AMN's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune follows the tale of a treasure hunter in search for the El Dorado, the City of Gold. You play as Nathan Drake, a distant descendant of Sir Francis Drake, who inherits a ring that leads him on the adventure of a lifetime. The story will remind you of a summer Hollywood movie with the action, adventure, romance and twists. The gameplay is an action/adventure title that takes its cues from classic adventure films.

What's Hot
Right from the starting gate, you can easily recognize the presentation value is tuned to a high degree. A $20 million budget can do that. Hell, the main menu sets the mood for a fantastic adventure. Set-up for the story pulls you in from the beginning and holds your attention all the way through to the end, thanks to a good script and real actors providing motion capture and lines.

Voice acting is top-notch and it gives all characters believable personalities you can relate with on a personal level. Expanding on that, Nate Drake is the type of video game character you'd want to sit down and have a beer with. Resembling Indiana Jones, you can't help but feel a connection there. His witty one-liners and likeable, slightly sarcastic attitude make him one of the best new video game stars to come along in ages. The theme and music for the game would fit the bill for a summer action movie and lends itself to Uncharted's grand adventure.

You've likely noticed the screenshots and videos for Uncharted by now; and yes, the in-game environments look just as lush. What really makes the visuals a wonderful treat are the small, little touches. Nate's shirt winkles when he runs, the dull shine of lost treasure, clothes appear wet after you swim and the way cover decays when you are in the middle of a gun fight give Uncharted the visual shine like few games could ever achieve. The crown jewel of the entire graphics department is the animation. Naughty Dog went above and beyond what is normally expected to showcase a complex animations system that will redefine how movement in gaming is done.

Nate moves imperfectly. While you may think may be something that would cripple the experience, it is, in fact, desirable. The imperfect qualities make Nate more human and natural. His run, for example, isn't a superhero sprint; it is a human "holy crap, get me outta here" scramble. While getting shot at, Nate will react to the shots like anyone would in the given situation – scared out of his mind.

Put these pieces together and you have yourself one of the most immersive experiences this holiday season. The humanistic approach is a wind-tunnel of fresh air.

What's Not
There are not many issues to speak of with Uncharted. Some technical hitches stop the visuals from looking perfect like texture pop-in. As you play through the game, there are no noticeable load times. The result is that textures need to be added into the game as you go and, on a few occasions, you'll notice that a door or chain looks like a muddy mess before the high-def texture is loaded. Clipping is another technical issue you'll most likely encounter. Truth-be-told, of all the issues, the clipping dismantles the pristine visuals the most. The reason being is because it destroys the illusion of the immersive world when you see a pirate with half his body through a box.

The puzzles are easy to solve in Uncharted, thanks to Sir Francis Drake's excellent note keeping but platforming can be difficult. Some of the ledges and jumps are not always entirely obvious. While that is thanks to the realistic environments, some cues (other than the L2 hint button) would have eased some of the pain of re-doing jumps when you fall to your doom.

Some gamers might not like the final twist Uncharted reveals when you get near the end and some others might complain at the length, even if the difficulty is dialed in just right. These are far from being detriments to Uncharted because what you are left with is a fat-free, finely tuned game that will only offer the best kind of entertainment.



Final Word
Uncharted is the best game Naughty Dog has ever crafted. Uncharted is one of the best games to hit consoles this holiday season. Uncharted will leave you in awe. Some people might compare Uncharted to a summer blockbuster but that is selling the game short, Uncharted is a blockbuster, from the Indiana Jones-y action sequences, right down to the ending credits that scroll like one. Uncharted nails finding the perfect blend of story, thrills, and gameplay. You'll find yourself glued to the controller eagerly anticipating the next moments of gameplay and plot development, a rarity in gaming because games often rely on one or the other to drive the players.

It is easy to tell that Nate Drake will have many more stories to tell and this is only the beginning, we can't wait to see what happens next.