Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Greatest Hits - Grands succès

Part I: Introduction & Overview

When Sony first launched the Playstation 3, there were a number of key factors that prevented it from performing well upon launch. Most obviously was the incredibly high price point, which alienated potential consumers and even those who were previously brand-loyal. Naughty Dog had previously been working on a new Jak & Daxter title but were running into problems when they drafted a new IP, and Sony needed a property with wide appeal that would help bring consumers in; enter Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

The premise of Uncharted is fairly straightforward one. You are Nathan Drake, a multi-talented treasure hunter on the hunt for mythical artifacts. This sounds a lot like Indiana Jones, but Drake leans a bit more heavily toward being a pirate than a proper archaeologist. There's a lot more shooting, and the people you're shooting at are more or less in the treasure business for the same reasons Drake is. Aside from Indiana Jones, other notably influences include the Tomb Raider series, as well as Ico, Gears of War and Metal Gear, amongst others.

Part II: Gameplay, Narrative, Setting & Design

Gameplay

The gameplay is quite straightforward, and can be divided into two main parts. The first part is what Naughty Dog termed "traversal": a combination of running, jumping and climbing. It's influenced by more traditional 3D platforming, but also deviates quite strongly. There's a very large emphasis on climbing around using ledges on walls, swinging on vines, climbing up ropes or chains, etc. These parts are extremely linear, and offer no variation. They can be entertaining, however, and in Uncharted sometimes finding where to go and begin climbing can be one of the biggest challenges. The actual act of climbing is more focused on displaying the beautiful rendering of the game and showing off the various gorgeous locales Drake is traversing than on being a gameplay challenge, although you do have to actually make jumps, and grips and ledges are liable to collapse, so timing can be important.

The purpose of these traversal elements is less skill-based and more that of illusion. With the exception of the vines to swing from, ledges that crumble and jumps made while running, the majority of the actual climbing just amounts to aiming the directional stick and pressing the jump button. On one hand this removes and separates ludic elements (genuine climbing mechanics, or at least more open ones) from the illusion of gameplay, but on the other hand this gives the writers greater freedom to quickly and efficiently cover much larger expanses. It's a trade off, and I would hesitate to say that there is necessarily a right or wrong choice, although others may disagree. Ultimately the path that Naughty Dog chose was to value the narrative as much as possible and to use ludic devices that enhanced the narrative.

The other main aspect of gameplay is cover-based shooting (with rechargeable health). Chest-high walls, pillars, and various crates are omnipresent, and the sight of them is a clear indication that one has entered a combat arena. These combat arenas (linked by traversal sections) grant the player much more freedom than the traversal areas. You can choose where to take cover, and the game rewards players who take risks and continue moving from cover to cover. Enemies are relatively bright and will try to flank you (although they are typically not all that coordinated, making them easier to pick off individually), and low amounts of ammo (even with your weapons fully loaded) means that constantly switching cover, guns and strategies becomes key to survive. My default play style for cover-based shooters is to stick to one area and play very cautiously. Unfortunately for me a lot of the time this approach is the exact opposite of what the game intends for you to do, so my best advice is to try adapting as quickly as possible. Beyond this the actual shooting mechanics are fairly basic. You can hold a primary and secondary weapon, and up to four grenades. There are also a few melee combat options, a standard five punch combo, and a timed "brutal" combo that yields double the ammo drop from enemies. It's best to master the "brutal" combo as quickly as possible, because it, unlike the standard combo, cannot be countered by enemies. There is also a stealth kill available where you can run up behind an enemy and kill them before you're spotted. There are only two or three places in the game where this can be used reliably, and only a couple more where it can be used occasionally, if enemies still haven't managed to spot you. There's also the odd moment when you can stealth kill a distracted enemy—usually while they're shooting at an ally. For the most part, however, stealth is not an option. It's too bad, and the mechanic feels very clunkily inserted (especially since there's a trophy for 20 stealth kills), but it otherwise does no harm.

The enemy AI is pretty good in Uncharted and there are a variety of enemy behaviours that you can encounter. They typically try flanking you (especially enemies with shotguns or revolvers). The biggest threat (aside from the high-powered one-shot kill weapons) is the number of enemies you face. Pulling off head shots is the easiest way to dispose foes, but this is not always easy. Enemies duck, and generally try to avoid getting shot. With practice it becomes easier, and some guns are easier to handle than others. On the hardest difficulty level; the aptly titled "Crushing"; it is essential that the vast majority of enemies be killed with headshots. However even on "Normal" difficulty even low level enemies tend to sponge absurd numbers of bullets before succumbing, making an economy of bullets the wisest option.

Aside from the running-jumping-shooting mechanics, Uncharted features a few other game styles that crop up occasionally. There's the odd (fairly out of place, but not unforgivably so) QTE, an on-rails shooter car chase, and two sections where you drive a sea-doo. I find those sections to be a great way to break up gameplay that otherwise feels a bit monotonous even if the sea-doo sections are a bit of a chore in and of themselves. On top of all of this there is the occasional puzzle. Sometimes they are integrated fairly organically, and other times they are a more obvious "press these buttons in the correct order." The puzzles are all quite straightforward, although sometimes what you are supposed to be doing is not initially clear.

Boss fights are non-existent aside from one right at the end of the game. It's my least favourite part of the game, and the whole encounter feels incredibly unnatural compared to everything that has come before. It would have been better to use the exact same gameplay as in the rest of the game.

