Nathan Drake is no ordinary man. At least, by the end of Uncharted 3, the amount of thrills experienced in this "game", which is more like a cinematic experience, is nothing short of inhuman. The characters, most notably Nate's mentor Sully, are believable and add to the atmosphere. As part of the minority who thought that Uncharted 2 was a tad overrated, Uncharted 3 improves on its predecessor hugely, with a revamped melee and stealth system that actually works, the game looks and feels better than either of the ones coming before it. The sound is beautiful, as are the graphics which take the PS3's crown for best visuals. Aside from the letdown on an underwhelming final boss, the whole adventure is incredibly satisfying.
Throughout the single-player campaign, the Uncharted series trademark over-the-top set pieces remain as spectacular as before. Players will jump from one exotic locale to the next, with a story that combines them sensibly. With level design that makes the next area a treat to explore, and with no loading times during the campaign, it is a treat to fully be immersed in the role of an explorer.
The game plays very well. With fixed issues about aiming, the shooting feels fast, fluid, and frantic. Hand-to-hand, although much improved over the last game, still leaves a bit to be desired, and can prove tiresome at times. Stealth, which was practically broken in Uncharted 2, is a viable option now. Nothing beats silently eliminating a small-army of thugs by sneaking up and snapping their necks. The platforming, linear as ever, does still have its fair share of thrills and has a pleasure that isn't experienced in many dedicated platforming games. Puzzles are back, and although the game does feed you the answers at times, they are simple enough that you would have figured them out on your own anyways.
In the sound department, the voice-casting for all of the characters, bar none, is spot-on. Each actor breathes life in their character with the help of an excellent script. With a mix of older songs and new themes, the music in Uncharted 3 is on the top of the industry.
Storywise, the game is stronger than ever before. It maintains its spectacular pacing even as it flawlessly connects outrageous set-piece to outrageous set-piece, and it is easy to get the emotions of the characters mixed up with your own. When Drake feels angry, so do you. Again, like the previous games, the story is broken up into chapters, which allow there to be a feeling of success every time one is completed. Everyone may have their own favorite chapter in the game, as they are all excellently directed. Sadly, there is a bit of a let down with the final boss in the game, which leaves the campaign off on an awkward note, but it doesn't change the fact that Uncharted 3's singleplayer campaign is a breathless, fast, and dynamic tour-de-force.
Co-op is fun, but cannot match the quality of the singleplayer. It sometimes relies a little too much on constantly respawning the same enemies, which succeed in adding to the frustration of the player rather than the difficulty level. Still, taking down baddies in co-op still has its charms, and is definatly worth a try with a friend.
Online Multiplayer is great, and requires serious skill to succeed in. It is lag-free and smooth, and the level of customization is fun and exciting when you see the cash roll in from your successes. It isn't the best online to ever grace a system, but it does its job well.
The medal system returns, which gives bonuses to all manner of actions in Co-op and Competive Multiplayer, and keeps things fresh.
Uncharted, which originally started off as simply a "Tomb Raider clone", has become a mammoth in the industry, catapulting developers Naughty Dog into the forefront of the industry. The third in the series will be familiar to veterans, but that is not a bad thing at all.
All in all, Drake's latest outing is arguably his best. It builds on the strengths of the previous title, and is carried by its great cast. This adventure is not one you want to pass up.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception has a lot to live up to as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is an incredible and near-perfect game.
I cant even say what the point was its easily the worst story in the series. The online was a whole lot of fun though but overall doesn't come even close to 2
It was a step back for sure. Personally, I thought even the MP was way better in U2. Solid game, glad I played it. I just think they didn't push as hard as they did with U2.
The "young Drake" portion was pretty top notch, story-wise. But yeah, everything outside of that I felt was inferior.
Villains were all over the place in this… one second they wanted Drake dead, the next they needed him, then they want him dead again, then they coulda killed him, but poisoned his friend instead, then coulda shot him again, but had brunch with him, then needed him alive, then coulda mowed him down, but decided to kill him by fire and let him escape… Uncharted 2 was way better. 😅😅
=D Sounds crazy. I don't remember any of that. Played it on ps3 and I remember thinking that why was this game so bashed compared to second one. I liked it.
