Mix Indiana Jones with Prince of Persia and add some Gears of War. Stir, bake for an hour and play......good stuff!
I bought my PS3 a week ago so that I could play MGS4. Uncharted was on my list of games to check out as I had played the demo at my friend's house before I bought my PS3 and had a good bit of fun. I finally finished MGS, and decided to pick up Drake's Fortune thinking it would be enjoyable, but not nearly this good. I have to say it's one of the best purchases I've made in a long time, and if I had known what it was like I would have bought my PS3 when it came out.
I thoroughly enjoyed mostly every moment playing (a hell of a lot more than MGS, ironically). Everything comes together so seamlessly and smoothly that I could pay attention to what was really the focus of the game....that being the story of Drake and his companions searching for a long lost treasure. One of the main reasons that I found it so engrossing was in the manner that it was presented. Many times you play with an A.I. companion, which helps drives the story through it's conversations with the main character (ala Prince of Persia). Even when Drake is alone, he expresses how he feels about his current situation, which adds to the tension and humor. It was so nice and refreshing to be able to play while learning what was developing story wise as well as how the characters felt. I constantly wanted to know what was coming up next; no game has done that to me for a while.
There's basically two aspects to Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: shooting and exploration. First off, the combat and shootouts are so well done that it doesn't feel like a chore as in so many other games and is actually a lot of fun. They are tense and dynamic, mostly due to the fact that the enemy A.I. is INCREDIBLE. I've not seen A.I. done so well in a game for a long while. Enemies will flush you out with grenades, flank you, rarely come out of cover except to fire, and unpredictably pop out from different sides of cover so you can't just rest your aiming reticule and wait for a head shot. And when you do land a hit it is very satisfying due to the physics, so every kill feels different and yields different results. There are a few instances of suicidal moronic acts (not jumping away from grenades after you throw them right at their feet mostly), but besides that there's nothing major. It's a good thing the combat is so enjoyable too, because you'll be doing LOTS and LOTS of it. I hear this often as a criticism, but personally I found myself looking forward to firefights. There's a cover system that works very well that's a direct rip off from Gears of War....but hey, if you're going to steal, steal from the best, right? There's melee combat as well, which is *gasp* USEFUL and easy to do, and it also feels very impactful and it's cool to watch to boot.
Then there's the exploration. I'll just say this: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. All of the exploration requires jumping from ledge to ledge pretty much, and it's a blatant rip off from the Prince of Persia series......painfully blatant. It works great, but I wouldn't be suprised in the least to learn if they licensed out the engine from Ubisoft. It gets the job done and leads to little frustration besides a few spots here and there, but it would have been nice to see some innovation added. There are puzzles but they are pathetic in difficulty and barely worth mentioning, which sucks considering the nature of the game and the atmosphere it presents. I think they missed some really cool opportunities....ah well, maybe in the sequel.
Ok, onto the few negatives that bothered me a bit.
***SPOILER BELOW***
There's a certain part of the game where it is necessary to jet-ski up a flowing river while being shot at with explosive barrels floating at you which kill you in one hit. Many of the enemies lining the shore have grenade launchers that also do the same. Not only that, but you'll have to aim while drifting backwards with a tiny reticule that blends into the background sometimes. Let's just say it was not fun to do. I almost broke my controller it was so frustating, and it makes me wonder how it got past Q & A.
***END SPOILER***
There are also some save spots that are questionable that can quickly lead to frustration. And while the environments were beautiful, many of them were the same....over and over and over again. Many times they seemed to be there just to suit an environment that would be conducive to a firefight (boxes, fallen pillars, etc), and not so much exploration. It wasn't bad, but after a while it does become noticable and more variety would have made it all the better.
Anyhow, this game was an absolute blast for me to play. It has beautiful presentation, the story kept my interest, the characters are likeable and interesting, the combat was exhilarating and exploration satisfying, and it combined all of these aspects so well that it turned out to be one of the better games I've played in some time.
I highly recommend this one.