Uncharted is a truly fantastic game and a must buy for any PS3 owner.
The story is no modern epic but that doesn't stop it being great. The basic story is a treasure hunt across varied exotic environments where you play as the roguish Nathan Drake as he searches for the fabled treasure of El Dorado. This may sound very generic but there are a few quirks which set this particular take on the El Dorado quest apart from other previous iterations. Firstly it turns out early on that El Dorado is not quite what you think of it and be prepared much later in the game for an even greater reveal which will suprise nearly any gamer. Secondly this quest is also a search for Francis Drake's rotting corpse which not suprisingly in this tomb raiding genre, was not in his coffin. What was in his coffin was a dairy which will guide you along your quest. These fresh takes on what could have been a boring story coupled with numerous twists and turns make this story one action filled roller coaster ride that is consistently fun the whole way through.
The story of Uncharted is a great part of the overall game package, but what is even greater and of course makes the story better as well are the characters. Nathan Drake is one of the best video game protagonists for a long time. He is definately not the strong silent type and will fire off more wise cracks and witty dialogue with the supporting cast like he fires of numerous bullets. The supporting cast on the 'good' side is Elena Fisher (the token female sidekick) and Sully (the comic relief in an already comic game). Both these characters fill these rolls perfectly but add way more, describing Elena as a token female sidekick is almost insulting. She is more than a match for Nathan as far as sharp dialogue goes and she has a great deal of depth. Sully may be the comic relief but this game has alot of dry clever humour already and like Elena there is more to him than the basic stereotype.
The third element which once more enhances the previous two is the jaw-dropping beauty of this game. This is one amazing looking game, the scenery is stunning from far away and the up close textures maintain realism. The colour pallet is rich and exotic, there are lots of lucious greens and even the stone buildings look beautiful, not drab as they do in many games. Everything is highly textured and the whole game visually and the gameplay is on an epic scale which just looks amazing. This is one of the best looking games on the system with a perfect blend of the artistic stylised graphics and technical profficency. The character models look a bit stylised but great and one thing that stands out in a game which across the board looks amazing is the water graphics which look extremely realistic.
The next logical step from graphics is animation which in Uncharted is just as good if not better. Nathan is animated superbly, every movement looks totally realistic and playing as Nathan always feels fluid. Uncharted is a blend of fast pace action and platforming and where the animation stands out most is in the platforming. Jumps and leaps look like they are ripped straight out of an action adventure movie and climbing looks as good as climbing has looked in any other game to date. Nathan is always a pleasure to watch and all graphical features (like the way he becomes sodden after swimming and dries out) on him make the game look very real and so cinematic.
The final aspect of this multilayered cake of perfection that is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is the gameplay. A superb blend of intense action, cover based shooting and fluid platforming. These three elements intersect each other and make sure the game is paced so you are never frustrated with an overlong gameplay aspect and makes sure you are always having fun but get some quiet moments. The action includes huge set piece battles, breath taking scripted events and great chase sequences. You will jump over waterfalls, explore German U-Boats, drive a jetski up a white water river under gunfire, participate in jeep chases over perilous cliffs and jump from platform to platform overgroud, underground or way aboveground. This is truly epic and consistently great, it's hard to think of a variety of positive adjectives good enough to describe this game- it is that good.
Uncharted is overall one near perfect game, the platforming is superbly animated and a fun challenge that never beocmes frustrating. The game looks, feels and plays great. Everything about it is just great. The shooting is like gears of war on speed, you take cover but you never just stick to one piece so the combat stays fast pace at all times. You will hop from cover to cover to avoid clever AI who will flank you and just generally be hard to hit from certain pieces of cover. Grenades will force you to leave and the set out of the game just always keeps you going as much as it can, keeping the adrenaline high. The only real bad point of this game is the occasional unrealistic animations of enemies when they take damage and just how long it takes to kill them. You can kill an enemy easily by using a 'brutal combo' which means you will violently murder them with your bare hands (or other body parts). This initialises a superb animation which can make you cry "ouch' out loud or sadistically giggle with glee. However due to the need to stick to cover the opportunities to do this without suffering from an extreme case of death are few and far between which is fine. The problem is guns can be so useless against enemies, I can snap necks just like that but one enemy can take numerous headshots. Luckily there are a good variety of weapons later in the game which will make it so you can take down enemies easier, but be warned; enemies have access to these weapons also. If you can one shot kill an enemy with a sniper rifle they can certainly do the same to you.
To lay down the bottom line, Uncharted is one of the finest games on the Playstation 3 and should be bought by every console owner. It is close to perfection and excels in every category a game should. This is easily one of the best games of this generation and it is very hard to sing it's praises enough. This is simply a must play.