Nathan Drake is back and he hasn't changed. I have mixed feelings about that. "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception" begins in a London back alley and quickly gets Nathan and mentor, Victor "Sully" Sullivan, hip-deep into a mystery that goes back to their beginnings in South America when Nate was a wee lad. First we have some tutorial-like running and jumping in flashback and then back to present-day London for the combat basics before UC3: DD is off and running. Mating an artifact the bad guys stole with a ring Nate has been lugging around for years, we discover that maybe Sir Francis Drake's voyages weren't exactly as written in the history books, hence the 'Deception' in the title.
In this alternate path, Sir Francis was sent by the Queen to find the lost city of Ubar. Nate and Sully are joined by Charlie Cutter and Chloe Frazier as the trail leads to France ("Only you could find a jungle in the middle of France" Sully tells Nate) and then Syria. Gunfights, fistfights, jumping and climbing ensue and it's all done in the most gorgeous surroundings. There are numerous times when it behooves the player to just stop and look at what Naughty Dog hath wrought. But before we get carried away, here's that mixed feeling I was having.
Minor control issues have historically been my experience with this franchise and I had hoped it would have improved. Alas, no. Controlling Nathan Drake was, at times, inexcusably horrible. First, we've established through three games now, that Nathan Drake is the most fantastically well-conditioned athlete in the world. Watch "Ninja Warrior" and tell me it isn't true. Nathan leaps and bounds and parkours himself from point A to point B, while picking up various weapons and more or less proficiently dispatching bad guys all day.
So why, oh why, is he so often unable to navigate hiding behind a wall or fight of a couple of guys after previously displaying these superhuman abilities? I have no idea. It just seemed like there came points in every fight when one proper cover move or strike would end it but instead Nate would leap awkwardly to his death over a cliff or into the path of bullets. Having recently finished Batman: Arkham City and Battlefield 3, with their elegantly simple and intuitive combat and cover mechanics, it was disappointing to find these controls so squirrelly in UC3: DD. Running and jumping and shooting is the engine of this game and to consistently misfire at crucial times is very frustrating. It's a big glitch really but fortunately it only detracts a little from the huge scope of awesome UC3: DD otherwise brings to the table.
Nolan North is still the soul of Nathan Drake and Richard McGonagle, Claudia Black and Emily Rose maintain the life brought previously to Sully, Chloe and Elena Fisher. Graham MacTavish as Charlie Cutter gets some scene stealing dialog as well, while Rosalind Ayres evokes enough Helen Mirren to fool a casual listener as the evil Katherine Marlowe. With all this wonderful voice talent and such a beautiful canvas to play on, it's disappointing that the controls were just not better. In addition to the excellent voice acting and stunning visuals, Greg Edmonson's theme is John Williams-esque in all the best ways and UC3: DD is alive with scene appropriate music that enhances the scope of the story to cinematic levels. Other than occasionally twitchy controls, UC3: DD is an outstanding game that ups the ante for the Uncharted franchise and all of its potential contenders or pretenders.
GRADE: B+
vintage knitting pattern so that a simple package shall become more of a sexy! Ms. bag styles in this article recommend this!
Posted by: Coach Outlet | 08/21/2012 at 08:23 PM