The Last of Us Part II

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Last of Us, The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Undertale and Spec Ops: The Line.

Ever since the PS2 Jak and Daxter games, I’ve been a fan of Naughty Dog and their work, even when they shifted to a narrative-driven style with the Uncharted series onward. I even enjoyed Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy in spite of their flaws and found The Last of Us to have some of the best character writing I’ve ever seen in a video game. When they originally announced The Last of Us Part II, directed by Neil Druckmann, I was intrigued, but news of overly intense crunch periods soured my willingness to play it. Once the game actually released during the early months of the global COVID-19 pandemic, I opted to watch a playthrough of the game and a few videos to see if I had really missed anything.

Although I wasn’t impressed with what I had seen, I eventually decided I should witness the story and gameplay for myself. Considering the praise that the game received, and its numerous Game of the Year awards, I wondered if maybe I had missed something and might change my mind if I actually played The Last of Us Part II. During my 25-hour journey, I did form my own opinion of the story separate from what I had already heard and found that I actually liked a couple ideas. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like the game, I felt so thoroughly disappointed by such a painfully average experience that I now question if I can still eagerly support a company I once loved.

The Last of Us Remastered + Left Behind

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Last of Us and Left Behind

I originally played The Last of Us when it came out seven years ago on PS3 and though I remember liking it, I didn’t think about it again until The Last of Us Part II was announced. As time went on, however, I lost interest in playing the sequel, due to certain behind-the-scenes information that came to light and certain information from leaked footage. This made me consider replaying the original The Last of Us to see if my opinion had changed after all this time, which I fulfilled through the PS4 remaster, released only one year after the PS3 version, which I had bought but never opened. Doing this made me realize why I liked it in the first place, but now I see the flaws a lot more.

The Last of Us: American Dreams (Comic)

Two months ago, The Last of Us was released. It's an amazing game that represents the best of Naughty Dog's development skill and managed to repeatedly push the "Father" button in me despite me not being a father; the imagery and storytelling is that powerful. Right before the release date, Dark Horse started publishing a four-issue prequel comic titled The Last of Us: American Dreams, which focuses on a point in Ellie's life before the events of the game begin. I was intrigued just by its existence, but I became more curious about the story as it came out, wondering what would happen next. Now that all four issues have been released, I think that this tie-in comic manages to retain the atmosphere and level of writing really well, but is much better when read within some proximity to playing the game.

After getting kicked out of several schools, Ellie arrives at yet another and is told by a familiar guard to stay out of trouble. Very quickly however, she gets into a fight with bullies who were trying to take her stuff. Another girl, Riley, helps her out and chases the bullies away, but Ellie still gets in trouble for her actions. During her punishment, she finds that Riley managed to steal her Walkman, causing her to find the girl to retrieve it the next day. On that night however, Ellie finds that Riley, a supporter of a rebel group known as the Fireflies, is about to sneak out of the school (again). Riley allows Ellie to join her and the two set off into the night, unaware of what they're about to encounter.

The story of American Dreams is done very well. What helps is that the writer, Neil Druckmann, also wrote the game the comic is based on, which helps with consistency of characters and atmosphere, which he nails. Ellie's story explores how the world has changed around her and gives us a better idea of how things work in a world where the Infected are the major threat. For instance, there's a part where she and Riley go to an abandoned mall and come across an empty arcade. Ellie is genuinely excited to see the machines, having read about them before but never growing up in an environment where she would've been able to play one. Riley talks about another machine in particular, describing a character who is hinted to be one she'd like to be more similar to. As they leave, Ellie imagines what the arcade must have been like when it was full of life, only to then imagine the crowd of happy children to be extinguished by the arrival of the Infected. This one moment is especially powerful, as it shows how the world took a turn for the worse years ago and how people have lost their childlike innocence to the new reality they live in; they can no longer enjoy themselves and just have fun because now survival is key. The story is very good even until the end, with moments that continue to put the new world on display and give us more insight into Ellie's past, which I feel ties into the story and themes of The Last of Us incredibly well.

Concept art for Ellie in The Last of Us: American Dreams.

Faith Erin Hicks, who co-wrote American Dreams, also shows her talent as an artist. Her style is unique, but I think it suits the tone of The Last of Us well. The characters are very expressive and their body language helps communicate how they're saying their dialogue. I'll admit that I found Ellie's reactions to things to be cute at times based on how she was depicted. However, I'll also admit that there's only one thing about the art that's just a little odd, which would be Ellie's lips. In close-up shots, we are more likely to see more realistic lips, which is a bit of contrast with the more cartoonish design (for lack of better words) she, and other characters, exhibit at times. It's a minor thing that doesn't take away too much from the art, I just found it to be a little jarring.

I'd also like to commend Rachelle Rosenberg's colors, which smartly utilize a darker palette to showcase how dismal the world is. More specifically, I'm glad that there aren't very many browns and that a good variety of colors are represented, but the selection is very fitting and the excellent lighting helps, especially in the daytime. I also like the covers done by Julián Totino Tedesco, which are darker than the book, at least color-wise, but give a good idea of what happens and are very eye-catching. The more paint-like style works and the compositions are top-notch.

Like the Uncharted comic, The Last of Us: American Dreams is a comic worth reading. It gives us more insight into Ellie and the world around her while introducing other characters from the game and filling people in on some background with the things she tells Joel in the game. However, it's best read by someone who is either about to play the game or has already played the game. You could read it by itself, but this is a tie-in that's more about going together with the game instead of being a stand-alone story.

The Last of Us

As a developer, Naughty Dog has had a very good track record, having created the Jak and Daxter and Uncharted franchises, which were both highlights of the PS2 and PS3 respectively. Since I'm a fan of those two franchises, I got excited when I heard they were going to make a new IP, The Last of Us, which I thought was a good idea since Uncharted was starting to get a little stale near the end. While I'll likely look at previews or other information about a game I want to play as it's revealed, I made a conscious decision this time around to not look at anything related to the game in order to preserve the element of surprise. I still pre-ordered the Survival Edition of the game and everything, but I knew next to nothing about it aside from its basic premise and the identities of its main characters. The only thing I did beforehand was play the Early Access Demo from God of War: Ascension, but that only made me more curious about the world of the game, since I now had a loose idea of its mechanics. Come launch day, I sat down, examined the contents of the Survival Edition and then began to play whenever possible. About 15-and-a-half man hours later, I thought back on this breathtaking game and came to the conclusion that, although this is perhaps the height of what Naughty Dog can do, it does still have a couple of problems the developer seems to have repeated.

