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Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3)
by Red-Fox
I have never been a huge PS3 gamer. However, Uncharted 3 got me completely addicted to the console. The game puts you into the shoes of Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter. While it is the third game in the series, you don't really have to have played the first two games in order to enjoy this fantastic game.
First of all, the ... graphics in the game are absolutely amazing. The animation is smooth in both the cutscenes and the actual gameplay itself. I loved all the small touches during the game that just added to the experience and managed to keep you in the moment, such as Drake swatting flies away whilst walking through the streets of Yemen. The music that is used in the game is also expertly done, matching the mood of the gaming perfectly. The combination of all these things gives it more of an appearence of a movie than a video game.
The plot of the game is also extremely well done. You will find yourself beginning to feel emotion for characters very quickly, and this is something that will carry all the way through the game. While most games struggle to show real emotion with their characters, Uncharted's characters rival that of a film, as you can truly tell when one of the characters is angry or hurt, and you will even be able to pick up on subtle undertones through the way the characters speak. Very often in the game I felt genuine hatred towards the games main villains, and relished the opportunity to finally get my hands on them.
The gameplay is fantastic, as are the environments. Each area of the game looks fantastic, and most of it can be interacted with, mostly for searching for hidden treasure. There are even points in the game, for example when you are on the ship, where the environment actually reacts to what is going. For example, on the ship there are very often big waves which will rock the ship, when this happens things will actually move around, something which a lot of other games will forget to include.
The game consists of a combination of third person shooter and puzzle gaming. The puzzle solving side of the game is almost flawless. On quite a few occasions you will be put up against a puzzle which must be solved, and will actually require you to think in order for the puzzle to be solved. Even when you have an idea of what you have to do, there is still a bit of extra work to be done before the puzzle is solved. The shooting side of the game, while good, is not as polished. The aiming system in Uncharted 3 is not the best, and I found that I would often waste quite a lot of bullets trying to shoot enemies because I could not easily aim onto the person I was trying to shoot. However, that is my only complaint with the shooting side of the game, as there is a good variety of different weapons, the covering system works very well, and the inclusion of being able to shoot whilst climbing was very welcome.
There were only a couple of things I disliked with the game. The first one, whilst slightly petty, is the inconsistency of how far Drake can fall without dying. Early on in the game I was trying to make my way into a warehouse, and decided to just drop straight down. While it only look like a small drop, whenever I attempted this I would die. However, later on the game, Drake was able to drop great distances and then would be able to get up completely unharmed. The second problem I had with the game was the camera angles. While the camera angles would sometimes work extremely well, especially during scenes where Drake was having to run away, there were other times when I would have the camera just move on me, meaning that I would often have problems. The random change in camera angle would mean that there were times when I would no longer be able to see an enemy, meaning he was able to sneak up and kill me, and even points where the camera would move whilst I was trying to make my way across an area, which would result in me missing a platform, dying, and having to start the section all over again.
Overall, I would say that the game is fantastic. The combination of great graphics, amazing character again and great gameplay means that it is a must have for any PS3 owner, and is the type of game that should tempt any non PS3 owner to buy a system just to play it.
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SSX (PS3)
by OJEtchells10
I have been a fan of SSX ever since i bought my first game in the series, SSX 2. Back then it was all about the massive tricks, rocking soundtrack and amazing graphics. So understandably i couldn't wait for this game to and by god did it deliver. This game is by developers EA sports and is the first in the series to be made by them after ... the previous EA sports BIG group was dropped.
Graphics: The SSX series has always been known for being one of the best looking games on PS2. Not so much detail but being able to deal with a lot of information as you storm downhill at stupid speeds. This game is no exception. The characters look good and over the top (what SSX is all about) and the mountains have been beatifully rendered. The screen blurs at the side of when travelling at speed (purposefully) and there is a huge amount of detail and a lot of information coming on fast.
Gameplay: The way your character reacts to the controls in game has harly changed since the old SSX games but the controls you use has which may take a while for a few fans to get used to but if not the old controls are still avalible. The same style has been adopted in this game as in its predecesers with you jumping over huge cliffs and doing ultra unrealistic tricks as you make your way at pace down the hill. Although it is slightly more realistic than the other games it is by no means realistic.
Presentation: The menu system and cut scenes inbetween chapters of the game look amazing. The menu is a world map menu that moves and interacts with your actions and the cut scenes see you flying through mountain ranges, through blizzards and generally keeping up with the genral anarchy and pure exitement of the whole game.
Story: the game was previously to be named SSX deadly descents because the story involves you working up to and doing the worlds 7 most deadly descents. Like all SSX games there isn't anything like a plot line but thats nothing bad. You snowboard, make money, buy better equipment and keep snowboarding. This is fun and engrossing most of the time but i found towards the middle of the game just doing the same thing over and over was getting a little old. They do throw a few extra features in there though with the addition of night snowboarding and jumping out of helicopters just for fun really.
Soundtrack: The soundtrack to SSX has always been an important part of the game, in any case who wouldn't want to listen to a mix of high pace electric and rock while hurtling down a mountain. The music in this game is more of the same really just replaced with newer music and doesn't dissapoint, even if you don't like rock or electric im sure you will have fun making your way downhill to it. You can expect to find yourself playing to tracks from skrillex and other dubstep. In the tricky mode (specials mode basiclly) you will play to a remixed version of run-DMC's its tricky.
If i were to come up with one bad thing about it it's that they have not kept the stlye the older games were made in. They have opted for a modern and fresh presentation to it and for anyone who hasn't played the old games take no notice of this but it does just bug me slightly.
This game has been missing from game consoles ever since SSX on tour came out on PS2 how ever many years ago but it was worth the wait
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