Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Review

Ask any programmer or designer from Naughty Dog and they'll agree that trying to replicate perfection is far from easy. You have to get everything right, from the smallest nuances to the biggest aspects. And you have to strike gold a second time, something that most developers have yet to do even a first time round. And that's what Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is; a title that tries to recapture the magic of its predecessor, Among Thieves. Whilst the third instalment may not revolutionise the genre or stray too far from what the first two titles were, it delivers enough explosions, enough fun and enough brilliance for it to not only feel fresh and enjoyable but also feel very, very good.

Not much has changed since Among Thieves. Nathan Drake is still hopping from country to country searching for hidden treasures and chests full of gold and Victor Sullivan is still following him in his footsteps pulling wisecracks, smoking cigars and moaning about his age. New character Chloe Frazer has joined the team as a regular now and an all new member of the Uncharted family, British gangster Charlie Cutter, rounds off the electric cast of characters that made the Uncharted series such a joy to watch. Once again, Drake has found himself another lost city to find, primarily the Atlantis of the Sands, and has also got himself caught on the wrong side of yet another mercenary group, led by the ruthless Katherine Marlowe, who will stop at nothing to put a bullet through Drake's head and to steal whatever clues he has. The stories of the Uncharted series have always worked mainly down to the exciting cast of characters that inhabit them.

Thanks to the brilliant motion capture and voice work done by the animators at Naughty Dog and series regulars Nolan North and Richard McGonagle, the cast of Uncharted 3 feel real. The way they react to each other, the way they act in general; these characters feel as if they could exist in the real world. Pulling wisecracks with each other allows you to see the friendship bonds they have with different members of the group and analysing their ground-breaking facial animations show that there is more than just one dimension to these characters. And the chemistry they have between each other should be commented on too: actors literally bounce off each other's lines with a spontaneous, improvised feel almost as if some of the lines are being delivered on the fly rather than being read off a piece of paper all of the time. Simply put, the adventures and the lives of these characters are a genuine joy to watch with graphics that only elevate this positive further.

The Uncharted series has always set the bar for visual grandeur and Drake's Deception does the unthinkable: it improves on a game that already looked perfect and, because of this, Naughty Dog have created a title that not only puts the PlayStation through its paces by squeezing the graphical capabilities of the console dry for the whole eight to ten hours the single player aspect takes, but proves that there really is no excuse as to why every game can't look this good. Oceans move and shift with unbelievable realism; sand clings to clothes and hair and flames light the walls with undeniable beauty. Hands scrape rocks as our hero passes by them; characters swat flies as they dart past in the midday heat and skin and bone manoeuvre themselves according to the devastating blows and kicks they receive. The incredible level of the visuals would make you assume that Uncharted 3 is style over substance: this is absolutely incorrect.

Gameplay is impeccably created, majestically crafted to have a perfect balance of shooting, climbing and solving puzzles, making it an experience that prides itself in variety. Naughty Dog has taken what they made in Among Thieves and has exploded it to a new level. Shooting is tight, responsive and fun and combining it with the platforming aspect that has always been a stand-out point to the series gives you a third person shooter with a verticality that most games lack. Instead of simply shifting from one point of cover to the next, players are given the options to ascend or descend, flanking enemies by scaling walls and then dropping down upon them from pipes suspended in the brickwork. Combined with the point that Drake's Deception can be a deceptively difficult shooter at times and you are given a plethora of ways to attempt certain rooms, always having a back-up plan should one not completely succeed.

Melee also plays a crucial role in Uncharted 3 and feels considerably fleshed out, and better, than it was in the first two instalments. In Drake's Fortune, it was more of an aspect to fall back on if an enemy got too close; in Among Thieves, players could ascend walls and drag guards through windows, giving the game a stealth-like feel. In Drake's Deception, hand-to-hand combat feels meatier which each punch and kick being accompanied with a deafening boom and the noise of cracking ribs exploding into your ears. Whilst it still consists of just a few buttons, players can now attack two enemies at a time, darting from one to the other in a fashion akin to what could be found in either of the recent Batman titles. Naughty Dog haven't made the combat more complicated, they've just taken what was already there and have simply made it better, a fact that is presented brilliantly in the incredible opening chapter set in a London bar, with tables crashing, glass shattering and stools being thrown across the room. It's a significant change of pace, starting off in such a small fashion, for a series that has always prided itself for being so big and so epic.

As for solving puzzles and climbing temple walls, Drake's Deception is certainly not a step back from something that was almost perfect in this department. Scaling rocks and jungle vines is easy to perform thanks to the simple control scheme created by Naughty Dog and is always a joy to watch. But the developers don't shy away from blending the different aspects of Uncharted 3 together: combat takes place with enemies above and below you whilst Drake hangs from a ledge. One particularly brilliant scene takes place in a ship graveyard, with water lapping up against cover. It's scenes like these that demonstrate the genius that sits in Naughty Dog's mind as for the whole length of the game they don't give up trying to amaze you and suck you in to this world: even in the title's final moments, your mouth is left agape as the developers throw the best moment in Uncharted history at you.

Branching off from what was first introduced in Among Thieves, Uncharted 3's online portion is satisfying, incredibly deep and ferociously addictive. Multiplayer favourites such as Team Deathmatch appear in Drake's Deception but game modes like Capture the Flag are given a fresh, Uncharted twist. Little tweaks here and there give the online a fresh feel, rather than it just seeming like a half-hearted feature just tagged along with the single player. What makes the multiplayer seem so brilliant is the all-new customisation feature, a section that gives Black Ops a serious run for its money: literally everyone and everything in Uncharted 3's online can be customised, whether it be character models, gun colours and attachments and even Boosters, Naughty Dog's take on Perks. There are still all the favourite Uncharted characters, like Nathan, Sully and others, to play as but creating a character that is completely new and original is just so satisfying then seeing it run alongside Drake or Elena brings a smile to your face. Whilst it may not be an online that will become religiously-played by millions out there, it's still a fun option to switch over to should you finish the single player or just want a go at something else for a while.

It's almost difficult to sum up Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: it's a game with so much perfection, so much brilliance and so much finesse that trying to compact it all together in a few closing sentences is nigh-on impossible. It's incredible, beautiful, addictive, challenging, exciting and, most of all, the most fun you can possibly have on Sony's console this Christmas and probably for the first few months of 2012. Whilst it may not be better than Among Thieves, Drake's Deception is still a seriously brilliant game with constant moments of jaw-dropping beauty and excitement. With a great story and a perfectly shocking plot twist about half way through, Uncharted 3 weaves a tale that few games even come close to matching. Then there's the surprisingly deep multiplayer option that will keep you playing for a long time to come. Drake's Deception is a game that reminds you how brilliant summer blockbuster movies can be, without the awful acting and the lame stories and, most importantly, it's a game that delivers in every aspect. Because of that, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is simply the best way to spend your money this Christmas.