Intro:
Sooooo, my most divisive review internally, and externally, it had the biggest case of Dissociative Identity Disorder a review could have when it came to the verdict.
But now I've finally come to a decision. And this time, the final verdict is, well, final.
Basic Plot:
Before Naughty Dog really hit the keystrokes of a masterpiece in The Last of Us, there was Uncharted. More specifically, Uncharted 3. The synopsis as follows:
Nathanial Samuel King Fisher Martin Kenzie Bob Drake III, or as the game refers to him, Nathan Drake, goes on an epic adventure to span a lifetime. Or several, based on the way he narrowly avoids death numerous times.
Anyways, in the third instalment of the Uncharted franchise, Nate sets off on a journey to find the last city of Ubar, known as the "Atlantis of the Sands", famously documented by T.E. Lawrence.
....And I will say no further. Maximum enjoyment of the game depends on no spoilers in the least bit. Let's just say that you're in for the best adventure since Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Dang, I want to watch that movie again.....)
How it Works:
Players control the main character from a third-person (over the shoulder) perspective.
Shooting plays a big part in the game: You point the gun using one button on the controller and shoot the actual gun by using another button. You can also throw grenades, and toss back grenades thrown by the enemy by pushing a button at the right time.
Hand-to-hand combat is featured, in which players rapidly mash buttons to knock out foes, dodge punches, and unleash counter-attacks.
Climbing and exploration plays a substantial part in the game. Your player jumps from platform to platform and traverses many obstacles.
Last but not least, the game features a multiplayer and cooperative components, in which players compete and work with other players, and where the aforementioned gameplay elements play huge parts.
Release Date: November 2011.
Developer: Naughty Dog.
Publisher: Sony.
Platforms: PlayStation 3.
Genre: Third-Person Adventure Game.
Reviewed By: Kyle van Rensburg.
Areas of Concern:
Violence:
Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Offensive
In retrospect, while this game may be a tad bit excessive for its T-rating, there's nothing here you haven't seen in your average PG-13 movie. But then again, we don't judge by comparison, we judge a game on its own merits:
--Enemies can be shot; when this happens, blood sprays and cries of pain are depicted.
--Enemies can be punched, kicked, and headbutted; they grunt in pain as this happens. They can also be smacked by or into objects. (Being slapped by a giant fish is quite an amusing way to die.)
--You can take out enemies up close by snapping necks with a crack being hear, or your character will choke them instead; the enemy flails around for a bit, and then falls over.
Your character can also grab them from behind, give them an elbow to the throat, and then drop them. He can also jump from a height onto them, knocking them unconscious.
--Enemies can be blown up with explosives; when this happens, they collapse dead or are sent flying. No dismemberment occurs. Your character sometimes also pulls the pin on an enemy's grenade, kicks him back, and then he blows up; no dismemberment.
Storyline Violence:
--A man is grabbed by a larger man; he is scraped along the table, hitting beer glasses along the way, and he is thrown through a window, onto a table below. He survives.
-A man is smacked by the cover of a toilet; his face contorts, and he collapses over onto the toilet, and his head falls inside of it.
--There are a few severed heads seen in jars, in the background. They appear to be old and fossilized.
--A man is swarmed by spiders; he screams briefly, and collapses dead.
--There are several sequences where explosions go off, strewing wreckage everywhere. In one section, a boat is overturned and the carnage is depicted in detail. Later on, a plane is torn apart, with explosions being shown.
-A whole city is seen falling apart, with buildings falling over and a lot of carnage being seen. This goes on for quite a while.
--A man is shot, with a large blood spot forming on the back and front of his shirt. He dies quickly.
A man is suddenly grabbed and thrown down into a pit.
An enemy falls into quicksand. Eventually, the enemy drowns in it, while screaming, going under, and then you hear no more screaming.
Your character and an enemy fall onto a platform. The enemy fights you with a knife; when you are cut, your character cringes in pain.
A man tries to slit the throat of another man. The other man bites his wrist.
A man tries to stab a man. He is shot in the shoulder, with blood spraying.
A man kicks another man over, and holds a rock to throw it on his head. Another man shoots him, he stands still for a while, and then tumbles over and falls into sand off-screen.
