Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
I have finished this game a long time ago, but I just forgot to write a review about it. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune or I will just simply call it as Uncharted 1 is an action adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and this game is exclusively on PS3 only. This game features a third-person perspective. The main protagonist of the game is Nathan Drake, supposed descendant of the famous explorer Francis Drake. Throughout the whole game, you will be playing as Nathan, seeking the lost treasure of El Dorado, together with the journalist Elena Fisher and your mentor Victor 'Sally' Sullivan.
Basic Close Combo
A third-person perspective game, so you can imagine that you will be able to use Nathan to jump, swim, move along ledges, grab, climb and swing from ropes and many other actions to travel across the ruins in the various areas of the island that you explores. You can use melee and combo attacks at close range or can opt to use weapons to take out your enemies. Combo attacks are activated through specific sequences of button presses and if you time correctly, you will be dealing much greater damage to them. The most damaging of these is called the brutal combo, which forces your enemies to drop twice the ammunition they would normally drop.
Shooting
You can only carry 1 pistol and 1 rifle at a time and there is a limit to the amount of ammunition per gun. However, you can always switch your weapons to other weapons by picking them up throughout the game. Grenades at available too and you can adjust the height of the aiming arc by tilting the controller up or down. Don't worry, you don't have the actual on-screen health bar, but it doesn't mean that you won't die at all. Instead, when you are taking damage, the screen begins to lose color and if this goes on for a specific amount of time, you will eventually die. So, it is essential to take cover or a short rest once a while so that your health bar can return to normal again.
Riding a vehicle
You will be riding vehicle at certain points of the game. For instance, you will need to protect the jeep by using the mounted turret and you will ride a jet ski along water-filled routes while avoiding enemy fire and explosive barrels. While driving jet ski, you will switch to Elena by aiming the gun in order to use her weapon in defense or to clear the barrels from their path.
This game also features reward points, which can be gained by collecting 60 hidden treasures in the game or by achieving certain accomplishments. For example, achieving a number of kills required by using a specific weapon, using some specific methods to kill the enemies or performing a number of headshots, etc. In your next playthroughs of the game, you can choose to use these rewards to unlock special abilities, such as unlimited ammunition or other in-game bonuses.
This game also features reward points, which can be gained by collecting 60 hidden treasures in the game or by achieving certain accomplishments. For example, achieving a number of kills required by using a specific weapon, using some specific methods to kill the enemies or performing a number of headshots, etc. In your next playthroughs of the game, you can choose to use these rewards to unlock special abilities, such as unlimited ammunition or other in-game bonuses.
El Dorado
The story involves Nate and his friends tracking the foot steps of his famed ancestor in an attempt to find the legendary treasure of El Dorado. Unfortunately for Nate and his motley crew, rivals of both Nate and Sully find out about the plan to locate the treasure of El Dorado and decide to beat the heroes to it. If 1980s action flicks have taught us anything, it is that treasure seeking bad guys are always pricks and have an unrealistically vast amount of gun tootin’ henchmen working for them. Drake’s Fortune does not stray from this as primary antagonist Gabriel Roman employs a huge army of pirates to deter Nate and company from reaching the treasure of El Dorado.
Fine Graphics
Drake’s Fortune is probably still one of the very best looking games on the PS3. While the game does show a bit of age in some areas, it is still very pretty to look at and is certainly more pleasing to the eye than even many games released this year. The weakest point of Uncharted’s presentation is probably in the character models themselves. Facial animations look a little unnatural at times, and there are very obvious clipping issues with hair. Elena’s blonde hairdo in particular is prone to clipping quite a bit, and it’s painfully obvious whenever you see the back of her head in a cutscene. I’m also a little displeased at exploding objects in Drake’s Fortune. At one point in the game players must navigate a jet ski up a raging river that is, for some unknown reason, littered with exploding barrels. Ignoring how odd it is that there is a never-ending stream of these barrels floating down the river, when you shoot one of these barrels to make them explode, the barrel will simply vanish and be replaced by an explosion. Aside from these minor issues, the graphics are still very good for the most part. Jungle areas in particular are incredibly detailed and beautiful to look at.
Close combat
The gameplay can be divided up into three categories: gun fights, platforming, and puzzle solving. Since this is a third person game, the gun fights are a little tougher to get used to than they are in first person shooters and the aiming can be horrifically difficult to get used to. Making Nate point and aim his gun can be a slow process. Aiming Nate’s gun is a pretty slow process as he moves his arms around at a snail’s pace, if you are the kind of player who blindly charges into battle, you’re going to die because of this. Due to the aiming being fairly slow, pretty much all of your firing will be done behind cover. Pressing the circle button will make Nate leap behind any piece of cover nearby, protecting him from the endless onslaught of ammo being flung his way by Eddy’s pirate goons. The key is to find cover, wait for the pirates to stop firing, and then pop your head out and get off a few good shots.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
The puzzles of Drake’s Fortune are pretty straight forward and usually just involve flicking switches. The most advanced puzzle is one around the middle of the game when you have to point four statues in different directions to open a hidden passageway. Another puzzle indicates that you have to make two large church bells ring simultaneously to proceed. Well, that would be pretty hard in any other game, but in Drake’s Fortune Nate has guns. Yeah I just ruined the bell puzzle, but even a five year old would be able to figure that one out in approximately five seconds. Drake’s Fortune has very basic puzzles that will rarely, if ever, make you stop and wonder how you are supposed to even proceed. This isn’t all that bad since it keeps up with the steady pace of the rest of the game. It goes hand in hand with the quick platforming sequences, though the overly long gun fights usually bring the steady pace to a screeching halt for a few minutes. Overall, the game is great, and it definitely deserves at least an eight from me.