Zero Punctuation: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

[Casual Shinji]

I have had moments where I can see treasure, and a way to reach the treasure, but many MANY failed attempts at getting drake to drop on to the right part of a beam and I have to concede defeat

You wouldn't happen to be talking about that treasure in the shipyard. would ya?

Why Yes, yes I would

I also noticed in Syria I'm pretty sure I rolled right off a ledge with treasure on it and no way to climb back up

The neighbors were probably all but ready to call the cops with the amount of mammoth roars coming from my house when I was trying to navigate those fucking beams. I ultimately got it though, but at the price of my sanity and my throat.

 

[Sperium 3000]

I don't get it, just because the villains are foreigners then the game is racist? Because we all know there aren't assholes on other countries than America, right?

 

[JSkunk22]

Naughty Dog has a habit of releasing a trilogy of games, and then they stop. However, as seen with previous titles, a third party might get the rights to it and whore out the franchise for a racing game or a Mario Party knock off, or both.

OT: Yahtzee not liking Uncharted 3? Now that's a surprise.

 

[CarlsonAndPeeters]

No Yahtzee the next game is clearly going to be a kart racer called "UnKARTed"

Is that a Jak X reference? Either way, love it.

OT, I completely agree with Yahtzee in this review. Too much of a rehash of Uncharted 2, the levels didn't feel remotely connected (especially the pirate tangent), the plot was full of holes, and I laughed out loud at the behind the scenes part where they admitted to having no connected story for a long time.

That being said, still love the Uncharted gameplay, and unlike Yahtzee I like all the characters so I enjoy getting to see them play off each other. Still, U3 is definitely downhill from U2, so I'm hoping Naughty Dog does what few developers other than them are brave enough to do and comes up with a new IP. Preferably soon.

 

[mjc0961]

No Yahtzee the next game is clearly going to be a kart racer called "UnKARTed"

Probably not cart racing. CTR was carts, Jak X was more like their world style of actual cars, so Uncharted Racing will probably be jeeps in the jungle or something like that. I look forward to seeing how they work set pieces onto race tracks, though.

*snip*

It's called a spoiler box. Use one next time instead of ruining the game for people who haven't had a chance to play it yet like a jackass.

 

[CriticalQuit]

Well, he has a point. A game can be bad and still be fun to play, if the gameplay feels nice.

Anyway, anyone else besides me betting that he's going to put off Modern Warfare 3 in favor of Saints Row the Third, sequel to his beloved Saints Row 2?

 

[Warachia]

I get it now! Uncharted refers to the story, they have no idea where they're going with it, just that there's money at the end!

 

[Steve the Pocket]

I've never played the Uncharted games since I don't own a PS3, but I get the impression from all three of these reviews that they rely way too much on combat for treasure hunting games. It seems to me that treasure hunting games ought to revolve mainly around platforming, puzzle solving, and stealth, with occasional vehicle sections and maybe combat sections thrown in every so often. Trying to turn every genre (in the plot-and-setting sense) into a shooter of some kind is what leads to the sort of nonsense that makes the protagonist look like a genocidal psychopath. Some genres (in the plot-and-setting sense) lend themselves to certain genres (in the gameplay sense) better than others; that's why, for example, virtually all fantasy games are RPGs and why Mirror's Edge, for all its faults, was at least a platformer.

No Yahtzee the next game is clearly going to be a kart racer called "UnKARTed"

And characters will occasionally point out that it's kind of bizarre that they're all racing go-karts instead of hunting for treasure and killing each other, but they'll shrug it off immediately afterward.

 

[RJ Dalton]

So, I guess Drake's deception was his claim that this was a new and original game, then.

 

[sazzrah]

SPOILERS

Harsh but fair, I guess. Even though I enjoyed the game immensely I too did start seeing the cracks in the game - most notably the recurring plot themes from Uncharted 2 and the lack of significant character development in this particular outing.

It was way too tacit and 'alluded to' rather than clearly touched upon... prime offender being the relationship between Drake and Elena. I mean, all this talk of a ring and wearing the ring, and not wearing the ring... yet no mention of the significance of it! So are they married or what?! Way too vague for me.

I disagree that the series is past it;s sell by date though, I finished the game desperate for Uncharted 4 so bring it on Naughty Dog... Bring it on!

I actually really like that method of story telling.

Basically, Elena asked Drake to marry her between games. Drake freaked out and left her, but kept the engagement ring because he still loved her.

At the end of the game, he put it on. So basically, he was saying 'Yes, I'll marry you now.'

It has additional symbolism! Drake was trading in Drake's Ring (Adventure and fortune) for Elena's Ring (Setting down)

Where has this info come from?

You have to actually figure it out by using the context clues and what you know of the characters. Like how Cutter was a friend of Elena's that Drake roped into helping him with his scheme and that Talbot is an Alchemist. (Actually, the game basically tells you Talbot is an Alchemist if you search around the library some, so it isn't really something you have to figure out so much as pay attention.)

Why does everything have to spelled out for people nowadays? One of the developers even had to go and explain how Talbot did all of the things he did (Vanishing suddenly, surviving getting shot, etc) because of how many people complained about it.

