I'm given a two minute run down by Evan, it's all I need. The directional pad changes weapon, L1 is for aiming and R1 is shooting. The environment can be used to your advantage, by simply pressing circle you will take cover behind the nearest boulder or wall. I run up the stairs blindly, full of confidence. About ten seconds later blood is on the screen, I'm dead and the screen goes black and white. It's the fact that the controls were on invert I tell myself, almost hoping I am not going to make a fool of myself in front of the Co-President.
Try not to look at the environment too long, you'll get shot at.
After a quick change in the pause menu I'm ready to start trying. Despite only being given a very short introduction to the game, it's incredibly easy to pick up the controls for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It's all part of the fact that Naughty Dog worked "really hard to allow you to move from traversing to shooting to hand to hand combat all seamlessly, so you never feel like you're switching modes.". It's not just marketing speak, but rather true. See, if you come across an enemy you may decide to roll behind the cover, or approach an enemy directly and use hand to hand combat to defeat them instead. There is no need to push a button to activate a specific mode or fighting style, which makes the controls in Uncharted feel intuitive after about five minutes.
After a few moments of playing the game it's difficult not to start to become confident. We move into the open jungle and pause. The pause lasts a few moments, but we're willing to bet most gamers will pause the first time they come across the jungle in Uncharted - it's just beautiful. Naughty Dog aimed to create a "lush environment" and they have succeeded. It's rather easy to just think that the jungle is the jungle, some may even think that Naughty Dog took the easy way out by setting the game in the jungle, it's just green right? Absolutely not, there is so much detail in the levels that it's quite easy to become immersed in Uncharted. We're in an open space trying to work out how to progress, suddenly we spot a vine and begin to climb it. "Good" says Evan as we climb the vine, explaining to us that he was concerned that the vine would be too obvious, what was it that attracted us to the vine? Well you see a vine, you climb it.
As we climb higher we're soon overlooking a mini-fort protected by pirates. Instinctively we hide behind some cover, shoot some pirates, jump a large wall and then hide behind the large wall trying to peg off each individual enemy. Was this the best approach? Well it certainly worked, but most importantly it wasn't the only approach we could have taken. "When you come into these environments there are several ways to traverse the environment, to combat situations you know it's cover based gunplay. You can really learn to use the environment to your advantage and find out the best ways to gain advantage on your enemies" explains Evan, so for example another player may decide to stay at the top of the wall and shoot enemies from there. The benefits are obvious; it's easier to target your enemies but without cover it's certainly a riskier option.
But when it looks this good..
As we cross over a log we begin to fall and notice that a picture of the Sixaxis appears in the bottom left of the screen. It's possible to use the Sixaxis to support yourself and keep yourself on the log. We fail immediately but by pressing X there is a still a chance of redemption, thankfully. The Sixaxis can also be used to throw grenades, Evan explains that "there are some nice little subtle touches" when it comes to the Sixaxis but for those of you who aren't fans "you could probably make it through the game and not use the Sixaxis at all."
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is also one of the first PlayStation 3 games released that supports rumble. The game will come shipped with the rumble option, but PAL gamers still have to wait until Quarter 2 for the Dual Shock 3 to become available. Evan explains that Naughty Dog "had a programmer dedicated for weeks on end just going through the game and finding every last little tiny touch that might benefit from using the rumble" and it certainly shows. Firing a weapon will produce rumble, a feeling that just feels natural.
After defeating a few more enemies by way of the hand to hand combat and using the weapons we've found on the jungle floor from the defeated enemies it's time to hand the controller back, disappointingly. Our time is up and it's still over a month before we'll get a chance to play the final version of the game. Those worried about whether Naughty Dog would make the transition to the PlayStation 3 effectively have no need to worry, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is shaping up to be one of the best PlayStation 3 games yet.
Looks like the transition from PS2 to PS3 has gone pretty smoothly.
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