From the developers of Naughty dog, the creators of Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter bring your Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. Take the role of Drake as you try and search for the lost treasure of Sir Francis Drake. The game plunges you in a rich rain forest environment filled with pirates.

Developer Naughty Dog, of Jack and Daxter fame, hopes to take gamers on a treasure hunting thrill ride in its upcoming PlayStation 3 adventure, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The impressive, third person shooter features a slick graphics engine and death defying escapes, plunging gamers into a world bursting with danger and excitement.

The one level demo, shown at Sony's recent Gamers Day, drops people into a lush, tropical jungle full of modern day pirates. Instead of packing scabbards and sporting eye patches and peg legs, these simply dressed dirt bags carry pistols and chuck grenades. They certainly make life difficult for the game's main character, Nathan Drake, a young thrill seeker that gets stranded on the island after his small plane crashes. After finding a clue in Sir Francis Drake's coffin, he heads off to search for the lost treasure of El Dorado.

Uncharted's visuals stand out as its best feature. Naughty Dog, far removed from the 32-bit Crash Bandicoot days, harnesses the PlayStation 3's processing muscle to create an attractive jungle environment, populated by swaying grass, thick, impenetrable trees, creeping vines, bugs, rocks, 400 year old ruins and realistic looking water that spills over objects. The entire package looks very impressive, especially during firefights, where exploding barrels and bullets add gorgeous special effects.

Naughty Dog has yet to introduce innovative combat concepts. Instead, it relies on a simple blueprint by which Drake leaps over chasms, climbs up things, takes cover behind objects and pops out to squeeze off a few rounds and picks up all sorts of useful objects. The only unique feature entails navigating across fallen trees using the SIXAXIS controller. As Drake walks across the log, gamers keep his balance by tilting the controller left or right. Failing to do this causes Drake to slip off, forcing players to rapidly press X to pull himself back up.

He also makes use of weapons, starting the game with a pistol and then picking up an AK-47, grenades and a shotgun. While targeting enemies, a reticule gives players the opportunity to score headshots (a one-hit kill) or going for specific body parts. The gunplay works well, and killing pirates feels rewarding, but they also absorb an unnatural amount of bullets. Then again, so does Drake.

Unarmed, Drake uses his fists and feet, punching and kicking enemies. Repeatedly pressing Square causes him to perform simple combos, though at this early stage in development, Naughty Dog needs to fix the hit detection. All too often, Drake swings and fails to connect, even though his hand passes through an enemy's face.

Despite being a rough build, Uncharted shows tremendous potential, providing a satisfying experience that, if tweaked, may morph into one of the PlayStation 3's more exciting video games. Considering Naughty Dog's illustrious resume, the game's definitely in capable hands.

Sayyed via gamedaily.com »