Greetings and salutations, Internet!
***Spoiler Alert***
I just finished Uncharted 3's campaign. For those of you unaware of what Uncharted is, I suggest you read this. For everyone else, please be aware that this post will contain myriad spoilers for multiple aspects of Uncharted 3's single player campaign. If you haven't completed the campaign I suggest that you do so now...because its kind of awesome.
Ok, so I need to get some stuff off my chest. To start, I'm a fan on the Uncharted series. I think that its the best franchise that Sony has exclusivity over. Resistance, Infamous, and God of War are all great franchises but they don't come close to what Uncharted does in terms of atmosphere, story and character development. Uncharted 3 was one of my most anticipated titles this year; I couldn't wait to dive into the single-player campaign.
Overall I quite enjoyed Uncharted 3. Story-wise it certainly didn't fit the mold of the first two titles..which is good and bad. I'll admit, I'm a fan of the supernatural stuff going on in U1 and U2. I was disappointed when the Yeti's in U2 weren't real Yetis. That said, I was a bit bummed that there was nothing supernatural about the plot or story of U3. I was kinda digging the Ghost Rider-soldiers (even though they were a bit annoying to take down)..until I found out that Nathan was just tripping on some spiked water. I was also kind of hoping that there was more to Marlowe; her character was built up with the young-Drake and Sully connection and ultimately she had little to do. Granted, she was the mastermind behind everything bad that happened to Nate but I can't help but feel that her character was wasted. I was hoping that she had discovered some fountain of youth and had been working with Sir Francis back in the day.
I feel that several plot points were just dropped throughout the story. I take it we are to assume that Nate and Elena were/are married and that something dramatic happened that caused her to divorce/separate from Nate. And apparently Nathan Drake's real name is not Nathan Drake?? Why was this brought up and just tossed aside by Marlowe? Am the the only one that didn't know this? Did I miss something in one of the previous games? I assume these will be addressed in a future game or perhaps a novel.
I really like the character of Chloe and the new addition, Cutter. While they featured heavily in the first half of the game, their characters are left by the wayside while Nate and Sully go on and adventure. I know, I know, Cutter's broken leg would hamper his ability to treasure-hunt, but I wish they would've turned up in the end in perhaps an end-credit scene. And speaking of which, no end-credit Easter egg? Gamers these days know to wait till after the credits for a juicy tidbit of info or a clue as to where the franchise is headed next. Nothing here.
I guess I'm just nitpicking over minor plot points. The ending and final section was interesting and not necessarily what I expected..and again it feels like not much was addressed. I would've liked maybe a final conversation between Nate and Salim. The dialogue between Sully and Nate was emotional and quite enjoyable...but maybe would've meant more had we known what happened between Nathan and Elena. Sully giving Nate his ring back would've been more important had the player been privy to the previous situation.
And why was the game called Drake's Deception? Is he deceiving us all because he isn't really who he says he is? The only real deception I saw was in the bar in the beginning of the game..and that in the first ten minutes.
Despite all of these hangups I have with Uncharted 3, I can't help but feel that its one of the best gaming experiences I've had in a very, very long time (along with Batman: Arkham City). The size and scope of U3 is unrivaled - as are the visuals. At plenty of points I wanted to just stop and admire the scenery around me. The voice acting and character animations are movie quality; I am absolutely in love with all of the characters (well, the good guys at least). I just want to keep playing games with these characters, regardless of the adventure. And I just think its funny how many pirates Nate has killed over the course of three games!
What say you, Internet? Agree? Disagree? Let me know!
Bearded Bullet out.
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