Let me tell you a story. It’s about how I lost three waking days to the Uncharted series. It’s not a story I’m proud of. But sweet mother of God did I enjoy myself.
It started innocently enough. I picked up the Uncharted 1&2 dual pack at the PX a while back because, hey, it was forty bucks, I’d heard good things about them, and the main character didn’t look like a ‘roided Spess Mehreen beefslab. Let’s give it a shot, I figured.
Three days later (and after another trip to the PX to pick up Uncharted 3) I emerged. Leaner. Disheveled. These eyes had seen things. Even now I can’t really describe to you in full detail everything that happened during those three days, but I can tell you I was conscious during the whole event, and my brain was occupied. While I totally enjoyed the first and second games in the series, it wasn’t until I played the third that I reached what I would assume to be electronic entertainment Nirvana.
Never before have I been so completely engrossed in a game. I mean, hey, I’ve come close. Persona 3 and Persona 4 did a fine job of making sure I didn’t have a social life until I went to college, and even then it was rough. Fallout 3’s mission was to keep me a virgin as long as physically possible (lllladies…) and let’s not even talk about Skyrim. Dragons are my anti-drug. But Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception was, to me, the flawless mix of a great game and a better movie. You played, you watched, you played some more. And just when your thumbs and trigger fingers were starting to ache from diving behind cover and blindfiring at mercenaries while simultaneously trying to escape a sinking pirate cruise liner (it is a thing), the game says, “oh, no problem, sit back for a sec and watch this wicked cool cutscene while your hands try to remember you have thumbs.”
I’ve seen it written and heard it said before, but Uncharted 3 is all about the moments. Over the course of the game there’s several scenes - whether you’re playing or watching - in which you’re blown away on an emotional level and wonder to yourself, is this a game? That first moment for me (and I’ll try to avoid spoilers as much as possible) was experiencing bits and pieces of Drake’s childhood, through his eyes, still fully capable of all the acrobatics he does in his adult days. Seeing where he lives, how he gets by, and the things that interest him even in early adolescence really makes you appreciate what Naughty Dog did with his character.
There’s obviously plenty more where that came from. I’m putting this game right next to Ghostbusters on the “commit vehicular manslaughter to rent a copy of” shelf. If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a shot. It’s probably the first video game that will ever win an Academy Award.
Amen.
(via ruggedandadorablyawkward)
