Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011)

I just finished Uncharted 3 and I have to say that it was great. I think I enjoyed 2 a bit more but this was a lot of fun. Gun play is good, characters, and story were solid. It has less supernatural themes than the first two games so it subsidizes with spiders and drug trips. Oh and the fight environments were really interesting if a bit grueling at times.

But seriously if you want an action movie with some puzzles and climbing/parkour elements it's a great time and I really liked how much it went in depth with Nathan Drake's character as well as others like Sully.

Again if you want a fun to the point action movie of a game I'd definitely recommend giving it a go.

TL;DR - A sequel that could have used more time in the oven. Many narrative elements seem undercooked, and there was an entire portion of the game that felt like filler. The campaign was noticeably a step-down from Uncharted 2. But nevertheless, Uncharted 3 features some of my favorite set-pieces in the series, great character development, Charlie Cutter, and a much-improved multiplayer experience.

ACTION-ADVENTURE - Nathan Drake embarks on a thrilling quest to find the legendary city of Ubar, in order to stop Marlowe's sinister plans.

PROS:

++ Great character development. Besides 4, Uncharted 3 has easily the best character development for Drake, Sully, and Elena. I really loved that they further explored the father-son relationship of Drake and Sully, and it was neat to see their origin story of how they met. You can truly see how much they cared for one another through their interactions. The first time I saw Sully's "death", I think I got a heart attack! Their father-son relationship is just so sweet. I also loved how the other characters questioned Drake's ambition to prove himself. Chloe, Sully, and Elena all questioned him if this was all worth risking his life for, and this all gave a more human element to the story. But lastly, this game contains one of my favorite couples in gaming. I absolutely adored the subtle developments of Elena and Drake's relationship, and it just made giggle like a kid when they joined together in the end.

++ Improved gunplay. It still doesn't feel great, but in terms of audio design, the guns sound stronger and have more oomph when fired. Also, it was more consistent to get headshots since the reticle was improved upon and made more precise. There was also a more diverse selection of guns compared to past games.

++ Stellar set-pieces. There are some unforgettable set-pieces in this game that I absolutely loved. Escaping the burning chateau, the gunfight in the cargo plane, escaping the sinking cruise ship, escaping the crumbling city of Ubar, racing to rescue Sully on horseback, the somber and lonely walk through the desert, and even the rooftop sequence in which kid Drake is being chased by Marlowe's men. These are some of the best that the series has to offer.

++ Charlie Cutter. I LOVE CHARLIE CUTTER! He is a character that has brawns and brains. His humour is excellent and his dynamic with Chloe, Drake, and Sully was just perfect. But alas, he was casted in The Hobbit, and he had to take an early exit in Uncharted 3's story. What a shame. I've told people this but I would buy a spinoff game that features just Charlie, Chole and Sully. I really think he would be more than capable of being the lead man.

++ Beautiful visuals. Not too much to say here since we all know how beautiful the series looks. But a standout was the desert. I think it looked stellar and was definitely the visual highlight of the game.

++ Fleshed-out multiplayer. The multiplayer made a return and it was fully developed this time around. It wasn't just an add-on, but a fleshed-out experience. I sank hundreds of hours into it, and at one point, I was one of the best in the world being ranked in the top 100 players. It was an unforgettable experience, and to this day, I stand on the fact that Uncharted's multiplayer is still one of the most overlooked multiplayer experiences in gaming. The vertically-designed levels make for top-notch and skill-based combat.

++ Better puzzles. There were more intricate puzzles this time around. They weren't difficult at all, but they did make me feel smart which is all I really want from puzzles.

++ Personal impact. One of Sully's final quote was "We don't get to choose how we start in this life. Real greatness is what you do with the hand you're dealt." I remember hearing that quote for the first time as a teen and it just hit home. Even this time around, that quote still resonated with me. Not only was that a beautiful interaction between Sully and Nate, but it was also a quote that has personally impacted me.

