[Gamers' Day 2007] Going Off The Map
We've played Uncharted and now we're going to gush at you about it. Ready? Here we go!
Published: May 17, 2007
In the previous generation, Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog got together and formed an all new engine that would go on to service eight friggin' games between the two of them just for the PS2 alone. It also birthed two major franchises, Jak and Daxter from Naughty Dog and Ratchet & Clank from Insomniac. While the latter is already getting a PS3 update -- the second of Insomniac's PS3 projects, Naughty Dog has been awfully quiet about their PS3 project, which isn't using any tech from Insomniac (and vice-versa).
First shown off as a simple teaser trailer at last year's pre-E3 press conference, the then-untitled adventure game showed a dude slugging the crap out of a couple machine gun-toting baddies and plenty of huge leaps around an insanely lush jungle world. It looked incredible, but after the Killzone fiasco, some wondered if it was all just a pre-rendered proof-of-concept showpiece rather than a real game.
Well, we finally saw it, running entirely in real-time and have sampled an extremely early build of the game. Even with as few as less than a third of the total animations in the game, it looked unlike anything we've seen on the PS3 so far. The level of detail in the animation and the earnest attempt at replicating real emotion not only in the game's gorgeous cutscenes but just in normal gameplay was something to behold.
The story goes that Nathan Drake just might be a direct descendant of Sir Francis Drake, and there just might be a massive treasure trove hidden somewhere in uncharted territory. From there, the adventure will be prefaced with a dive near Panama, and then spiral out into locales like an abandoned Spanish colony, a German U-Boat and a pre-Incan temple. With cutie Elena along to document the whole thing, our demo got off to a... well, let's call it a "rocky" start. The pair's plane suddenly had a little engine spaz-out as they were flying over an island and Elena had to bail out, while Nathan took a little longer and was separated from his special lady friend. Alone and in the jungle, he sets out to reunite with her and get to safety.
The first thing that hit us about the game was just how damn lush the world is. It's the friggin' jungle, so of course it's going to have vegetation, but rather than being a bunch of mossy rocks or other texture tricks, grasses and fan-leafed plants and big ass fronds were all over the place. It just looked believable, and only got better once we saw the flowing water. After running around a little and getting the basic controls down (the d-pad controls most basic functions like switching weapons/grenades and reloading, while the face buttons control snapping to cover, picking stuff up and jumping) we started poking around, but not before getting our first glimpse at a huge jump as the game cut into a slo-motion shot of Nathan almost missing a big jump and a taste of balancing on a log with the SIXAXIS' motion controls.
From what we could tell, the game is a fairly even mix between combat and straight-up exploration, the latter of which recalls a lot of Tomb Raider: Legend and even a little bit of Prince of Persia. After grabbing some cover, we could lean out and free aim with L1 and then fire off some shots with R1. Blind fire is an option, but it obviously wastes ammo and it wasn't until late in the demo that we realized most of the enemies drop some kind of refill for the weapons (including new ones like a shotgun and assault rifle, though you're only allowed to hold a pistol and a large weapon at any given time). Whoops.
Of course, there are times when you're just too close to unload on someone (or you want to keep things quiet, as the enemy can actually hear you and often work together to flank and suppress you, which was actually quite cool to watch) and it's here where the melee attacks come in. Though you can certainly button mash, it's much easier (and infinitely cooler) to just tap the Square button as the scene shifts and Nathan and his punchee suddenly stand out against a blurry background. Though in the open these movements are straight brawling, when near an object like a wall or pillar, they might take those things into account.
Given Naughty Dog's work in the past, it's not really a surprise that the game animates well (though we have to admit the gunplay needs a little work; the control was way too touchy and enemies often took tons of hits before they went down), but some light collision issues dogged what was otherwise an flawless suite of animations. It seemed Nathan had multiple ways of doing just about everything in the game from clambering up rock faces to grabbing cover to reloading and re-aiming at enemies. The sheer variety and way he reacted to the world moving elbows and ducking to grab cover all just worked beautifully. Plenty of scripted cutscenes gave the game some solid cinematic moments, but they didn't seem too heavy-handed.
