Sony's biggest franchise makes its debut on the freshly released Vita.
Another day, another adventure. This is the life of Nathan Drake. This time around, Drake's treasure-sniffing schnoz is on the scent of an ancient 400 year old civilization slaughtered by a mysterious sect. Nathan's new partner Dante brought him along on the expedition for his expertise but as they got closer, they ran into trouble by the name of Guerrero. This Spanish general is planning a revolution and to get it off the ground, he's after the same treasure Nate and Dante are seeking. Twists and turns and back stabs and betrayals lead both parties to a forgotten city buried at the bottom of the Golden Abyss.
If you are used to the pacing of the previous Uncharted games, you will be a bit disappointed with Golden Abyss. It's not all about "bigger and better" in this installment. Rather, it returns to the more slower paced feel of the first Uncharted and puts the focus back on exploration. Locales don't vary as much as Uncharted 2 and 3, the gunfights aren't as frantic and the set pieces aren't as explosively impressive. Golden Abyss forces the player to stop and smell the roses.
The combat in Golden Abyss is just the same as the console games. You can carry one handgun and one two-handed weapon at a time, along with grenades. You can take cover behind stone walls and fallen pillars and pop up and take shots. Nate can still execute silent take downs by simply tapping on the enemy when they're close enough, and fisticuffs is carried out by swiping your finger along the corresponding arrow. There are, however, a few instances where the screen doesn't register your swipe correctly, causing you to fail and get hit or in the case of trying to regain your grip, fall to your death. You can also drag and drop grenades, which is a nice touch as you can toss them with pinpoint precision.
Climbing around your environment in an Uncharted game has never been easier than it is in Golden Abyss. Handholds are now more easily identifiable and all you have to do is swipe along the path you want Drake to take, and he takes it. It's actually quicker to climb walls using swiping than holding down the joystick, because it avoids those moments where Nathan reaches out for the next handhold requiring a push of the X button. The Vita's rear touchpad is also put to use by swiping alternating fingers to make Nate ascend or descend along a rope. It's a gimmicky feature that will hardly be used as conventional controls are much more responsive for this task.
The exploring element in Golden Abyss has Nathan not just looking for shiny trinkets of treasure but also for clues and other artifacts. Drake will come across engravings that he can take a charcoal rubbing of by rubbing your finger all over the screen. These rubbings usually come in a set and the pieces can be manipulated and put back together like a puzzle, and there are even torn up documents that can be restored in the same fashion. There's also photographs Drake can take if he's standing in a scenic spot, and he's given a sample photo in order to copy the shot as closely as possible. Using the rear touchpad, he can zoom in and out with the camera, not to mention that he can do the same with a sniper scope.
Even though Golden Abyss introduces new touch gameplay mechanics, it still has issues that simply aren't being addressed in the franchise. Enemy AI is still pathetic, from not being able to hear their partners knocked out from two feet away, to waiving a sniper rifle directly in your face and not taking a shot, to even shooting their own teammates. Enemies are also still cumbersome to kill, taking way too many shots in the torso before they go down, and the aiming is still off. Several times, you swear you got a headshot, while other times your reticle isn't even on them and you get the headshot.
When you launch a new system, you want a title that's able to show off the power of your machine. Uncharted: Golden Abyss rises to the occasion. It boasts some amazing textures, terrific character models and very impressive water effects. Standing pools, babbling streams and roaring waterfalls all look magnificent on Vita's OLED screen. The game also makes great use of lighting for stunning realism and fire and smoke effects for lively explosions. As nice as the game looks, however, there are several clipping occurrences, a few jarring frame rate dips, and a lack of extra polish thanks to the game not displaying in Vita's native resolution. Jagged edges are noticeable but the overall look of the game is so impressive, it's hard to care.
First thing's first. Play this game with ear or headphones. The audio is so fantastic, you won't be able to appreciate the sound effects such as gunshot reports and echoes as much if you just listen to them via the Vita's tiny speakers. Stone grinding on stone, the crumbing of walls and the roar of waterfalls all sound fantastic. There are a couple of slight sound design quirks, though. Sometimes your partner will follow you after a jump and make no sound at all during their landing. Other times, a character's voice might be a bit muffled. Speaking of voices, the voice acting continues to be top notch. Nolan North once again reprises his role as Nathan Drake, and the entire supporting cast does a great job with their delivery. Lastly, the soundtrack, which the series has always been known for, is superb and a main drawing factor of why you'll want to play with headphones on.
As handhelds become more powerful, we're beginning to see console-level experiences on them, and Uncharted: Golden Abyss leads the way in this regard. It may not be as big as its console counterparts, but it contains all the right elements strung together to deliver a solid Uncharted adventure on the go. As fun as it is, it's still stuck in a rut of being formulaic, and although new touch controls are implemented, they can either come off as gimmicky or just fail to work. With high production values across the board, it's a terrific showcase title for what the Vita can do, but a 50 dollar price tag puts it as the most expensive Vita game at launch. Still, you'll do yourself good to add this title to your launch library.