The Last of Us follows a man named Joel, who has made somewhat of a name for himself as a scavenger and smuggler in a Boston quarantine zone within the 20 years since a tragic accident as a mysterious infection broke out in Texas. In the present year of 2033, Joel and his partner Tess track down a man named Robert, who had sold off a cache meant for them. Before killing Robert, Joel hears that the cache went to a rebel group known as the Fireflies, which leads him and Tess to find the group's leader, Marlene. Marlene offers to give them their cache back in exchange for taking a girl named Ellie to a drop off point where more Fireflies are located; Joel begrudgingly agrees to these terms. On the way to the drop off, it is discovered that Ellie is immune to the deadly infection, which usually takes hold of the body within three days; her bite was three weeks old. This revelation causes them to try and hasten the deal, but this decision doesn't come without its consequences, and what was meant to be a simple trade becomes a tragic chain of cause and effect.

You may recognize this from the demo.

Where the story is concerned, Naughty Dog seems to have reached new heights, even surpassing the Uncharted series, as it deals with heavy subjects like murder, death, cannibalism and survivor's guilt. While Uncharted 3 was good, it did have some plot points that ended up going nowhere, thanks in part to the increased focus on action set pieces. In The Last of Us however, the focus is put squarely on the emotions of each individual character and how they cope with the world around them now that it has taken a turn for the worse. Within the first section of the game, there is a scene, which I cannot describe here without white text, that is so emotional and heartbreaking that I actually cried. At that point, I knew that I cared for the characters, especially as that heartbreak carried over to Joel's future and affected his budding relationship with Ellie, which is handled splendidly and rather realistically thanks to the game taking place across four seasons.

There are some interesting new ideas presented within the game, one being that we actually get to meet the leader of a group of cannibals and try to get a read on his intentions, since he actually comes off as a pretty nice guy that has had to resort to a certain practice for the sake of survival in a malevolent and forsaken world. It's this kind of understanding of a villain that I don't see very often, and I appreciate the fact that Naughty Dog actually went to those lengths to create interesting characters. Another thing I actually liked was how the morals and ambitions of the Fireflies are written in a way such that one's interpretation of the ending, which hints at the question of whether or not Joel made the right decision, can be determined based on if you feel that they or Joel were in the right all along. These sorts of nuances are something that I like in a game like this, since it gets us to think about what we would have done in a given situation and if we would have done anything different from the characters, on top of offering different ways to interpret the kind of people that they are.

Joel and Ellie are surprisingly complex characters.

Though I enjoyed the story, I must admit that I thought certain twists were telegraphed based on when they happened in the game, as well as (oddly enough) who appeared on the box art. There are certain story tropes that came to mind while playing, which is also partly how I figured that a certain group was going to eventually die (this is not to say that I didn't care for this particular group, it's just the telegraphing happened to involve them). In other words, I could guess the fate of some of the characters, which is something that I wasn't sure I liked. Certain expectations come to mind when we have a game of this order, like the fact that there will be death in order for the plot to move on and for the characters to grow as a result of this experience. However, while I still really enjoyed the story regardless, I almost didn't like the fact that I could guess with almost 100% accuracy who would die and when, as well as what plot development was going to come next based on what got focus. To put this in a way that is not as eloquent as I would like, I could say that the story is predictable since I've seen these plots before and know what to watch out for. What made me still shocked at some of the scenes despite this was how they would actually put a different spin on it, or in the case of the ending, the context of the information presented to us. This was appreciated, but I think the edge is still lost a little since I was still able to figure the fates of people I actually managed to get attached to.

Before I touch upon combat, I have to mention that crafting is a major gameplay mechanic, one which has everything to do with your survival. With the crafting mechanic, you use items found in the world to create useful items such as shivs and medkits and can even upgrade melee weapons to allow for increased durability and more one-hit kills. At crafting benches, you can put your skills to use upgrading your weapons to increase individual stats as well as craft additional holsters to increase how many guns you have quick access to, which normally require you to put down your backpack and manually change which gun is out. One thing to take into account with crafting is that it all takes place in real time, so if you need something urgently, finding a safe spot to do it is important; the same goes for healing, though the speed of both can be increased with personal upgrades made by applying supplements to certain skills. I grew to like the mechanic, since the realistic use of it caused me to think about how exactly to approach combat, mainly by taking advantage of lulls to craft the ever-important medkits (which, by the way, was what I think to be my most crafted items aside from shivs).

The crafting screen, where you'll realize you need more alcohol and rags.

Now, onto combat. Joel is able to use a variety of weapons, some of which need to be discovered in the environment (as is the case with the almighty flamethrower). Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses, which are handy to know when caught in the inevitable firefights. However, ammo is limited and should be conserved if possible. I was able to find plenty of ammo throughout the course of my playthrough to keep going, but this wasn't my go-to tactic for killing enemies. Sometimes I would melee them to death, and that was in fact the highest kill stat listed for my lifetime of playing. It's good to have fully working and reliable secondary options, which include stealth tactics and shiv kills along with the well-designed melee. Juggling weapons is also key when it comes to different enemy types, since certain weapons are either more effective or completely ineffective against different ones. I hope I'm not sounding generic when I say that, but the mix present actually does give you something to think about, especially given how the different versions of the Infected operate.

Just a sample.

The enemy variety in this game is actually pretty brilliantly done. There are four different types of Infected, with Runners and Stalkers acting in similar ways, which is when I savored the ability to melee kill them in groups when possible. This is because the other two types, Clickers and Bloaters, could be a real pain to deal with. For one thing, neither of them can be harmed with melee weapons, nor can they see you, but have their own twists to them. Clickers detect you by echolocation, so stealth is key when trying to outmaneuver or kill them, as is tricking their senses with bricks or bottles. Touching them is instant death, unless you're able to use a shiv defensively. Bloaters, on the other hand, are heavily armored and will charge at you when a commotion is made, though they will also throw spore bombs to lower your health from afar; while guns will work well against them, the phrase "kill it with fire" has never been more appropriate. The big challenge comes from trying to get around the levels despite these obstacles, especially when three or more different Infected are there at once, and figuring out effective ways to never trigger invincible killing machines from eating your jugular vein. I always felt satisfied when finding the solution, given the difficulty of later stages in pulling this off. Surprisingly, it is the human enemies that are more difficult to defeat, simply because they are actually smarter and use guns.

