The Uncharted series holds a special place in my heart. I can still recall playing the demo of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune at the closes Fry’s Electronics store to my home. As I played the demo, I knew it was a game I wanted to have for the PlayStation 3 from the moment I started playing it. Demos hardly ever did that for me, but Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune did. From the gameplay, to the voice acting, to the story, to the graphics (especially how the water looked!), I was hooked from what little I got out of the demo.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was released a little over a year after the PS3’s initial release. We are introduced to the main characters from the start: Nathan Drake, Victor “Sully” Sullivan, and Elena Fisher. We immediately find Drake and Elena out at sea near Panama. Drake has discovered the location of Sir Francis Drake’s coffin. Inside the coffin is Francis Drake’s diary, which contains information on the city of gold, El Dorado.
Gameplay then ensues as a group of pirates rain in on their parade. This is where we are introduced to the gameplay. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune has us, the player, controlling Nathan Drake. The style of play is rather simple and consists of a cover and shoot mechanic. When in hiding, you can either blind fire enemies by simply pressing the RI bumper button or aim and shoot by holding the L1 button first to aim and then the R1 button to fire. You aren’t limited to just ducking and covering, of course, but if you want to live and not die, it is your best option. Drake can have a two weapons equipped at a time, a pistol and a rifle. He can also carry up to four grenades.
Another element of combat in Drake’s Fortune are melee and combo attacks. Melee attacks consist of single punches by pressing the square button. If you want to get your point across to an enemy while in close quarters, then you’ll want to string a combo attack. You just hit square button several times in order to string a combo attack. There’s also a brutal combo attack. The way to do that is by pressing square, triangle, and then square again. Enemies will also drop double the amount of ammunition when a brutal combo attack is performed. The combat gameplay mechanics of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune are rather simple to get a hold of. I think the hardest thing to get used to is aiming where grenades are thrown using the SIXAXIS feature of the PS3 controller.
At the time of its release, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was one of the prettiest games I have ever seen. It definitely has been foreshadowed by its successors, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, but it is still a beautiful game considering how early it was released in the PS3’s life. A lot of what you see on screen was performed via motion capture, so the voice actors also did a lot of the movements for the characters. This allows the characters in the game to have more realistic movements.
The thing that impresses me most about Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was the story. It captured my attention right away. It is a charming, witty, yet direct. Drake’s Fortune is a great example of how video games are capable of telling an amazing story. It is a compelling story and you’ll be asking for more as soon as you’re done playing it. You hear this a lot about Uncharted: I felt like I was playing a movie.
Don’t worry though. If you don’t like Metal Gear Solid for its long cutscenes (I personally don’t mind them), then you’re in luck. That doesn’t happen in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. It is more gameplay than it is cutscenes. The cutscenes are a real treat though, as you get to see how each character develops throughout the game, as well as how the story ties everything together.
I really like Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Although it is an old game, it received a patch years ago to include trophies. The trophies aren’t too hard to get, and you’ll be able to get all of them in a maximum of three playthroughs. I have played Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune seven time now, and it hasn’t gotten old for me. If you’re new to the Uncharted series, I recommend starting with Drake’s Fortune first, not because it is the first in the series, but because its successors outshine it with new features, updated graphics, and better playing mechanics. Still, it is a great PS3 classic and a must play, even if you already have a PS4 or Xbox One.
OVERALL SCORE:
8.9/10
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