Deviation Actions
Yes, ironic isn't it? If I got a dollar for every time I said Uncharted was a soulless husk kept alive by hype, I'd be a rich man. And yet, here I stand, giving the portable entry an 8.5/10. This may seem like madness, this may seem like fantasy, but caught in this landslide of good ideas, there's no escape from reality.
This game was reviewed on and is exclusively for the PS Vita.*
I... don't know what to say. Maybe it's because it's on a handheld and -has- to try some new things. Maybe it's because new (to Uncharted) developer Bend Studios isn't trying to stick every ungodly excuse for a set piece into the story the way a certain other developer does. Maybe it was pure luck. We may never know unless Bend makes a sequel, which I honestly hope they don't. Why?
Well, Golden Abyss is a perfectly fine, well crafted adventure with an END. And when you reach the end, it -is- the end for the story. And I love that, because like so many other things, Bend totally flips the bird at Naughty Dog and actually thinks about what the GAME and STORY are doing instead of the over the top set pieces that everyone seems to think make do for barely average gameplay and sometimes downright groan worthy storytelling. While the heart (or whatever vague gaping hole that counts as one) of Uncharted is still here, it's really thriving for once. It's more than a third person shooter, and it's more than a platformer. It's actually the first game worthy of being called an Action-Adventure game.
Not that I want to get ahead of myself though, as per usual, story comes first, and by golly is it an upgrade. I've always said that Uncharted should either really push itself to go more out there or stick more closely to it's very obvious source material, in this case, it's the first Indiana Jones movie but as if they never left the jungle in the opening. That pretty much describes the entire narrative. No matter where you go, you're in Panama, which actually lets the environment and world DEVELOP.
You hear that ND? Develop. As in -- you actually get to know the world you're in and it has a series of changes and consistent design aesthetics that make all the parts stand out but also work together. Instead of just being a stockpile of generic action movie locations we've seen half a dozen times. It's almost Bioshock-like in how atmospheric it gets at times. For maybe the first time, I actually started to get into the game. I seriously would have fun, because I knew I wasn't just going through the numbers to reach the next "push the stick forward to not die and press X a few times to jump" explosion. In fact, there's only two of those in the entire game. Everything else is far more subtle and subdued, making those two moments actually feel intense.
Instead of going to Resident Evil 6 level silliness, the action feels far more grounded. Every aspect of the narrative is built to either help set that tone of reality or add a slight wrinkle here or there to the overall story. The biggest twist however is Nathan Drake. After three games of him basically being a "heart of gold" sociopath willing to slaughter armies, the game seems to take notice and acknowledge that Drake is a killer. There was one moment when another character takes up a gun for the first time, and instead of encouraging it like Among Thieves, he tries to dissuade them from doing it, and how it changes you.DEVELOPMENT. Character development here, folks!
I mean obviously none of this matters since this is a prequel but my gosh, Drake actually makes an appearance to be a nice guy for once. He's often fighting for his own survival or to save someone else, instead of being the guy insisting they jump into another fire fight without giving a reason. He's got compelling if standard motivations, and shows some genuine disinterest in being a criminal. And that's not all! He also relates to new romantic interest Merissa Chase not because of convenience (Elena) or a particularly obvious, yet treated as if subtle, fetish (Chloe), but because she is a lot like him. She's a younger and more innocent version, but she's got actual things in common with him and makes similar jokes and jabs at him as he does to her. It's refreshingly enjoyable, as they navigate a good part of the game together.
And thank you God! There's only one appearance of this tired QTE gimmick.
Aside from Chase and Drake, the only other real characters of note are Dante (who you can tell will stab you in the back the second you hear his first five lines of dialogue) and General Guerro (who you can tell will be the final boss because why else include him?). They both do their parts admirably, Guerro to a far greater degree than Dante. You can argue that there is an inclusion of an Uncharted mainstay in the mix, but their presence is barely better than Sully's "there and gone" moment in Among Thieves. Ironically though, it's this cameo that tries to appeal to Naughty Dog fans that made me realize just how much I preferred the new writer(s) to Amy Henning. If you told me she wrote that cameo section and the overly drawn out "that's what she said!" joke, I'd believe you, as they seem to love that joke back at 'Dog Headquarters. And then the game goes back to it's regular flow that works so much better.
