Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PlayStation 3)

Pros: Visually Stunning, Fun Gameplay

Cons: Redundant, No Bosses, Redundant

Summary: Like Indianna Jones? Like Tomb Raider? Well if they got together, had a baby, and didn't want to tell anyone about it it would be Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. A PS3 platform exclusive, Uncharted lives up to the platform's stunning visual capabilities but is lacking in a compelling story line played out by only semicharismatic characters. At first it's fun to run around in the jungle, jumping from platform to platform, hanging on to everything conceivably graspable, getting lost in the beauty of the graphics. After a while, it's just that: running around in a jungle. With only a small selection of guns (4?) and very few puzzles, the kill all for Uncharted is that there are NO BOSSES for a game that absolutely needs them (ninja gaiden III for ex.). I don't know WHY this game gets such good ratings from both users and critics. In the end, Naughty Dog did a pretty good job a developing a game that is both fun for everyone and visually great as a platform release title. The problem is that for true gamers Uncharted does not qualify as a fantastic adventure game, or a fantastic third person shooter. It's in between, and in this instance the genre cross didn't work as well as it could have.

I'm OUT! - H.A.G.