Overview
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is an entertaining, if short, platform / FPS game. Think Tomb Raider with a better combat mechanic. They have spent some SERIOUS time tweaking this games controls and gameplay and it really shows. Highly recommended.

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Review
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is game without a sequel or any tie ins! No movie, no graphic novel, no anime! An original new game, which will of course become a series. On watching the built in 'making of' featurette they describe it as an old Saturday morning serial turned into a game - lots of action, twists and turns and an unbelievably skilled and lucky hero and I can't argue with their description.

The plot races along and so does the action, it felt a lot like and Indiana Jones movie with more gunplay to me and it definitely owes Tomb Raider a nod or two.

The platforming elements use familiar jumping, grabbing, ledge hanging and climbing mechanics. It was so easy to get into I found myself playing it automatically without ever having to think - "which button does what again?" That is the sign of a great game - you're so immersed you don't notice the controls.

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In combat there is a cover hugging system which is intuitive and easy to learn - it's also effective until the bad guys drop a grenade on the box you're hiding behind! There is a hand to hand system which was useful in some circumstances but really dangerous most of the time.

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I did find your somewhat small inventory capacity occasionally frustrating (one pistol, one other gun, one type of grenade) but that's a small quibble really, there was a reasonable range of weapons and you could jump between them quickly and easily as you found them lying around. Some of the combat sequences meant you had to do a little bit of going back to get ammo off dead guys but it wasn't like playing Resident Evil or anything. For those that never played Resident Evil it required a huge amount of attention to ammo hoarding.

The characters you interact with via the story are well drawn, quite well voice acted and best of all entertaining.

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Speaking of well drawn this is a fantastic looking game, and the method of showing you that you have been damaged shows this off really well. When you get injured the screen starts to go black and white, when it gets to fully black and white, which it will, you are dead. The health mechanic is of the 'hide for a bit and your health will recover' type but for a change this didn't feel cheap or silly, like most things in this game it just felt right.

This game has trophy support via a patch and it has unlockable content in spades, videos, different display modes, ability to select weapons, storyboards, the list goes on and on.

The game has now gone platinum which means you can pick it up for less than $30, at that price it's highly recommended. It's an excellent exclusive title for the PS3, just buy it!

Score

Rating: A

Good
- Fun Plot
- Entertaining Characters
- Great mix of platforming and FPS
- Seamless tweaked game

Bad
- A little short.

Supported Resolutions
720p (HDTV)
480p/576p (EDTV)
480i/576i (SDTV)

Mr Staypuft
Old School Gamer

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