InsomniaReview: Uncharted

Naughty Dog, of Jak and Daxter fame, have departed from psudo-cartoon science fiction for a jaunt into a more realistic tale with Uncharted: Drake's Legacy for the PS3. Uncharted puts you in the shoes of Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter who uncovers evidence that his ancestor, Sir Francis Drake, faked his death before seeking out the treasure of El Dorado.

The storyline for this game is top notch, if predictable. It's pure popcorn, but it's GOOD popcorn. The dialog is well written, the story moves forward at a decent clip, and there's even a few surprises about midway through the game that shake the action up. The game is quite obviously meant to be a modern day Indiana Jones, and it does it's spiritual predecessor a great justice.

Graphically, the game is everything you'd want out of a AAA PS3 title. In my opinion, it's hands down the best looking game on the system as of this writing. If this is what we can expect from PS3 titles moving forward, perhaps 2008 will be the year Sony convinces me their latest system isn't over-rated and over-priced.

Gameplay shines as well. The cover mechanics work fantastically. Frankly, I wish more games released in 2007 had used this system, instead of the 'walk near a wall and you'll automatically take cover' method. The weapons are varied and effective, and the combat mechanics work well. And a little more than half-way through the game, just when running from firefight to firefight is about to get repetitive, Uncharted's story throws you a massive "what the hell?" curve ball and introduces a new enemy that really switches things up.

The cliff hugging, Tomb Raider/ Prince of Persia are probably this game's weak point. They were fairly bland compared to PoP's wall running and jumping timing insanity, which I enjoyed immensely. And on occasion, the ledge or hole you were supposed to jump for wasn't easily found, meaning from time to time you had to take literal leaps of faith. But even so, it was solid, it just didn't enjoy the high level of polish the rest of the game did.

About the only criticism I can lob at this game is that it's short, maybe 6-8 hours. Which is a lot, for a movie, and this game certainly feels that cinematic. But as great as Uncharted's mechanics are, once you've beaten it, there's really no reason to go back for seconds. There are some pretty brilliant unlockable extras, like a weapon select mode or slow-motion, but in the end it's all just sprinkles on the cupcake.

VERDICT: Either way. Certianly, you won't feel ripped off if you do buy it, it's a phenomenal game. But after you beat it, expect it to sit on your game shelf for a long time.