According to what we've been told, the story follows a young man named Nathan Drake. Nathan believes that he is a direct descendant of the Sir Francis Drake, the same Francis Drake who was either a great explorer or a pirate, depending on whether you're English or French [Gallant, heroic, blessed explorer! - Ed]. Thus, Nathan has a keen interest in getting out there and effectively claiming his (fabled) inheritance. To do so, he’ll need to do a fair bit of exploring and gun-slinging against pirates, as many past secrets and plots are being revealed along the way. Given the developer's history, we’re confident that the story will be more than just an excuse to run and gun.
Putting it all together, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is something of a loose cross between Gears of War and Prince of Persia, with generous lashings of Pirate-type adventure thrown in between. That is, there's the action portion, and the exploration portion. The action portion will have you taking on several fiends that look like makeshift/modern day pirates. You’ll be doing so in numerous locations throughout the jungle, generally around ancient ruins. Still, there are a few pre-set and interesting sequences along the way.
Watch out for those artifacts... Oops, too late.
Using the remnants of ancient ruins or whatever other cover your environment can provide, you’ll be able to cover yourself from enemy fire by pressing the circle button. From there, you can pop-up with the L1 button, and fire away at enemies with the R1 button. The cover system worked well because of the many surfaces that you could attach to, and the camera allowed you to size up your next target. Shooting felt weak though, as enemies took a lot of hits before going down. The actual controls and weapons seem to be still up for some fine-tuning.
It's not just action that's the name of the game, though. There'll be several sequences that require Drake to clamber across ruins, cliff faces and above perilous drops. Even without a rewind ability, this is somewhat akin to what we saw in Prince of Persia. The design was good in this regard as well, as it was not blatantly obvious as to where the next destination was; everything fitted together quite naturally. The demo was quite forgiving if you failed, though it remains to be seen how forgiving the final game will be.
There were also a couple of pre-set scenarios that were nicely implemented. At one stage, a platform broke off that we were standing on. With a correctly timed jump, we had to get to the next platform, or risk plummeting to our death. In another situation, we blew up a car and it coincidentally landed in a point where we could use it to jump across to a convenient ledge. These additions to the game are very welcome and look to be a lot of fun, even if they were exaggerated.
Now THAT looks like fun.
For a game that is reasonably early in the development cycle, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune controlled well and intuitively. It was very easy to pick up, and a breeze to get all of the different actions into play. However, it was clear that the game is still due for a couple of extra coats of polish. There's been some implementation for the Sixaxis, including the ability to control the pitch of your grenade-throwing arc. This either needs a lot of work or a different approach, as it didn’t come off as we would have hoped. Still, for a game at this stage, it performed admirably.
Visually, the game is impressive, and something of a departure from the developer’s previous works. While the models in the game are still quite stylised, they tended to look more realistic, particularly in their motions. The environments were visually stunning and, as mentioned, looked completely natural and designed in such a way. However, the NPCs had a generic feel about them. The general presentation seems to be benefitting from a few new unique ideas, however.
Naughty Dog looks to have struck gold with a fine idea for a game, as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is one sweet-looking title - particularly as a PS3 exclusive as well. Given the developer's pedigree, we’re confident that the wrinkles in the game will be ironed out before the final release. The game looks to bring together a couple of different gameplay styles together, and so far it’s working out nicely. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is scheduled for a release before the year’s end.
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