Another thing that annoyed me about UC3 events was the agent Talbot teleporting around Turkey. It just felt off to me, and made no sense.
Also, for about one third of the game, you go on a wild goose chase to rescue Sully, who wasn't even there to be rescued, and you end up back where you started again. There was simply no pay off for all the events you go through, so it fell flat in that regard as if they couldn't figure out how to make the game longer, so they decided to side-track you to do something with no pay off, hoping you wouldn't notice due to all the incredible action set pieces they made.
Overall though, even with its flaws, I still enjoy the game.
This was actually my least favorite in the series. Didn't have that same impact that part 2 set.
Uncharted 2 is the pinnacle of the series (to me).
Granted, 4 had the best story in my opinion, but 2 was the overall best game.
A decade after its release, how does Uncharted 3 fare today? Does its story still work? Was its precursor’s legacy a bedrock or quicksand for its own aspirations?
Replies(2)When arguably the weakest game in the series is still awesome and more fun than most games today, you know you're onto a winner!
I'd extend "arguably" before awesome too. Many technically demanding scenes were jaw-dropping for the time, but it's tough to ignore the sub-par context propelling the action forward.
Tough for you, perhaps, and that's fine. I enjoyed it very much. Perhaps a little less than the others in the series, but then the bar is extremely high.
I remember being blown away by the water and sand tech in U3 for the time too. It certainly was a visual treat!
It is very good, but when I originally played Uncharted 3 it was the most disappointed I'd ever been in a video-game because Uncharted 2 was just that good. I enjoyed 3 much more when I replayed it in the Nathan Drake Collection though. I could just enjoy it for what it is and accept that it's not Uncharted 2 - it's not a roller coaster, and it doesn't balance and rotate between action, puzzles, platforming and set-pieces in the same way.
Uncharted 3's gameplay is a bit more compartmentalized and focused on one thing at a time. I'm not surprised the scrapped version of Uncharted 4 was going to have no gunplay for the first half. It's also paced much differently - it takes a long time to get to the notable set-pieces. Uncharted 2 is insane from Nepal onwards which is about an hour into the game. haha.
I did like the introduction of chase sequences, and I love first hour (bar fight, young Drake) and from the airplane sequence onwards but I just think the rest of it just sort of meanders along without as much purpose as 2.
When it comes to the script, you can feel the absence of Neil Druckmann and Josh Scherr (writer on every other console Uncharted game). Drake gets hit in the face, and the game goes on a random side plot for an hour to give you some boat set-pieces. He then washes up on a beach close to where Elena is staying to get you back to the real plot. Drake just says "How convenient" to try make you laugh off how sloppy the plot got.
In retrospect, I'm not sure if Naughty Dog were ready to work on 2 different games at once. 3 clearly had production issues that 1 and 2 didn't have, and Hennig's version of 4 didn't work out. They had to crunch so hard to get the rebooted version done on time that Bruce Straley gave up making video-games.
I'll give you some props for the extra analysis. I remember Druckmann climbing his way to a writer spot in UC2, but wasn't aware of Josh Scherr. I didn't know that was the reason for Straley's departure either. That's pretty damn rough.
They had to make some weird choices as far as story went because the actor for Cutter had to bail which left a few holes in the story.
Uncharted is one of my favourite series and while the leap from 2 to 3 was not nearly as big as the leap from 1 to 2, I think it was an amazing experience none the less.
Graham McTavish's departure wasn't easy, but I don't think that would fix many holes tbh. Because the main issue to consider is the precarious mindset Naughty Dog was operating on: an increased emphasis in set pieces that HAD to go in and worrying about the context later.
I really liked part 3 ( Among Thieves is still the best in my opinion) My only complaint was the interactions with the villains and how they were a missed opportunity, Linda MacMahon (Marlowe) was an interesting antagonist due to the history with Sully and Nate but it fails basically flat especially with her ending. And I couldn't care about Navaro 2.0.
What I did love and made me care was Cutter, in the short time he was in the game you could feel that the guy was a good treasure hunter for example when he pulled his own notebook with the clues he founds so the team can escape a room.
It was a small touch that add a lot to the character.