CONS:

-- Chapters 12-15. This whole section of the game felt unnecessary and it ultimately felt like filler. It was just way longer than it should have been. And it featured the most forgettable and most random villain in Rameses. The only saving grace was the final set-piece in the ship, and also that it was fun to fight while diving in and out of water.

-- Anticlimactic conclusion. Ubar itself looked gorgeous, but man was the final act so anticlimactic. Marlowe and Talbot was so easily stopped, and although the escape sequence was great, the final boss "fight" was not. Part of the problem was also the fact that there were so many questions left unanswered. For example, why did it seem like Talbot had powers? This was never addressed and it was kind of disappointing.

-- Undercooked antagonists. Rameses is forgettable through and through, so forget about him. But Marlowe and Talbot had the potential to be great antagonists, but ND failed to maximize their presence. They were cunning and utilized fear and deception well. If they had just received a healthier dose of development and uniqueness, I actually think they would have been a great villain duo.

-- Rough game development. This is something that I only found out after replaying the game. Apparently, this game was made in less than ideal circumstances. The voice actor for Charlie Cutter was casted for The Hobbit so they had to essentially re-write the second half of the game since he was originally supposed to be a more integral character. And also, many of their staff was moved to the team that was developing TLOU which is why the general experience felt incomplete. I could only imagine what the original vision of U3 was.

-- Djinn/Drugged sections. I loved the Zombie Spaniards of 1. And I liked the Guardians of 2, even though they' were bullet sponges. But the supernatural element in this game, the Djinns, were just not interesting at all. They were ridiculous to fight too, since they were bullet sponges and they can teleport and they toss stronger grenades. And in general, I didn't like the sections when Drake was drugged up since it seemed to go on longer than it should have.

-- Underdeveloped melee. There was a greater focus on melee in this entry, containing at least 5 sections in which Drake is trapped in a room filled with goons and only has his fists. It definitely is better here than in previous games, and there is satisfaction in the slo-mo finishers, but I wish it was a little more technical rather than just being a poor clone of Arkham's combat.

Going in, I had fairly high expectations. I figured this game would be pretty similar in quality to Uncharted 2. Now that I've finished it, I can see it's much closer to the original.

It did, in my opinion, match some of the vibe and atmosphere of the best of the series. When you first get into the pirate ship graveyard, the atmosphere is practically dripping, and I for one loved the walking through the desert section, as well as the beginning of the game for their narrative and mood.

The BIG flaw of this game is that the combat backtracked majorly. I would even say it's the worst combat in the series. Nothing quite as atrocious as the jet-ski section in 1, but the general fights are worse.

I played each of these games on normal difficulty, and my experience was wildly unbalanced across the first three games and even within this game. Normal felt right for most of the combat encounters and for most normal enemies, with a few exceptions.

There were give or take 5 combat encounters in the game where it is so broken. Any time you are under fire by a turret machine gun, or multiple snipers/rpgs the game gets more difficult in a good way UNTIL they throw 2 heavy armored shot-gun enemies at you. For reference (I tested this multiple times) a standard pistol takes 10 head shots to kill 1 armored shot-gun enemy. That's insane and absolutely unmanageable when you're being sniped, and have 8 other goons rushing you. The worst example of this (by far) was the big ballroom on the main pirate ship.

I genuinely don't understand how this made it past play testing. I went back in briefly on the highest difficulty to see what difference it makes and it really doesn't. Enemies take 15 headshots instead of 10, which doesn't matter much because both of those numbers are insane. As for Nate's health, he dies quicker to small fire, but that also doesn't matter because small fire is never what killed me on normal. I would always die to a point-blank shot gun that spawned behind me, or to a sniper, or to the 3rd grenade in 2 seconds (don't have time to throw back) all of which are instant kills even on normal.

In truth, the set pieces were great and they finally nailed a finale, realizing that platforming is more fun than a boss, I just wish they had fixed the combat.

I'm excited to see how uncharted 4 & lost legacy refine the systems or fail to.

