PlayStation 3 320GB Slim with Uncharted 3 PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3 320GB Slim with Uncharted 3 Product Details

Released on 02-Nov-2011

• Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception Review

  Grand expectations

  Gamersexpectations for the sequel to 2009 multiple Game of the Year award-winner Uncharted 2 are understandably sky-high, so it pleasing to report that the latest entry in PS3 flagship action adventure series often manages to stack up to and - on occasion - exceed the genre leading quality bar set by its predecessor.

  The third outing in the Indiana Jones inspired treasure hunting franchise puts our hero Nathan Drake back on the trail of his famous ancestor, Sir Francis Drake. He sets off on a globe-trotting mission to locate an ancient lost city, Iram of the Pillars, taking him on a journey to London, Syria, France, Colombia, Yemen and finally Rubl Khali, one of the largest sand deserts in the world.

  Fortune and glory

  
  

  Also along for the ride are the returning supporting cast of Drake mentor, Sully, and leading ladies Chloe and Elena. As expected from developer Naughty Dog, the game offers highly convincing looking and behaving characters, which are brought to life by an excellent script, great acting performances and Hollywood level motion capture work. It really is a joy to watch them interact and see their relationships develop as cinematic cut scenes are seamlessly weaved with gameplay.

  But Drake and his friends aren the only ones looking for Iram, or Atlantis of the Sands, the popular name given to the legendary city in southern Arabia believed to have been destroyed by a natural disaster or an act of god. To have any hope of achieving their goal, theyl have to stay one step ahead of a secret society that been searching for it since the days of Queen Elizabeth I.

  Visual spectacle

  
  

  While the graphical leap between 2007 Uncharted: Drake Fortune and its follow-up isn replicated here, Uncharted 3 is arguably the finest looking console game to date. Having conquered the jungle, snow and ice in its predecessors, Uncharted 3 masters its chosen elements and environments too, most notably the dangers and roaring life of fire and water, and the harsh loneliness of desert plains.

  There a real feeling of authenticity to the game varied locations, with grimy London backstreets, French countryside mansion ruins, a moonlit stone fortress in Syria, and architecturally-diverse buildings brilliantly depicted by the game artists. Throw in the seriestrademark epic set-pieces - including dramatic escapes from burning chateaus, capsizing cruise liners, and an aeroplane take off that sees Drake clinging from the bird rear - and Uncharted 3 takes cinematic action to a scale PS3 has not seen before.

  Bare knuckle brawling

  
  

  Like it predecessors, Uncharted 3 generally alternates between fairly simple environmental puzzle solving, climbing or jumping across structures, and engaging bad guys on this occasion shadowy, slightly clich British operatives using slick, Gears of War like third person cover-based shooting. Drake brings a few new tricks to the party in Uncharted 3, including the ability to shoot vertically while scaling environments, and the smarts to catch enemiesgrenades and throw them back within a certain timeframe

  The hand-to-hand brawling system has been developed, with basic kicks and punches now complemented by counter-attacking moves and crowd-managing shoves that bring a little more strategy to combat. The addition of contextual takedowns, which enable you to do things like smash bottles across heads or use pool cues if youe fighting in a bar, are also a nice touch that help further immerse you in your given location at any time.

  Multiplayer adventures

  
  

  Aside from the stellar campaign, Uncharted 3 delivers some the best multiplayer action on PS3. This comes in the form of a range of competitive and team-based cover-centric gameplay modes including deathmatch and objective capture ones. The game also introduces Call of Duty style weapon upgrades and ability-enhancing boosts, plus an assortment of unlockable character models and clothing to spend your hard-earned in-game cash on.

  In addition, there are five three-player co-op story missions, moving from the London Underground to Syria, which largely focus on shooting and completing simple objectives. Theye a nice distraction in their own right, but given the relative lack of climbing and puzzle solving, we probably have preferred it if the main campaign supported co-op play

  Strikes gold

  
  

  As is the case with any game, there arguably some room for improvement. Uncharted 3 difficulty spikes a little steeply and unexpectedly on occasions towards the end of the game, ensuring some players will have to replay sections many times to succeed, and as previously stated, the game fails to deliver the same technical leap as Uncharted 2 did from the original.

  But these are very minor niggles that fail to put a dampener on an otherwise thoroughly excellent game. Boasting a brilliant single player campaign alongside polished and expanded multiplayer modes, plus some of the finest video game graphics and storytelling to date, Uncharted 3 is an action title of the highest calibre.

