All That Glitters
| Platform | Presentation | Controls | Variety | Audio | Depth | Value & Fun | OVERALL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 3 | 7.50 | 9.00 | 7.00 | 8.00 | 7.00 | 8.50 | 7.85 |
| General Information |
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On the plus side: A really enjoyable adventure. Fun story and nice setting. Looks great etc. The shooting is handled well: Nice selection of fire-arms and the ability to hold no more than a handgun and a rifle at any given time makes it a little more interesting. The cover mechanic is very important and once mastered it makes gunfights easy and fun. The platforming is enjoyable too. It is less about timing and precision and more about figuring out the one (and only one) path you have to take to get from point A to point B. The puzzles are quite fun. Though fairly simple (by comparison to say some of the more devious Zelda puzzles) one can't quite call them simplistic. Vehicle sequences: There's only one or two of these but they are fairly enjoyable and offer a welcome change of pace. On the minus side: While all these elements together provide a nice variety, it all feels a little bit "by numbers". After about an hour one has experienced everything the game has to offer and from then on it becomes a rinse and repeat business. No bosses: Not a single one of them. Big set pieces do not count as bosses if you're just killing dozens of carbon copy grunts. I don't care if I'm spoiling it at this stage by saying that you don't actually get to fight any of the games villains (that talk and have names). They all die in cut-scenes, you don't shoot a single bullet at them. The final boss (if you like) consists of a scripted button sequence (or whatever you call those). The screen tells you to press triangle, then square. Then again triangle and square. And that's it, you've finished them game. An action game without a single boss fight. |
| Gameplay Description |
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As I said above. This is an adventure in the style of the Tomb Raider games. You spend most of the time fighting pirates. Gunfights are for the most part interesting and fun though they do get repetitive as there is not too much variety in the enemies you fight. The fact that there are no bosses in the game does not help. There is a good amount of platforming which is fairly relaxing and spaces out the gunfights nicely. |
| Dedication Meter | 7.00 |
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The game is fairly easy on the whole. The game gives you adequate amounts of ammo and fairly obvious options for cover meaning that gunfights are never frustrating even when you get large numbers of enemies. The platforming is fairly easy with one or two frustrating exceptions (where you had to make a very long jump in a very specific direction or fall to your death) and the challenge is more in figuring out the path you must take. |
|
| Presentation | 7.50 |
| As far as I can tell on my cheapo telly the game looks great. It was released long enough ago for it to be considered a PS3 launch game I think, and from what most people said it was the best looking of the bunch. Personally I felt the environments started to feel samey even though they tried to recycle them often. There's only so many ways you can do jungle - ruins/buildings - tombs/catacombs over 20 odd levels. The enemies are the same virtually from beginning to end. You fight pirates. The only difference between them is the gun they hold. In the last few levels you fight some kind of mutants which crawl towards you and try to kill you with their teeth or claws. That makes for some nice creepy sections and brings the total of types of enemies you fight in the game to a staggering ... 2! | |
| Controls | 9.00 |
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No complaints here. Aiming with the right analog was ok (once I reversed the y-axis) even though it felt a little slow. Taking cover and dodging during gunfights felt right. Jumping and platforming was not precise but it needn't be since most of the platform jumps are scripted. You control the camera with the right analog and it's mostly quite responsive, never presenting much of a problem even during heated gunfights. During the platforming sections the camera often shifts on it's own to help you see where you are meant to jump to next which is nice. |
|
| Variety | 7.00 |
| I think the aim of the developers was to give the game a great deal of variety. They only succeeded partially because sadly you get to experience most of what the game has to offer from fairly early on and then it's much the same with some minor variations. Having just 2 kinds of enemy and no bosses doesn't help matters. | |
| Audio | 8.00 |
| Nice music in the menu and when you start the game. During gameplay there's either silence and some ambient sounds (during platforming or when nothing is happening) or intense tribal (during gunfights). It gets a bit repetitive by the end but it's not bad. | |
| Depth | 7.00 |
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Not sure what this category means. In terms of story the game is fairly standard and cheesy but it's not really worse than a sunday afternoon family adventure film so I guess for a videogame many would consider the story good/deep. The gameplay is the same from beginning to end. Your character doesn't have stats. You don't get any new items or abilities. You get about half a dozen different weapons in the course of the game and that's about as deep as it gets. |
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| Value & Fun | 8.50 |
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The game felt to me fairly lengthy. I'm too lazy to go check my save file but my guess would be at least 15 hours. So in terms of a single player game which I got on the platinum range (aka hobo range) it is fairly good value and I feel I got my money's worth. There are bits of treasure etc to find which could make someone want to play the game again and try to find all of them ... but not me. Fun? Yeah, mostly fun ... mostly. |
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| Overall | 7.85 |
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I played the game about half way through a very long time ago, and I was originally planning on just playing the sequel now but I thought I may as well play the first game to completion first (starting from the beginning). It's a good game and I enjoyed it a good deal but it's not the flawless staple of gaming it was presented as by some reviewers. I am not disappointed though. I look forward to the sequel very much (luckily I have it here and I'm starting it tomorrow) but I hope and expect it to be better than this original by leaps and bounds. If it isn't, then I shall really be disappointed. |
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Posted by bugsonglass Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:31:02
Recently Spotted:
*crickets*
Not sure why the summary doesn't appear on the review. Anyway I wrote it so here it is:
Summary
There's a lot to like about this game. It's a well crafted game with high production values that takes you on a fun ride, raiding tombs and fighting pirates in exotic locals in search of the golden statue of El Dorado. When this game was released it may have been the Playstation 3's owner "game to get", and I can see why. However it will not go down as a classic as - when the dust settles - it feels a little formulaic, uninspired and (dare I say) ... soulless
As good as this game was in many ways it was a "dry run" for the next game.
At its core, yeah the shooting is basic. Yeah there isnt much enemy variety and it gets a bit repetitive. But overall the game is pure quality, with production values that are through the roof, beautiful visuals, good story, great characters, awesome music, quality voice acting, it very very well made.
About the AI, playing on normal I saw nothing particularly great. You shoot somebody in the head, goes and hides then two seconds later walks right back into your reticule. But it was fun, I didn't feel I wanted the fights to be any more challenging.
Other than that, I agree with you and I appreciate all those points. I just feel that in this generation of gaming (and much of the latter part of the previous one) beautiful looking games with robust and varied gameplay mechanics and shining production values and great audio are not as rare as they used to be.
So maybe scores should be adjusted accordingly. To me an 8 game, is a great game, just not an exceptional one. If I were to give this game a 9 it ought to be a game to enjoy every minute of and to go on to remember forever. To me Uncharted it's not quite that. It doesn't even have a single boss fight, I think that's ridiculous for an action adventure game. It's like a very enjoyable meal that gives you very little to complain about, but it also gives you little to rave about. In other words it's hobo-gourmet!
I really hope the sequel is truly exceptional and a proper 9 and above game. I'm really looking forward to finding out.
Aspro, thanks for advising me to play this first. I enjoyed it very much and I feel more excited for U2 than before.
You don't agree with the score Mr 4.50 Vader? !