Not much gaming this week, primarily due to Social Distractions: a dear friend’s birthday bash, some slam poetry, and a creeping addiction to Treme. I still pottered around the edges of the Reach Daily Challenges, though, and I creep ever closer to the end of the General ranks – though at a much decreased rate. I just don’t have the passion for the two hours a night (that it used to take me to snaffle about 20k cR) at the moment.
And I really hadn’t felt inspired to push on with anything else, either; Geometry Wars^2 entertains, but not in a gripping manner, and I just cannot face Child of Eden or Shadows of the Damned yet. The mojo still hadn’t selected a target, and that was starting to get me down.
As another distraction, I thought I’d catch up on a few videos that I’d bookmarked for later viewing, and I started with Giant Bomb‘s Quick Look at the upcoming Ico / Shadow of the Colossus re-release for the PS3. I was on the fence as to whether I’d purchase this: I loved Ico dearly, but Colossus really didn’t work for me at all (even after I changed the controls to something that made sense to my uncoordinated fingers). But the Quick Look reminded me of all the utter loveliness of Ico again and, as I watched the video, I had an almost synaesthetic recollection of what it felt like to play that game.
Now, Ico was the first game I really played on the PS2, so it is inexorably linked to the feel of the DualShock 2 for me. And, as much as I dislike all editions of the DualShock controllers, it just worked for Ico.
But the video left me with a Sony-esque yearning in my fingers – something I’d felt earlier this year. I fired up the PS3 for the first time in ages, and started playing Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune from scratch.
And, after a quick ten-hour run through the game (on Easy, natch), during which I netted most of the available trophies, I have to stand up and say: I Was Wrong.
Because it’s a bloody nice game.
I think I can justify my earlier bitching (and my whiny “Shrugging ‘Huh?'” award): the DualShock 3 doesn’t help at all with control accuracy, and I’ve steered clear of enough mainstream games recently that I’ve not overdosed on Nolan North, so the writing and dialogue on this second run through the game felt fresher. In fact, it almost screened like an action movie.
And that’s how I decided to play it, running-and-gunning rather than sitting cowardly in cover. Isolating bad guys and giving them the old one-shot-one-punch combo. Actually using grenades!
In short, I had a ball playing Uncharted for the second time – and I’ve immediately started another playthrough. I know that I’ll wind up gnawing my own fist when it comes time to do the Crushing run, but hey – after my Reach Legendary heroics, I should be able to grind it out, I reckon. And then, maybe I’ll move onto Uncharted 2… just in time for the release of Uncharted 3.
A real up-to-date gamer, I am ;)
Is this the part where I say “I told you so“?
Yeah, it’s not. But if I recall correctly we had a small discussion about Uncharted when you last tried playing it, obviously disagreeing back then since I loved it and you did not. Interesting how opinions can change, isn’t it?
All I can say is that, as a fan of the series, I am glad you gave it another go and it convinced you, somewhat, as to why it has gone on to become so popular. There’s no denying, however, that it was Uncharted 2 that put the franchise on the map — the original is, absolutely, a flawed game and so it’s not surprising that not everyone enjoyed it. I always personally thought it didn’t get enough recognition for what it did manage to do (especially after the sequel’s release) but at the same time I could understand why it didn’t appeal to everyone, too.
Anyway, aside from a select few arenas (literally, unfortunately), Crushing shouldn’t be too difficult. I haven’t done it myself yet as a friend borrowed my copy but I did do (most of) it on Hard and that wasn’t too difficult, so if you can do Legendary on Halo then Drake’s Fortune shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. Having said that, now I want my copy back…
Hi Steven! Yes, we did have a bit of a quibble, mostly over the characterisations of Nolan North; but I think the reason I got back into the swing of Uncharted has more to do with the game’s signposting, coupled with my inherent fear of the unknown. But more on that later ;)
Crushing was great: really, really fun, not to mention a decent challenge. Nowhere near as brutal as (say) Reach‘s Legendary, which was nice (especially if you take advantage of a glitch or two around certain key battles). I might have a little palate-cleansing break before leaping into Uncharted 2, though…