Hello! Sorry it’s been awhile since my last post. I’ve been on a gaming hiatus, and now I’m back. Today I want to talk about Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. A third person action-adventure game by Naughty Dog. I played this game soon after I finished The Last of Us, and I didn’t really enjoy it one bit. Not Naughty Dog’s best work, but understandable they were learning what makes a good game.
This was a big of a slog of a game to get through once Drake and Sully make it to the island. I found it to be the same repetitive actions over and over. Walk/explore for a bit then shoot 5 – 8 guys. Then walk some more, and shoot more guys. It went on like this throughout the entire game. I don’t know about you, but this was super dull. I couldn’t really enjoy the story at this point. To make things worse, when Drake and Elena are on a jet ski, I’m riding it up a riving and going in the wrong direction. The river is raging toward me, and I have to drive it upstream. Oh yah, and shooting bad guys. Then later on there’s this whole section where the player (me) has to drive along this canal whilst avoiding barrels that explode, and shoot thugs located along the edges of the canal. This was too much to do and I’m not sure how Naughty Dog came to think this was a good idea.
The gameplay is alright. It’s an action-adventure gameplay with some 3D platforming in third-person. I didn’t allow the platforming elements, especially the grabbing and moving along edges. I found the camera to be very restrictive, and sometimes the player couldn’t even more the camera. I suppose the devs thought this was essential so the player would know the next area is in the camera area, but I personally hate that. A few times I couldn’t see where I needed to go, and had to die unnecessarily to figure it out, due to the camera not being moveable.
Now most of the time the player will be using their weapons when facing enemies, but the game does allow for melee and combo attacks at close range. I never personally used them. I’ve always and will continue to be a stealth player. I prefer sniping or sneaking up and choking someone out rather than punching them. Evidently combo attacks, especially the specific “brutal combo”, forces enemies to drop twice the ammunition they would normally leave. Then there’s grenades that can be picked up in the game at certain points. There’s no health bar on screen, and the only indication Drake’s hurt is when the screen loses colour and red starts to permeate the edges. Hiding for a few moments will heal his health.
Finally, I had the misfortune of playing this game with a Playstation controller that was glitchy, so sometimes Drake wouldn’t take cover, but instead jump up in the air thus giving his position away to any and all thugs in the vicinity. I got pretty angry a few times and remember yelling “Take cover, you asshole!!” when he’d jump. Hahaha I recommend your controllers work perfectly when playing this game.
I got annoyed by the grinding of running and then shooting, running then shooting, and put the game aside for a week or so. Turns out I was on the very last chapter right before the ending. If I had known, I would have pushed to finish it right away.
Things I loved about the game:
- The graphics are nice.
- I like how Naughty Dog attempts humour in their games.
- References to Jak and Daxter characters.
Things I didn’t like about the game:
- How the camera is fixed during the platforming elements.
- Repetitiveness of ‘battles’ between Drake and the thugs.
- Male version of Tomb Raider.
All in all this was a sub-average game. Not my cup of tea. Thankfully I hadn’t bought it, and I sold it as soon as I finished it.
My rating? 6 out of 10! It’s good, not great. I had high standards from playing The Last of Us, so this game was a big of a disappointment. But still a decent game if you like this kind of stuff.
Cheers!
Bitchin’ Gamer Girl.
Bitchin Gamer Girl 