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Review: ‘Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception’ for PlayStation 3
Even in the world of video games, where sequels typically get better as they go, it can get tough not to get fatigued over an ongoing series that hews so closely to its own formula that it becomes trapped into going bigger and bigger with each new iteration. It’s why the “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” series has gotten dumber and most problematic with each outing and why “Mortal Kombat” quickly become a silly parody of itself in the ’90s (before rebooting completely and surprisingly capturing the old magic).
Sony’s spectacular “Uncharted” series is in danger of growing stale, not because the games aren’t good (they’re fantastic) but because the latest entry “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception” is the first one that feels like it runs out of gas a few hours before its big ending.
I say this as someone who adored “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,” a globe-trotting adventure that featured one of my favorite set pieces ever in a video game, a run-and-gun mountainside battle atop a speeding train. “Uncharted 2” offered gigantic, Hollywood-style moments along with more standard-issue climbing puzzles, gun battles and some truly engaging dialogue and characters.
“Uncharted 3” starts promisingly with an intense fistfight and a flashback sequence explaining some of adventurer Nathan Drake’s background (and his preoccupation with Sir Francis Drake). There’s a great surrogate father-son relationship Drake has with his co-conspirator, Sully. There are chase scenes that expertly mix pre-rendered animation with white-knuckle gameplay.
But before long, the game settles into a groove of repetitive climbing puzzles, take-cover shooting matches against frustrating enemies (who have a hefty supply of grenades and sniper guns) and melee fights that are less and less interesting as the game goes on.
Even at an economical 10-12 hours of story, the gameplay starts to cycle itself even as the visuals, sound and voice acting remain top-notch. There aren’t many games out there with a main character as likeable as Drake and with a set of supporting players who are all as note-perfect.
The plot — concerning an exploration route that Francis Drake took, a ring and a villainess who seems drawn from the Helen Mirren School of Cool Icy British Ladies — stops being relevant about midway through. The one or two plot risks the game takes with the lives of characters are quickly negated. It wants so badly to be a crowd-pleaser that there’s never any real danger that the story won’t end heroically and with good-natured ribbing as our heroes ride off into the sunset.
Unfortunately, the ever-more-ridiculous action pieces — a fight on the back of a cargo plane with the back door open, an escape from a sinking boat and a late battle atop moving platforms while a city is buried in a mudslide — seem like they’re only there to break up the gaming parts that have not really evolved much in the series. Or maybe I’ve got that backward; it gets to be a chore to play through the parts that get you to the next wonderful cinematic or to solve the rudimentary, none-too-interesting puzzles that pop up like clockwork. (The usually involve rotating gigantic dials or carrying stones around and putting them in the right order; not exactly the most fun you’ll have holding a game controller this year.)
When the game breaks out of its box — like a fun chase on horseback late in the game that seems inspired by “Red Dead Redemption” or Drake stumbling around a Middle Eastern market while drugged by bad guys — it absolutely soars. When you find yourself pinned behind a crate for the 15th time while bullets whiz past you or you have to climb out of yet another deep well, you’ll find yourself wondering if you should be playing something else instead.
The things that have been added or improved — very good stereoscopic 3-D effects if you have a TV that supports that, co-op play and better hand-to-hand combat — are well worth the effort. But the magic doesn’t feel as potent in this latest chapter. When I played “Uncharted 2” I felt like I’d just experienced something that could have easily fit alongside the first “Indiana Jones” movie.
“Uncharted 3,” meanwhile, is a well-crafted, perfectly entertaining game that feels more like a top-flight modern Hollywood summer blockbuster. And somehow, that feels a little disappointing.
“Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception”
$60-$100 in Standard and Collector’s Editions, for Playstation 3
Rated T for Teen
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