Uncharted: Golden Abyss Review

SCE Bend Studio has a lot to live up to with Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Not only must they follow in the footsteps of Naughty Dog and strive to maintain the high quality established by their predecessors but they must also face the challenge of bringing the series to a brand new platform as a leading launch title.

In this prequel to the Uncharted series, treasure hunter Nathan Drake is hired by old friend Jason Dante to help investigate a dig site in Panama. This leads to mystery and adventure involving a poisoned Spanish expedition, a secretive underground religious order, a crazed Panamanian General, hundreds of goons, a boat load of treasure and a pretty girl – all classic Uncharted stuff.

Veteran voice actor Nolan North reprises his role as Drake and is joined by friends both old and new. As is typical of the Uncharted series the voice acting and script is top quality and there is a real sense of chemistry between the actors as they talk, joke and narrowly avoid death together.

The new characters themselves are not the most original sorts by any standards; big bad General Guerro is your typical Latin American dictator-type, who rules his men through fear and respect; old pal Jason Dante is a sly and untrustworthy hustler, who leaves you constantly guessing whose side he is really on; Marissa Chase fills the role of the potential love interest, a strong independent woman who nevertheless needs Drake to save her on more than one occasion.

Despite the fact that each character fills a fairly routine stereotype the individual qualities that each voice actor brings to their role along with punchy and well written dialog means that they do not come across as two-dimensional, rather each fills their role perfectly and allows the story to shine through.

The plot itself works well and is fairly standard Uncharted fare – which is by no means a bad thing. Beginning with the discovery of the 400 year old remains of an ill-fated Spanish expedition the plot twists and turns from there. Each discovery opens up a new mystery and the promise of great treasure and further adventure serves to propel the player ever onwards. Like the previous games, progress in Golden Abyss is broken into chapters and movement through these chapters is quick enough to give a good sense of pace and achievement and keep the player interested in the narrative.

The combination of platform action and third person gunplay in the Uncharted series is the perfect mix to demonstrate the capabilities of the Vita's twin stick control layout and for the most part it does not disappoint. The combat sequences in Golden Abyss are as exciting and action packed as ever and the climbing and platforming is tight and precise.

Gunplay is as fun as in any of the previous entries in the series, with Drake snapping neatly into cover and utilising a wide range of weapons such as pistols, shotguns, assault rifles and the occasional heavy weapon. Your enemies keep you on your toes as they run between cover points and attempt to flush you out of your own with grenades, concentrated fire and attempted flanking manoeuvres.

The platforming sections remain both challenging and varied and see Drake climbing sheer cliff faces, crossing rickety rope bridges, escaping burning buildings and leaping across gaping chasms among other things. Sometimes this is at your own pace and at other times you have the added pressure of gun toting enemies or environment dangers forcing you to move quickly.

Further action scenes are added to change the pace and include controlling Drake as he is swept down a fast moving river, some fast paced chase sequences and a nice, relaxing canoe ride (with added gunfire and a grenade launcher).

Graphically the game is incredibly impressive and a real showcase of the power of Sony's new handheld console. The graphics themselves are not far from what the PlayStation 3 can handle and are clear and easy to view on the Vita's large screen. The action gets quite intense at points, yet Golden Abyss manages to keep a consistently smooth and playable frame rate throughout which is testament to both the power of the new hardware and to the sophisticated game engine.

Golden Abyss offers a healthy number of trophies to earn for those players who enjoy the extra challenge that chasing such achievements brings. While there is the usual fare of collectables and 'kill x number of enemies with x' trophies on offer here, the trophies unlocked by completing 'mysteries' are an interesting addition.

Completing a mystery involves collecting several related items dotted around the game (such as an old archaeologist's tools and accessories), completing jigsaw style puzzles with torn documents and taking photographs of key objects and locations. For each piece of the mystery you find you get a small snippet of background information, usually in a voice over from Drake himself. This makes these mysteries stand out from your usual collectables as each part found provides you with some background information on people, places and history that would otherwise not be discovered through the main story.

Bend Studio is an in-house Sony developer and with Golden Abyss being a launch day title for the PS Vita it was inevitable that this title would seek to explore and exploit the new features of the handheld system, including both the main touch screen and the touch sensitive panel on the back. Unfortunately, these experiments meet with mixed results.

Climbing is handled surprisingly well using the touchscreen. When scaling walls, ropes or jumping from ledge to ledge you can paint a path with your finger which Drake will then follow. In practice this works very well and is an intuitive approach and a good example of the potential of touch screen technology in a game of this nature. Should the player not wish to use the touch screen controls exclusively, or at all, this feature can be ignored and you can instead revert to using the analog stick and face buttons.

Unfortunately this excellent example of touchscreen technology bringing something positive to the game is overshadowed by some examples where the implementation is not smooth. When in hand-to-hand combat and when cutting down bamboo with a machete you must drag a finger across the screen in a certain direction or pattern when prompted. Regardless of the touch screen technology involved this is essentially boils down to just another form of quick time event.

QTEs themselves are not new in gaming and do not enjoy universal popularity. In addition, these touch screen QTEs are basic enough to lack any real challenge and serve only to slow the otherwise pleasing fast pace of the game down. When in close combat the game moves into slow motion to allow the player to leisurely drag their finger across the screen and when cutting bamboo Drake will patiently stand there doing absolutely nothing for several seconds until the player finishes inputting the motions.

Another use of the new technology is introduced in charcoal rubbings and clue cleaning. In these events you take the rubbings or clean the dirt from clues by rubbing your finger over the touchscreen and also, in the case of clue cleaning, rotating objects using the back panel. The technology works quite well in these examples – although rotating the objects can be quite fiddly – but in the end they only really serve as an unwelcome distraction. Cleaning the dirt from an old trowel is all well and good but most players would rather be engaging in an exciting gunfight or some precarious platforming. Worse still, these activities and the QTEs do not provide for the use of alternative controls like those allowed in wall and rope climbing.

While these sections do detract somewhat from the overall experience there is still plenty enough shooting, running, jumping, climbing and witty banter to keep any Uncharted fan happy and impressed with the latest offering.

Despite the poorly handled touch controls introduced in the game and the fact it does not take any significant steps forward from previous entries there is no doubt that Uncharted: Golden Abyss is a worthy entry in the Uncharted series. Not only has Bend Studio crafted an extremely enjoyable gaming experience but they have successfully demonstrated the potential of the Vita as a platform for great gaming.