Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a rarity in gaming these days. It's not a long game, which might disappoint some. Its hero, Nathan Drake, is hardly oozing with machismo compared to the likes of most gaming protagonists. It's an exclusive title on a platform that's got great capabilities, but a small user base. However, amidst a sea of titles this year that pointedly make arguments for what games should evolve into, from moral relativism, to blockbuster online experiences, to bending the space-time continuum for the promise of baked goods, Naughty Dog's third-person action game is a breath of fresh air.

Uncharted's premise starts with Sir Francis Drake. The body of the legendary British marauder (or national hero, depending on your side of the pond) was never found in real life. Uncharted's plot extends this idea into a yarn that evokes a strong sense of not only the best Lara Croft adventures, but another classic adventure series that involved an unlikely hero, Indiana Jones. At the beginning of the game, Nathan, alongside cable TV host Elena Fisher, digs up what is supposed to be Drake's tomb at the bottom of Panamanian waters. He discovers a notebook filled with clues leading to the lost city of El Dorado. That's when the pirates show up.

Nathan's not alone in his journey. He's got Elena, in search of a big scoop for her show, and Victor Sullivan, his craggy and oily mentor. Both function as CPU-controlled AI that will help you throughout the game. Neither takes down swaths of enemies, but they're smart enough to not walk out in front of a bullet storm, and skilled enough to soften up anyone who's shooting at you. You'll need them to take on the villains. Eddy Raja is the leader of the modern-day pirates, the game's introductory foes, and they'll come at you relentlessly. If they're not enough, ringleader Gabriel Roman and his henchman Navarro have a cadre of mercenaries capable of killing you with one shot; mercifully, you'll have better guns by the time you run into them.


Uncharted's visuals will likely dazzle you. You're not going to see a better-looking game on the PS3 this year. Granted, there are occasional bouts of pop-in, and sometimes you'll see some screen tearing, but beyond those issues it's true eye candy that puts the PS3's horsepower to the test. Cut-scenes weave in and out of the game seamlessly, so that narrative flows into gameplay without missing a beat. Someone at Naughty Dog even had the foresight to implement pause-able cinematics, a wonderful touch that's too often forgotten. The amount of care and detail placed in the game's voice acting and animations shows; the team evidently didn't want photorealistic models, and the stylized look of the characters works wonderfully within the game's visuals.

Also, thanks to the visual details and clean HUD, there's not too much to distract you from taking in lush green jungles, dingy old tombs, and the interiors of abandoned U-boats. There are moments in the game when you'll traverse around the edge of something that's teetering on a fatal fall, and yet still stop moving Nathan to look at the terrain. That's how visually arresting it is. It's not without its issues, though. Because the environment blends so well, you'll die a handful of times thanks to mis-timed jumps. And at times it's hard to tell where you're supposed to go or what to do thanks to a lack of the typical visual indicators. That ledge that you would know is a landing spot in a PS2 game is blended into the scenery here, which can be a little jarring from time to time. There are also some collision detection issues; you'll mostly notice them earlier in the game. At times, Nathan will roll toward a wall and his feet will disappear.