The only mainline Uncharted game I hadn't played until recently!

I can see why it's a divisive entry. The plot is kind of a mess and some of the combat sequences near the end of the game severely overstay their welcome.

But man, it is STILL so breathtaking to play through some of these sequences. Escaping the burning mansion, the sinking ship, the plane crash, and the horseback chase sequence are all stunning moments that perfectly showcase what makes Uncharted special and still worth playing all these years later.

Also, everything with Sully is genuinely touching and is almost the sole reason this chapter in the story matters.

GodDAMN these games slap. I’m fairly certain I like this more than Uncharted 2. The story in Drake's Deception is far better than the first two games, it's not even close. This introduces far more depth to each character, and heavily questions the motive of Drake's relentless pursuit of treasure (sounds like another more recent Naughty Dog game, I can't remember the name though lol). The writing does feel a little bit retconny at times since there’s depth here that wasn’t really there much before, but it’s a worthy trade off. The story arc is basically the same as the past two games, but I think it works best here.

Drake’s Deception isn’t quite as consistently over the top as Among Thieves, but the superior writing in the former makes up for it. The first third to half of this is definitely slower when comparing it to Among Thieves, but the second half picks up big time, and it’s super badass.

Now on to Uncharted 4, which I’m super excited about. From everything I’ve heard about it I think it’s gonna blow me away.

A classic example of an old dictum: trying to recapture lightning in a bottle is a fool's errand that only results in a less inspired piece of art. Fresh off the success of Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog clearly took a long look at their template for that game and came away with a series of pretty juvenile conclusions. Bigger set pieces, more exotic locales, more shooting - that was the way forward to even more triumphant success.

The problem is that they neglected a lot of the stuff that actually made the second game stand out - namely, the spot-on pacing (torpedoed here by a bloated opening act that features extended visits to not one, but two mostly extraneous locations to collect some pointless MacGuffins) and punchy banter that made it feel like you were starring in a modern-day Flash Gordon serial (still here, though less consistently; I personally could have done without the entire flashback subplot where Sully deals with Nate's daddy abandonment issues).

What results is a game whose primary sin is being eminently forgettable. It's not a gameplay issue. The act of playing this is largely similar to any other Uncharted - the bland and tiresome combat is counterbalanced with puzzles that are usually fine but are also rather repetitive. But the actual problem is that the real things that drive people play these games feel so thoroughly uninspired. There are a few exciting bits, a few wisecracks that may make provoke a chuckle or two. But there's absolutely nothing here that didn't immediately leave my brain always and forever as soon as the credits rolled. I enjoy my frivolous diversions just as much as the next person. But empty calories have rarely felt any emptier.

Uncharted 3 is basically just a worse version of uncharted 2. While Uncharted 3 has more setpieces and more spectacle than 2, it came at the cost of the quality of the story. The story in Uncharted has never been anything to write home about but it was decent enough to get invested in thanks to the characters, but this game just feels so thoroughly confused that it's hard to get invested. Halfway through the game the story literally pivots and half of the characters (who were honestly pretty interesting to watch interact with each other) leave.

For being the 3rd game in the series on the same console one would hope that this game would be the one to create some changes to the core structure and maybe try to get more interactivity and reinvent the cinematic game once again, Uncharted 3 doesn't do any of this, which would be okay if it at least felt like a genuine improvement over uncharted 2 in some way.

While I have been taking a long dig at this game I will say I still like parts of it, the setpieces are all fun to go through, and the characters are still fun to watch in the short time they have. Thanks to all this I still find this a more enjoyable experience over Uncharted 1. Overall a pretty okay game that still has its fun.

Uncharted 3 is a game that proves the Uncharted formula doesn’t need too much changing to still be effective. The game does very little to innovate from Uncharted 2, and yet it still manages to be a great game largely due to its larger focus on incredible set pieces that are a blast to play through. The story does feel like a step down from the previous game, but the action is able to keep the player engaged throughout the game’s roughly 10 hour runtime.

