Previews
Uncharted First Impressions  Viewing page 1 of 1 |
 Graphics: The character models are great looking. They look just as good as the pre-rendered cut scene - you won’t ever see that in any game that doesn’t just straight use in-game cut scenes. Facial animation is also top-notch. Zooming in the camera onto Drake shows how he feels about the particular situation at hand (e.g. fear,anger etc). Another awesome touch is the way Drake’s clothes get wet after being in contact with water (something I haven’t seen in a video game to date!). Just take a look at screen shot # 11 and 12 and you’ll get an idea of what I mean. Heck, even the patterns of the wrinkles on his shirt change as he moves and performs various actions! Backgrounds are also rich with very sharp textures. The lush, green jungle looks like it’s popping out with all the detail. It’s almost like looking at the forest backgrounds from the old Final Fantasy VII and VII days, only those were just images while these backgrounds are rendered entirely in 3D. The in-game water is well-implemented and looks very real. It shows off some amazing real-time reflections and makes you pause for a second and go "Wow!". It’s easily the most impressive aspect of the visuals (at least for me....  )The lighting is used to give subtle touches to the overall graphical experience instead of adding a full-bloom glare all over the game. Its most impressive aspect is that it’s entirely dynamic which helps to produce some brilliant looking and realistic shadowing patterns. For example, the shadows of trees in the wind actually move with the trees!. Take a look at this screen shot to see what I mean:  When Drake gets wet, it really looks wet thanks to the light reflecting off every drop. On the downside, there is a bit of slowdown here and there but it isn’t annoying due to its limited occurrence. I didn’t notice any screen tearing, though people on various forums are saying that the demo does have this issue in a few parts. One thing I don’t like is the way Drake’s jump animation has been handled. It just looks a bit unconvincing. When you leap from one ledge to the other, you get the feeling that Drake won’t be able to reach the other end , due to the clunky nature of his jump, but he somehow miraculously makes it. Overall, it’s a beautiful looking game and a sure shot contender for the ’Best visuals’ award (along with Crysis, Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed) Gameplay: The demo mostly focuses on the ’shooter’ element of the game and there wasn’t much of the ’adventure’ that has been mentioned by the developers (except for the platforming bits). But then again, this is only a demo and not an indication of the final game. The cover system used is pretty similar to that of ’Gears of War’. Drake clings on or rolls towards the nearby wall or cover with the ease of a single button press. Similarly, letting go of the wall is as easy as moving the analogue stick away from the cover. You can aim and fire from the cover much like you would expect. Enemies react to where they are hit and sometimes even show signs of fear if a bullet misses them. Single-hit head shot kills also work. The aiming sensitivity can take a bit of getting used to, though you can adjust the sensitivity to whatever way you like so it isn’t really an issue. The control layout is mostly well-mapped onto the controller and instinctively works well. At a time, you can only carry 2 weapons and a couple of grenades. If your life starts to go down, the game reflects this with a change in the color of the screen to black & white. If you stay out of trouble for a while, the screen goes back to normal and so does your life. If you get tired of the gun play or are out of ammo, a cool and in-depth hand to hand combat system is another option at your disposal. When you engage an enemy in hand to hand, the camera shifts closer seemingly trying to to give the effect of a fighting game. There are plenty of combos that Drake can use. Up until now, I’ve managed to beat down people with dropkicks, clotheslines, enziguri kicks and uppercuts etc, though there are a lot more that I haven’t figured out yet. All in all, a must have game for the ps3 IMO. Some of the shooter elements aren’t original but they’re well-implemented. Gameplay wise, I’d say it is somewhat of a combination of ’Gears of War’ and ’Tomb Raider’. In fact, you could possibly term it as a new age ’Pittfall’ game. PakGamers Editor Note: Screenshots posted by tge author were of quite low quality, for more screenshots by the author, please checkout our forums here: http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/sony-playstation/6028-uncharted-demo-playtest.html |
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