Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Community Impressions (Part 1)

CommentOctober 6th, 2011 17:37

Last week, TGL hooked up with Naughty Dog co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand in Dublin for a behind closed doors look at 2011’s biggest Playstation 3 exclusives, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. As part of our time with Richard, TGL took along a small handful of lucky competition winners to get an exclusive peek at Uncharted 3’s single player campaign and get to grips with the latest multiplayer build. Here, TGL readers Eoghan O’Neill and Peadar Grogan give us their impressions of what they saw of Uncharted 3 and why they think Nathan Drake’s latest adventure is on course to be one of the games of the year.

First up, its Eoghan’s take……enjoy…..

When I won the Uncharted competition with TGL I was genuinely delighted, not only had I won an actual competition for the first time since primary school, it was a prize that allowed me to meet Richard Lemarchand, the co-lead game designer for the Uncharted series at Naughty Dog.

I have to confess I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I climbed the never ending stairs of the Odessa Club. Luckily for us, parched from the climb, a free bar awaited us at the top; something I’m sure Nathan Drake himself would appreciate after all his climbing about. First thing we see as we stroll in the door is Uncharted 3’s title screen loaded up on the flat screen TV and around 12 PS3 consoles to the right of the door which were also loaded, ready and willing to be played with. It was shaping up to be a good night and it certainly was that.

Having only recently become gripped by Uncharted fever I was really looking forward to getting hands on preview of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and who better to demonstrate the game than Richard Lemarchand himself. After a little bit of chat before the event officially began, Sony officials ushered us to our seats. I didn’t really notice until after the event but there seemed to be a slightly almost subliminal Arabian theme to the room. Maybe it was the music or perhaps the décor but the ambience was set and the mood of excitement and anticipation set pulses racing. Richard set about telling us a brief history of Naughty Dog and some of the titles they worked on previously before getting into the Uncharted 3 demo.

Uncharted is one of those rare games where excitement before release is a bit different to your normal game. The only thing I could compare it too is the kind of excitement you get before the next instalment of a favourite film series is released. Whether it be Star Wars, Indiana Jones or Harry Potter, you just can’t wait to see where the story brings you, see what the characters are up to, and hope your favourites live to tell the tale. That’s what Uncharted is like. You get emotionally attached to Drake, Sully, Elena and co and you really want to see what happens to them in this next chapter. What’s clear from the presentation is that Richard loves his job, and it’s this love that makes Naughty Dog consistently produce great games. His passion for Uncharted as the demo begins is obvious. Every animation and lighting effect is proudly shown off, and explained exactly how and why it came to be. It has to be said that this game looks the real deal. The Uncharted series really taps into people’s imaginations with the scenery, vibrant colours and epic landscape it showcases, and Uncharted 3 is no exception.

Once a demo sequence involving a plane and some fisticuffs with a rather large gentleman is over, Richard grabs a PS3 controller and proceeds to play out a part of the game very few people outside Naughty Dog have seen. You can tell Richard is a gentleman of the highest order as he lets us know that even lead game designers get nervous playing in front of crowds. However it looks like he has had plenty of practice as he leads Drake through the desert into an abandoned village. You can really see the work that has gone into the animation here as Drake stumbles and staggers down dunes in search of water. He even ponders if the village is real or a mirage. Once you get into the village, the lighting effects come into their own. Shadows cast by objects and rays of light passing through splinters in wooden beams all look gorgeous and really help to pull you into the world of Uncharted. After a quick sip of water from a barren well Drake stumbles upon some soldiers and Richard dispatches them efficiently and then all of a sudden presses pause. Not willing to give away any spoilers which might ruin something for us he puts away the controller and invites us to have a go at the multiplayer.