Story and Characters
-Uncharted 3 follows the same story formula as Uncharted 2, but perhaps not quite as effectively. The game follows Nathan and various side characters as they try to track down another lost city using clues found from journals and puzzles scattered throughout the world. The adventure is definitely there and there are moments that feel straight out of an Indiana Jones movie and yet there was still something a bit off with the story. The pacing feels a bit strange at times and certain story beats feel overly convenient and a bit too far fetched. It never goes too far into unbelievable territory, but the narrative overall feels off. For example, without giving anything away, there is a middle section in the game when a group of pirates is introduced and Nathan ends up fighting his way through dozens of enemies. The gameplay here is quite good and the set pieces are memorable, but narratively, the whole section is genuinely unnecessary and nothing would be lost if it was removed. It definitely feels that the story was written around the set pieces instead of the other way around. Luckily, this isn’t a major issue because of how good those set pieces are, but it does make the narrative feel a bit weaker than the previous game.
-The highlight of the game’s story and characters is once again the relationship between Nathan Drake and the other people who tag along on his adventure. Sully and Nathan get far more screen time together in this game and the game is far better for it. We get more backstory into how they first met through a series of flashbacks and I really enjoyed getting more development for both of those characters. Other side characters like Elena and Chloe return, although neither of them are in the game for very long. In the instance of Chloe, it seems she abandons the mission because she feels it is too dangerous, but this feels a bit contrary to who she is as a character as established in the previous game. Charlie Cutter is another side character who is in the game and he is fun to interact with, although like Chloe and Elena, he is not in the game for very long.
-The villains of the game, Katherine Marlowe and her right hand man Talbot, are both rather bland and underdeveloped. It is unclear exactly why Marlowe is so desperate to go after this treasure and when it is revealed, it makes even less sense. While the villains in Uncharted 2 weren’t the best written characters either, I do feel that Lazarevic was at least a bit more threatening and his reasoning made more sense than the villains in this game. Too often, the villains let the good guys escape when they should just shoot them and while that is a classic trope for action movies/video games, it happens a bit too much here.
-I also feel there was a bit too much story missing from the second game to this one. There is a part in the story where it is clear that things happened between Nathan and Elena after the credits rolled on the second game, and yet it is left rather vague. I would have liked to see more explanation as to what had happened in between games.

Gameplay
-The gameplay in Uncharted 3 is largely unchanged from the second game, but there are a few new additions like new weapons, revamped melee combat and the ability to throw back grenades.
-The puzzles in the game are still not super challenging, but there are a couple that are pretty cool.
-The set pieces in the game are an absolute standout. From escaping a burning building, to falling out of an airplane or escaping a sinking cruise ship, the action in the game is awesome and it keeps the game constantly engaging.
-A downside to the game is that the gunplay feels off and a bit worse than it did in the second game. While there are lots of new guns to use, the guns feel less satisfying largely due to the lack of enemy feedback when they are being shot.
-This is also a very subjective thing, but there are several points in the game where a hallucinogenic drug is used on Nate and you have to navigate the world while being drugged. I have never really liked these kinds of sequences in video games as it can be a bit annoying when the screen is trying to show that you are tripping so everything is just moving and shaking around.

Side Content
-The same as Uncharted 2, the side content is basically non-existent with the exception of collecting treasures that are hidden throughout the various levels.

World/Level Design
-The levels in the game remain very impressive with fun levels in an old museum, Cartagena, a French castle, a cruise ship and the Rub' al Khali desert. All the levels look great and are fun to walk around in.

Graphics, Sound, Music and Glitches
-The graphics are largely the same quality as the second game with some improvements to things like explosions and dust and smoke in the environment. Unfortunately, some of the face models look worse than they did in the previous game, especially with Chloe, who almost looks like a different person. The motion capture still looks really good however and all the animations feel very smooth.
-The sound design remains great as the sound of guns and explosions feels visceral and exciting.
-The music is also great and the game does a good job using tracks that match the locations of the story and the frenzy of what is happening on screen.
-I did not encounter any glitches in my playthrough.

Main Positives of the Game
-Seeing more backstory and more banter between Nathan and Sully is great and I am glad the game focused more on their relationship. The other side characters are also good in the game and Cutter was a nice addition to the cast.
-The set pieces are truly awesome and make you feel like you are playing through an action movie. The level design is really unique and allows all the action sequences to feel different from one another.
-The environments look great and the game goes to a large amount of locations which was a lot of fun.
-Another great soundtrack which at this point, is just a given for a Naughty Dog game.
-Melee combat is more fun with the addition of the grapple and ability to grab and throw people.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The story and villains feel like they were less developed than the previous game and at times, feel too similar at the same time. I don’t think the story is bad by any means, but it is too full of weird plot conveniences and random diverges from what should have been the story focus.
-The gunplay feels worse than Uncharted 2 and a big part of that is because the enemies don’t react as much to being shot. It makes everyone feel a bit more bullet spongey than they should be.
-Some downgrades in facial models make the characters look not quite as good as they did in the second game.

Overall Score: 8/10