And that's another thing to consider, the AI. The AI in this game is actually pretty well made, with smart enemies and smart allies. Humans will react to how you approach your situation in diverse ways, for example fanning out when they find that you've left bodies behind from silent kills. They will know when to take cover or try to draw you out, or even try to get a silent hit on you. Ellie will also point out useful locations or items to you, which becomes useful when you're outgunned. I'm impressed by what Naughty Dog did and it makes the world more believable, though I would occasionally see enemies loop a certain script as if trying to decide on whether or not they should stay behind cover. The most baffling thing to me though was what would happen when dealing with Clickers. Since they operate on echolocation, not touching them or making noise is very important. However, I'd notice that when my allies blatantly brushed up against a Clicker, nothing at all would happen, and yet it wasn't okay when I touched one. This is probably an anti-frustration feature, one which I'm also grateful for so I don't pay for someone else's mistake, but that just brings up some questions about the Clickers that I would never have otherwise thought to ask regarding my enemies.

I really like the environments in The Last of Us. Every place that Joel and Ellie go during their cross-country journey has something about it that feels unique, something that makes it stand completely separate from other sections. There are no two environments that look the same, which says volumes about the care that Naughty Dog put into their design. Every section is very detailed and feels like a place one could actually explore in the right conditions and these environments bring about new challenges to overcome every single time. One problem though: just as I could predict to some degree of success what would happen in the plot, I was also able to predict what would happen in the environment based both on when it was in the chapter and the presence of bottles and bricks; seriously. Whenever I saw an area littered with bottles and bricks, which can be used as audio distractions or stunning tools, I thought to myself "There is going to be a fight here. If not now, then maybe after I reach a certain point in the level or trigger an event flag." I was able to break down a level with just this line of thought and deducing if there was some kind of event flag that still needed to spawn more enemies and was able to guess pretty well how the encounters would go.

Despite this predictability, I was still able to get into the swing of things, especially since I liked the choices open to me within each encounter. When I didn't have to fire my gun, I would try to figure out some way of sneaking past everyone and performing stealth kills, which is when I would put my skills from playing Metal Gear to good use. This level of choice is instrumental in ammo preservation and taking as little damage as possible, which is a detail I personally enjoyed taking advantage of.

Listen Mode, which makes 'Metal Gearing" more possible.

The graphics are very good, especially in cut scenes, and showcases the level of detail put into making everything appear real. Even the Infected have their infection bloom in ways that make them completely horrifying up close, but realistically placed. I couldn't help but feel that the graphics were similar to Uncharted 3, but that makes sense considering that it shares a developer and they managed to figure out a good engine to show off the console's technical capabilities well. I also praise the absolutely perfect musical score, which highlights the exact emotion and makes certain events all the more powerful. The voice acting is also very good, with Troy Baker and Nolan North giving powerful performances as Joel and David respectively. Ellie was also both voiced and motion captured by Ashley Johnson, which lends a greater amount of depth to her performance and creates a better emotional connection between her and Joel.

The Last of Us is, to put it bluntly, a PS3 game that shouldn't be missed. While there is some predictability in the plot and level design, the story is still emotionally powerful and the gameplay is the best that Naughty Dog has provided on the platform. Uncharted fans will also find something to like, since there is some degree of familiarity in it all. For everyone else, this is a great showcase of what Naughty Dog has learned over their lifetime and can be judged completely on its own merits. If you want to play what may become one of the best games of this year, you now have the chance.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss - Golden Abysmal

When the PlayStation Vita was released in February of last year, one of the launch titles was Uncharted: Golden Abyss, the subject of this review. As a PlayStation Plus member, I was able to get a few Vita games for free, which happened to include this one and Gravity Rush. While the release of this game wasn't exactly confidential, I decided to download it, figuring it had potential since I had played the other Uncharted games. Having finally gotten around to playing it (after moving my Gravity Rush save to make room on my ridiculously small memory card), I now think that Golden Abyss is great...as a tech demo.

Some time before the events of Drake's Fortune, Nathan Drake is following a man named Jason Dante to a dig site in Panama. During the trip it is shown that Dante's ropes have been cut, which causes Drake to suspect that the land owner, Roberto Guerro, doesn't want them there. Dante ignores this and presses forward until they get to the site, run by Dante's partner, Marisa Chase. When Dante leaves to discuss matters with Guerro, Chase reveals to Drake that she doesn't trust her "partner" and ends up discovering something significant about the site. The joy of discovery doesn't last long however as it quickly goes sour when Dante reveals that he's not exactly the most trustworthy person on the planet.

Now that looks like a guy you can trust.

Compared with the other Uncharted games, Golden Abyss is a bit lacking in the story department. While there is something interesting in the ultimate search for a Quiviran myth, the pacing is sometimes at odds, with a couple of time skips among some sections that last quite a few chapters (there are 34 in the game overall), all so the game can meet the two weeks present in the in medias res opening. That said, the characters are also a little underdeveloped. Guerro is fueled by a lust for power and Dante is a total asshat who is only concerned with monetary matters, specifically of the gaining kind. Nathan and Victor Sullivan are the only ones who comes off as complete, though that's more likely due to their established relationship in the game's console brethren. Marisa Chase, as the new female lead, is also a little worse for wear. She does have some rather interesting character moments, I'll give her that, but she's more consistently the damsel in distress compared with Elena Fisher and Chloe Frazer. When she's actually at your side however, she's actually a bit useless, having terrible aim (possibly excused by her lack of experience with a gun, but you'd still expect an AI partner to be at least helpful) and otherwise being a dead weight. In the end, the writing is overall pretty weak.

Of course I also need to discuss the gameplay, in which I found quite a few flaws. Since the control layout doesn't have the L2 or R2 buttons, they of course needed to adapt the familiar scheme to work on the handheld and they managed to do that pretty well. It's more akin to Drake's Fortune in that there isn't a whole lot of complexity, but this does allow the design to get pretty much everything in minus the "Look Mode" and change grenade throwing to a system involving the touchscreen wherein a tap of the icon will throw it toward the center of the screen but dragging the icon allows for more precise throws. In this sense, Golden Abyss works very well and makes it easy to get into the game.