Sex/Nudity:
Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Offensive
A man pats down another man to see if he has weapons. The man being pat down remarks: "You enjoying yourself, pal?"
A condom machine can be seen on the wall in a bathroom.
A man tells a boy he's going to call the police if he doesn't give back his wallet. The boy says that the police will be more interested in why a middle-aged tourist is following boys around.
A man talks about following crooks back to their 'hole'. Another man replies that he makes everything sound dirty.
The man later on says something about "a bird in the hand". The other guy points out it sounds dirty again.
One piece of banter people might not understand: A man says he's about to shoot a lock on a door. Another man says to make sure it's the only thing he shoots off. The previous man remarks: "I said 'Lock'! "
A man holds another man's ring. The other man jokes that the man is proposing to him. (He is not.)
Language:
Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Offensive
Uses of S**t, with it's variations, (Bulls**t.) P**s, Bl***y, A*s, C**p, D**n, H**l, D**k, B*ll***s, B**ls, B***ard,
God and Jesus' name are used in vain.
Drugs/Alcohol/Smoking:
Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Offensive
Some people are seen smoking.
A scene takes place in a bar, with a few people taking sips of alcohol. Other times, some bottles of liquor can be seen.
Spiritual Content:
Mild Moderate Heavy Very Heavy Extreme Offensive
--A historical figure is mentioned to have been "seriously into the occult". This is true, the man they mentioned was an occultist. The game shows a symbol; a double triangle, symbolic for 'as above, so below."
The historical figure is John Dee.
-It shows another symbol, in an alchemist's lab; It looks like a hexagram, but it has more points. It is seen on a table, maybe an altar.
A man interprets a saying about an underworld to mean that a man conjured up spirits on the aforementioned altar. Another man corrects him, saying that it means there is a secret passage underneath.
--A group called the Secret Occult British Service, or something like that, is mentioned briefly. They actually don't play a role in the storyline, even if the villains are rumored to be part of the secret society.
--They also mention the double triangle symbol, with a quote that translates to: "As above, so below." The double triangle is seen again, on a building.
The double triangle is used to symbolise "as above, so below" but it is the wrong symbol. Another symbol is symbolic for it.
The symbol they ACTUALLY use is this one:
It is not symbolic for 'as above, so below'. It is in fact used to 'channel psychic energy', and 'connect the mind to the infinite universal plane.'
The developers really made a mistake if they thought this was for "As above, so below", but the symbols are similar, so it was just a mistake.
Maybe.
--A man tells a story of King Solomon banishing the Djinn, (Known as Genies, for those of you used to Disney.) into a city, and it is cursed because of it. This is a Muslim belief.
Later on, when you kill enemies, flames burst out of their faces, they teleport around, growling ,and continue fighting you, so they become the Djinn and it's all demonic and stuff, right?
*Spoilers*
Turns out, it was all a hallucination. There are no Djinn. The people were just tripping on some chemical found in the water.
*End Spoilers*
Creepy Stuff:
--A swarm of spiders chase you. Enough said!
-The aforementioned Djinn scream and growl at you, so they are a tad bit unsettling.
Morality:
Abysmal Bad So-so Okay Good Very Good
Your character is a thief. No question about that. He steals treasures and the like to aid him on his quest.
He also kills a ton of enemies, but it's mostly in self defense.
It's a so-so for the morality.
Review of Game:
Well, somebody did gift me this game, (Sony via their awesome PS Plus service), so I decided that a Remix Review was in order. So, does Uncharted 3 hold up to the insane amount of praise which was heaped on it back in 2011?
The answer, in short, is no, not exactly.
Overview:
"No? Kyle, how can you say that! This game is amazing!" Yes, it is. Almost. Several things hold the game back from achieving that:
First, and foremost, the story. I've particularly got a bone to pick with the story.
Its paced horridly, with the first few hours focusing on build-up, and introducing Charlie Cutter, easily my favourite character. And then later on, guess what? HE'S OUT OF THE STORY. No spoilers or anything, but lets just say that it was a huge anti-climax.
