Warning:Minor Spoilers



So I continued playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune last night for about an hour and I can still say without a doubt it's fucking awesome. As some of you may know, I've blogged about this game a few times before, each time giving my updated impressions as I get further into the game. I'm currently on Chapter 16 out of 19, so I'm almost done with it. To see my past impressions, click here and here.

Now, straight into it. The game has recently taken some surprising twists and turns storywise, although the gameplay generally remains the same. I am encountering more puzzles than earlier and the overall difficulty of said puzzles has been kicked up a notch. They still aren't very hard, but this is fine by me. I like simple and intuitive puzzles in my game, and at the very least they're better than those terrible fetch quest type puzzles so many games still use, for whatever reason. The answers are always right there in front of you and the game never frustrates me a lot. Hopefully this will continue on to the end of the game.

Another thing that's changed quite a bit over the course of the game are the environments, and with them the overall tone of the game. Things have gotten a bit darker and are getting a bit bleak compared to the care free mood of the beginning. Lots more caves and tombs to explore and of course more excellent platforming. I find that the platforming is far more enjoyable than say Assassin's Creed. Your actions have consequences and it's not quite as simple as pressing A and then climbing. A ledge may crumble or you may even have trouble seeing where you're supposed to jump. Also, unlike many of today's games you can actually fall off a ledge just by walking off. Most games today grab the ledge for you, and Uncharted does this sometimes also, but occassionally you'll just walk right the fuck off and die. Reminds me of old-school games like Pitfall or something like that.

Now we get to the part about Survival Horror. Combat has remained mostly the same the whole game and this is fine by me. But Naughty Dog is obviously not content to keep recycling the same shit, so they surprised me a lot today with something really cool:

Monsters. Yes, there are some kind of monsters in this game. I honestly had no idea it was coming and I'm very pleased it did. Unlike the regular human enemies you'll encounter, these guys are a bit faster and they enjoy lunging right at you. Also, it only takes one or two direct hits to kill your ass, so you've got to have a steady aim. They don't require tons of bullets and shit, but they are a little harder to deal with, especially in light of the environment you'll meet them in. Also, I finally found a good use for the Shotgun. When fighting humans it's best to stick to long range guns and keep cover. But for these guys a shotgun to the face is easily the best option. Unfortunately I found myself with nothing but my handgun and an old Nazi gun after a while and things got a bit tough. Yes, there are Nazi references here. Anyway, at one point I found myself alone walking through dark corridors with just my flashlight. As you'd expect, monsters will pop out and try to kill you. It's actually a bit frightening at first and it even made me panic a bit, like I was playing Resident Evil 4 or something. Of course, the awesome graphics and lighting effects help to make this encounter even better. Your flashlight only works as well as it would in real life, so you'll still be surrounded in darkness. Very cool shit. Any game that makes me feel like I'm playing RE4 for even a few minutes is a game for me.

So, all in all I'm still having a great time with the game. I plan on beating it tonight or tommorow hopefully, but I also started playing Super Mario Galaxy just to try it out and I kind of got hooked. But you can be sure that whenever I do complete Uncharted you'll find a review here on my blog.

Until then, all I can say is this: If you have a PS3, buy this. If you don't have a PS3, consider investing in one for this game. It's just that good.