Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Preview
Be careful what you wish for...
by Chris Davis
previewed on PS3
Nate’s Back in Action
Naughty Dog’s Playstation 3 exclusive series Uncharted, since its inception, has been just as fun to play as it is beautiful. The first game, Drake’s Fortune, took players to a beautiful tropical island filled with as many dark secrets as there were bad guys. The sequel, Among Thieves, took the series in a similar direction, bringing into focus Nate’s search for the lost city of Shambhala while trying to manage two former lovers and an ally who betrayed him. Among Thieves introduced multiplayer gameplay to the masses and is still one of the most widely played online games on the Playstation 3 despite two Call of Duty’s and a Killzone title being released in the past year and a half.
Nate’s search for ancient treasures will be released this November in a notoriously crowded season so it has a lot to do in order to stand out from the crowd and earn your hard-earned cash. Given the previous two games though, it is clear that such a task is hardly a challenge for Naughty Dog.
On the Trail of the Treasure
Nathan Drake has a chronic problem: he can’t help but find himself in some of the worst scrapes possible once he has set his mind to something. In 2007 his quest for El Dorado put him on an island filled with pirates who cared not for his presence and two years later he found himself in Nepal where he was in a derailed train hanging off a cliff with a gunshot wound in his belly. His luck clearly isn’t the best in the world but in those two previous escapades he was able to stop the bad guys, get the girl and save the world. So when Nate find himself stranded in the middle of the desert amidst the wreckage of a crashed plane with only a gun and a bandana wrapped around his head you can understand that, while he is having a bad day, his goal is still reachable.
Drake’s quest this time around has him on the hunt for another lost city: Iram of the Pillars, otherwise known as the Atlantis of the Sands. Supposedly located somewhere on the Arabian peninsula, Iram was a location long sought after by many historical figures including T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Claudius Ptolemy, and, more importantly, Drake’s distant ancestor Sir Francis Drake. Given that the 16th century privateer was right about El Dorado (albeit not very descriptive of the secrets of the city), Nate has no doubt in his mind that the City of a Thousand Pillars exists as well.
Drake, once again, won’t be alone in his journey. Long-time ally and mentor Victor “Sully” Sullivan returns, this time in a much larger role than he did in Among Thieves as he will accompany Nate throughout much of the story. Drake’s opposition this time around is Katherine Marlowe, a member of a secret British organization that has existed for four centuries. Marlowe and Drake come into conflict over Francis Drake’s ring, which they both claim ownership of. Right now it is unknown to what extent Marlowe, Drake, and Sullivan have interacted with one another in the past but given early teases and lines from Sully it is clear that they will be enemies throughout Drake’s Deception. Elena Fisher, Drake’s love interest in the previous games has also been confirmed to be involved in the story, with rumors that Chloe Frazer may appear as well.
