Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception review

The adventures and escapades of Nathan Drake have become the most highly-anticipated features on the Playstation 3, largely due to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves raising the bar on action / adventure games to an all time high. Our favourite kleptomaniac treasure hunter is back for a third outing, but can Drake’s Deception live up to the incredible standards set by its predecessor?

This time, the story revolves more around Nathan Drake’s long late relative Sir Francis Drake than ever before. Nate notices a discrepancy in Sir Francis’ diary in regards to his voyages and realizes that his ring is the key to finding a city known as “The Atlantis of the Sands”. As expected a shady organization wants to find it too and the treachery and cat-and-mouse games ensue. While it may sound very familiar, Drake’s Deception houses the best story of all three games and manages to personalize many of the characters and relationships we’ve grown fond of. Underlying themes of Nate’s obsession and endangerment of others is addressed which lends a lot of gravity to the story. The voice acting is stellar and exhibits narrative storytelling that is unprecedented in the medium.

Graphically, Uncharted 3 impresses from a technical and design standpoint. The models, lighting and scale of the game is absolutely jaw-dropping, while the attention to detail is second-to-none as every model, environment and set-piece is beautifully designed.

Throughout the game, you’ll still be fulfilling the mix of gameplay styles the Uncharted series has become known for. Cover shooting, platforming and puzzle sections make up the majority of the game, although the melee combat system has been overhauled. Brawling sections are more prevalent now where an attack, counter and grab moves are available. These segments end up being very cinematic and aren’t as fast as something such as Arkham City, but they flow well and the animations in the fights are great to watch.

Quick-time events are still evident throughout the game, although they have been cut down as opposed to Uncharted 2. Putting the player in control more often than not works well for the experience as it gives players that immersive feeling during intense action sequences.

Online multiplayer appears relatively unchanged from that of Among Thieves, however the platforming and shooting mechanics still make the matches unique in comparison to other online games out there. New co-op survival modes have also been added, as well as local split-screen which makes the whole package much more valuable.

Overall, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is the closest thing to perfection. It manages to juggle a variety of different gameplay styles and mechanics in order to create a game which can just about do anything. The action, story and gameplay is bigger and better than it’s ever been and if you’re a Playstation 3 owner you shouldn’t even be hesitating to buy this.

Pros

• Thrilling story
• Gorgeous visuals
• Constantly surprises

Cons

• Some cheap deaths