THE PERFECT BLEND OF GAME AND MOVIE, THIS IS AN EXPERIENCE!
Presentation: 4.5/5. The presentation in this game is brilliant. The graphics are beautiful, and it feels like you're exploring a real life island while you're playing. The detail is great. Sunlight comes through branches, shadows are cast on rocks, and Nathan Drake actually gets wet when you are in the water. Nothing looks animated, even Nathan Drake, it truly feels real. On the sound side of things, the soundtrack is fantastic and fits the mysterious side of the game and the action side of the game, and the sound effects are very realistic. The cut scenes look like they could be out of a Hollywood movie, hardly feeling like a video game and the plot and voice acting truly make it feel like a Hollywood movie. I'm being perfectly honest when I say if this was a movie exactly like it is in the game (same cut scenes) I would go to that movie and watch it over and over. It looks, sounds, and feels that great. That's right. Even if I didn't control Nathan Drake or actually do any game play, it would make a great movie. Not just that, but the graphics look so good, I can just walk around the enviornments mindlessly and enjoy the scenery. The textures of the grass and rocks and trees in the forest are great. Tombs look great with great detail and design, and everything is just beautiful. Yup. It is magnificent!
Basic Game Play/Level Design: 9.5/10
Just because I said it would make a great movie without all of the actual levels, doesn't mean there isn't great game play here. In fact, there is just as good game play as presentation/video. This game finds the perfect balance between video game and movie, and the end result is not only a game but an experience. On the game play side of things, this game is fantastic. It consists of shooting, melee fighting, solving puzzles, and exploring. All of these are equally involved and equally fun and it's where the game really succeeds. The gun fights are a lot of fun. The shooting controls are tight and racking up kills against the enemy pirates whether you are shooting them or beating them up fist to fist is extremely satisfying. The gunfights are especially fun because of the emphasis on taking cover. You duck behind objects and pick them off one by one and it's fun. The puzzles in the game are not too hard to solve and not too easy to solve, and find a perfect balance. At first you will be like, "What? How am I supposed to get past here?" But, shortly afterwards, it will hit you and it feels amazing when you figure it out. The game gives you just enough clues so that you really have to use your brain but you never get frustrated with the puzzles. And lastly, the exploring side of the game. To pass the game you will have to leap from walls to other walls, scale buildings, hop rooftop to rooftop, and jump from cliff to cliff, giving it an Indiana Jones feel. This is all pulled off so quickly, it gives the game a fast-paced feel. You don't have to wait and time your jumps perfectly. You just keep jumping and jumping without stopping which is so much more fun. The level design is brilliant too and with the great platforming controls and layouts and the great level design, exploring and moving around these levels is a breeze and a blast!
Length/Content/Replay Value: 8.0/10
This is where the game dissapointed me. There weren't any game modes other then campaign! It's no Uncharted 2 or 3. Usually when I play a game's campaign, I beat it then move on to the Multiplayer or Challenges or some other extra. But in this game, once you beat the campaign, all you have left to do is beat the campaign again. And again. And it's true that it doesn't get old fast. But still, there is no Co-Op Campaign, no Co-Op Multiplayer, no Competitive Multiplayer, no Bot mode or Surival mode. Nothing! And that was a huge letdown. The campaign is fun, but I really wish they added some other modes or extras. However the replay value in this game was grea. This is an area where the game really succeded beyond expectation. There are 60 treasures hidden throughout the game and one especially hard to find "Strange Relic." These treasures add a ton of replay value, because they add an emphasis on exploration. Sometimes you will have to scale a wall on a tower then go into a room to get a treasure. Sometimes, you will have to locate a hidden staircase to find the treasure. You get no help with these and most players will feel compelled to go over the game again and again until they get all 60 treasures or at least most of them, because they are so satisfying to get, due to their well hidden locations. There are also a lot of PSN trophies to get. So even though there were no extra game modes so all you could do was campaign the awesome PSN and in-game trophies/treaures, and the slight variety in the campaign gave this section an 8.0 score.
OVERALL: 9.0/10
Ok so if you add it all up it is actually between an 8.0 and an 8.5 but I loved it so much I gave it a 9.0.
THANKS FOR READING!
THE GOOD:
Beautiful graphics and enviorments
Great voice acting and performances
Excellent character animation
Awesome perfect difficulty puzzles to solve
Awesome exploring and platforming
60 treasures
PSN trophies (easy enough to go for)
Tight controls
THE BAD:
No extra modes AFTER THE SINGLE PLAYER CAMPAIGN
Frustrating boat sequences
Endless pirates (get annoying)