Where it fails however is in the alternate control scheme, which actually runs simultaneously with the one I described. Confused? Allow me to explain. The alternate scheme includes the use of the touch screen, gyroscope and rear touch pad to navigate and aim. Touching a ledge while climbing or swiping (described as "painting") the ledges will make Drake automatically make his way there, which is actually pretty useful and I'd mix it up with real skill at times, but it still comes across as something introduced for the smartphone crowd. Then there's using the rear touchpad for zooming with a camera or sniper rifle, the latter of which was most annoying since not only are there times when you're pretty much required to use the gun, but the way my hands grip the Vita naturally puts my fingers on the pad, so my aim keeps changing unless I hold the system by the edges; not exactly convenient. Sometimes a sidebar also pops up on screen when there is an action you can perform, which works well until you need to use a turret. Until I knew exactly how to have my thumb on the right stick (admittedly the grip would be better of the sticks were concave but I do manage to make it work in the end), my thumb would keep pressing the exact part of the screen with the turret icon, exiting me from the turret and forcing me to work out how to keep my thumb down properly.

This is not natural!

The other great annoyance was the use of the gyroscope to aim, which I saw described on a forum as basically fine-tuning your aim after you use the right analog stick. My issue with this? I already know how to aim pretty well and I'm pretty sure that I know where I want my shot to be. The extra "fine-tuning" that the gyroscope may provide actually threw me off, causing me to turn off the feature to prevent further annoyance down the road. Because aiming was also pretty slow (especially when using the camera), I also had to increase the sensitivity to maximum just so it would be more expedient to aim before shooting. This is significant for me, since I never turn off or adjust options before doing a review, with the exception of turning on subtitles so I can better understand what someone is saying and better remember what's going on (as a result I'm annoyed when a modern game doesn't have a subtitle option, but I never address this for fear of coming off as nitpicking).

Melee is also pretty bad, since it's always three hits with the Square button, or alternatively three taps of the punch icon, and then one or two swipes on the screen. I didn't exactly enjoy this, since it made it rather monotonous and it was sometimes easy for the game to fail at recognizing my strokes. This is greatly disappointing, since the melee in Drake's Deception was absolutely amazing to the point where I actually made it part of my combat repertoire, and considering that this game came out after Drake's Deception, they could have altered the controls to better match this (then again I'm not exactly an expert on game development aside form the fact that maybe they were already too far gone in their decisions, so you can probably take that with a grain of salt).

When the extra features of the Vita aren't used in combat however, they are used elsewhere. For one, you cannot navigate menus except by touch, mirroring the Vita's main menu, which I think is a bad call considering my first instinct with any game is to navigate menus with the d-pad and make selections with the action buttons, not figuring out how to touch things and getting annoyed when I didn't make the exact motion needed in the exact spot (you can probably tell by this point that I'm not the kind of guy who plays a whole lot of smartphone games, though this is justified by me having an outdated "dumb phone" if you will). Touching the screen is also required for picking up treasures by using the sidebar, though I would have preferred the more expedient use of an action button. The sidebar also has other opportunities for more collectibles, including charcoal rubbing that requires you to rub the screen, which I actually thought was a pretty fun thing. Sadly, the screen/pad combo is used for rubbing an object clean, though this isn't for collectibles so much as it is for something that would advance the story; it's also used for observing objects for certain details, but I have no real way of determining how I get 100% at that stuff.

Not that bad, all things considered.

Then we have the design of the puzzles, which does everything in its power to make sure you use that touchscreen, because all of them do in some fashion. This includes opening locks by turning a dial (and having the characters explain how to do it every single time), moving items on a board (and making me wonder how Drake can do these amazing feats of strength) and reforming an image with torn pieces of paper through such an orientation that I had to turn my Vita on its side...like a smartphone. On top of this there is one puzzle that requires a light source hitting the camera, but since my house isn't the brightest, my brother had to a hold a flashlight under the system to prevent me from accidentally blinding myself on a super-bright bulb while still letting me see the end result. In the end I'd consider the puzzles, for lack of better words, uninspired.

Equally uninspired is the level design. It feels pretty safe without some of the complexities of the console games. Uncharted is also known for its action set pieces, and while there are a couple of great ones here, there weren't enough to keep me interested throughout the campaign. It also doesn't help that there aren't as many environments, though they are impressively detailed, and some might defend this by saying that the system has limitations, but I believe that if God of War: Ghost of Sparta could have amazing and more varied environments, and that was a PSP game for crying out loud, then SCE Bend Studio could have done better.

Actually pretty impressive.

One thing I can still praise this game for would be its voice acting, which is actually pretty good and shows how good the actors, especially Nolan North, can be, no matter how flat their characters are. The sounds were also on par with the console games and the music is actually pretty decent, if not exactly on par.

As a side note, you can also now, thanks to a patch, collect and power up cards for another Uncharted game called Fight for Fortune, a card game which I have no interest in playing, but I still felt was worth mentioning.

In the end, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is a game that's just okay. It's definitely not as good as the ones on PS3 thanks to not only an uninteresting narrative, but also some poorly executed features that manage to negate a portion of the good features present. I'd recommend this to fans of Uncharted, but only on the grounds that they really want to drop money on something this average. If you're not an Uncharted fan or willing to drop however much it costs, then you're much better off downloading it for free with a PlayStation Plus account. Even then, I can't guarantee that you'll enjoy the adventure.

Jak X: Combat Racing

As part of this blog's coverage of the Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter and Ratchet & Clank franchises to build up to Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, it has been my duty to cover all of Jak and Daxter. After having already covered the three main entries, I remembered that I still needed to go through another trio of games, two of which are spin offs and another which is developed by a completely different company. The first of these, Jak X: Combat Racing, was released in 2005, merely a year after Jak 3, presumably due to the popularity of the franchise. Of course, this game is also from a time where if a successful franchise went on long enough a kart racer would inevitably be developed for it. I didn't care about that when I first got this game at the age of 12 however, and I don't really care about that years later now that I've played it again after so long. This second playthrough has reminded of that initial point in my youth when I was very obsessed over it, even though I couldn't take it online. I found it to be fun back then, but as an adult I've started to notice more of the rough patches contained within. While the game was still fun to play, I don't feel that it's design completely holds up after seven years.

Before I officially begin my review, allow me to share a personal horror story I have regarding this game. My first exposure was through a PS2 demo disk. I played it for a while and was instantly hooked, which led to me playing. After what felt like an eternity, my parents finally bought me a copy from a Best Buy. Excitedly, I popped the disk into my system and it turned out that there was a demo disk of the game within a retail copy that was valued at full price. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy about this, especially since it meant that an entire shipment at the store came that way (oops). Thankfully, we were able to exchange it for the full version and I was able to get plenty of mileage out of it.

