Eurogamer: Uncharted: Golden Abyss Review

With original developer Naughty Dog sticking to the PS3 for the time being, Drake's latest fate is thrust into the hands of Sony's Bend Studio, and the team best known for the Syphon Filter games proves a fastidious steward, carefully ticking all the right boxes over the game's six-to-eight hour lifespan. There's a reluctant love interest, double crosses, fossils and relics galore, and an ancient city of gold to be found by jumping, shooting and dangling through jungles and ruins across South America.

[dedicatedtogamers]

The article is basically,

"These graphics are the best ever seen on a handheld"
"controls like a dream because of dual sticks"
"touch controls are innovative and a ton of fun"
"environments are even more interactive than the console Uncharted games"

But...

"the game isn't as cinematic as Uncharted 3, so 8/10"

[coolbeans]

Perhaps we should encourage users to read the context of the review for themselves; not extrapolate our own meanings in order to smear a review over a great score.

[DonaldBeck]

8 is the new 4/10.

anyways im getting this day 1 its a 10 for 9/10 reviewers.

[TheHomerPimpson]

"8 is the new 4/10"

This is sad, but true.

Granted most modern day games have very big budgets, and we are seeing more and more AAA titles released every year, which may account for the "replacement" of the "1-10" grading system to the dreaded "8-10". It does seem like a shame considering a "B" should be considered a good score for anything, but when there's one "F" for every five "A"s...a "B" doesn't seem so hot.

I'm really not sure where to fall on the topic honestly...are there really many "4 out of 10" games released these days? Should game journalists always take the game's development budget, time of development, size of development team, and tons of other factors that games don't necessarily REQUIRE to be a good/original game into account when reviewing a game?

It does seem that something it askew with the way games are graded these days..think most can agree with that.

[ABizzel1]

That's why they need to change reviews.

Buy
Rent
Niche
Pass
Way was this made

[KillNr3load14]

If you ever herd of spill.com i like their rating system.

Better Than Sex!
Full Price!!
Rental
Some Old Bullshit!
Fuck You!

[TheDivine]

Sounds awesome but 6-8 hours? 3 was too short at about 7 hours but it had co-op and mp to make up for a short game. I might wait on this, i hate paying full price for a game i beat in a day or 2 but on the other hand it looks awesome i might not be able to resist. Wish there was an epic rpg coming out day 1, that or a new mgs for it. Those were my bread and butter on psp.

Why didnt they add mp in this? Even 3vs3 would be fun on a handheld and they could easily add a little survival mode for local and online. Id preorder it right now seing how much fun un3's mp is.

[KonaBro]

Are you seriously slamming a portable version of Uncharted for being 6-8 hours from their playthrough? A portable version?

[Eiffel]

An 8/10 and people are bawww'ing over it, cry moar.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

OH NOEZ A GAME I LIKE GOT A GOOD SCORE. I'M GONNA CRY ABOUT IT BECAUSE IT DIDNT GET PERFECT SCORE.

Really now this generation is corrupt in the head. If this was a movie review site, an 8/10 would be a rave review.

[Urrakia34]

Dude honestly STFU. Uncharted games are the very best this generation has to offer and so anything less than a 9 is quite frankly a slap in the face.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

I SEE WUT U DID THAR

[DigitalAnalog]

I believe the review was actually kind of lenient. For a system that sports new "control" schemes back/front panels yet only used them as an afterthought should have more points docked off. (Take for instance Wii games would only utilize motion controls for Wii sports but then goes back to the traditional d-pad format for other games) This is where Nintendo DIFFERS: The NDS has a lot of fantastic uses with the touch-screen (while smartphones obviously capitilizes on that alone)

I say this because why introduce a control scheme that is only "optional" when it's directly implemented into the game? I don't want a simple port of game, and I'm beginning to see why the 3DS/NDS have their successes. Their "unique" control/3D features become less gimmicky and into the realms of enhancing gameplay that only exists because of that proprietary technology embedded in them.

To me, more reviews should be more CRITICAL with the games VITA produces ONLY if the front/back panel is improperly utilized. If SONY's intention was to bring games that can obviously be ported back to the PS3 with higher definitions then this is really the only point where I would refuse to buy a VITA.

In closing, I want the games that can ONLY and ONLY be played on the VITA. Gravity Daze and Escape plan seem to get the message. SONY could've used Uncharted to sport the various intricacies of the back touch panel to enhance gameplay - instead we have a direct result of "in-paper" mechanics that can be thought out of by a 6 year old.

No doubt I agree with the franchise's traditional roots on cinematic values and stories which define it's games justifies good points of the review but to dismiss the poorly implemented features will only inspire devs to look in that direction.

On a side note: If people are apathetic to such issues then it's obvious the VITA should've eliminated the touch features to lower costs but would be susceptible to cannibalism by it's higher contemporaries such as the 360/PS3 because it makes NO DISTINCTION other than a device that gives portable experiences of the home console.

[MasterCornholio]

Great score and

DUAL STICKS FOR THE WIN

Yep they do rock and all handhelds should come with them. Many PSP games were horrid due to the lack of a second stick.