Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’s humble beginnings on PS3 were quickly
dwarfed by the set-piece driven, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride of its sequels.
And while the plane crashes and train tumblings of Among Thieves and Drake’s
Deception have earned the series a spot on many a favourite game list, there’s
still something to be said for the beautiful simplicity of Naughty Dog’s
original adventure.
It was a game that displayed a studio finding its feet
quickly in a new, more competitive genre compared to its platforming roots, and
it packed more of an identity than its Gears-influenced shootouts let on. For
every moment you dug into cover there was also a fist fight under fire, a lucky
head shot with a final bullet, or the ‘oh nuts’ feeling of a grenade landing at
your feet. These moments were kept alive in its beloved sequels, but they were
somewhat muted by the blockbuster pacing.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss, then, is very much a throwback to
this style of play. It doesn’t back a falling building, a burning chateau or a
sinking ship, but it’s got enough firepower and production value to stand on
its own two feet.
Bend Studio takes the helm of Golden Abyss as Nathan Drake
heads back to the jungle. Set before the events of Drake’s Fortune, this Vita
debut serves as a perfect example of the kind of franchise spin-offs we might
be seeing from the system going forward, offering harmless side stories with
gameplay that does its best to replicate the console experience. Do we really
want that out of a handheld? Golden Abyss certainly makes a strong case for it.
It’s typically hard to keep track of exactly what treasure/city
Drake and co are chasing after in Golden Abyss. Wordy cutscenes that throw out
historic names as if we should know them like brothers are a barrier from getting
too involved with the archaeology, but the engaging characters distract you
from realising you don’t really know what you’re doing. New to the series here
are Jason Dante, Drake’s ‘employer’ or sorts, and Chase, an enthusiastic
archaeologist who fills a nice Elena-shaped hole in the story. Chase in particular
fits the bill perfectly, matching Drake’s knowledge as well as his charm, while
staying out of trouble just enough to keep from becoming a liability.
That said, the story leaves a few odd question marks and wastes some potential for character exposition. This is an adventure taking place before Drake's travels in the following games teach him about what's important in life, and yet he seems to have learned all those lessons already. He's still the same loveable oaf, which is a shame given that it would be brilliant to see him transform from the jaded teenager we see in the beginnings of Deception into what he is today.
Their lengthy adventure sees plenty of opportunity for the
Uncharted staples to strut their stuff. Gunplay, fist fights and platforming
all translate over to the handheld with ease, though Vita-specific features are
thrust upon the player with mixed results. Some uses of the touchscreen and
tilt sensors work incredibly well – painting a route to climb along with your
finger eliminates any awkward platforming situations that are present in the
console versions (“No, don’t go that way! Don’t climb back up! I’m pointing the
stick down!”), and tilting the system to fine-tune shots soon becomes second
nature. The sniper sections in the game are especially fun when coupled with
the ease of simply lining the Vita up with an enemy’s head and pulling the
trigger.
But the swipe mechanic that the game leans heavily on is far
too unreliable. Fist fights always ask you to awkwardly balance the Vita with
one hand to quickly wave your finger across the screen and there’s nothing more
frustrating than the system failing to recognise a swipe, leading to an untimely
demise. Two sections in particular towards the end of the game are so dependent
on it and yet so unforgiving in failure that they bring the experience down
several notches and completely kill the pacing. Having to watch a 3 minute scene
over and over only to have the system refuse to recognise correct input goes
down as the biggest design flaw in the entire series to date.
It’s likely that, should Bend develop another Uncharted for
Vita, they won’t be as eager to force-feed players half-baked mechanics like
this, but it’s a major problem with Golden Abyss.
That said, many of its sequences don’t feel as well designed
as console game’s efforts. For a cover-based shooter, there are plenty of
shootouts that leave Drake exposed in the open. The game’s insistence on showing
off its redundant rope-climbing rear touchpad mechanic makes for plenty of
frustrating, luck-based fire fights as Drake dangles helplessly from a wall
while Bend asks a seemingly impossible task of killing everyone while under a
constant stream of fire. If Drake’s Deception’s final fights proved too
traumatising for you, take note that Golden Abyss doesn’t offer much relief.
One thing the series hasn’t compromised in its platform
transfer, though, is visual presentation. There are the odd moments when you
see through the smoke and mirrors of Golden Abyss – its vistas are simply flat
images, some textures are pretty blurry and character models don’t have the
same fluidity as their console counterparts, but it still tops Drake’s Fortune
in the looks department more often than not.
Its jungles are more detailed and varied, its walls less
jagged. You can argue of course that blown up onto a HD screen it wouldn’t fare
quite as well, but for what it is here, it looks absolutely stunning, and not
just for a Vita game. Given that this is just a launch title on a system that
doesn’t match the PS3, then, it’s an incredible achievement.
Bend Studio proved itself on PSP with Syphon Filter and
Resistance: Retribution, and the same rings true here. Uncharted: Golden Abyss
ends up finding itself on par with the original game. Its story isn’t the
globe-spanning adventure of the sequels, but it isn’t trying to be. But every
neck snap, roll into cover and perfectly thrown grenade is Uncharted through
and through. It brings a smile to the face to simply play it.
What we have is an excellent self-contained adventure that
does well to highlight what makes both the franchise and Sony’s new system so
great. Despite some major flaws in its design, it can hold its head up high and
consider itself a worthy addition to the biggest name in PlayStation.
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