More than just Dude Raider
It wasn’t until 2008 when I finally bought my first PlayStation 3. I got a pre-owned 60 GB version from a UK chain of video game shops called Gamestation. Their bundle allowed you to pick three pre-owned games up to a certain value. I picked Metal Gear Solid 4, Kane & Lynch and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. I was immediately hooked with the first Uncharted game. It was very much a next-generation title with its gorgeous graphics, cinematic storytelling and all round polish. The Uncharted trilogy was a titan of the PlayStation 3 era, selling around 20 million copies over the three mainline titles and being PlayStation 3 exclusives probably added a lot to the console’s eventual success. Uncharted’s legacy continues today with another two games on the PlayStation 4 and even a spin-off movie.
It’s almost hard to believe that Uncharted was created from the same developers as Crash Bandicoot. Naughty Dog was founded in 1984 and produced a handful of titles for home computers and other earlier systems but really rose to recognition with the first Crash Bandicoot title for the PlayStation. They rounded off their PlayStation era development with another two Crash Bandicoot titles as well as Crash Team Racing which was also well received. When it came time to develop for the next generation, the PlayStation 2, they decided to depart ways with Universal, leaving Crash behind, and opted for a new IP of their own, Jak & Daxter. Yet again they managed another trilogy of mainline Jak & Daxter games followed by a Jak & Daxter racing game. If it ain’t broke - don’t fix it, I guess. Replaying some of the Jak & Daxter games today you can more clearly see an evolution in platforming from Crash to Jak to Uncharted.
Now there were some prototype images of what Jak & Daxter might look like on the PlayStation 3 but I believed it was decided the high fidelity of the anthropomorphic animals just didn’t look right so when the next generation console came around it was time for another new franchise - Uncharted. Naughty Dog managed another trilogy of games on another console but they did not decide to make a spin-off racing game which I think is a real tragedy.
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune
Released in 2007 came the first entry in the series. It blew away audiences with its high quality motion-capture and voice acting which led to excellent cinematic story telling. The characters are extremely likable, the dialogue is genuinely funny and the locations and environments used excite the imagination. Nathan Drake, the lead character, is a treasure hunter who claims he is an ancestor of the well-known explorer Sir Francis Drake. The story is a typical treasure hunt type of affair filled with lots of double bluffs and back stabbings and of course a villain and his army of men who are on the hunt for the same treasure..
The gameplay is broken into three main sections. Platforming, Shooting and Puzzle-Solving. The platforming is very typical of the modern standard. Jumping by and large is quite magnetic and Drake will jump to the nearest grabbable object. Ledges and poles are well signposted and usually painted yellow or some other bright color which has gone on to spawn memes in the video game world. However, whilst it embraces the modern philosophy of platforming in a 3D world it is not as well polished and there are a few areas where you don’t jump where you intended leading Drake to jump to his death in an initially hilarious moment.
The shooting section is again very typical of its era, it’s the snap in cover like Gears of War. It’s very noticeable when you walk into a large area and see lots of little waist high walls and you just trigger the point at which the enemies all spawn in the distance. The shooting part is probably the weakest from a modern perspective. It’s fine, it still works, but it’s a bit basic and frustrating at times, especially on hard difficulty. One area the game is very good at is not letting you find one good place where you can camp and take out enemies. They keep you suppressed and in cover while other enemies move around to flank you and if all else fails you will find a grenade lands next to you forcing you to move out of cover for a moment.
The problem-solving is lightly sprinkled in. You can’t be raiding tombs without solving a few basic puzzles along the way like lining up mirrors or moving statues. This part has always felt a bit weak for me. I felt like the puzzles were never puzzles as such, the solutions are in your handbook, it’s more of an excuse for a cool-down between battles and more platforming. I don’t think the developers intended them to be genuine puzzles so this is a design choice, but I would have liked to do a bit more thinking. All three mechanics work together giving you brief respite from the other.
Upon replaying it today some of the cracks as mentioned above are noticeable, and overall the game is weaker than its sequels but that absolutely does not detract from what is a well polished, highly exciting game.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
This was the game. One of the most exciting and highly anticipated sequels of its day. The first Uncharted was a fantastic game, but like most games, when you are introducing a new IP, with a new engine on a new console, there is always room for improvement. Uncharted 2’s graphics are better, the environments are bigger and the things that make set pieces that made Uncharted unique are ramped up to 11. In the behind the scenes video the developers talk about how they now had time to make more use of the Cell processor and were able to take the number of on screen objects from 150 in Uncharted to 500.
