Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
Gears of Persia If you read any number of previews of Uncharted, you probably noticed a certain pattern in them. Save for perhaps one or two, they all kept comparing the game with both Prince of Persia (the new trilogy) and Gears of War. Now, forgive me for being sceptical, but picturing a mix of the two was like picturing a cross-breed between giraffe and a hippopotamus (in other words: probably doable, but highly unlikely to result in something decent). And as I started playing the game I still had my doubts. But before I either confirm or deny if my doubts were well founded, let's take a look at both gameplay aspects to see if either works on their own. Since the game starts with this huge marine battle I thought I'd touch on the strategy aspect first. Nah, just kidding. The game's opening scene is actually Nate trying to fend of hordes of approaching enemies as he and Elena try to keep their boat afloat. At first the game looks like a straight up shooter, but it doesn't take more than a couple of bullets (and I mean that quite literally) to realize Nate isn't nearly as rugged as he looks. So, either by following your gut instinct or reading one of the tutorial messages that pop on the screen constantly (even in the second half of the game!), you'll quickly start hiding behind cover. Door frames, boxes, crumbling walls, almost any object you see can be used as cover. I wouldn't recommend crouching behind barrels (which are all filled with flammable materials according to this game) as they tend to blow the hell up of everything in a 10 foot radius, but as for the rest of the objects, all is fair game. Once your behind is safely hidden behind something solid, it is time to pull out one of your two weapons. Yes, you can only carry two weapons with you at any given type. As usual this means one concealable weapons (you know, pistols, UZIs, the like) and one rather hard to hide away weapon like a shotgun or an AK47. So let's say you are under fire by a large group of enemies (believe me, a very common situation in Uncharted), but they are all still considerably far away. Using an automatic weapon would hardly be effective in a situation like this, so the pistol will probably get some usage. Popping the left shoulder button you rise from cover and aim down the sights of your sidearm. If you, at this exact moment, put some heavy armor on Nathan, replaced the incoming mercenaries with Locust aliens and exchanged the green jungle surroundings with an post-apocalyptic city, you'd be playing Gears of War. That is, with two noticeable differences. One is the ability to switch shoulders, or in other words to tilt the reticule to the other side of the player's character, letting you perhaps get a shot at somebody hiding behind a pillar. The other difference, and this is the real kicker, is that Nate rarely has much ammo at his disposal. If he's lucky he’ll have 20 or so pistol bullets and perhaps 30 machine gun rounds on him.  That wouldn't be so much of a problem if the mercenaries he had to put down weren't such hulks. It often takes 4-5 bullets to take down a single enemy, and unless your aim is perfect (and sometimes not even then) and you manage to send a bullet straight into the head of the villains, you'll often run out of bullets long before all of the enemies have been dealt with. So where does that leave you? Usually running out of your cover, dodging bullet fire on the way and trying to get to the nearest body to pick up a magazine or two worth of ammo. Should you stumble directly into the face of one of your adversaries and the situation is quiet enough (meaning there are only one or two shooters still working at getting you killed) you can try taking him down with your fists. I've played many a game, but never before were the fights in them so real. The way Nathan fights is as close games have ever come to imitating the way movie action heroes fight. If he's coming at an enemy from behind he’ll just jump on him (looks hilarious if you aren’t expecting it) and try to strangle him. Coming from up front is even better. If no object is behind him, the thing will usually be just a straight up brawl (especially if you try to perform combos which are almost impossible to time right and leave you vulnerable for counterattacks), with low punches being traded like there is no tomorrow. Put a box or wall behind the guy however, and Nate will dynamically push him against it and use it as leverage in the fight. I know this doesn't sound like much, and you'll perhaps fight a maximum of 10 or 20 enemies like this, but the attention to detail is just amazing.
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