Now onto the actual review. Jak X begins with the news that Krew, from Jak II, is dead and the duo, along with some other familiar faces, are gathered for the reading of his will. The group is introduced to his daughter, Rayne, who pours them all a drink to toast with as a video will is played. As Krew speaks out through the video about his will, he reveals that everyone's drink has been poisoned and the only way to obtain the antidote is to compete, and win, in a race known as the Kras City Grand Championship. While this does spark a frenzy amongst the group initially, they all agree to work together to stay alive. Stories for racing games are usually more of an excuse plot, hence why a player shouldn't expect such a well-written story in that genre. Jak X, however, manages to get this aspect right.

Seeing as how this is still, after all, a Jak and Daxter game, it comes as no shock to me that they would try to make this game more story driven. From beginning to end, I couldn't help but find myself intrigued by the personalities of each character, both old and new, as they interact in the various cutscenes, helped by the ongoing mystery connecting them together that ends in a surprising twist that ties everything together rather neatly. At times however, I still couldn't help but feel as though the story was there only to introduce nearly every character form the entire franchise, while introducing more, just to remind the audience that some of them, like Kleiver, exist. Thankfully, some of the newer characters, at least the ones that mattered, are pretty memorable. Two of them are revealed right off the bat to be racers gunning for Jak, the robot mercenary UR-86 and the villainous Razer, who comes out of retirement specifically to kill our hero on the track. Admittedly however, they feel a little more like cardboard most of the time, having almost no personality except that they are criminals that want the duo to lose.

One character in particular that I found very entertaining was the racing announcer G.T. Blitz, named as a nod to Sony's Gran Turismo series of games, especially when he shares the screen with Pecker, who makes a reappearance from Jak II and 3. The cutscenes involving them bring a lot of humor to an otherwise serious story and I appreciated the balance, since it also shows that the game isn't taking itself completely seriously. The two of them also occasionally add fuel to the mystery surrounding a mysterious crime boss named Mizo, who wants nothing more than to win the competition. Towards the end when the player finally gets to see who Mizo is, the final confrontation feels a little dissatisfying, though it does show just how deep his goals were and puts certain statements made in the game in a darker context.

Of course, I can't talk about a racing game without mentioning the gameplay. It should be noted that racing was a concept introduced in Jak 3 and is greatly expanded upon here. Players take control of a variety of characters piloting one of several vehicles as they fight with an array of power-ups while driving, standard fare for a game like this. What's unique about the idea however is the way that Eco, a powerful magic within the Jak and Daxter universe, is integrated into the gameplay. Yellow Eco is what contains the forward weapons, ranging from missiles to grenades, while Red Eco houses the rear weapons, like landmines and gun turrets. Green Eco, obviously, is health and Blue Eco can be used to make the car go at turbo speed. Dark Eco is the real game changer here, represented by a meter that builds when you inflict or receive damage. When the meter is full, the car returns to full health and every weapon you pick up becomes more powerful, potentially killing opposing drivers in a single shot.

While the various weapons on a fully crowded track is chaotic enough, there is actually a deeper strategy at times, involving such ideas as using the jump button at the right times, whether or not to use a rear weapon to dodge a missile, what power-ups to grab and when (or why), and plenty more. The frantic gameplay is both fun and sometimes frustrating, a delicate balance on the player's feelings that is tested heavily during the campaign. As the game goes on, there is a sudden difficulty spike in both level design and enemy AI, which makes trying to get into the last cup race more infuriating than necessary.

Allow me to briefly talk about the different events in the game. Quite a few of them involve going down the actual track, including the regular Circuit Races and Freeze Rallies, which are akin to a time trial mode where you have to get under a specific time to get a higher level medal. Modes that feel more unique to this game are Death Race and Rush Hour modes, which both involve destroying unmanned cars going in a specific direction to rack up a large combo to score more and more points. Then of course are modes that involve killing enemy drivers in Twisted Metal style events, like Death Match, which operates as the name implies, or a Sport Hunt mode where opponents try to kill as many of a specific thing as possible across the arena. The large amount of events creates a lot of different variety for the game, which helps to keep the single player campaign fresh enough to warrant more playtime without feeling completely overwhelming, a factor that thankfully helped me enjoy things a bit more.

Then there's the actual level design. For the most part, the design team seemed very capable at creating interesting environments that bring forth different personalities representing the different worlds that the franchise inhabits. However, the more complicated race tracks have some elements that make it a bit more frustrating at times, admittedly due in part to me somehow not being as good at the game as I was many years ago, but also due to many cosmetic elements that throw you for a loop. However, my only real complaints stem from the stages that are more designed for close encounters, especially when there isn't much open space. In bigger areas, I found myself able to plan out my strategies much easier and tactically place items and specific weapons. Smaller arenas however were a bit too hard to navigate and the design prevented me from having solid footing for more than a few seconds, but I'm ready to admit again that my way of handling the events wasn't exactly perfect. In any case, these levels were a bit too crowded to do anything straight and I just ended up getting very lucky a few times to advance with enough medal points to unlock the next challenge. I won't name any specific levels, since there are at least two to three times as many levels than game modes, a staggering number to say the least.

Jak X is also notably the first game in the Jak and Daxter franchise to have an online multiplayer component. This seems rather appropriate for the genre, and I would gladly have tried if I had a connection at the ready for the PS2 earlier on. However I am in the year 2012, so I'm pretty sure that the servers would have been cut off by now. Therefore I can only talk about the split-screen multiplayer available in the exhibition mode. When you know what modes can't be played this way, this mode can actually be pretty fun, though it is helpful to have some bots in the action so that matches don't become too stale. An optional LAN mode is also good for being able to play with friends, provided they still own PS2's or even copies of this game.

If there's one thing I will praise, it would be the car customization. Playing through the campaign and getting gold medals in certain events, some of which are easier said than done, will earn you one of plenty of different car parts. When you've unlocked enough parts though, there's a deep sense of customization, as you can swap out parts and set a wide array of colors down to give the car a custom paint job. In the end, you can make the car look practically any way you wish within the provided parts and the cars each have unique designs for each part between them, so it's also fun just to see how certain things look on other vehicles. The unlockables are also fun to obtain, making spending your winnings on them seem worthwhile, more so when it's a video or other way to play.

On a final note, I'd like to say that the graphics are very good for the game at that point in time. They retain the same feel as a Jak and Daxter game, with the darker color palette of Jak II and 3 used suitably. The music is also very well done, with Dean Menta from Faith No More and Billy Howerdel from A Perfect Circle collaborating to form a very memorable score that suits the tone of every race perfectly.