Basically, you're saying you filled in the gaps yourself, which is fair enough, and can work with a lot of open ended stories but not so much with a continuing series where interpretation of events will inevitably be overwritten by the canon. For one, I can tell you your 'working out' about Drake and Elena is actually wrong. In the guide book that came with collectors editions of the game it explains that Drake and Elena are actually married but separated.

Talbot is not an alchemist either, Amy Hennig explained through Twitter that he is simply employing methods popular amongst covert organisations such as the CIA. Hennig explained that the CIA are known to use tactics that appear like magic; smoke and mirrors (like disappearing and using psychotropic drugs) to scare their targets. Hennig said Talbot most likely got away in that scene where he disappears by using a wire, and survived the gunshot by probably wearing a bulletproof vest - not by any real magical or 'alchemical' means.

People weren't complaining about not knowing how Talbot did those things either, they were simply curious and wanted to know what the writers were trying to convey. What's the problem in asking, especially when the writers were more than happy to answer people's questions? You almost make it sound like Hennig folded under the pressure of complaints and explained it because people were criticising the game for not spelling it out to them, and that wasn't the case at all.

Leaving story elements vague for you to work out is great in a lot of instances; it makes things interesting (like the mystery of Talbot). However, leaving them so vague that you're left confused and not really sure what's going on is a sign of poor writing imo, especially when those elements revolve around key characters in an ongoing series.

 

[mysecondlife]

SPOILERS

Harsh but fair, I guess. Even though I enjoyed the game immensely I too did start seeing the cracks in the game - most notably the recurring plot themes from Uncharted 2 and the lack of significant character development in this particular outing.

It was way too tacit and 'alluded to' rather than clearly touched upon... prime offender being the relationship between Drake and Elena. I mean, all this talk of a ring and wearing the ring, and not wearing the ring... yet no mention of the significance of it! So are they married or what?! Way too vague for me.

I disagree that the series is past it;s sell by date though, I finished the game desperate for Uncharted 4 so bring it on Naughty Dog... Bring it on!

I actually really like that method of story telling.

Basically, Elena asked Drake to marry her between games. Drake freaked out and left her, but kept the engagement ring because he still loved her.

At the end of the game, he put it on. So basically, he was saying 'Yes, I'll marry you now.'

It has additional symbolism! Drake was trading in Drake's Ring (Adventure and fortune) for Elena's Ring (Setting down)

Where has this info come from?

You have to actually figure it out by using the context clues and what you know of the characters. Like how Cutter was a friend of Elena's that Drake roped into helping him with his scheme and that Talbot is an Alchemist. (Actually, the game basically tells you Talbot is an Alchemist if you search around the library some, so it isn't really something you have to figure out so much as pay attention.)

Why does everything have to spelled out for people nowadays? One of the developers even had to go and explain how Talbot did all of the things he did (Vanishing suddenly, surviving getting shot, etc) because of how many people complained about it.

thanks. I'll go look for it next run through. I liked it a lot that it warrants a replay.

 

[Bearadox_42]

I love Uncharted 3...it kicks a lot of ass...but it is absolutely a rip off of the Last Crusade. The whole flash back segment of him as kid, the clues being in tombs, having to rescue the father figure from the bad guys, and the horse riding through canyons...

 

[ElPatron]

Using one or two is good scene-setting, but there's such a thing as overkill. You might as well have a Beefeater walking down the road...

False, everyone knows he would stand there and not run away from the green gas.

lol

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Personally i had a great time playing Uncharted 3, but what they really could have spared me was having the circle button grab and throw away an enemy.

In previous games i could run up to an enemy, punch him in the face and if he should manage to block i could roll away and back into cover before being shot to death. Now if i run up and he blocks then i end up throwing the enemy into my hiding place before rolling after him and then getting shot.

Another thing that's absolute piss about the gameplay is that he rolls and goes into cover with the same button because that's been an issue in every game how he will roll against a wall and then just stand up like an idiot. And also how he stands up if he's shot behind cover, that one makes absolutely NO sense.

But those are really the only issues i have with the game. Still gonna play through it a couple more times (at least certain chapters) so i can get platinum on it. Three for three, yeah! >

 

[LobsterFeng]

The funniest joke I thought was the cover art for Uncharted 4.

"Uncharted 4: Drake's on a Plain"

Still haven't bought this yet. I think I'll wait a year or two, because Uncharted 2 the game of the year edition is only like $20 right now.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Another funny review.

I haven't played it myself,but from the reviews I have watched on other sites with gameplay as well it seems merely an "upgrade" in scale and drama.That's what I thought of it at least,I may be mistaken.

 

[Whateveralot]

And whoever decided that one firefight should contain a grenade launcher, three snipers, a running armoured shotgun guy and standard enemies needs to go to the corner and seriously think about what he's done.

I remember that fight. Really had the face vs. concrete wall feeling. It took a rather specific method to clear that, like with a lot of situations in the game. UC2 was a lot easier on you on that and had the fights neatly split up with savepoints.