bit-tech Shopping: Sony Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Weeks

Strengths: beautiful graphics, great story, gives hints if you get a little confused, keeps you on the edge of your seat!

Weaknesses: the freaky monsters u have to kill.. lol

Summary: Awesome Game. beautiful beautiful scenery. its taken me longer to play because im so busy just looking around. the whole game is amazing from start to finish. the guys in the game u are up against are great. they will actually sneak around you or hide and pop up on you. its nice to play a game where you arent just shooting and going and shooting and going (like Rainbow Vegas). its fun to find the hidden treasures. Drake has a great sense of humor and even the enemies have thier own characteristics. A must have game.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 3

Strengths: Amazing graphics, fantastic storyline, great voice acting, non-stop action

Weaknesses: None apparent

Summary: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a 3rd person action game for the PS3. It brings amazingly well-done graphics, voice acting and sounds in with a fantastic storyline and great action from beginning to end. It brings a well-written story with great platforming, 3rd person shooting and puzzle solving, all with good controls and gameplay. There's no multiplayer in the game, though with the medal system for in-game performance, there's some replay value with trying to get the top awards in all areas of the game. This one is a must-have for the PS3.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1

Strengths: Very good story, likeable characters, well acted, beautiful graphics/scenery, A.I. is pretty good, very fun

Weaknesses: Short, no online multiplayer (in fact, no multiplayer at all)

Summary: What do you get when you mix aspects from Indiana Jones (exploration) with Romancing the Stone (the give and take chemistry between characters) with Heavenly Sword (almost cinematic production values, like playing a movie) with Gears of War (3rd and 1st person gunplay and cover system) with Tomb Raiders (platforming)? You get Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, hopefully the first of many in a series of Uncharted games. This game takes the best aspects of many genres and makes something even greater out of them. It's not cutting edge, but has some doubletake moments, starting with the beautiful luscious scenery when bleak desolation seems to be the trend these days to the way Nathan Drake's clothes get wet when you go partially or fully into water. The shooting and cover system feel a lot like Gears of War (on the 360), but you're fighting realistic enemies (i.e., humans) in natural settings and lighting and your character/hero looks like Joe Everyman instead of like the incredible Hulk on steroids. The hand to hand combat is nothing spectacular but is way better and more robust than Gears of War's and other FPS's (which consist of some variation of an insta-kill chainsaw, butt of a weapon or flying fist graphic). Unlike games like COD4 (also very good), which aim for a lot of realism, Uncharted tickles the imagination with a storyline of looking for lost treasures. The story is well written and the characters are developed well and have personalities and charm, so you actually grow to like them rather than see them as the generic placeholders that they are in many other games. The A.I. is better than average for these types of shooters. The game is short though, probably running the average gamer between 10 and 12 hours. However, I'd say it's compelling enough that the average person probably wouldn't mind playing through it twice (or more) to try to find more of the treasures. There are no other modes to play through other than the story...no co-op or versus or online multiplayer, unfortunately. Still, this is a terrific game, especially for a brand new series, and I hope there are plenty more to come if they meet the quality of this one. If you own a PS3, this is definitely a game you need to get right now. It really shows off the system. I've played Heavenly Sword and Ratchet & Clank and many other PS3-exclusive titles, and, while those were great games as well, I believe Uncharted is still a notch-above. If you've played any of those others (Heavenly Sword, Ratchet & Clank), you know that's one heckuva compliment.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2 Weeks

Strengths: Story, Best console graphics to date.

Weaknesses: Control needs a little tweaking

Summary: Finally, I now have a game for my PS3 to play, and its a doozy. Uncharted plays exactly like a movie, with twists and turns to boot. The graphics are absolutely sick, making this a must play for those of you starved for PS3 games.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1 Month

Strengths: Graphics; Gameplay; Story; Extras

Weaknesses: None

Summary: Uncharted is brought to you by Naughty Dog, the same folks who did the Classic Jak and Daxter Titles. They really break the mold with this title; it's solid all around. They clearly applied their extensive experience on the PS2 with the Jak Titles - but they bring a whole bunch more. It's almost as though they took the PS3 as their personal playground and designed a game that would play perfectly on the PS3 -- and they hit it solidly.Everything about this game is fantastic -- trust me, if you only pick up one title for your PS3, this should be it.