I started playing Uncharted after I got the first game free with a PS3 purchase, so you can tell how long it had been out by the time I started. Playing it I found the game to be fun but frustrating, I loved climbing around, jumping from place to place, the graphics were some of the best I’d ever seen, creating this lush, rich environment and the characters were well-rounded and likeable. The problem was the combat, the gun controls were awful, spreading bullets in every direction except at the targets, the targets themselves outnumbered me in ridiculous numbers and hid in that same lush environment I had previously praised. I liked the game but it wasn’t enjoyable enough to pick up again straight away.
A while later I saw Uncharted 2 on sale, I was never planning on buying this given my experience with the first game but I heard this was better so I figured why not? And after playing it I had the exact same opinion I had with the first game. The characters were incredible, all of them just as good as before if not better, the graphics and environments were second to none, all of them gorgeous from the snowy mountains to the wet sewers. The increased cinematic scope did make me like this game a lot more than the first, the sheer scale of everything going on around me managed to wow me at certain moments and believe I was in my own action film. But then we come to the 2 foot thorn in the otherwise delicious apple. The combat was ridiculous, I got swamped by enemies a stupid amount of times, there were times where I got killed trying to get to cover, the guns were still spraying in god knows what direction. It just made for a frustrating and annoying game.
Despite this problems, I enjoyed Uncharted 2 enough to check out the third and so far final entry, Uncharted 3. Having just finished the game in the past twenty minutes I can tell you my thoughts on the game straightaway.
I’ll give you three guesses what I thought.
Yep, gorgeous but difficult. Like a Victoria Secret Model who’s stubborn as a mule, Uncharted 3 was a game I admired and hated in equal measure. Like the last game the cinematic scope took my breath away, there were times where I could felt the heat of the desert sun I was so engrossed in the game. And that heat turned to boiling rage whenever I got surrounded by enemies, everyone of them with perfect aim, shooting the hell out of me and me running around like a headless chicken. I yelled out my despise for this game more than once during my play through.
I want to make it clear, I don’t actually hate these games, I think they are well-made, I think they are gorgeous to look at, I think the characters are some of the best written and performed of all-time. But hat stupid combat control ruins all three games for me, so much so that I don’t know how long it’ll be before I pick these games up again.
And that’s a damn shame because playing all of them there are moments of brilliance in each one, using the third one as an example there were scenes in this that even the best action blockbuster wished they could have, the sinking ship and the crashing plane were two highlights that I loved immensely. But in order for me to get to those moments again I need to drag my way through the terrible combat, I hate making such a big deal out of this but the combat is over half the gameplay and while the scope and graphics can make up for a lot they don’t make the game as enjoyable as it should be.
If you like the game, I won’t try to convince you otherwise, but to me I do not understand why these games are as popular as they are, they’re good games and at times they can be fun but no way do they deserve all those perfect scores, pretty graphics are good but the enjoyment runs out quickly to be replaced with an anger level so high it’s off the charts.