  GAME's verdict

  Good:
  + Absolutely stunning visuals
  + Spectacular, cinematic set-pieces.
  + Tonnes of things to see and do.

  Bad:
  - The clich British baddies.
  - Some big difficulty spikes towards the end.
  - Doesn feature the same technical leap as Uncharted 2.
  

  Review by: Tom "Intrepid Explorer" Ivan
  Version Tested: PlayStation 3
  Review Published: 26.10.11

  Published: 26/10/2011

  Published: 26/10/2011

• Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception

  Charting the Uncharted

  The second game in the fast-paced action romp that is the Uncharted trilogy raised expectations of what a video game could look and feel like. A visual tour-de-force it delivered the most impressive technical accomplishment on any games console, set-piece after set-piece of Hollywood action, all wrapped in a heroic story of derring-do and adventure.

  The problem with such a giant evolutionary step is that it can train an audience to expect the same leap with the game that follows. As such, gamers expecting a similarly impressive advance to the Uncharted template will likely walk away exhilarated, but a little disappointed with DrakeDeception.
  Nevertheless, for those who want more of the same swashbuckling adventure, built around the three gameplay pillars of third person shooting, exploration and puzzles, Uncharted 3 will meet every expectation, delivering as it does another of the most impressive rides in contemporary corridor-style cinematic gaming.

  Fame and Drake Fortune

  
  

  Once again the story charts the adventure of runaway explorer Nathan Drake, who along with his older sidekick Victor Sullivan are still on the hunt for Sir Francis Drake lost treasure. Together the team race through a huge array of exotic locations, from a dingy London Underground station, to the sunshine baked street of Yemen, the cobbled streets of pastoral France and into the white heat of the desert.

  It a whistle stop tour of some beautiful locations, expertly rendered by the graphical artists at Naughty Dog, who squeeze every last bit of juice from the PlayStation hardware. The character animation is superb, bringing the cast to vivid life, and the voice actor cast sterling performances are both expressive and believable.

  Raiding Tombs

  
  

  Play is split between platforming, combat and puzzles. The platforming sections have you scaling castle walls, leaping from burning buildings and working your way through a graveyard of ships as you work your way from A to B. Animations make leaping between rooftops visceral and engaging, while clambering along thin wooden beams is nerve-wracking.

  Combat comes in a few flavours, from stealthy take-downs, to bar-room brawls (with button prompts flicking up on screen to show you when to duck), to all out shoot-outs using any number of different guns. Stealth is generally encouraged, but as soon as a single enemy spots your position, the alarm is raised and youl have a small army to deal with.

  Finally, Drake Deception isn short on puzzles, many of which are found in the bellies of long lost tombs. If these have you stumped for too long, then you can press a button to gain a clue or even have the entire thing solved for you if you really can work out a way forward. The puzzles are well-designed in general, and it good to be able to use smarts - as well as reactions - in progressing through the story. The jewels of the experience, however, are the glorious set-piece action sequences which, while dialing down the interactivity, ape their Hollywood inspiration for sheer jaw-dropping spectacle.

  The Truth About Drake

  
  

  Outside of the single player story, a strong multiplayer suite of options provides genuine longevity to the package. Uncharted boasts one of the best online third person shooter multiplayer modes thanks to the platforming, and vertical shooting no mere crouching behind walls and tumbling around here. The surrounding structure may be borrowed from Modern Warfare with its experience points, medals and boosters, but elsewhere it entirely its own experience.

  A robust co-op mode rounds off the generous clutch of features, allowing players to work cooperatively through a set of levels, while competing with one another for items and treasures. The result is a strong, assured example of blockbuster gaming. It may be fiercely linear and heavily scripted, but few games of this ilk are executed with such charm and expertise. For gamers wanting their own interactive Indiana Jones movie, Drake Deception delivers on every account.

  

  Drake
  + Incredible visuals!
  + Mesmerizing set-pieces!
  + Class acting!

  Jokerific!
  - Lack of player choice!
  - AI feels too knowledgeable.
  - Story rhythm now over-familiar.
  

  Published: 27/10/2011

• Battlefield 3 holds steady atop UK charts

  Smash-hit shooter Battlefield 3 has retained its position atop the UK all-formats chart, despite a strong challenge from Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.

  EA and DICE's acclaimed action game managed to continue its blockbusting pace to see off Naughty Dog's latest PlayStation 3 adventure, topping the official GfK-ChartTrack rankings for a second week.

