Uncharted: Drakes Fortune might only be six hours long, but those six hours are some of the best in recent memory.
Even though the game might only be 6-8 hours long on the easiest difficulty setting, those six hours are so jam-packed with fun that you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.
Uncharted tells a story of a man named Nathan Drake, who discovers a map from his ancestor Francis Drake, who was an English slave trader in the 16th century, explaining the whereabouts of the mythical treasure of El Dorado. Nathan travels to the island with the help of his friend Sully and a girl named Elana Fisher, whose company is funding Nathans trip in the hopes of filming a blockbuster documentary
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Over the course of the 6-8 hours it will take you to complete the game, you will encounter one of the greatest stories in this generation of consoles; the entire story is full of twists and turns, and you won't be able to put your controller down until you see the credits roll across the screen.
Uncharted: Drakes Fortunes gameplay consists of four elements: platforming, gunplay, hand-to-hand combat, and puzzle-solving.
Even though the game borrows heavily from games such as Gears of War and Tomb Raider, it does it with an unprecedented sense of realism.
The shooting and fighting elements are where Uncharted shines; sneak up on an enemy and snap there necks, or slowly move into cover and pop a guerilla soldier in the head?While the enemies take a good amount of shots to go down (about 2-3 shots in the chest on the Easy difficulty setting), it is quite satisfying when you manage to kill them all.
If you're running low on ammunition, you can always resort to the fistfighting. At any given moment, you can run up to an enemy and press a certain combination of buttons to execute them. You can opt to mash the square button a number of times, although it takes longer to kill your enemy, or you can throw in a combination. For example: square, triangle, square. This combo is a fast and efficent method for killing your enemy. You can also unlock new and better combos that will kill your enemies in a more stylish way. The animation provides a big part of the satisfaction of punching your enemies to death.
Fistfighting should be your last resort though. Nathan will continue to absorb damage if he is being shot at while fighting an enemy.
The enemy AI is also superb: enemies will flank you, move in to cover and just generally try to outsmart you, and it forces you to think on your feet, making the gunplay thrilling and exciting.
Unfortunately, the puzzle-solving and platforming elements don't quite match up to the gun-play. That's not to say that they aren't enjoyable – they're just not as good.
The platforming and puzzle-solving sequences are really easy and not very challenging. Most, if not all of the answers to the puzzles can be found in Francis Drakes diary, which you can open by simply pressing the select button. While the platforming sequences are overly straightforward, they are a lot of fun.
Visually, Uncharted is a joy to look at. Especially if you have an HDTV. Everything about the game just has some sort of visual "pop" that will make your mouth water every time you see it. To the impressive lighting engine, to the lush, tropical jungle, Uncharted will continue to amaze you.
The animations are where the game truly shines though. Nathan will run, jump, roll and hop into cover in such a realistic manner, that your jaw will just simply drop to the floor.
It's especially in the little details such as Nathans clothes getting wet when you swim, to him actually walking over the dead bodies instead of clipping right through them as most games tend to do.
The game also has an excellent soundtrack, full of appropriately jungle-like sounds, which really makes you feel like you are in the jungle. On top of that, the game also has some terrific voice-acting. The voice actors aren't really big name celebrities, but each and every single one of them completely nails their part.
The voice actor for Nathan really nails the sort of cocky, self-centered, arrogant personality and the voice actor for Elana also nails the sort of smart, reasonable personality that she is portrayed as in the game.
In short, the only way of describing Uncharted: Drakes Fortune would have to be: amazing.
From the graphics, to the gameplay, to the story, to the voice acting, Uncharted is simply amazing.
Although the game has its quirks, they are ones that you can easily look past.
If you own a Playstation 3, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up; you won't be disappointed.