Narrative

Joining Drake on his adventure are companions Victor (Sully) Sullivan, and Elena Fisher. For the most part Drake is alone, but when companions are around they provide crucial support. During firefights they intelligently find their own cover, and pick off enemies without too much assistance. They're not a crutch you can take for granted, however, as the violent encounters when they are present tend to be much more challenging. At no point do they ever feel like they're in the way, nor do they ever feel useless. That being said, there were times where I feel the separations acted contrary to the narrative, and were more a convenient way to simplify gameplay than anything else.

Considering how static the gameplay is, the main draw of Uncharted will undoubtedly be the narrative. I'm not alone in this view, as it seems that that was Naughty Dog's intent from the outset. Whether or not you enjoy the story depends on a couple of things. Firstly: how likely you are to enjoy an Indiana Jones-esque narrative featuring a cocky, wise-cracking protagonist. Nathan Drake seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way, but personally I don't mind him at all. He doesn't pretend to be a predestined hero, and even when he is compelled by duty it never feels like a cheap "destiny" shoe-in (the worst narrative device of them all). Drake is billed as an "ordinary man" (which is either a bit of a marketing deceit, or white men are really just that delusional), and superhuman jumps aside, he does feel comparatively normal to all the super soldiers and "chosen heroes." Secondly: whether or not you mind narrative informing gameplay, as opposed to the other way around. Uncharted's narrative drives all the mechanics of the game, and as such it is far less advanced in the gameplay department than some of its peers.

As mentioned, Drake doesn't go through this adventure alone, and it's as much Elena and Sully's as it is his. Both protagonists are well-rounded and developed, and both act as a nice foil for Drake. The story's antagonists aren't as interesting or prevalent as they might be, but they're not completely dull and the narrative finds ways to effectively antagonize Drake et al without needing charismatic villains. In effect, they were no worse than the villains commonly faced by Indiana Jones, and they certainly could have been far worse.

One of the neat things about Uncharted is that it is genuinely creepy, and there are quite a few moments where feelings of discomfort arise naturally. It never really feels forced but the constant feeling that something's not quite right is developed by the writing in effective ways. Don't get me wrong: this isn't a horror game at all. It shows some influence, particularly in the back half, but it's not trying to terrify players. More seasoned horror fans will likely be totally impassive, but the unseasoned may feel fright. Personally I think it's just the right amount, my favourite kind of scares are ones where there's a creeping feeling of discomfort and confusion, where your imagination and anticipation are unrestrained. Even at its scariest Uncharted isn't really trying to scare you, just increase the dramatic tension higher than it was in any of the earlier encounters. I'd say it works quite nicely.

My biggest complaint in regards to the narrative is how poorly the gunfights transition with it. Obviously it's highly likely with any cutscene-based game there will be some ludo-narrative dissonance, but here it's very noticeable. I'm not too bothered about Drake committing mass murder and then turning around and making wisecracks so much as how poorly integrated the fighting in the game is. After what was a massive struggle on the part of the player Drake and co generally act like there was no fight at all. I'm not asking for a dramatic cutscene after every single fight, but I do think there's a bit of a jarring effect. It's compounded by the way regular grunts absorb bullets like their bodies are made of teflon, and how Drake notes on at least one occasion how he's going to have to sneak past a large number of enemies, but when the game starts the only option is to start gunning our way through a mini army. It's almost as if in the narrative that battle never happened, but it was put in to remind players they're playing a game. This is by no means a deal-breaker and it has little effect on my overall enjoyment of Uncharted; I just wish that the gap between narrative and the representational play sections was a bit less obvious.

My second largest complaint is that there is a lot of pointless traipsing around early on in the game. There's a jungle you have to spend an awfully long time running around, followed by a fort you spend an awfully long time running around, and in terms of narrative virtually nothing is actually developed. It wouldn't be so problematic if it felt like there was a point, but it really just feels like you're wasting a lot of time before actually starting the meat of the adventure. It doesn't help that the environments you're traipsing through are all very same-ish in design and aesthetic, so playing through yet another arena battle can be somewhat tiresome. These are really my only complaints about the narrative, however, and the final stretch of the game more than makes up for it. Once there start to be some decent reveals, twists and turns, all past mistakes are happily forgiven.

Setting & Design

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune takes place in a few different locations. Drake begins the adventure somewhere off the coast of Panama, before going to the mainland (of Panama?), and finally to an uncharted island, where the majority of the game takes place. If it weren't for the game explicitly telling you that you were in a new location, the transition from mainland to island would go completely unnoticed. The art style is all very similar for the most part, which gives the game a nice aesthetic cohesion, although it does work to its detriment at times. That being said the visuals are stunning, and the wonderful graphics bring out the best in every locale visited. I would have liked more variety, as the few unique-looking areas are by far the most memorable but Naughty Dog have crafted a gorgeous game nonetheless.

Part III: Summary & Conclusion

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a great game. Nathan Drake is bound to rub some people the wrong way, as will the focus on narrative over gameplay. Despite these things I think that Uncharted is a strong title that is a lot of fun to progress through. The story is compelling and well-acted, the characters are fully realized without an over-reliance on tropes, and the game is a fun, and challenging, treasure hunting romp. It has its share of flaws, but these things aren't deal-breakers and the positives of the game easily outweigh them.