We map Uncharted's progress through three iterations as the game that played the filmic card and won -- but then backed this up with gameplay and characters.

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Videogame Podcast Guests

Pre-Thoughts

Before the tape started rolling, here are our scribbled notes.

Andy Robertson - Family Gamer

The quality of the cut scenes was a real highlight for me. Not only how good it looks but how well synced the voicework and motions are. This actually meant that the cut scenes were a part of the game I looked forward to rather than skipped.

The environments themselves are some of the most beautiful and impressive I've seen. In fact I had a number of moments where I simply stopped to look around a new location -- it just looked so good.

Along with this is the way you interact with your surroundings. Water was a real highlight in both games - both how it looks and responded to your movements. But a really clever trick here was how the game blurred the edges of each playspace.

This worked really well for me, giving a sense of a larger environment than was actually there - and reminded me of Alan Wake in that respect. There were particular points where the game presents you with a gap too small to fit through, but then allows you to shimmy through at the press of a button. This takes the usual invisible wall and enabled you to pass straight through it. Really clever I thought, and very effective.

Other aspects of the game were all strong - characterisation, relationships and story. But it was the central gun-play mechanic that kept me playing through each Uncharted's ten or so hours.

I'm looking forward to Uncharted 3, in particular gameplay enhancements like improved climbing, more multiplayer and co-operative modes, bigger set pieces, enhanced visuals and support for 3D. It also sounds like the hand to hand combat takes the game more twoards proper brawler mechanics. Hand-to-hand combat, contextual melee attacks and new stealth options, along with expanded gun-play all sound very promising.

Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception takes the action to the desert and dials in on Drake's relationship with Sully. Drake again persuades Sully (and again on the bases of shaky old manuscripts) to hunt for the fabled Atlantis of the Sands. The pair are propelled into the heart of the Arabian Desert where they face the, now series standard, supernatural threats as well as thugs with guns.

Chris Jarvis - Novel Gamer

I disregarded Uncharted for a long time. From the trailers I'd seen it looked like a generic Tomb Raider-derivative action adventure. I only played it through recommendation from my brother. I think the original marketing undersold it. What sets Uncharted apart from the crowd is some great writing and some fabulously portrayed characters.

But that comparison with Tomb Raider never goes away, for me. Tomb Raider itself lost its way and went off the rails only to be re-invented later. Uncharted to me feels like a natural evolution of one aspect of Tomb Raider's gameplay. Interestingly, the parts of Tomb Raider I enjoyed the least were the gun-play and vehicle elements, preferring the climbing and exploration. Uncharted takes those elements and makes them work brilliantly.

What struck me about playing Uncharted - and Uncharted 2 especially - was how much I enjoyed the tightly directed experience. The cut scenes apart, I was impressed by the seamless way the game camera was redirected during gameplay. Older games generally telegraphed surprises through a sudden pause or a black screen. Uncharted somehow seamlessly integrates dramatic beats into the level. For example there's a moment in war-torn Nepal where you're running down the alley and suddenly a vehicle explodes, knocking you from your feet and closing off a possible escape route. It's clever on two levels - technically the engine and camera control is top-notch but I think it also succeeds in directing the player's attention to key areas and leading your expectations into those sudden moments.

There's a lot of tension in gaming between an on-rails experience and a more free style - often it's a disparity between big studios and indies. I think Uncharted 2 is a great advocate for a directed style. This is the big-budget summer blockbuster approach to games - if you're going to play a linear action adventure, this is one to see and I think the high bar for developers to beat.

It's also one of the few games that offers multiplayer that I can relate to. There's only so many flags I can defend in my life and UC2 provides some great alternatives. Gold Rush turns capture-the-flag into a dirty game of football with guns and grenades, trying to lob the treasure as far as possible to within a teammates reach. It's also one of my favourite games for co-op, offering quite a few different choices for my and my buddy. I think what I'd really like from UC3 is the option to play much more of the main story as co-op. I know that my gaming buddy and I would love the chance to run the whole thing. I don't know how much that would affect the direction though, because if there one thing that UC2's co-op loses in the translation it is that seamlessness of the experience. Still I think if anybody can overcome that hurdle, Naughty Dog are the best equipped to attempt it.

Alex Beech - Scared Gamer

Uncharted was the impetus for me wanting to buy a PS3 initially. Hearing about a well-written game with the adventurous spirit of Indian Jones had me tempted, despite it not receiving the highest scores.

Having spent some time lusting after it before I bought the Sony system it had actually dropped down to a budget release before I got my grubby little hands on it. Unfortunately I was disappointed. The acting was great, but I found the story ruined by a drop into the supernatural. It is a Magoffin that works in Indie, not so much in Uncharted where the result of the supernatural is not a key, but instead just another thing to gun down.

And that is the key problem, gunning down, because Uncharted still relies on too much fighting. Exploration was great but my progression through combat sections was invariably slow and felt disjointed with the story.

Jump to Uncharted 2 and many of the same problems remain, but they managed to more seamlessly integrate the story, exploration and combat. While combat was still over exaggerated to the point of being ridicules, it none the less manages to seem correctly positioned within the fiction adding to the whole, rather than detracting from it.

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