This is the one that made these games finally work. The levels are just so much more creative than they've ever been before, and the momentum never stops in the whole game. It was a beautiful moment to realise that there hadn't been a single shootout in the game before getting 20% through it. Unfortunately it does continue to have some of the same issues as previous Uncharted games, it's still one of the worst games to play in shootouts and getting instantly exploded by a random RPG or slipping off an edge is such an awful and frustrating feeling. It's a shame that the combat encounters only get more frequent towards the finale, because in the first half there was a much better balance between combat and exploring/variety.

Thankfully, even with all of that in the back half it still has incredible set-pieces and level design, and finally has a final area that you don't completely hate. It's the smartest these games have ever been, with actually fun/interesting puzzles, the best character moments and acting and just an entirely fresh level to level flow.

At times when playing Uncharted 3, it felt like one of the most exciting and fun games ever made. The game's big setpieces are just that good. The game's flow is at its best when you're blasting through these huge scripted moments. Though the path is laid out before you, and you always know that you'll make it out safely, the game somehow makes those frantic moments feel improvisational with its great animations and the constant push and pull of tension.

For many reasons, though, you can't just do that for like 9 straight hours. Like Uncharted 2, this game has a pretty clean pacing of a little bit of story, a little bit of gameplay, puzzles, traversal, all balanced out so that those big moments really pop.

Sounds great, so why is this not a 5 star game?

Well, to start, despite improvements, Uncharted's excellence is still trapped inside an underwhelming third-person shooter. Guns do not feel good to use, lacking in impact, being tough to aim, barely causing enemies to flinch (if at all). The shotgun has the impact of slapping someone on the arm. Enemy variety barely exists here, and when it's time to ratchet up the difficulty, it's usually just an increase in bullet sponginess and one-hit kills. Melee combat is basically a button mashing quicktime event that feels better than I remember in prior games, but still not good.

Yes, this is a serviceable combat system in the grand scheme of things, it does not feel as overused as the first game, and by no means does it ruin the whole game. There are cool moments of making an enemy blow itself up with its own grenade, or jumping down to kick someone off a ledge, or popping off a bunch of headshots in a row. Still, combat wears out its welcome quickly, and gets worse and worse in the final chapters. I dreaded every time a cutscene ended and I saw an ammo pickup on the ground.

The puzzles are mostly good. Some are just basically, "find this symbol in this room" or something like that, which isn't great, but most are more creative than that. Traversal through environments is really the more fun part of the game, and the puzzles that require a lot of it end up being much more fun. Though climbing and swinging around is not as smooth as competing games like Assassins Creed, it still feels fine.

Story is the last notable piece of the game, and it can be a bit mixed. It has a few too many misdirections, to a point where you just can't take anything at face value anymore. The middle section gets stuck in a rut as it repetitively follows a template of "go to new country" -> "mission goes South" -> "barely escaped" -> "someone questions what Nate's really fighting for and if the danger's all worth it" -> "Nate reaffirming commitment to the mission but without really making the motives clear enough." And there are sections that don't really add much other than "this would be a cool part," but don't take this the wrong way. The story overall is entertaining and definitely worth seeing through.

It's been years since I played Uncharted 2, but this one I think was just as good if not slightly better. Its flaws do hurt it, but never outright ruin the experience. I found the game gripping for hours at a time, with multiple moments outclassing many other games' biggest moment. Highly recommended, just play on Easy...

Coming straight from Uncharted 2, I couldn't believe my eyes at the entire thing that's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.

Now, before I start, I should say I don't really expect anyone to read this. In fact, maybe don't read this at all. I just sat down after finishing the game and have lots of thoughts about what I didn't like, instead of what I did, so this review will have a mostly negative tone to it. I'm writing this mostly as a way to put my frustrations down on paper, that's all, and maybe I'll be able to pay more attention to the excellent parts of the game once some time has passed, who knows. Anyway.