As a whole, Jak X: Combat Racing is a very well done racing game, especially for coming out only a year after the last major installment in the franchise. With some well-designed courses and game modes, the experience is fun, though a bit rough around the edges, and it manages to stand out as a worthy PS2 era title to play. While it may not hold up as well now as it did when I was a kid, it still proves to be a decent game to me as an adult and I would recommend playing this game for a pretty enjoyable time. Next time I get to this franchise, it will be with its first handheld title, Daxter.

Jak II - Continuing The Legacy

After the success of 2001's Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Naughty Dog began developing its first sequel, Jak II. Released in 2003, the game would go on to receive critical acclaim like its predecessor, as well as get added to Sony's "Greatest Hits" lineup of PS2 games. Having finished a 16+ hour campaign, Jak II definitely lives up to its fame, but is also a little off from perfect.

The tone of the game takes a complete 180 from the first game based on the opening cutscenes alone. Jak, Daxter, Samos, and Keira go through a portal generated by a Precursor Ring on a Rift Rider (both of which they found in Jak and Daxter) and end up in a technology-filled dystopia known as Haven City. They are nearly immediately separated for about two years, during which Jak has been experimented on Dark Eco in an attempt by Baron Praxis to create essentially a super soldier. Daxter comes to his friend's rescue, aiding in his dramatic escape from prison as they run into a man named Kor that tells them briefly about the citywide takeover by Praxis as well as the attempts by the Underground to restore control to its rightful owner, who happens to be a child he is protecting. Once the duo start aiding the Underground, things quickly escalate as they continue to realize just what they have gotten themselves into.

Storywise, the game unfolds like a rollercoaster as alliances are made and broken, love is tested, and numerous revelations come to light, especially a very notable one near the end that will literally leave you guessing. While the story is considerably darker than the previous entry, its execution is astoundingly brlliant thanks to its expert pacing, as well as including well-written dialogue that explains just about everything you need to know about the characters and events without going into long expository speeches. With the screen time the characters are given, it's easy to map out their relationships and motivations while still being genuinely surprised by at least one or two unexpected plot twists. At first I didn't feel too much emotional attachment, but it's hard not to be shocked when something happens to them late in the game to affect plot or character dynamics.

Speaking of characters, the very first thing anyone should note about them is that Jak can now speak. While he is fueled by revenge on Praxis, this is justified by having been tortured in experiments for two years against his will. The growly tone of his voice serves as a nice touch and adds some depth to him, allowing him for once to interact with other characters on a more equal level. In addition, new characters like Sig, Torn, Tess, Ashelin and Krew are well-written for their roles, though talking about their relationships with each other would only make this more confusing than it needs to be. The voices selected for these characters are also done well, with specific praise going to Krew's sinister British voice and Clancy Brown's voice for Baron Praxis. I also found Daxter's dialogue to be humorous at times in a way that didn't feel annoying.

In terms of overall gameplay, this is perhaps where Jak II differs the greatest from its predecessor. The Eco abilities from the previous entry are now instead integrated as ammo types for a single weapon known as the Morph Gun. Using the D-Pad to switch between ammo types is very simple to adjust to and aiming the morph gun was never a problem, with advantages for each ammo type serving to inject a nice level of tactical skill on the part of the player. Thanks to Jak's prison time, players can also collect Dark Eco to transform him into Dark Jak with the press of a button, though they must forgo using the Morph Gun for the duration. While Dark Jak does have his own advantages and is very strong in melee combat, the time it takes to recharge a single use plus a near lack of a need to use him greatly lowered my incentive to even consider using him, especially when taking into account that the Morph Gun alone is enough to get you through the game. The rest of the controls are lifted directly from Jak and Daxter, so there was also a great sense of familiarity in the game that I could immediately latch onto.

In addition to gaining a new weapon and a new power, the enemies Jak and Daxter must face are now a race known as the Metal Heads, replacing the Lurkers from The Precursor Legacy (though they still play a role in the story). This race has plenty of enemy types to keep one on their toes, adjusting strategy accordingly to deal with specific groups. Killing Metal Heads can reward you with a Metal Head Skull Gem, the new currency of sorts for the single Precursor Oracle in the game. Bringing a certain number of Skull Gems to the Oracle will reward Jak with a new ability for Dark Jak to wield, ranging from invincibility in this mode to clearing a group of enemies much faster. No matter how many abilities Dark Jak gets however, I still did not feel the need to wield his powers that often. In addition, Precursor Orbs, the currency of the previous game, plays a bit less of a role now, with a total of only 286 scattered throughout all of the game's levels. Collecting a number of them will unlock secret modes or other extras, which may or not be worth it depending on how much of a priority you place on collecting them.

While different powers and enemies already provide a good amount of variety to the game, a great deal more is applied throughout the entirety of the story. One moment you'll be platforming as usual, the next you'll be racing on a NYFE vehicle, and in another you'll be piloting a mech suit that can punch through walls. There's even an on-rails shooting section and times when you'll be shooting airborne enemies with a turret. This level of gameplay variety is something I liked since it helped the game constantly feel fresh, helped by the fact that the controls in any stage are mapped very well and respond near-flawlessly.

Overall level design is good in this game, though some annoyances do crop up. Checkpoints are placed in each mission with the frequency of Ratchet & Clank, making some of the longer ones painful to redo multiple times in succession, each death becoming more frustrating to deal with. However, the constant replaying of missions did manage to improve my efficiency in approaching them once I figured out the correct way to do it. Haven City is also designed as a sort of giant maze, which while making the environment a lot better to look at also made it sometimes difficult to travel to my destination since it was easy to take a wrong turn and waste too much time in a critical moment. Transit also takes some time whether running on foot or using a hoverboard or flying vehicle of some sort. The AI for the Krimzon Guard, controlled by Baron Praxis as the other enemy faction of the game, is also interesting. It seems that you can absolutely anything to the general populace and they won't do anything, but if you so much as tap them while not running or dodge rolling across the city streets they'll send the entire city after you, ending their search only after you're dead, you hide under a bridge long enough, or you get into an open spot and keep running away long enough, sort of like how you outrun any police force in other open world games.

The NYFE races are also a good example of a mixed bag. Since you need to get into first to advance the story, there is absolutely no margin for error thanks to the course design and enemy AI. The only way to achieve this is by exploiting every shortcut possible at every turn or abusing boost power like there's no tomorrow. Controlling a NYFE vehicle is harder in courses with lots of turns, since letting go at any point during the turns makes it harder to regain steady control again. Regardless, I felt a feeling of triumph once I managed to get through these missions.

