Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Review: Single player – PlayStation 3 - Part 1
Exotic locations, Hollywood production values, versatility when it comes to gameplay, puzzle solving and adrenaline pumping moments are what come to mind when one thinks of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series.
Having raised the bar in the video game industry for visuals, storytelling and all-round gameplay, with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the level of expectation surrounding the third instalment in the series was incredulously high the moment Drake’s Deception
was announced.
The developers, Naughty Dog, did go on record and forewarn everyone that they would not see the same level of graphical leap between the second and third game as compared to the first and second. Claiming that they were nearing the limit of what the PlayStation
3 was capable of, they had only refined the engine and gameplay which had absorbed so many gamers.
Uncharted’s main strength had always been its single-player and although the multiplayer component in Uncharted 2 did catch on, it was not as absorbing as some of the more hardcore multiplayer savvy titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Killzone
and the Battlefield: Bad Company series.
So, it is with the single player that we will begin our review, now that the dust from all the hype has settled and that we here at Bettor.com have given the game a thorough going through. Starting things off with the first thing people notice when they
run the game on their console and no, we are not talking about the Menu. What we are talking about is the graphics.
Naughty Dog gave fair warning and in truth the graphics seem a polished version of those in its predecessor. That moment in the second game when one manages to climb on to the roof of the hotel in Tibet was truly breathtaking and while Drake’s Deception
has plenty of moments similar to that, they just do not seem to add up to the same level.
Without giving too many spoilers away, there is one scene near the end of the game in the middle of the desert which comes close to matching it, yet at the same time, be it either from unrealistic expectations or from wanting more, it did not have me completely.
Some might slate us for comparing the game too much to Uncharted 2, yet, that is the benchmark for the series and one has to see how far along the game has come since then.
Another thing that was lacking in the third game was the huge scale that Among Thieves brought with it. Climbing the giant dagger in the hidden temple in order to open a secret passageway made the gamer feel small in an enormous cavern and leaping from chandelier
to chandelier in an underground cave surrounded by snow and ice had everyone’s jaws on the floor.
Uncharted 3 tried to recreate that but fell short. Yes, the scene where one is climbing on the wreck of a ship is impressive and the cruise ship level in the game is better than anything any of the other games had to offer, yet apart from that there just
were not as many breathtaking moments as in the second game.
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy at Bettor.com
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