I think I'll start with the gameplay, since it is a game after all. I feel like the dev team took a step back right into Uncharted 1 territory, where I have to shoot the same overpowered dudes again (what kind of an unarmored man can take six bullets to the chest and stay on his feet???) and again and again, while they seem to have perfect aim regardless if I'm standing on a sinking ship or solid ground. The gunfights were drawn out and I was bored for the last three hours because instead of the emphasis on adventure that Uncharted 2 had, the focus on combat, which isn't my personal cup of tea, at least with firearms, felt jarring and unfortunate. The beginning of the game was great, with nice balancing between adventuring and combat, but it got more and more combat heavy as it went on, to a point where I felt like the story was buried underneath all the gunshots. Trekking through a deserted ship graveyard should be fun. Running through Syria at midnight should be fun. But somehow, it just wasn't. The time that could've been spent on storytelling or character development was handed over to -you guessed it- guns. I guess my gripe isn't the combat in and of itself, but the fact that it lasted for so long. The mechanics themselves felt better, controls were smooth and Nate was fun to control. I also loved the attention to detail in his animations, such as him grabbing onto a wall whenever he went close to one. Things like that really improve the experience.

The setpieces on the other hand, were breathtaking. The nature and environment was always a treat for the eyes, and the locations were varied enough to keep me interested, always wondering what was going to come next. Massive points to the art team on this one. Even if I wasn't really enjoying myself from a game mechanical standpoint, I usually was landscape-wise. A good example would be the sinking ship, which I didn't really like too much, but seeing the huge window by the chandelier half-underwater, with great contrast between gold and blue? Fantastic. Excellent visual design.

Points also to the sound team, who seem to be doing a better and better job as the games go on. Some truly incredible tracks, and ones that I will definitely be coming back to. An incredible soundtrack to what could have been an incredible story.

And uh. The story. Wow. Mostly pretty good. I feel like the ending was rushed, though. Marlowe's death was in no way whatsoever satisfying, much more like Navarro, even though her villainship had been built up through the entire story. Compared to Lazarevic, a fight that had my blood pumping and also held my intrigue from a narrative standpoint, we didn't really even get to properly encounter Marlowe and Talbot. Sure, Nate stopped them from.. uh.. Taking over the world? Controlling it? Illuminati style? What happened to all the mentions of alchemy and occultism? I'm so disappointed. The game was building up a conspiracy theory-like plot, that just fell flat on it's face. Like climbing a hill only to find that there's just another hill behind it. I don't know. Watching the main villains just get killed off in a cutscene (although Nate did fistfight Talbot, which somehow didn't feel as satisfying as it should have) felt a bitter taste in my mouth. What I did enjoy, though, was that we got to see a bit of Nate's past. I loved seeing how he met Sully and became the sly treasure hunting man he is today. I also felt like there was a strong reason for the final act only including Nate and Sully, seeing as their relationship was the main focus of the story. I am still kind of bitter that Elena got so little screen time, despite being a very significant character in both the series and Nate's life. Chloe, too. I was having lots of fun up until the point when Nate was captured, when the game seemed to start padding itself with unnecessary combat, leaving less space for story or dialogue, which to me, is always the best part. Listening to the characters interact with each other outside of cutscenes makes them feel much more like real people with real interests and motives, instead of just sock puppets to further the plot. There was dialogue, sure, but I feel like it was mostly concerning the room I was in, or the puzzle I was supposed to be solving. Not really things that people actually talk about. I understand that the game's tone is meant to be more serious than the earlier ones, but it kind of ends up contradicting itself with over the top action scenes. Deep character moments require intimacy and quiet moments. While I love jumping out of explosions as much as anyone, I always felt like something was missing. A moment I personally enjoyed was Sully talking to young Nate in a diner. It was very down to earth and focused on them as people, which got me more invested in them and their stories. I wish there was more of that.

I think my main issue is the feeling of repetition. After the incredible beginning of Uncharted 2, as well as the final run away-scene, it felt like those elements were just being re-used, just in a different environment. I felt like I was playing Uncharted 2, but just. Not as great. The repeated spider-scenes I could've understood if they'd been given some sort of explanation as to why they're specifically in all the places that the trail led to, but after getting no answers, not even a hint, I kind of just ended up frustrated. I know that storytellers don't have to, and even shouldn't show all their cards, because it leaves room for theory and coming to your own conclusion, but I just feel like I'm palming sand, trying to keep it from slipping through my fingers.

