Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Preview

Game of the Year. Part Deux.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception has a Herculean task at hand: Top its Game of the Year winning predecessor, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. And it has to do it in all aspects of the game. From what we’ve experienced so far, it’s almost made a mockery of all other franchises and their natural progression from installment to installment. Believe it or not, this Uncharted is leaps and bounds better than the last.

The new area we were shown kicked off with a cut scene featuring Drake and love interest Elena Fischer. Drake liked it, so he put a ring on it. At least she had an engagement or wedding ring on her finger. Naughty Dog wouldn’t spill the beans if Drake was indeed her suitor, but the body language and dialogue sure seemed to indicate it.

Drake, being the suave ladies’ man turned hero, tells Elena to fall back, and not to follow him to his almost certain doom. Things get a little emotional, but it fits perfectly with Uncharted’s signature cinematic experience. Drake shakes off his teary eyes and gets down to business. Quickly he becomes gated in a bad situation, and bullets start whizzing by, narrowly missing him. He fights back, debuting some of his new moves, including a new jumping melee attack.

His main goal is to get to a cargo plane, which begins to take off. In typical female fashion (that’s not sexist, it’s true), Elena didn’t listen to Drake’s earlier instructions of heading off to safety, and she comes to the rescue in a jeep that was handily waiting nearby. Drake jumps onto the hood of the Jeep, and they speed toward the plane’s front wheel. Drake takes a leap of faith, just barely grabbing hold of the wheel’s axel. Drake and it ascend into the wheel well; he’s gained access to the cargo plane. Once on board, Drake fights a new character type, the brute, who opens the plane’s cargo door and tries to throw Drake to his death. Drake fights back, and eventually wins by grabbing the strapping holding the cargo in. The cargo comes free, and knocks the brute and Drake himself off their feet. End scene. Remember, this is the same cargo plane that was shown half-buried, burning plane that’s  stuck nose first in the sands dunes of the Rub’ al Khali desert.

That’s the type of over-the-top, blockbuster movie style action you can expect throughout Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. But that’s not all. Naughty Dog is promising to make Uncharted 3 the go to game for online multiplayer on the PlayStation 3. Standard deathmatch is there, as is split-screen, co-op, etc. It’s also said to be one of the games that really drive the adoption of 3DTVs, and after seeing it in 3D ourselves, we agree.

This is one game that there’s really nothing at all bad to say about it. We’ve only seen small bits and pieces, but we’re already willing to bet that Uncharted will be up for more Game of the Year nods. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will release this November, but Naughty Dog and Sony have teamed up with Subway to let gamers get their paws on the online portion of the game in October. The entire online mode will be available, and all of your stats will transfer over to the full game when it releases the following month. Perfect for those of you who enjoy mediocre submarine sandwiches.