Not all is well with shootouts however. They are found quite often and they do start to get repetitive in some areas throughout the game. Throwing grenades in the middle of a fight felt much harder than it should be thanks to the Sixaxis motion controls that must be used to judge the distant. You have to rotate the controller toward the screen or away from the screen to throw a grenade further or closer respectively. I often chose to just shoot from a distance instead of relying on grenades.

Not all firefights take place on foot. There are a few jet ski portions and one part where you shoot at enemy vehicles while on a truck turret that speeds away from approaching mercenaries that chase the characters down. Jet ski portions are not as fast moving as one might expect. You have to slow down quite a bit in order to shoot explosive barrels and enemies that try to halt your progress. While on the jet ski, control of the firearm is actually handed over to Nate's female companion, so whenever you aim, she will point the gun. It's basically the same as aiming with Nate, but it's a cool little feature that I found amusing.

Most of the time, Nate will face off against mercenaries but toward the end of the game the enemies change a bit. The change in enemies allows for some much needed variety in combat also. No longer will you duck behind cover to fire back at the enemy - oh no, you will be looking for any safe haven that you can find to reload as you outrun the newer more aggressive enemies. It can get quite intense later in the game!

The game has a few platform areas spread across its levels that mainly resemble Prince of Persia. The movements of Nate are very similar to the Prince. Platform is very easy and enjoyable thanks to the wonderful camera that will follow Nate as he performs each jump. I did have a few problems where the camera would not allow me to zoom in and see a nearby rope thereby having to guess that a rope or vine was there and jump anyway, but this doesn't happen too often.

Puzzles are found in a few places around the game. I can't help but feel that they could have implemented more puzzles here and there however. View Nate's trusty handbook and it will help you to solve just about every puzzle in the game with the hints that it gives you - well, basically just a drawing or set of symbols that will give clues as to how to solve the puzzles.

The graphics in this game are some of the best I have seen in quite a while. They look fantastic! Actual gameplay rivals the FMV's on presentation. The character's hair is the only portion of them with the slightest bit of noticeable jagged edges. Environments are filled with plenty of grass and shrubbery and every tomb area looks dark and creepy with plenty of objects lying around. All environments are rendered in 3-D and provide quite an eye-pleasing experience while journeying through the variety of levels. None of the areas look the same!

Lighting effects are done extremely well also. There are periods of time where Nate turns on his flashlight and that light shines across areas very realistically. Whenever Nate steps into the water he will get slightly wet or become drenched from total submersion in the water - his clothes dry in time. When he first arrives at the island his clothes are bright and clean, but as he continues to fight through the many tasks that lie ahead of him he begins to get dirty.

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