With a release later this year and plenty of high expectations, we fully expect that Sony will start rolling out a proper set of press appearances for the game, with the most likely next stop being E3. With a couple of months between now and then, we can't wait to see how the game will shape up, and even with slightly spotty hands-on time, the blend of combat and exploration had us totally hooked. Rest assured that the second we get more info or get a chance to explore a little more, we'll make sure to update you.
First shown off as a simple teaser trailer at last year's pre-E3 press conference, the then-untitled adventure game showed a dude slugging the crap out of a couple machine gun-toting baddies and plenty of huge leaps around an insanely lush jungle world. It looked incredible, but after the Killzone fiasco, some wondered if it was all just a pre-rendered proof-of-concept showpiece rather than a real game.
Well, we finally saw it, running entirely in real-time and have sampled an extremely early build of the game. Even with as few as less than a third of the total animations in the game, it looked unlike anything we've seen on the PS3 so far. The level of detail in the animation and the earnest attempt at replicating real emotion not only in the game's gorgeous cutscenes but just in normal gameplay was something to behold.
The story goes that Nathan Drake just might be a direct descendant of Sir Francis Drake, and there just might be a massive treasure trove hidden somewhere in uncharted territory. From there, the adventure will be prefaced with a dive near Panama, and then spiral out into locales like an abandoned Spanish colony, a German U-Boat and a pre-Incan temple. With cutie Elena along to document the whole thing, our demo got off to a... well, let's call it a "rocky" start. The pair's plane suddenly had a little engine spaz-out as they were flying over an island and Elena had to bail out, while Nathan took a little longer and was separated from his special lady friend. Alone and in the jungle, he sets out to reunite with her and get to safety.
The first thing that hit us about the game was just how damn lush the world is. It's the friggin' jungle, so of course it's going to have vegetation, but rather than being a bunch of mossy rocks or other texture tricks, grasses and fan-leafed plants and big ass fronds were all over the place. It just looked believable, and only got better once we saw the flowing water. After running around a little and getting the basic controls down (the d-pad controls most basic functions like switching weapons/grenades and reloading, while the face buttons control snapping to cover, picking stuff up and jumping) we started poking around, but not before getting our first glimpse at a huge jump as the game cut into a slo-motion shot of Nathan almost missing a big jump and a taste of balancing on a log with the SIXAXIS' motion controls.
From what we could tell, the game is a fairly even mix between combat and straight-up exploration, the latter of which recalls a lot of Tomb Raider: Legend and even a little bit of Prince of Persia. After grabbing some cover, we could lean out and free aim with L1 and then fire off some shots with R1. Blind fire is an option, but it obviously wastes ammo and it wasn't until late in the demo that we realized most of the enemies drop some kind of refill for the weapons (including new ones like a shotgun and assault rifle, though you're only allowed to hold a pistol and a large weapon at any given time). Whoops.
Of course, there are times when you're just too close to unload on someone (or you want to keep things quiet, as the enemy can actually hear you and often work together to flank and suppress you, which was actually quite cool to watch) and it's here where the melee attacks come in. Though you can certainly button mash, it's much easier (and infinitely cooler) to just tap the Square button as the scene shifts and Nathan and his punchee suddenly stand out against a blurry background. Though in the open these movements are straight brawling, when near an object like a wall or pillar, they might take those things into account.
Given Naughty Dog's work in the past, it's not really a surprise that the game animates well (though we have to admit the gunplay needs a little work; the control was way too touchy and enemies often took tons of hits before they went down), but some light collision issues dogged what was otherwise an flawless suite of animations. It seemed Nathan had multiple ways of doing just about everything in the game from clambering up rock faces to grabbing cover to reloading and re-aiming at enemies. The sheer variety and way he reacted to the world moving elbows and ducking to grab cover all just worked beautifully. Plenty of scripted cutscenes gave the game some solid cinematic moments, but they didn't seem too heavy-handed.
With a release later this year and plenty of high expectations, we fully expect that Sony will start rolling out a proper set of press appearances for the game, with the most likely next stop being E3. With a couple of months between now and then, we can't wait to see how the game will shape up, and even with slightly spotty hands-on time, the blend of combat and exploration had us totally hooked. Rest assured that the second we get more info or get a chance to explore a little more, we'll make sure to update you.
