The overall sound completely matches this game. Guns fire off with believable sound effects and even the menu selection screen has some ear-pleasing sound effects when a choice is made. The music gives the thrill of an epic exploration with plenty of solo instrument pieces and provides much needed quiet pieces while exploring a tomb.

Character voices really draw you into each character's personality. Each voice completely fits the chosen character and makes the game feel much like a movie at times, even during gameplay. The main character has an instantly likeable personality and minor phrases during actual combat really help to boost an action sequence and kept me in tune with the character. The sound stands out very well in this game and fits quite well.

Controls are fairly solid. Nate moves extremely easy with the slightest touch of the directional pad. This lead to a few deaths in some areas for me since the character was a little too easy to move - he doesn't always safety grab from all ledges and sometimes plummets to his doom with the slightest accidental tap in the wrong direction. Platforming is made very easy thanks to the simple controls that allow a player to move and jump across each ledge with ease. Simply lean in the direction of a ledge and jump freely then Nate will grab on.

My only major gripe with the controls are the sixaxis motion controls. There is one part early on in the game where the controller must be leaned to the sides to keep Nate steady while he moves across some logs. They are also used to expand the distance that grenades are thrown by rotating the control pad forward or backward. There is one portion where you must shake the controller to get an enemy off of Nate - you have to respond very quickly in that instance too. All of the sixaxis motion controls have a real "added on" type feel as they though they were thrown in just to say that the game uses them. They're not all the way bad, they're just annoying since I feel as if the analog would work much better in areas where they are used. Thankfully, they are rarely needed.

The game lasted me for about 8 - 10 hours and even then I was still missing out on a multitude of unlockables. There are quite a few achievement-like objectives that must be met to unlock everything in the game. Meet the objective and you'll gain a certain amount of points that will eventually unlock outfits, bonus videos, artwork, etc. As already mentioned, the objectives highly resemble Xbox 360 achievements and like those achievements, they add quite a bit of replay value to the game.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a very solid game and Naughty Dog has really worked a bunch on this one during its development. It's pretty obvious while playing it. Even with my minor gripes, this game is most certainly one of the better games that I have played this year. I'd easily recommend a buy for any fan of action and adventure. Don't get this game mixed up with being a Tomb Raider clone. The action is heavy at some points, which really helps to distance Nate's adventures from that of Ms. Croft's.

The Good
+ Graphics are quite a sight to behold
+ All the characters are well voiced with loads of personality
+ Fitting overall soundtrack and sound effects
+ Nate's movements and actions help to draw the player into firefights

The Bad
- Too many gunfights at times
- Sixaxis controls are forgettable for the most part

Graphics: 9.5
Controls: 9.0
Sound: 10.0
Gameplay: 9.0

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 94%. This is a great gem and one that is definitely worth the search - go out and buy it now and be proud of your discovery.

« Page 2