  However, second-placed Uncharted 3 was still able to generate massive numbers of its own, recording the 11th best PlayStation 3 launch ever, while far exceeding the debut of 2009's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

  Third place went to FIFA 12, while the ever-popular Batman: Arkham City and Just Dance 3 rounded out the top five.

  Sega's latest Sonic the Hedgehog adventure, Sonic Generations, also cracked the top ten, slotting in at tenth place.

  Next week's chart will be rocked by the imminent launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which is likely to break more than a few sales records when it debuts on Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3.

  Published: 08/11/2011

• Games you can't afford to miss from 2011

  
  

  There's no denying it, we've been spoiled rotten by the flood of quality games this year. There isn't enough time in the day to get through them all! Fortunately, the Christmas holidays are here to give us a little more time to catch up on the best of 2011.

  We've hand-picked a selection of games from this year's release schedule that are all worthy of your Christmas Gaming time...

  Batman Arkham City

  

  A comic hero game that turned out to be very good? We were left speechless when Arkham Asylum was released in 2009. Even more incredibly, Rocksteady Studios' sequel managed to be even better than the first!

  Batman Arkham City sets you in a massive open world, players assume the role of a Batman imprisoned in the sprawling super-prison of Arkham City. Every nemesis you could hope for makes an appearance in the game - as well as an epic storyline offering dozens of hours of gameplay, there's a huge quantity of sidequests and missions to explore once you've put the baddies to bed.

  Uncharted 3

  

  This third outing for Nathan Drake is his grandest adventure yet. Set amongst deserts, lost cities and ruins, Uncharted 3 is a technically astonishing PlayStation 3 game that features all of the exploration, fighting and explosive set-pieces we've come to expect from the series.

  Better multiplayer, more customisation options and some of the most impressive motion-capture animations to hit gaming make Uncharted 3 an unmissable, cinematic rollercoaster. Don't miss out on one of gaming's finest adventures.

  The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

  

  If you can't get your money's worth out of a game like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, you're very hard to please indeed! Bethesda's follow-up to the best-selling game Oblivion left players and critics alike reeling. A gorgeously rendered, enormous world stuffed with terrifying dungeons, endless quest-lines and open-world dragon fights, Skyrim packs more content into a side-quest than most games manage full stop.

  Are you an archer, berserker, magician or rogue? Whatever your play-style, there's a highly customisable role for you in this most epic of RPGs. Hundreds of hours of gameplay are here for players to gorge themselves on, all spread across a game that is likely to become one of the most fondly remembered of this generation. The greatest RPG of all time? It might just be.

  Gears of War 3

  

  Tying up all the loose ends of the previous games, this climax to the best-selling Gears of Wars franchise sees Marcus Fenix and co set out to finish the Locust Horde once and for all in Gears of War 3. Some of the most awesome baddies the series has ever seen make their appearance in this conclusion, and there'll be no shortage of sweaty palms once the fighting's over.

  Multiplayer provides endless re-playability for the game, as you team up with friends to take on wave after wave of Locust forces. If you'd rather rip your friend's face off than lend a helping hand, you can now fight as the enemy, raining horrible destruction on your whole family once the Christmas pudding's gone down.

  FIFA 12

  

  Once mocked by gamers for churning out what often amounted to little more than annual updates, EA has been on a charm-offensive these last five years or so, bringing significant innovation and improvements to their flagship footie title every single time.

  FIFA 12 sees the introduction of a far more dynamic system for defending where you can link up with an AI defender to put pressure on attackers. Head to Head seasons allow you to take part in a highly competitive ladder tournament, while simply playing the game also adds points to your chosen club. It's as addictive as ever, and about as fully-featured a sports game as we could hope for.

  The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword

  

  The perfect game to settle into while the family are having a good old row downstairs,The Ledgend of Zelda Skyward Sword will charm the pants off you with it's perfect telling of the classic Zelda tale, mixed with the best combat and world design the series has ever seen.

  Set prior to the events of the N64 (and now 3DS) classic Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword starts off in a beautiful cloud city by the name of Skyloft. Of course, it's not long until Link's childhood friend Zelda is whisked off into the lands below, beginning a fantastic journey of world exploration, soaring flight, and devilishly tricky dungeons. Skyward Sword is a must-play for any Zelda fans, past or present.

  Published: 14/12/2011

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