I have mixed feelings on the series. I still own all of them on the PS3, and the collection for PS4, but I didn't truly "love" any of the games until 4.
They're good games, but they always stumble on some element.
The first is good, but the climbing mechanics weren't exactly fine tuned with the first showing. Not to mention the spongey enemies if you played on anything past normal; but you're then faced with a fairly unchallenging game experience.
The second mostly fixed the climbing, but added in a pretty clumsy stealth mechanic.
Three was just two with a new story.
Four got it right though.
I don't remember once getting annoyed by any mechanic had in the game.
I know that everyone has a soft spot for 2, and 3 is sort of the black sheep of the series; but they did, overall, get progressively better. Which doesn't always happen.
KeenGamer: "Which Uncharted game is the best? Uncharted is widely recognized as one of the most groundbreaking and consistently great franchises in gaming. For both long-time fans and newcomers to this action-adventure classic, here’s a ranking of the franchise’s four main games."
No Golden Abyss -_-, otherwise I agree with the order.
UC2: Best overall
UC4: Best graphics, best gameplay, best locations, best environements
UC3: Best set pieces IMO (the boat and desert fights will always be amazing)
UC1: A rough Draft of what was to come
UCGA: Basically UC1 on Vita
Great list and great article nicely writen and explained. Although for me personaly i would put Drakes Fortune above Drake’s Deception and Uncharted 4 is absolutely my favourite of the franchise and number 1 for me.
U2 is the only game playable on crushing without causing a great amount of frustration. Not to mention just how much influence it had that they redid some of U2s set pieces like the caravan twice, and armored truck chase in U4.
I'd rate it as the following.
1.) Uncharted 2
(Close to perfection of any game I've played in years. Single Player/Multiplayer/Co Op all amazing.)
2.) Uncharted 3
(On par with UC2 multiplayer/co op wise minus the kickbacks [aka killstreaks]. I really liked the Lawrence of Arabia story.)
3.) Uncharted 4
(Single player is amazing. Multiplayer was meh. Co Op had potential. Absolutely hated the health revive system it slowed down the game way too much. Always preferred the fast pace action of UC2/UC3. Made it way more fun that way. Recoil was too ridiculous that most people in lobbies would only do hip firing, using power weapons and using that OP grappling hook to melee people after dropping them. Nobody wanted to revive anyone.)
4.) Uncharted
(It's the first in the series so it's hard to judge. Though I loved the story.)
I agree here but it’s also a series you can play from front to back and truly enjoy. Story-wise, they are all great and flow so well. I wish they threw both Golden Abyss and Lost Legacy on this list. Lost Legacy is the best mechanically in my opinion. You can see it’s stepping stone framework for TLOUS2.
uncharted 2 is one of the few games that actually surpassed its pre-release hype.
I am a single player gamer...I barely ever touch a multiplayer component. The only exceptions over the years have been the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, TLOU factions, and the Uncharted 2 multiplayer. The Uncharted 2 multiplayer saw me spend more time playing it than all my other multiplayer experiences over the years combined. That game really was a masterpiece all around.
I agree completely, those are all stellar MP experiences, coming from another SP gamer who only occasionally gives MP some time.
Come to think of it, the step between Uncharted 1 and Uncharted 2 is huge. It goes from the weakest in the series to one of the best games ever made.
I think I'm going to play all of them again soon.
is multiplayer still up for the remastered trilogy? or did it never have UC2 mp?
"Sadly, there is a bit of a let down with the final boss in the game, which leaves the campaign off on an awkward note"
Completely agree I loved the whole game but when I got to the end and seen the game was over I was like "wtf u serious where's the epic last boss fight"...still though it's a great over-all experience and it was nice getting to see a little bit into how Drake became who he is.
It was stupid.
Btw does anyone else think the gunplay is off? I don't know what it is, but it didn't feel right to me.
I wouldn't even call it a last boss. I haven't played a game with good bosses since the PS2.
Correct about the boss. Each level in this game is ridiculously intense...this is one of my favorite games ever. I can play the water/boat levels over and over. Amazing
"Graphics
The best on the PS3"
so best graphics on console..(and best graphics on all platforms for a 3rd person adventure game)