What also bothered me, is how Nate seems to be completely invincible. The previous games felt grounded enough that I could hold on to my suspension of disbelief, but after running out of a burning building, escaping hordes of spiders three times, fleeing a capsizing ship, surviving a plane crash, multiple instances which should have ended with either a concussion or multiple broken bones, I felt like nothing could hurt Nate. And not in a good way either. At first I wondered if there was going to be a reason for it, like maybe something was going on with the ring, along the lines of an ancient protective enchantment, but no. Nathan Drake is simply a person who's able to walk through a searing hot desert for three days without food, water or shelter and somehow still manages to beat an entire army of enemy soldiers, ride a horse and escape. He shouldn't be able to even walk. He should be sunburnt and exhausted, probably in the middle of an intense heatstroke, which he was, at first. But then with the power of his will and pure adrenaline? He just gets away scot free. No repercussions. No injuries. Nothing. I didn't really empathize with his character anymore because nothing could hurt him. I felt like I was playing Saints Row instead of Uncharted. Sometimes a little less is enough, you know? You don't put a whole cup of baking powder into batter just because it makes it rise. Too much and it tastes like soap.

I also felt that this game would've been a good excuse to discuss Nate's oblivious recklessness, which goes above and beyond any kind of adrenaline junkie. His friends were increasingly more worried about him, but the arc didn't really receive a conclusion, and was just left in the air. I wish Nate would've had more of a personal journey, considering that the game was very much about Nate's inner world, who he is and what kind of a person he is. He could've faced the fact that he's putting himself in more and more immeasurable danger for no real reason, even though his friends and family keep telling him that he's going too far. There was a lot of potential in that idea and I'm sad that it didn't really lead into anything.

All in all, I'm just sorely disappointed. Perhaps I'll feel different when I revisit the game, but for now, I'm left wondering what happened.

After replaying the first three games in the series back-to-back, I have had to revise my rankings from previous years. Drake's Deception now sits at the top of the original trilogy, where previously Among Thieves was perched. The reason is simple: the third game makes improvements in almost every major regard. Combat is more refined, visuals richer, setpeices grander and the story is more thematically interesting. While still present, cheap deaths were also less common in this game compared to the previous one, which was a major blow to the fun-factor of my recent playthrough. So why have I regarded Among Thieves so highly for all this time? I suspect there were a few reasons.

For one, the jump in quality between 1 and 2 was much higher than between 2 and 3, which made it seem more impressive at the time of release—an advantage that has since been eroded. Another reason is that the story in 2 is more simple and light-hearted, which means that it is easier to look back on with uncomplicated fondness, whereas 3 is more prone to analysis and all the baggage that comes along with it. Experiencing the two narratives back-to-back however, it is clear that the benefits of deeper storytelling far outweighs the negatives.

Even writing this, there is still some internal conflict going on. Great moments from Among Thieves comes to mind, pulling me back toward it. But there is no doubt that my overall experience with Drake's Deception was superior, at least this time around.

After a few hours of killing a many guys in suits I felt like I was killing Agent Smith over and over again. With that said, Uncharted 3 made the combat much more interesting than in the previous two games. The hand to hand combat was improved on more than anything, and made things feel a bit fresh although had a lack in the number of animations used. The story was extremely well done, and dived a little into Nathan's past and his relationships with his companions.

Played on PS4

Whether on the second one you could not go up a ladder, pipe, etc without it breaking, twisting, etc, this one had the action pieces on the correct place and, many times, allowed you to enjoy and explore the beautiful set pieces. Whether the second one had almost non stop action, this one actually had some more

Beautiful places to explore: Cartagena and its interiors and rooftops. A French Chateau. A Syrian Citadel. A stormy ship graveyard and a huge ship and its interiors under a sea storm. An airport, plane taking off, its crash. The quiet and surreal sequence when Drake is estranded in the desert. The lost city...

The best game from the series so far. A memorable game.