Uncharted is a game struggling under the weight of its mechanics.
Uncharted plays like a third person shooter with platforming and puzzle solving moments thrown in. Sadly, the biggest issue with the game are the controls and the camera. Drake is clunky and slow. His aim is often so slow that enemies can easily dodge it and he moves and rolls so slow that you'll die many times from it, especially in the later portions where the laser sighted enemies come into play.
Unfortunately, that's not the half of it. When your not facing wave after wave of enemies, you'll sometimes be treated to moments like driving a jet ski while all the while dodging tons of explosive barrels and enemies shooting at you. Not challenging enough you say? Well, let's make it tougher by adding in the fact that you can't drive and shoot at the same time and one section has you fighting a raging whitewater current.
There's some platforming here and there, but it's actually pretty sporadic. The same applies to puzzle solving. You may solve a total of three puzzles in the entire game. I struggled sometimes to discern where I was even heading. Thankfully, the game will give occasional hints as to where to go, but they're pretty vague to be honest.
When you're not getting shot at by the endless army of bad guys or jumping around cliffs, you can occasionally search for treasures and relics. There are 60 in the game. After that, that's it. There's no multiplayer, mini-games, new game + (so one run at the relics is all you have). Value for the game is certainly weak.
Visually though, the game is beautiful. Environments look lush, characters look realistic, and the lighting effects for the game are top notch. If this game had one strong point it would that it's absolutely amazing to look at.
The sound design is good as well. Dialogue for the characters feels natural with Drake occasionally throwing witty one liners and quips for the player. The music has a rustic feel to it that's very reminiscent of, surprise, Indiana Jones.
I was really hoping to like this game, but the controls and camera were altogether frustrating, not to mention certain sequences like the jet ski. The game clocked in at around 10 hours, maybe more for all the times I died. I don't really recommend the game, but you can get it in the dual pack for $30 so at the very least, you're going to have 10 hours to kill with this game.
The Good: Wonderful graphics, good sound design.
The Bad: Terrible controls, some game sequences are very frustrating, lack of value, constant firefights wear on you fast.