The opening of the game is iconic. Drake awakens on a train covered in blood hanging over the edge of a cliff and you have to platform your way up and out of it. Every other move you make results in some change in the environment. A rock falls, the train falls more, a railing snaps off and changes your intended path. It is fantastic at creating tension and getting you set up for the game. I would argue that to this day, this is still one of the best openings in a video game.
Uncharted 2 is the highest rated of the PlayStation 3 trilogy on metacritic (A game rating aggregation site). With the first game sitting at a surprisingly low 88, Uncharted 2 at an incredible 96 and Uncharted 3 at 92, at the time of writing.
One thing I realized whilst playing Uncharted 2 was just how colorful it was. The PlayStation 3 has this reputation for only being able to produce green and brown sludge colored games but in the Uncharted games the colors pop and the worlds feel lush and real.
By the time Uncharted 2 came along, multiplayer modes were almost mandatory in every type of game and this one would be no different. It was quite a successful multiplayer game at the time, its modes were simple but the cover based mechanics along with platforming made for some entertaining multiplayer. Sadly though as is typical from this era, multiplayer modes come with multiplayer trophies and the servers have shut down. So a platinum trophy is no longer possible for this or Uncharted 3.
As well as the opening train sequence I have to point out the fantastic mid-game train sequence (Which is also the same train - it’s complicated). Lots of games feature a level taking place on a moving train. I think this one from Uncharted 2 is still one of the best. The train itself moves through jungle, across a lake, over bridges and finally into a snowy mountain. The game is still incredibly clever in the way it masks these transitions. It is still an absolute gem of a sequence. You are sometimes going through the carriage, then on top of the carriage, on cargo carriages, shooting helicopters, just utterly brilliant.
The platforming is a definite improvement on the first but still has challenges. I am in two minds about it. It certainly can be frustrating when you think you know where Drake needs to go and you jump and it doesn’t go where you want and you die (It’s still funny for a bit). But if the platforming was perfect and you always knew where to go then there would be no challenge at all. So in a weird way it kind of works because it keeps you engaged.
Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception
Uncharted 3 released in 2011, a mere two years after Uncharted 2 which is incredible to think about by today’s standards, the game would again build on what came before it with even more elaborate and over the top action set pieces. Some of the basic mechanics have been fleshed out with better stealth and melee options and the game would also make use of the 3D function that the PlayStation 3 provided, but sadly I do not have the means to try that out.
The opening chapter of the game has you play as a young Nathan Drake and explores the relationship with Sully and how the two met and got involved with each other. The story is a big improvement on the first two titles and they take more time to explore characters and introduce new ones.
Uncharted 2 took a noticeable departure from the puzzle solving from Uncharted 1, but they are back in a bigger way in Uncharted 3 and I think they are fun and provide another element of gameplay.
Uncharted 3 embraces its Indiana Jones inspiration and fulfills. Most of the game takes place in the middle-east, introducing new colors and terrain we have not yet seen and in the later part of the game there is even a fantastic chase with Drake riding a horse and shooting at people in a convoy of vehicles. The other really notable set piece for me was a shoot out in a mansion which eventually sets on fire. The physics and graphics of the fire are clearly something they were proud of as it features quite heavily in the game. The other set piece is of course the fight on the cargo plane which is another over-the-top James Bond style piece.
Uncharted’s Legacy
One thing about Uncharted which has always made me laugh internally is the realism that the game is going for juxtaposed with the amount of killing. Drake and his friends gun down literally thousands of people and whilst we can consider them bad guys, there’s this entertaining dissonance with the way he is portrayed in the cutscenes.
I think after Uncharted 3 a break was clearly needed. Naughty Dog had succeeded in three outstanding titles and raised the bar on the PlayStation 3’s performance each time. These games are short but for me that is what makes them so replayable. They are unbelievably action packed with not a wasted moment. Uncharted 2 was the most fun to replay. I replayed the whole game on Hard (I only have two trophies left - beating the game on Hard and then on Crushing difficulty) and it took about 6 hours. It’s a series you can come back to time and time again and just enjoy one of the best games to come out of the seventh generation.