Review #228: Uncharted - Golden Abyss

 More like 'Unswiped', am I right?

 So, Sony launched the new Vita, and it needed something to sell it, and something that would showcase it's capabilities.  Uncharted Golden Abyss was the answer to both questions(were they even questions?), the 'Uncharted' brand is easily a system seller, and Golden Abyss uses about every single feature of the Vita.

 Golden Abyss takes place before the very first Uncharted, which is probably for the best, and has Nathan teaming up with Sully as well as newcomers Marisa Chase and Dante. The plot is... well, it's your typical Uncharted game, there's a mystery surrounding ancient stuff, Nate is in it for the money at first and then it gets personal. The major villain is caricaturesque, as per usual, but it's the dialogue and the interaction with the supporting cast that really makes Uncharted, well, Uncharted. The dialogue between Nate and Sully is pure gold, and it's great to see Sully before he got 'too old for this stuff', Chase and Dante's is full of colorful banter while Dante and Nate keep taking jabs at each other. Needless to say, the writing for the dialogues is top-notch, up to the series standards, while the plot itself... well, it's your typical Uncharted plot, and as I said before, it's hard to break away from the formula when your main character is supposed to be an explorer.

 With Uncharted on the Vita you get the usual third person shooting and platforming the series is known for. There's a fair amount of shooting segments, platforming segments and even a few puzzles here and there, whether you prefer the shooting or the platforming, I think there's enough here to satisfy both. Now then, there's a few things I liked and a few I disliked about this particular entry, both tied to the new buttonless controls. Every optional feature is OK in my book. You can aim with the right analog stick or by moving the Vita itself, and believe it or not, moving the Vita actually makes precision aiming a bit easier, to fine tune your aim after using the right analog stick. You can also swipe your finger across parkour obstacles to have Nate do them by themselves, it's amusing at first, but I stuck with the buttons for the most part. You can also tap on the back of the Vita to climb ropes, instead of using buttons, which I didn't care for, but it was optional, so I didn't mind. Another cool thing, is that the game has a ton of collectibles, and many of these have touch based mini-games. Like rotating and object and cleaning it by swiping it, or rubbing charcoal over paper, and even a couple of literal puzzles, in which you have to rotate and accommodate the pieces, which is cool, because they are optional. All in all, I'd say this is the Uncharted game with the most collectibles of them all.... but then again, Uncharted 1 and 2 rewarded you with points to unlock cheats, there's no such thing in this one!

 But then there's the mandatory gimmicks. While walking over planks, Nate will most likely lose his balance, requiring you to tilt the Vita sideways to regain it. It wouldn't be an Uncharted game if it didn't rework the melee, and on this fourth iteration, after pressing Square a bunch of times, a touch-based QTE will take place. This was annoying and I could've done without. Also, during some platforming sections Nate will lose his grip and... yes, Touch-based QTE. There's another segment, only one thankfully, that has Nate drop through falling rapids, and you have to move Nate by tilting the Vita. Then there's the much-talked about moment in which you have to hold the Vita against a light source to make letters appear on a parchment. Yeah, it's cute, but say you are on a car, at night, playing... now you can't advance in the game because there's no flippin' light source strong enough nearby! And grenades must be thrown by touching the screen, but this I can forgive since they probably run out of buttons, heh! I'm sure that some people won't mind all of these, but I did. This is supposed to be a handheld game, a game you should be able to play anywhere, but forcing you to tilt around the Vita like a dolt doesn't sound to me like something I'd want to do in public. Everything optional about touch controls is great, but when they become mandatory, that's an issue, at least as far as I'm concerned.

 As far as the game itself goes, it's a blast. It lasts between 8-10 hours, which makes it pretty lengthy. The set pieces aren't as amazing as, say Uncharted 2, but that's not to say that the game doesn't have exciting moments. A lot of the shoot outs are very intense, with some great level design. There's also some great platforming segments that keep the action going even though bullets aren't flying... most of the time. It also keeps the series' trademark bullet sponge enemies, makes you wonder how they can keep moving after having 5-6 bullets encrusted on their bodies! I also suffered a few moments were Nate just slipped out of my control into his death, which once again, kinda comes as a given with Uncharted games. One point of contention is that there's much extra stuff. All the collectibles are neat, and many have descriptions which tie up into the game's story, but there's no cheats, unlockables or multiplayer mode. As if I haven't made it clear, the game is pretty much in-line with the rest of the series, the scope may be a bit smaller, but it's as faithful to the franchise as possible.

 Golden Abyss is gorgeous, plenty of times I found myself, mouth agape, in awe at the beautiful environments and vistas. It's a beautiful game. While the textures aren't as great as Uncharted 1's, I'd say the character models look even better. The polygon count is definitely smaller, but at least they don't look as if they were made out of wax. Music and voice acting are up to the game's usual standards, it sounds just as good as any other Uncharted.

 The most surprising thing about Uncharted: Golden Abyss is that you wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't made by Naughty Dog if you weren't told so. Everything about the game reeks of quality, in which it matches the main entries of the series. That said, while I feel this is a great game... I also feel like it's not a good portable game. Tilting the console itself, or having to rely on a light source for that one moment just isn't my thing when it comes to a handheld. If I were to rank this one, it easily surpasses Uncharted 1(But then again, I disliked that one) and it almost reaches Uncharted 2.
 8.0 out of 10