Uncharted : Drake's Fortune*

Given the abundance of good games to review this fall, it may be yet another game reviewer that doesn't give enough time (and credit) to the game. Uncharted is certainly not short. For replay, you can collect treasures and try to re-beat the enemies (I only have 8 treasures so far ). I hate some of the pirate courtyard fights -- they are actually pretty tough.

I am level 6 now. Did I say the pirates are pretty tough ?

 

Pirates are actually just okay.
At least they don't try and do headshots like the mercenaries do.

And they rarely yield magnums or Desert-7s which kill you in 2 hits.

 

Actually it's SSSSS for the regular combo and STS for the brutal combo (depending on the timing you can miss your second haymaker punch or land it smack on and turn the enemy around so you can do a necksnap), there's also the steel fist combo R1, S or you can combine it with a punch resulting in the gunslinger combo S, R1, S. There's stealth kill obviously as well as if you damage the enemy first and you running up to him you can do a flying kick.

 

GT also said the AI wasn't so smart which kind of showed they had no idea what they were talking about, maybe they were playing a different Uncharted than everyone else, I think overall it was just a poor review, the reviewer simply had no idea what he was talking about, it wasn't even a matter of opinion but just the reviewer not getting his facts straight at all.

 

If they say the AI is not so smart (compared to other games), then em... yes, perhaps they need to play the game more. I hate it when the enemies do that baseball slide, and some of them emerge from their cover hugging close to the floor when I was anticipating a high (standing) or middle (squatting) shot. Sometimes they are too aggressive and followed me through the chokepoint but that's not always the case, they will flank too.

Elena is a great help.

Just okay ye say ? >_<

I need to practise my aim then. I died like 6-7 times for every courtyard encounters one after another. In fact, at some point I began to feel like a refugee than a treasure hunter. I totally agree with Nathan in level 6 that the treasure (whatever it is) is not worth dying for.

I am scared of the mossbergs (well... wielding the mossberg or the M79 feels godly though).

 

I am starting to not trust GT anymore. Their comments about some games are sometimes off with no connection to reality. They also fuel the debate between console camps with their remarks and pointless "vs" video comparissons which are often not objective at all.

 

Gamespot review is up and you can guess the score...

The Good

• Lush jungle environments are stunningly realized
• Drake's animations are nuanced and naturalistic.

The Bad

• Tough and plentiful enemies can make firefights frustrating
• Platforming elements can be too forgiving
• Certain story elements are underdeveloped.

 

Platforming elements too forgiving I agree.
Firefights frustrating? you know my take on it if you know I completed it on hard within 7 hours.
patience, practice, and intuition is what you need with firefights. (I do admit that after completing COD4 on Veteran, Uncharted does seem like a piece of cake)
I also don't recall GeOW and other shooters to be easier than Uncharted.

certain story elements are underdeveloped...? that sounds like a random pitch they threw at it.

 

I am at level 13 now. The mercenaries certainly makes firefight more interesting. I think they are easier than the pirates because the latter employs unfair and aggressive swarm tactics. Rolling amongst the laser sights is pretty neat though.

The story is interesting so far. Not sure what is underdeveloped yet.

How can they complete the review without mentioning the second jetski level ? ^_^ Now I understand why ND couldn't do the full fluid dynamics simulation this time round. That river (comes with floating bodies) is amazing. My only real complain so far is still... Nathan walks too slowly (when travelling between point A to point B). BTW, I love the booby traps. Got caught in that one so many times.

 

So it would seem. believe me, mercenaries do that too. You've just seen the beginning

Try fighting them on one side, then get backstabbed from the other side, only to find that they also have some snipers on high positions

 

link added

 

Let me guess ... the platforming is too easy for people who do a lot of platforming, and the fighting is too easy for people who do a lot of fighting.

At least nearly all reviews seem to agree on one thing:

 

The same tough enemies that they complimented on being SMART? Knocking a game for dumb enemies I can understand, praising a game for smart enemies I can understand, but knocking a game for smart enemies? That's pretty crazy. It's not like the enemies are cheap either, they're smart, but they're totally beatable.

Were they looking for difficult platforming elements that result in frequent cheap deaths? Would that be a plus in their book?

 

man it seems like every review lately has some questionable comments... maybe with the release of so many great games coming out, they're rushing them a little.

 

At least you have to time your button presses, not run like an idiot and hold (X) or (A)...
Were they waitting for Tomb Raider 1? Do 5 backflips grab the ledge and reach the secret room...

Why don't reviewers make up their mind... I guess they have to say something...

 

They shouldn't judge a game based on what they think it's "trying" to be, they should judge it on what it is.

 

Completed the game. It's engaging and a little scary near the end. When I crawled the later levels, I switched to first person gunsight view and moved very slowly just to make sure I can react in time.
I really like how the PS3 library is shaping up now.

You're right. For some reason, I still think the mercaneries feel easier -- may be because I have better guns, or I got used to the controls.

Quite true. I think that the platforming is just nice, firefight is pretty tough, and QTE (and scripted fighting) is toughest... especially the last level.

So true !


I can now say that:

River is amazing also (!)

Ok, but Nathan walks/limps along too slowly when moving between scenes.

Enemy AI is one of the best I have seen

Somewhat true, but not enough to make the game bad... except may be, making it harder for reviewers to complete their work before deadline
I'd actually add that the fights are rather varied because of the smart AI and also enemy types (Don't want to spoil the game )

Just nice for me, man

No idea what they are talking about. Are they expecting sex scenes ? ^_^

Yap ! I am going to play Assassin's Creed next. If they are off there again, I think I will rate the gaming press 2/10 instead of 3/10. ^_^

 

Just finished (on Normal, because I like my first ride to not be TOO frustrating ), and still coming down from the high. There's plenty of the "silly things that make no sense because it's a game" (like Tomb Raider is chock full of), but Uncharted excels on just SO many goddam levels...

Maybe later I'll pick up some specifics, but right now I just want to smoke a cigarette or something... and I don't even smoke!

 

Yes, it's like many Hollywood movies. I think I figured out why the later gunfights are easier for me (even though they introduced more enemy types). It's because Elena or Sully was with me more often... and better weapons. At the beginning, I relied on the small pistol only.

Spoiler

I love M79, Mossberg and M4

Spoiler

There are about 3 scenes where they dropped more pirates/mercenaries behind me (or right in front of me) after I killed everyone off. The game expected me to hit cover from cover; but most of the time I just sticked to the starting position unless my cover was destroyed. If I'm with Elena or Sully, I would take their lead as the cue. If they moved to the front... it means that the area has been cleared... and some enemies may storm into the area where we are currently in.

Spoiler

Ha ha ! I just wanted to punch Navarro in the end. I died so many times there. QTE in Heavenly Sword is lovely, but here it's very demanding !

 

Is there really only 5 enemies types in the whole game?