Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception review

Of course it does still follow the template of such games, and the movies they pay homage to for that matter. There are some puzzles, some exploration and a lot of running, jumping, climbing and shooting. The last two have always featured heavily in Uncharted, and if you’ve played the first two, you may no longer be as impressed by the clever blend of the two. However, the game still has some new tricks up its sleeve, like some impressive vertical firefights. On the flat it certainly can’t compete with shooters like Gears of War, but the way it blends location, action and gunplay together is incredibly effective.

We found the early gun-play a bit flat, but it improves incredibly as more powerful weapons and more varied enemies are introduced

There are more puzzles in this latest iteration, at least in the first half of the game, some are quite neat but they’re all of the single room variety, and so won’t tax or amaze anyone who’s played Zelda or other physics puzzle heavyweights. As the game progresses the puzzles dry up to some extent, but in their place come some incredible set piece experiences – which we won’t spoil here.

Uncharted 3 is often able to go one step beyond your expectations, segueing from impressive, to spectacular, to laugh-out-loud epic preposterousness. That it can marry such scenes with wisecracking dialogue and genuinely tender moments puts it up there with the best pulp Hollywood has to offer. The series is certainly suffering from a little sequel fatigue, but this is still a must-have game for anyone who owns a PlayStation 3, and one to get jealous over if you don’t.