Naughty Dog, famous for the Crash Bandicoot series, have put themselves on the map in 2007 with their début of the Uncharted franchise with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. In the beginning, cynics were confident this was just Tomb Raider with a male lead character, but Naughty Dog had proved them wrong. Two years later, they released the sequel, Among Thieves, breaking the mold of what we know as action/adventure gaming. Now, in 2011 we have Uncharted: Drake's Deception, which adds to the collection of the action/adventure genre of gaming.
Uncharted: Drake's Deception takes us back to the roots of the original title, where Nathan Drake is further investigating his alleged ancestor, Sir Francis Drake, and delving deeper into the story of the necklace ring that Nathan wears. Drake's Deception goes into a personal vendetta when a woman of his past, Katherine Marlowe, is revealed trying to pry the ring from Drake's possession and find the secrets of Sir Francis.
The game opens with a rather impressive fight scene in a London bar with Nathan and Victor "Sully" Sullivan making a deal with a man named Talbot to accept payment for the ring of Sir Francis, but the deal goes awry when Sully discovers the money to be counterfeit. We travel with Drake and Sully along with friends Chloe and Elena from London to Columbia, from France to Yemen, and from Syria to the Rub' al Khali desert in a quest to learn the truth behind Sir Francis' expedition.
I found Drake's Deception to be a top notch action/adventure game with a compelling storyline, deep characters, delicious gameplay, and a musical score that was a treat to listen to. It was overall enjoyable and stuck to the roots of the previous games that made the franchise so successful. I was glad to see that online multiplayer and co-op made a return, for they added to the replay value and overall enjoyment of the title.
Drake's Deception took a step up when it came to the melee combat. You're able to not only get into realistic brawls with your enemies, but you're able to dodge and counter-attack and use the environment to your advantage. Getting into a brawl with the men at the London pub made for a good preview of what's to come later in the game. Pressing the square button repeatedly will allow you to throw a few punches to your foe, but keep in mind, with realistic AI, he will dodge your attacks here and there, and attempt to counter and grab you. Hitting him a few good times will stagger him, and if in the proper spot, you can grab a nearby object and hit him with it by using square again. As well as grabbing and throwing enemies as well. Even though this brawl is foreshadowing of what's to come, Uncharted, like most games of its genre are heavy on repetition.
Speaking of repetition, as one would generally expect, in Drake's Deception, you will undoubtedly be having gunfights left and right with two or three waves of enemies. These fights can prove challenging even on the normal difficulty setting. You're required to keep moving and rely on situational awareness. So while you're trying to take out the man with an RPG, keep in mind the brute in heavy armour with a shotgun that recently disappeared from view; chances are, he's probably going to flank you. While it gets increasingly annoying and tedious, at times, the gunfights can be quite enjoyable, if you've brought the right fork to the table.
I have to admit though, being just a casual gamer and a mild fan of the series, I was able to pick up on a few flaws that I'm sure the most avid Uncharted fan would have looked past. That includes the repetition, some slow loading textures, and the fact that the game is pretty much all over the place in terms of locations. You'll have one mission here, two missions there, one mission here, four missions there. It seemed to me like Naughty Dog was trying to cover a wider range of exotic locations, but only giving us a taste of each. Furthermore, when it comes to action and cinematic sequences, it came across like we were being shown the cool moments, and not getting the opportunity to experience them. I found that to be a tragic flaw in the gaming, and would have garnered a better review score in my eyes had it been different.
In the end, Drake's Deception is just a good game. It's not spectacular, it's not mind blowing, and it's not epic like we were lead to believe. It lacked some sort of oomph and pizazz that Among Thieves overflowed with. So while I did enjoy the third instalment to the franchise, I'll let it collect some dust while I play some more of Drake's Fortune and it's sequel.
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?
Couldn't agree more!
8.5 for graphics and sound? Seriously are you reviewing this with PC graphics in mind or something? Naughty Dog has some of the best audio, only done better by DICE. The music is brilliant and the graphics for a console game are phenomenal. Graphics is easily 9.6-10 and sound should be at least 9. Even Drake's Fortune deserves a 8.5 for graphics. I agree with the story, it has lots of plotholes, unexplained things which should have been explained. I'm not hating on your review btw, but seemed awkward to me. What Naughty Dog did PERFECTLY in Among Thieves is adding multiplayer while the mainfocus was still the SP/story. The MP was just extra, in this game it's like the focus was on MP a lot more which is why the SP suffered.
SPOILERS
It could have been so great and the best part for me wasn't even part of the story aka ship part (rescuing Sully which isn't even there). It's still an amazing game, but this brilliant thing called Among Thieves was there and it was hard to surpass. At the end of the game I was like: Again? I already saw a lost city... damn it!