Plus, the story is cliche Hollywood blockbuster stuff. A well produced Hollywood blockbuster stuff, but still a big dumb action "game" at it's core. And that's actually fine, if it weren't for the pacing.
Only the second half of the game is really worth playing, and that's the game you're here for. Having not played any Uncharted game besides 3, I can't compare it to the rest in the series, but even in watching the Let's Plays of 1 & 2, it's fairly obvious that they have much better pacing.
Secondly, the aiming is terrible. And it's actually okay if they were going for a realistic survival game, but be honest: Uncharted 3 features a man overcoming countless catastrophic events with superhuman strength, but yet the aiming's gotta be realistic, right? No, sir, no.
Thirdly, *SPOILERS* it features your standard happy ending. All's fine and dandy, the hero gets the girl and they all walk away from the bloodbath they went through. The End. *END SPOILERS*
Fourthly, and lastly, what's up with Nathan Drake being so reluctant to kill people? He massacres literally hundreds of people during the course of the game, so why would this guy suddenly get cold feet in those cutscenes? (Which I actually had to download separately. Interesting.....)
But, at the risk of contradicting myself, the game is really not bad. It's fun, it's gleefully over-the-top, and filled with warm characters. So basically what I'm saying is: Ignore what the previous paragraphs said. This game is awesome! (Well, very good, at least.)
And just to illustrate that, let's talk about the good things for a change:
 |
| The Shipyard sequence is a particular stand-out. |
Gameplay: Uncharted 3's gameplay is a load of fun. In fact, as I said earlier, it's the best adventure since Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The gameplay is a mixture of shooting and climbing, but there's where my biggest gripe with the game and the Uncharted series as a whole comes in: (I know, I already listed the negatives, but just hang in there!) It's supposed to be an adventure game, but yet you massacre countless amounts of mooks on your way to the fabled treasure.
I would have wanted combat to play a much smaller role in the game and a bigger focus to be placed on adventure and exploration, but oh well. The game is still good at what it is: An Action Adventure game devoid of any realism whatsoever.
And sometimes, you need just that.
AudioVisual: Nolan North (the voice actor of Nathan Drake) turns in another stellar performance here, along with the rest of the cast.
The visual fidelity is spectacular, but the biggest problem is that it's made for 720p TVs and we have a 1080p TV.
For less technology orientated people: That means the game was made at a smaller size than the "Full HD" TVs, so it's a bit too small for the screen and doesn't achieve the detail it needs.
But small gripes aside, this is one of the best looking games on the PlayStation 3.
Story: Well, I've already spoken about the bulk of the story's problems, so let's speak about the good side: The story is very gripping, in spite of it's clichedness. It features a wonderful cast of characters, and it provides a look into the relationship between Nathan Drake and his mentor Sully, which should please fans of the series.
Quality Conclusion: Uncharted 3 is definitely worth your time. Not as strong as Naughty Dog's big hit The Last of Us, but very good on its own merits.
Just a bit of patience is required during the first half of the game as it takes a while to get going. After that, it really takes off.
Quality Verdict: Great (B+)
Conclusion:
I already changed the verdict once in this review, so in keeping with tradition, Uncharted 3 will have another verdict change: Mature Gamers Only.
Let me explain: When I first reviewed this, we were embroiled in a ministry full of legalism. And now that we're out of it, we can finally breathe again and make our own decisions.
But anyway, let's conclude: Uncharted 3 features standard action movie esque violence, moderate language, and some spiritual references, which was what led me to giving the game a Not Recommended in the first place.
After actually playing the game, and thinking about it, I decided that it's not such a big deal after all. The spiritual stuff turns out to be fake, surprisingly, even though this may still alarm some of my readers, who may believe that these things are real.
Which they are, but on the flipside, this is a video game. Video games contain fictional depictions of demons, and don't actually feature the demons themselves.
As always, this is still your own decision. I hope that this ReMix gave you deeper insight into the game, and I implore you to have another read-through just to let all the content sink in.
Uncharted 3 gets a:
Verdict: 16+
Outro:
And there you go again! I hope the review was useful. Any long time readers? Tell me what you thought about the ReMix!
See you guys next week!
What do you think of the game? Do you think it goes too far with the supernatural references?
