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If Lara Croft was a dude, his Tomb Raider would be Uncharted: Drake’ Fortune. Uncharted is an upcoming adventure/exploration/action game for the PlayStation 3 that I had a few minutes to sit down with at E3 this week.

Uncharted’s story kind of “re-imagines” the life story of Sir Francis Drake, the legendary explorer. According to the game’s plot, Drake didn’t die of dysentery when he was supposed to have. Rather, he faked his death so he could pursue El Dorado, which he realized was mis-interpreted; it doesn’t really mean “man of gold,” it means “city of gold.”

The main character in the game isn’t Francis Drake, though, it’s his son, or his grandson.. or his cousin’s nephew, I don’t really remember. The new, younger Drake is also an explorer, the Indiana Jones type. The game takes him through the jungles and the mountains as he tries to uncover the mystery of Sir Francis.

The section of the game I had time enough to play took place in a jungle and featured a lot of climbing and jumping. There’s a pretty nice, simple acrobatic system for scaling walls and handling obstacles.

Combat also has a pretty big role in the game, as even remote jungles seem to be full of enemy hoodlums gunning for you. Uncharted has a cover-fire system similar to Gears of War, though nowhere near as satisfying. You can stick yourself to most surfaces and fire around corners, but it all feels loosey-goosey. Aiming guns seemed rather sloppy as well, especially around corners.

The biggest problem I faced, a phenomenally huge problem, is that it takes a ridiculous amount of bullets to kill an enemy. With the pistol, the primary weapon in the game, I counted over six body shots before an enemy went down. I’m not talking about futuristic cyber-soldiers with mithril body armor, either. These are guys wearing tank tops and tshirts. With picked-up weapons like assault rifles and such, it still takes way, way too many shots. It’s almost cartoonish.

The graphics seemed typical for a PS3 game: very pretty, but distractingly shiny. It’s like there’s a layer of bacon grease was sprayed over all the foliage and characters. I think there’s some default lighting effect present in the PS3’s graphics drivers, and developers get way too excited when they find it.

 

Just a few minutes ago I was reflecting that it seems like I think every game I play at E3 is going to be awesome, but then I remembered Uncharted. If this game wants to make any kind of impact come its holiday release, it needs some major tuning. Aiming is poor, bullets are rubber, and everything looks wet. There is a lot of potential in the graphics, controls, and possibly the story. I just wasn't feeling it with the E3 demo.