Now this is what we were waiting for, time to have a go ourselves. The game plays just as it should, with various ledges and walls to scale in order to sneak up on enemies. Something that increases the drama in game is the dust storm, which you can actually see roll in if you’re up high enough to peak over the town walls. Once the storm is present, your visibility is so poor that you can hardly see the gun in front of you, which means that your enemy could be feet away from you as everyone stumbles about looking for the next kill or treasure. This I really liked, the suspense of it all is a lot of fun. This on top of all the jumping, rolling, shooting and back breaking with knees is great fun and will keep you going back to the game long after the single player is completed.

Naughty Dog has wetted my appetite and November 2nd can’t come quick enough.

And here’s what Peadar made of it all…..

A strong-willed and resourceful Elena Fisher; a protective yet determined Nathan Drake; a high speed chase; a crash stranding an injured Drake in an inhospitable, wreckage-strewn landscape.

If this sounds familiar it’s because the footage shown at last week’s Uncharted 3 Drake’s Deception preview event in Dublin mirrored exactly the story beats of 2009′s critically acclaimed Among Thieves. It may be that Naughty Dog’s pulp fiction inspiration is starting to run dry, or it could be the development team playing their cards close to their chests. Uncharted has never been defined by its plot; rather it’s the strength of the moment to moment character interactions and hectic pacing that have lifted the series above the competition. There remains much to be revealed about Uncharted 3.

Co-lead designer on the Uncharted series Richard Lamarchand was in Dublin last week to provide a taste of two scenarios from the game. Relaxed and amiable, both during his presentation and in conversation; the defining impression he gave was of enthusiasm for his team and for the series. If the footage shown didn’t highlight anything particularly new, it did allow Lemarchand to neatly address a number of complaints levelled the game’s predecessor. He opened with footage previously shown at E3, a clip which seemed chosen to address Among Thieves’ shortcomings; one-on-one boss encounters and legibility of the environment. The brief scene set at an airport showed how lighting, colour and other key visual cues are used to guide the player towards their destination. The clip ended with a mini-boss battle, a short fist-fight involving interaction with the environment which sidestepped the frustration seen in some of the second game’s boss battles.

Taking the series namesake literally, the new desert environment demoed live on stage was set in the unmapped southern expanse of the Arabian Peninsula. Set towards the end of the game the brief glimpse we got of this vast yet detailed wasteland was enough to demonstrate subtle improvements to Drake’s animation, to the lighting and particle effects and most impressively, to draw-distance.

Lemarchand spoke about the importance of grounding the player in the world, whether through animation, environmental effects or dialogue. When speaking to him briefly before the event he stressed the importance of multi-disciplinary development at Naughty Dog; combing art, technology, design and writing to create a cohesive experience. The desert setting stretched to the horizon however an exhausted Drake could only make his way to nearby ruins. His animation expressed his condition clearly and there were hints of desperation in his voice. Finer details such as the movement of sand across the dunes in response to Drake’s footsteps really served to set the character into the landscape. Lemarchand described Uncharted’s pacing to me less in terms of peaks and troughs and more like a series of crests and sudden drops; a saw-tooth design providing players with short breaks while keeping them on their toes. This was in evidence as a brief period of exploration gave way to a gun-fight; Drake stumbling across enemies and suddenly into combat.

Our hands-on time with the game was multiplayer only. With an even playing field of low level opponents it was easy to get a feel for how the speed and verticality of Uncharted’s maps provide a different experience. The emphasis on melee combat and ability to grab players and toss them off ledges is lifted directly from single player but is indicative of the range of options available to skilled players. Sneaking up on Lemarchand and performing a neck-snapping takedown was one of the highlights of the event for me.

The few minutes gameplay we saw were enough to illustrate that this is a team perfecting their style of game; swift-paced but with a fine attention to detail. In addressing some of the previous instalment’s issues they are making the series accessible to an even wider audience. With a strong cast of characters and an array of environments and gameplay scenarios yet to be revealed, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is shaping up to be a real high point of this Christmas season.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is available in Ireland on November 2^nd

Check out TGL’s Uncharted 3: Drake Deception’s Single-Player Impressions Here

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