THE DESTROYER OF LOST CITIES
Also for: Playstation 3
Damn you, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. This series was on an upwards
trajectory from the first entry to the second, and then Uncharted 3 turned it into a dud. It feels
like a different rendition of the second game, a triumph on attempted repeat,
adding new locations, new villains and new supporting characters to make it
seem fresh. But below the superficial sheen the game has some glaring issues
with storytelling, pacing and combat design.
Naughty Dog knows how to entertain players. Uncharted 3 might not feel fresh, but it takes the player through some
memorable set pieces, like a stroll through a desert, an escape from a
sinking ship and jumping from a crashing airplane with no parachute. It
has that variation and grandiose cinematic zest that players would expect by now, making it
a decent, albeit quite predictable game. It boasts great visual design in highly detailed environments, and the skilled voice cast brings life to the
characters.
The protagonist, Nathan Drake, is the bane of many an ancient culture. Last
time the city of El Dorado collapsed under his treasure hunting ambitions.
This time his sights are set on the lost city of Iram of the Pillars (I had to
google it). Of course he's not the only one. His competition this time is
Katherine Marlowe, a lady with a clear Helen Mirren-semblance, and
her henchman Talbot. The bastards rush to site after site and try to
kill all competition because their potential fame and fortune told them to.
The hunt takes Nathan, his buddy Victor Sullivan and other friends through a
string of pretty locations in Syria and Yemen. A couple of playable
flashback sequences from Drake's youth take place in Colombia, and the
not-so-pretty opening brawl takes place in a Londonian bar. Although the
locations are new, it's familiar ground. All the elements remain:
storytelling, action, puzzle solving, platforming and parkouring, all viewed
through a third-person camera. The controls are tight and responsive, except
for the clunky fisticuffs, which unfortunately happens more than ever in this entry.
The previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, had great pacing, fun
combat, and a forgettable story elevated by entertaining dialogue. Uncharted 3
deepens Naughty Dog's storytelling ambitions with drawn-out
flashback chapters and more story exploration than ever. The second and third
chapters are a long detour detailing how Drake first met Sully as a young kid.
Closer to the end, an eventless trek through the desert feels endless. In
moments like these, the pacing totally fizzles out. Action-adventure isn't the most fitting genre for narrative experiments.
Bloat also permeates the action. A ridiculous chase scene through the alleyways of a Syrian city feels like a marathon. The same can be said about the combat sequences. The setup is basically identical to previous entries. You enter an obvious battle zone full of obstacles to hide behind. Weapon pickups are placed where it makes sense. Then the enemies start swarming the place from all over. The action is frantic and Drake can't soak up too many headshots before he falls. It can be a fun challenge when the parameters are set right.
Unfortunately, in Uncharted 3 the parameters are all out of whack. To ramp up the difficulty, the designers have made some poor decisions in combat- and enemy design. Some sequences drag on forever. The shipyard battles against countless enemies are cause for
frustration. More and more keep spawning. I thought for a while I was supposed to flee, but that wasn't the case. It only ends after a veritable onslaught.
To add insult to injury, every enemy is a bullet sponge and some armored goons' health take forever to whittle
down, making headshots and rare, overpowered guns the only sound way to defeat
them. How unlucky, then, that my headshots didn't register sometimes, even as I decorated the unwary enemy's face with my crosshairs. Insta-killing rockets and grenades from hidden enemies guarantee a few
deaths, and the checkpoints don't come very often.
How lucky then, that the characters and their quips are as fun as ever.
Uncharted 3 expands on Drake's relationship with his mentor Sully, a source of
many a fine line of dialogue. It needs to be said: Drake is a royal bastard in
this entry. Sully's getting old and wants out, yet Drake annoyingly exploits
Sully's undying loyalty to get the assistance he needs. Drake's character arc in
this entry is about realizing the danger his adventures cause to those he holds dear, a lesson taught by his wise on-and-off spouse Elena Fischer.
The lovely Chloe Fraser also returns as a sidekick alongside a new ally,
Cutter, but they're just brushed aside halfway through the game.
It's lucky most of the characters are so well-written - the bland villains are
an exception - because the story they inhabit is not. When it comes to plot in
video games I lower the bar, consciously or not, when compared to movies or TV
shows. That is especially true of action games. I rarely care about, or even
notice, plot holes in all the surrounding mayhem.
With all that said, I still felt let down by some really hamfisted and lazily written
plot developments. After escaping a capsizing ship, Drake
just happens to wash up on the shores of the town he's supposed to
visit. "How convenient", he says. Later, after stumbling through the desert
for days, he just happens upon the ruined city he was looking for.
Here, he doesn't say "how convenient", but he should. And instantly, after
almost dying of dehydration and exhaustion, the action scenes ensue with Drake in tip-top
shape.
Allegedly, the production of Uncharted 3 was troubled, and Naughty Dog
obviously cut some corners to get the game out on time. It was riddled with
glitches upon release, and some still remain even in this
Bluepoint remaster. The bugs are not gamebreaking, but the unsteady
animations occasionally screwed me over. At one point I was magically
teleported from cover a few meters over to the right to become a sitting duck
in a combat zone.
Overall, the extensive animations haven't aged well. They often feel floaty,
and the rubber-banding can be insane. When you jump slightly off point, the
invisible hand of God pulls you to the ledge, or rope, or whatever you want to grab. The brawl
animations are also affected by this divine intervention. If a fist doesn't quite connect with the opponent's chin, the naughty God drags the characters closer
together. Truth be told, this has been prevalent in the previous games as
well, but I chose to ignore it then because of the overall enjoyment.
I don't enjoy Uncharted 3 as much. My list of complaints is long. Following up such a great game as Uncharted 2 only makes it
longer. But it still cannot completely overshadow the joy of taking part
of a great adventure. The journey is a lot bumpier, but delivers many fine
sights and gameplay thrills. All the set pieces - the desert, the airplane,
the boat, the horseback chase straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark -
make Uncharted 3 the the most memorable entry. Some sights are etched into my
memory. Without being groundbreaking, the large-scale puzzles come at the
right moments and are well designed. They are probably my favorite ones so far
in this series.
Fans will get what they expect. The audiovisual experience conveys all the
major narrative beats that players crave. The drama is real, the action is exciting and
the comedy is entertaining. Naughty Dog can create a compelling cast of diverse
personalities. For me this was my second playthrough, so I vaguely remembered the major plot
points, but nevertheless felt concerned for the characters' well-being. For
all the story's flaws and clichés, the writing made me care about the
outcome.
Nevertheless, this is the entry that shouldn't have been. It feels disjointed,
and you can tell that Naughty Dog scrambled together a storyline from a few
great set pieces. The plot is hard to follow and uninteresting. All the combat
grievances, pacing issues and questionable plot developments cause much frustation. Considering all the efforts poured into the game, it pains me to
say that Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is the entry you might as well skip.
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