In terms of graphics, Jak II improves greatly from its predecessor of two years prior. The atmosphere is helped greatly by the use of a darker color palette to show just how different it is in tone from the more upbeat Precursor Legacy. With the presence of the day-to-night cycle still around, I also praise the lighting on the environment as the shadows projected also change more realistically. Water and lava also operate more distinctively this time around, with physics that stick much closer to their real world counterparts. I also loved the lack of a visible load time despite how huge and intricate Haven City is, which made the experience a lot more immersive. In addition, I also praise the great score and sound design, which is done in a way to not only make the world believable, but also keep the appropriate mood throughout.

With its hairpin u-turn in both tone and style from Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II is still an impressively fun and enjoyable game. While there is more focus on variety, open world play and third-person shooter elements, the core platforming aspect is still visible in a way that keeps the experience fun and fresh, and its ramped up difficulty by comparison is still a good challenge despite its annoyance from time to time. On its own, Jak II is a game that fans of the series or PS2 owners should not pass up, as it holds a rightful place in history in more ways than one.

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - The Beginning Of A Great One

Within the sea of modern games out there that are sequels or reboots/re-imaginings, perhaps this is the best time to look into the past for some quality entertainment. As Sly 4 is slated for release this year, this blog now has an ongoing project to review every game possible from within three of Sony's landmark franchises: Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Daxter, and Sly Cooper. Since the first one is already being taken care of, it has become my job to tackle the second. With this being my second playthrough of the game after a couple of years, my only question now is where to begin talking about Jak and Daxter.

I suppose the first thing to say would be a brief history of this title and its developer. After creating only three titles with mixed reception, Naughty Dog hit their stride when they developed the highly acclaimed Crash Bandicoot series for the PS1, which would later become some of the best selling games of all time for that system. After their acquisition by Sony, Naughty Dog made Jak and Daxter as the developer's first title for the PS2. Released in late 2001, it would go on to receive massive critical acclaim and spawn three sequels and two spin-offs. With that introduction out of the way, I now present my review of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy for the PS2.

Before the story can begin, the player is given an explanation by Samos, the sage of Green Eco, about the concept of the Precursors as creators of all things, as well as the substance known as Eco. Following this, the story starts officially with Jak and his friend Daxter travelling to Misty Island against Samos' wishes. While there, they witness an evil plan being hatched by two people and are attacked by a Lurker while trying to leave. While Jak is able to defeat it with a bomb, Daxter accidentally falls into a vat of Dark Eco and ends up transformed into a creature called an Ottsel, a combination of an otter and a weasel. When they return to Sandover village, Samos yells at them for their disobedience, but informs Daxter that Gol Acheron, master of Dark Eco, may have the ability to change him back to his former self.

As the plot advances it seems to be rather thin, even with an rather interesting twist regarding the true identity of the villains, who seem to be made mostly of cardboard. There's even a developing romance between Jak and Keira, Samos' daughter, that seems to play out under the radar. Due to the lighthearted nature of the game though and how wonderfully it is pulled off, these things are very easily excusable. While the story may not have much meat, there are other aspects that make it interesting anyway. For example, we get to learn more about the world these characters inhabit, as well as the kind of technology that exists.

Controls are very simple and responsive, with moves that are easy to figure out with the lack of a tutorial. Since Jak's only moves are in the realm of hand-to-hand combat, experimentation in this sense is so intuitive that looking at a manual isn't even required. However, there is one small problem where the second press of the X button doesn't always seem to register, leading occasionally to some unintended loss of health. Despite this, it doesn't detract from the amount of platforming required to get through a level.

Speaking of which, the various levels of the game are crafted very well, especially since they are all interconnected in some form or another, with some events sometimes affecting what is accessible in other areas. The advantage to this level of interconnected design results in the absence of load times no matter how big the area, as everything is right there waiting to be accessed. While this may result in some formulaic structure for some games, there is fortunately a great variety in world structure and enemy types, though some of the challenges do carry over between stages. Most of the challenge familiarity however is focused within the three hub stages, mostly consisting of paying off NPCs or Oracles for Power Cells needed for advancing the game. Also, the levels seem to borrow from every type you'd expect from a platforming game, like cave, forest, ice, and lava levels. It seems to work in this game's favor though, since it creates a lot of level variety while still being fun and accessible to play.

Jak and Daxter is one of those games where collection is key to getting to the next area available. These collectibles are the aforementioned Power Cells, Precursor Orbs that are used as a sort of currency, and Scout Flies that gain you Power Cells once you've collected all seven in one area. As you can probably tell, Power Cells are the biggest key of all to going to the next hub stage, but thankfully they are fairly easy to obtain and it is not required that you have all of them at all times. This design trait helps to keep the game fun and interesting, with motivation to continue playing to collect them all.

One other key aspect of gameplay is Eco. Different types of Eco interact with the player in different ways, with Green Eco offering health, Blue Eco providing speed and ability to operate certain machinery, Red Eco giving Jak a leg up in combat, and Yellow Eco allowing him to shoot forth small energy blasts. With a system as simple as this, it's interesting how they are placed in the environment in a way that you can figure out what you're supposed to do without the game treating you like an idiot. It also helps the game retain a certain level of challenge as well, with the occasional need to try and conserve certain types that won't regenerate.

For a game released in the year 2001, making it an early PS2 title, the graphics hold up surprisingly well.  At this point in the franchise there's still an upbeat tone as evidenced by the cartoony visuals, which are very inviting, and the colors used which work very well with the lighting, especially considering the game has a full day-to-night cycle. The in-game models are very smooth, with precursor technology always dominating with a particular shade of brown. One thing I especially liked was the interactions that Daxter has with Jak's character model during movement. During jumps and runs, he fluidly moves through the air as he tries to hang onto his buddy's shoulder. I suppose the only complaint I could have about the physics is that the lava in the game seems to move and sometimes sound like water, but then again they may not have had the kind of physics engines we had later on to facilitate the proper effects.

One other thing I can praise is the overall sound design. The sound effects are all very fitting and unique, with the right choices that they aren't annoying every time they are heard. Voice acting is also superb, though one thing to note is that between the title characters, only Daxter does the talking. Thankfully, his lines are actually pretty humorous and help keep the overall tone of the game intact, although during control he sounds much like a guide fairy. In any case, he seemed to be handled pretty well in this game as the voice of the duo. Of course, that would change in later installments.

