This is a GREAT start to an amazing series! Naughty Dog's first PS3 title and it's an instant winner.
Where to begin? At the dawn of the PS3's lifespan, Sony barely had any exclusive titles worth buying a system over, save Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction. Other than that, the PS3 needed some serious help in the form of recognizable and awesome characters to associate the PS3 with. That was when Naughty Dog (Jak and Daxter series) took the plunge with the new hardware of the PS3 and developed what would become the foundation of a well-received game series: Uncharted.
In Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (also known as Uncharted 1), Nathan Drake is out to find his [supposed] ancestor's grave, Sir Francis Drake. What he finds instead is a diary full of notes about the famed El Dorado and clues to solving different puzzles. From there, Nate and a TV reporter, Elena Fisher, become entangled in a string of events that lead them to forgotten islands with ancient Spanish ruins and mercenaries who will do anything to stop them from getting the gold.
The gameplay in Uncharted is very fun, whether you're shooting pirates, monkeying up a cliff, or exploring eerie temples, there's never a dull moment. The game starts out with a small gunfight and then moves onto a few exploration chapters before getting into more gunfights. The pacing between the shooting and climbing/exploring parts are fairly good, although you will run into situations where the gun fights seem endless and even brutal at times, thanks to multiple enemy types and just multiple enemies, period! And that's one complaint I have with Drake's Fortune: the seemingly endless waves of enemies in certain chapters of the story. You will often find yourself repeating a checkpoint namely due to an overpowering enemy presence, but if you stick with it, you'll figure out who to shoot first, where to take cover, etc.
The climbing parts are really fun. Simply point Nate in the right direction and press the jump button to make him leap towards a ledge or a vine in order to progress. Sometimes you may wonder where Nate can climb too next, but for the most part, you'll know what Nate can and can't grab a hold of.
The graphics and animations in Drake's Fortune are splendid at the least. Even the creases in Nate's shirt move with his body as he walks and runs. And the way he walks and runs is truly the most realistic I've seen in any video game (except Uncharted 2 & 3 of course). Nate has this half jog, half walk that looks very realistic, and when he's in a gun fight, he'll run much faster. Of course, when Nate is climbing and leaping great distances while hanging from a ledge, it seems rather exaggerated, but this is a video game so it's nothing to complain about.
The story in Drake's Deception may seem like just another 'El Dorado' tale, full of gold and jungle ruins, but it also has a very unique twist that will surprise those who don't know what lies at the end of the game ( I won't say what exactly it is you'll discover. Just don't play the last part of the game during the night...). You have the typical hero (Nate), the damsel in distress (Elena) who is also a very good sidekick btw. And the hero's 'mentor', Sully, the old guy who got Nate in the business of treasure hunting. Then of course there's the villain who wants the gold for himself and has his mercenaries crawling all over the island, ready to shoot at anything that gets their attention. It's a tale that's most likely been told before in countless movies long past, but the superb voice acting and motion capture make you actually CARE about the characters and what happens to them; like you want to see Nate and Elena and Sully win, almost as if you WERE Nathan Drake. Not to mention the very well done facial animations that make you feel like you're watching a CGI movie. But believe me, the graphics and animations just get better with Uncharted 2 and 3. Uncharted 1 is just the beginning.
So overall, the game only takes about 8-10 hours to get through on Normal mode. It's not very hard to get through, but it's not so easy that is feels cheap. It's a very high-quality game that stands out from the crowd (save U2 and U3, which are even better than U1. But I suggest you play U1 before playing the sequels just so you can get an appreciation for the Uncharted series and where it all started). In conclusion:
This game is a must-buy for any PS3 owner. Get the 'Greatest Hits' version for under $20 at your local GameStop and enjoy the ride. Worth every penny from start to finish. Then, once you complete the game, you'll be pumped for Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3 and you'll want to play the games over and over again for a long time to come.