I can also say the same for the gameplay. The case could be argued it is still shooting heavy at some points, but for once, you can't say there aren't long stretches where shooting and running away from explosions are never present. Some gameplay areas are built to later be reused for shooting, but they are first purely for exploration. And I find it funny to say this, but the levels of Golden Abyss are way more expansive and open to navigation than the PS3 entries of the game. Instead of singular sections of road that conveniently only lead one way, you're often dropped into mini-sandbox areas, sometimes with the option to go all out stealth, and unlike in Among Thieves, it actually WORKS here! Yes, it's still dumb and certainly not going to sell Metal Gear and/or Splinter Cell fans on the series, but by golly, it actually works and feels satisfying.
The reason this works so well is that Bend trusts it's players. It knows you are not an utter meatsack that cannot comprehend the most basic of instructions. That's why almost at every turn, unless there's an actual reason for it, you are free to make your choice. You can swap to the weapons they drop around you or stick with what you got, like in the F.E.A.R. series. You aren't required, save for the many sniping sections (speaking of which, if you're a fan of sniping games, BUY THIS!), to ever swap weapons, and you can immediately swap back. There was only one annoying instance where the game changed my pistol on me, and it was the climax and one of the two boss fights had just occurred, so maybe I "lost it in the fight". Whatever, so long as I can keep using whatever guns I want and actually have a purpose for using them in the environments given.
Still, I can't lie, the boss fights are probably the second weakest thing in the game. As you'll find, there are a number of control gimmicks due to this being a Vita game. There are sections where you do some genuine archaeology that get tied into exploration, and even some action levels that are great. They'd be perfectly fine if not for the stupid machette and melee gimmicks. Instead of just tapping square for melee, you have to slip your hands all over the controller to perform melee strikes. Boss fights are ENTIRELY these motions, and you cannot get more than three wrong. In the final boss fight, there's even a part where if you even get one wrong (and due to spotty detection, you will, I can guarantee it!), you're dead. This is a step back after all the good things presented, and actually prevented me from sitting through to the end. I seriously just Googled the last sixteen minutes of the game, and called it a day. That's not how you want someone to feel at the end of your game.
This absolutely confounds me. After all the great design decisions, after all the solid gameplay choices, after making even the stupid platforming a breeze now with (ironically far more accurate) swipe controls similar to the melee combat... they choke at the end. Not just the boss fights though, the entire ending. There's a part where it looks like things are going to be grim and we'll actually see part of what made Drake go from being a far nicer guy in Golden Abyss to being the arsehole that starred in Drake's Fortune and beyond. As all looks lost and like we'll see a huge bunch of character evolution that will explain so much of his behavior later on...
Nope, silly billy, THIS IS UNCHARTED! THERE'S ALWAYS A HAPPY ENDING!
WHY BEND? WHY? You had me so happy! I was enjoying your shooting that actually had pretty decent compensating auto-aim and not great but not awful motion assisted sniping. You had characters I vaguely cared about even if you could basically rename them with their ripped off characters from Raiders of The Lost Ark. You even impressed me with your graphics, despite obvious places where you cut corners and that one time where the game slowed down to about 15 FPS because to many things were happening at once for the AI. I was full and ready to give you a 9/10. And you blew it! You made the final chapter suck just as much as almost everything in Among Thieves, which, by the time you've reached this point of the review, you should be able to tell I REALLY DIDN'T LIKE AMONG THIEVES**.
Why? That's the only answer I want to know, Bend Studios. Why did you have to make something so solid, so enjoyable, be stuck with one of the worst, most generic and unimaginative endings ever? *Sigh* And that kids, is why Uncharted: Golden Abyss only gets an 8.5/10. An almost great experience is still worth a venture, but after thirty three chapters of fun, the thirty forth can't even hold a candle to the game it's attached to. Do yourself a favor, and get the game for free via PS Plus.
8.5/10
Still hating that dogawful haircut,
Paradigm the Fallen
Naughty Dog! Naughty Dog! Can you do the fandango?
Next up: RAGE (for real this time)
More Trivia: I was originally going to open with saying this was like a better version of Tomb Raider's recent reboot, but I'd be threatening to compliment Crystal Dynamic's trainwreck of game design if I were to do that.
P.S. I also like the fact that it took an alternative developer to make AMERICANS our opponents for a portion of the game instead of foreigners. Way to go Bend!
*Long story explaining why this was a big deal.
**The only game to beat it in pure hatred? The Tomb Raider reboot.
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