Lastly, it's important to mention that this game does provide a healthy degree of challenge. On some of the challenges it is possible to die multiple times, even the final boos, but each death is always the player's fault and only serves to provide motivation to try again. Given the nature of this game though, it's overall a fairly easy but enjoyable game.

If I could give an opinion on Jak and Daxter now, it would be that Naughty Dog was able to craft a very excellent platforming game that no one with a PS2 should miss. Taking the longevity of the game into account though, I'd say that it was a very good start for the franchise, and the ending unlocked by collecting all of the Power Cells does create an air of mystery that seems to only be solved by playing the sequel. If you want to relive the game but don't own a PS2 anymore, maybe the upcoming Jak and Daxter HD collection will suffice, as it promises to do just that.

Now I can't wait to play Jak II and continue my reviewing adventure with this series of games. Hopefully I'll enjoy is as much as, if not more than, this masterful work.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

After the success of Uncharted: Drakes' Fortune, developer Naughty Dog produced a sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, released 2 years later in 2009. This playthrough was my second, and I still loved it the second time, even more so than the original. If Drake's Fortune was an attempt at making a game feel like a Hollywood movie, then Among Thieves has almost succeeded with flying colors.

From the very beginning the game captures your attention and doesn't hold anything back. Already, Nathan Drake is on the brink of death. Within an inch of his life, he must scale a massive train car to get to safety to reach a cliff on the snowy Tibetan mountains. After going through a moment as amazing and powerful as this, I was glad to find that the game is liberally filled with more like it, each one equally filled with arresting tension and drama, from an intense train ride to taking out a battle tank in a small mountain village.

The plot this time revolves around the lost fleet of Marco Polo, and it is filled to the brim with moments like those found in Uncharted. It's amazing not only what locations the story hits, but also where Nathan Drake goes as a character. His voice acting, like all of the other characters, is still solidly done with great seriousness but also with perfect timing of his more lighthearted side. His situation becomes ever perilous, and he always knows what to say.

The gameplay mechanics haven't really received any additions, but rather the right tweaking of the first game to get it done right. The guns are more fun to use, and necessary, and there is a surprisingly great variety in the enemy types that make firefights more interesting and rewarding. Enemy AI is also improved, making them smarter and thus more satisfying to overcome. While I do like the different mechanics for throwing a grenade by assigning it to a single button, the ease of access is also annoying when I accidentally pressed the button to throw one. Otherwise, the cover system is improved and the blind fire system is a very nice addition.

As far as graphical capabilities are concerned, Naughty Dog really knew what they were doing and seemed to take  full advantage of the PS3's tech. Locations from Borneo to Tibet are beautiful to look at, with a stunning attention to detail and a smooth flow unmatched by most video games of this generation. The snow and water effects are impressive to see, as is the flow of the character models.

This greatly aids the level design. The levels feel more natural in pacing with less predictability in the location of a firefight, as well as a seamless transition between player control and cutscenes. Platforming is still linear, although the challenge is not lost at all. With variances like spinning gears and falling ledges, the game really knows how to keep players on their toes in moving around.

Uncharted 2 is a testament to game design mastery. From the biggest breathtaking set-pieces and moments, to even the most subtle of details, it's a real marvel to play through. This is a game that should not be missed by anyone who owns a PS3, with a video game that feels very much like an action blockbuster. However, I do recommend playing through the original beforehand, as some things make more sense or are much funnier once you know the continuing character relationships.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

With the launch of the PlayStation 3 in 2006, Naughty Dog, Insomniac, and Sucker Punch began developing more mature titles for the current console generation. In 2007, just a year after the console's launch, Naughty Dog released Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Similarly to Sucker Punch's Infamous, Uncharted contrasted with Naughty Dog's Jak and Daxter IP by crafting a third person shooter, but also by going for the feel of a Hollywood movie. The game received critical acclaim, leading to a sequel in 2009 and a third entry to be released this November. To build up to a review of that game, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, I will review the first two games starting with Drake's Fortune.

The story involves the protagonist Nathan Drake, essentially a modern day Indiana Jones, who finds the coffin of his ancestor Sir Francis Drake. Inside, he finds a clue that leads him to search for the legendary treasure of El Dorado. As he goes off to search for it he is accompanied by TV documentarian Elena, who also serves as his love interest, and his shady partner Sully. The narrative surrounding the events that follow is masterfully crafted, filled with plot twists, double crosses, and cliffhangers that are perfectly weaved into the game. I felt like I was invested in what was transpiring onscreen and the characters it involves, giving me more incentive to keep playing to find out what someone would do next.

What helps greatly with this is the graphics. For an early PS3 title, the game is still amazing to look at thanks to its heavy photorealism. From the lush and beautiful foliage to some incredible water flow and physics, the environment really contributes well to setting up the atmosphere of the game. Equally amazing are the range of expressions the characters can emote, especially in the cutscenes, assisted well by some great choices for voice acting. While the game may be almost four years old at this point, the effort put into it all helps it stand the test of time. From an overall graphical standpoint I would consider this game a landmark in what was possible at the time.

Thankfully, the gameplay manages to match the game very well, its design traits consisting of intense shootouts, well-done combat, light puzzle solving, and challenging platforming. While the guns are fun to use and control in the right ways, there is more of a focus on finding and moving between cover to stay alive. This helps to keep the player at the height of their senses, making them more aware of the three-dimensional plane around them. If an enemy gets particularly close, you can easily exchange fisticuffs with them, using timed button presses to gain even more ammo compared to simply shooting them. The AI is also pretty smart and challenging, but like with Duke Nukem II, it's the right level of difficulty that makes winning a firefight all the more satisfying once you outsmart their tactics. The platforming is also in the vein of Prince of Persia, with some slick animations and a more streamlined approach.

Since this game is very well constructed even now, I only had a couple of fairly minor complaints. When you get the chance to pilot a jet ski through tropical waters, it's an enjoyable change of pace but the controls felt off and sometimes it took the pace with it. The only other thing I found weird was the sudden genre shift close to the end of the game, which, while justified for the plot, felt odd to play through nonetheless.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a masterfully crafted gem from the dark early days of the PS3 worth playing even now. It knows what it's doing and definitely delivers on it, coming very close to feeling like an actual movie. If you have a PS3 and want to experience gaming to a new degree, go out and get this game (it should be fairly inexpensive by now). Next up is Uncharted 2, and I can't wait to see again how it improves on this already great package.