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Dec 21 / Ozymandias

Finished Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune…

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 …and really enjoyed it. Probably the first PS3 title that I could actually recommend to someone without reservation. It’s only the second PS3 title I’ve finished (the first being Resistance), and I have to say it was good fun.

The game isn’t super-original – in fact, it’s basically a Tomb Raider / Gears of War mash-up (albeit a very polished one). Visually the game looks great – Naughty Dog pulled off some really iconic scenes throughout the game and exploring them really brought me back to that old-school joy I felt with the first Tomb Raider. Although the story isn’t terribly strong (feels a bit contrived at times), it’s good enough to keep pulling you along… but make no mistake, the primary joy of the game is around exploration. There is a bit of puzzle solving, but they’re pretty darn easy. Combat is a lot of fun, too – AI is good enough to keep you on your toes and the controls are smooth and tight.

On the negative side, combat gets a bit trying as you get further into the game. Your primary opponents are pirates (at least up until the last section of game), and it’s astounding just how many there are on the island. Seriously – they’re pirates, not a third-world country army, yet somehow you run across them over and over and over (and over) again to the point of tediousness. The game also has quasi-Achievements you can earn (mirroring Xbox 360′s Achievements to the point that you have 1000 points you can earn), but without a meta-game that those points apply to, you don’t really have a lot of reason to go hunting them down.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones style adventures, Drake’s Fortune is worth checking out. Sales are surprisingly poor right now – can’t figure it out, to tell the truth. Don’t let that stop you if you already have a PS3.

On a side note, a co-worker of mine will occasionally be posting thoughts on the game industry here going forward. He and I tend to discuss a ton of the stuff I’ve written about in the past, and I’m sure he’ll have some interesting insights you might enjoy. Not sure whether he wants his real name used at this point, so we’ll just call him Krotus for now. I think I may ask him to grade my 2007 game industry predications I made a while ago – could be a fun excercise. :)
 

Related posts:

  1. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Folklore
  2. Finally Playing Gears of War / Finished Bioshock
  3. Playstation 3 Online to Have "Entitlements"
  4. Gamerscore for Sale? <sigh>
  5. Final Thoughts on Prey

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  • Philly Rampage

    I’ve been tracking this game ever since they showed the first video for it and if I have a PS3, I would probably all over it by now, but alas, my 360 has kept me busy lately. Btw, we gotta play some Rock Band one of these days Ozy!

  • Xwar

    Just finally gotten around to it, and damn, calling it unoriginal is a compliment. The entire platforming system is ripped off from Tomb Raider Legend and Anniversary button press to button press – hell, you can tap X while shimmying to go faster and there’s wallriding too!

    Fortunately, platforming isn’t anywhere as exacting as it is in either of the latest Tomb Raider games, which is a big plus in my book.

    Remains a bit too contrived so far. Exploding barrels in thousand-year old ruins – c’mon. Crumbling platforms that conveniently blow down into nice flat stones so the other guy can cross? C’mon. And now I’m at chapter 3 and Drake handed off the diary – GEE NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO IT NO WAY NO HOW.

    That and the blight upon videogaming commonly called checkpoints currently drag it down. Still being entertained, still pushing through to the finale, but had this been on 360 it’d be B-list.

  • Xwar

    Wow, this has to be a record for good-to-awful transitions in a game. Soon as I hit the island, camera went to hell (8 tries for the first crumbling rock exclusively because of stupid camera), combat started dragging on forever, control system went to hell (lots of missed jumps for no reason), pacing shot to pieces… what the hell, Naught Dog?

    Hopefully it’ll pick up again, but this might be another Assassin’s Creed (i.e. two good hours in the whole game, the rest… egh).

  • ushman360

    Xwar: I loved Assassin’s Creed, and I don’t care who knows it!

  • Xwar

    …and curtains. With infinite ammo and 1 hit kills to cut through the abominable amount of combat, it’s not too bad. The very first island area is the worst of the game, though.

    Still thumbs middle-down.

    And hey, Clint Bajakian is at SCEA now? Didn’t know he left Lucasarts.

    >I loved Assassin’s Creed

    Me too – the first two hours. The rest, ugh. Maybe if you don’t do every sidequest (I did all but the flag collecting) and see wall-to-wall assassinations it’s better?

  • John-Paul

    Ozymandias, I'm sorry this is off topic but at this point I don't know who to tell.

    I tried to play a backwards compatible game tonight and…. NOPE.  Wouldn't work.  Slag the fact that I've played it before on this very same 360 and have ALL the updates… wouldn't work.  I tried 2 other titles, both of which I have played, neither worked.  I'm going to assume at this point I can't play ANY backwards compatible games.

    Half the time it tells me "game not supported" even though I've both played it and your backwards compat site says, yes, they are supported.

    The other half the time it tells me I need an update and then when I go to update, it won't.  Says check my connection settings, problem is, I can connect FINE to Xbox Live… no problem.

    I called tech support, waited forever, got transfered around and NONE of these "I barely speak english well" people either understood my problem or helped.  The best I could get is "go to our website, download the update and burn a disk."

    I HAVE THE FREAKING UPDATE.  grrrrrr.  And even if I didn't, what are you telling me, that every time a new update comes out I can't play old games that ALREADY worked until I get a new update??  I call B.S. on that.  Please tell me this isn't a ploy to get people downloading X-box originals off the marketplace. Furthermore I see no reason my Xbox must constantly be married to an internet connection to even work right (hell, I've done lost rights to play half my arcade games because I had a replacement system and now if I'm not online I lose half my collection and MS seems to less give a crap)

    Look, I've about had it with this crap, here I am, I have a problem… NO help what-so-ever and I'm supposed to what.. trash the six or seven original Xbox games I own?!?

    On top of that my THIRD replacement X-box is getting disk read errors left and right.  This is retarded.  I hate the very thought of even owning a PS3 but honestly, if this crap continues I bet my 360 would fetch a hefty trade in for one.

    You can ignore me if you want, I expect as much, but I have a problem and I need some kind of answers, since the "Xbox live tech support" was effin clueless… I'm looking at you.

  • John-Paul

    Alright, I used an OXM disk with the old July 07 update on it and rolled back to it… now I have the ability to play my games again.

    I still don’t understand this.  I should in no way depend on my internet connection to play games I’ve already played on my 360.

    I’m fixing to move in a few months and may not be able to afford internet at all, I hate to think that half the games I own, arcade included, are useless at that point.

    Furthermore I don’t get why backwards compat games would just STOP working for no reason.  If I wasn’t connected then the system wouldn’t even know any better and theoretically should still work.  It was connected and screwed up. Nothing about this makes any sense.

    Either way Oz, you guys should look at the November update, something is a foul here.

  • JasonSuave

    Resistance, as well, is the only game I’ve ever beaten on the ps3.  I was on the edge about getting this game, but decided against it on account of me waiting to see if the ps3 actually makes it.  If not, I can still return my ps3 to costco (but that’s another story)!  If Uncharted had coop, I’d be all over it, though.