, even though it is a fairly old game now, it does still hold up. It really does show the potential that the PS3 has of being one of the finest gaming machines to come around. The environments are fun to look at and explore. It is not an open-ended game in any way, but it is still entertaining to look throughout the often small gaming areas. The presentation is definitely Uncharted's best characteristic, but there are some other positives worth mentioning as well. The gameplay is solid, using a 3rd-person cover system. The gun fights felt a bit like Gears of War, which is not bad at all. At time the cover system was a bit frustrating, but more than likely it was my fault. I seemed to stick to the various pieces of cover more than I would have liked, this would at times open me up for some easy deaths at the hands of the more capable enemies. The story itself as a whole is nice. I genuinely wanted to see how everything ended, and what exactly happened to the characters. Even though I enjoyed the story, I also think its overall development was marred in certain areas. That will lead us to some of the negatives I found with the game.
Negatives:
The story was fine overall, but I felt that it really needed to be fleshed out. Without giving too much away, we jumped from a treasure hunting game to a crazy-goofy survival horror mixed with a fair share of mutated, zombie Spaniards. I remember when this transition started it totally shocked me because there was really no lead-up to this drastic change over than the occasional L2 quick look. The story almost demanded to be longer, but I finished the game at about 8-hours, and I played through it very slowly it felt. Just simply more to the game would have made the story overall seem more complete. Most of my answers within the game were answered by the end, but I would have just liked to see more of a descriptive method of story telling. The not-so-fleshed-out story is by far my biggest peeve. I do have a couple smaller pieces. I would have really liked a more variety of weapons, I sort of got bored with the standard boomsticks by the end of the experience. I also did not exactly care for the platforming moments. They were a little inconsistent. Some were ridiculously easy, while others were strangely difficult, but yet once I focused on the specific area to jump, hang, or climb they all worked out.
Conclusion:
Overall, I really enjoyed Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The story was exhilarating, but was really asking for more explanation than the game provided. The gameplay was tight, and provided some genuinely enjoyable times. I usually do not prefer action/adventure, but I am pretty sure I will be partaking on Drake's next journey very soon!