Uncharted Demo Now Available On PSN

It took me a few retries to get the PlayStation Store to not time out but once I did, this came in fairly quickly. First impressions are just holy crap this is cool. This is by far the best looking PS3 game and one of the best looking next-gen games period. Some incredible lighting effects, very bright, colourful environments that really pop out and unlike Heavenly Sword, shadows like don't look like crap and in fact look very detailed and fine. The audio is also very good quality though the guns seem a little understated. The music is done by the guy who did the tunes for Firefly and it's just excellent. It's hard to describe, you'll have to hear it for yourself.

The demo is relatively short (about 15 minutes if you aren't taking your time) but gives a pretty good vibe of this game. It definitely seems like it's going to have a lot of Prince of Persia/Tomb Raider type platforming mixed in with a fair amount of gunplay and in some cases, melee combat. The gunplay initially feels clumsy but gets easier as you go. You use the D-pad to select your weapon (one pistol class, one heavy class such as shotgun or AK-47 and one grenade class) and then you can either shoot from the hip or you can press L1 to go into a Gears-style over the shoulder view with a pronounced crosshair. There's no target locking and if there's any aim assist, it's very subtle. You can also press circle to get behind cover which works very well and never feels like it's getting in your way as it only does it when you ask. The platforming also seems a little odd as the actions you take when for example, hanging off a ledge are dependent on how the camera is situated at the time but I think I could get used to this as well (I did in Tomb Raider Legend.) The opening cutscene is full is pretty funny humour and even during battle, there's a few little funny lines (the guy does a Scott Bakula type "Ohboy..." when a grenade falls near him which made me laugh.) There's also a couple of swear words and blood which is interesting as I thought this was going to be a T rated game.

If the final game is like this, I'll be buying it for sure. The demo is polished to a mirror shine and this looks to be a stellar platforming game, as most of Naughty Dog's titles are. If you've got a PS3, you owe it to yourself to check this out. If you don't, the combination of this and Rachet & Clank would definitely have me considering a 40GB model.

This sounds pretty cool Parralax, thanks for the heads-up!

I should hook up my PS3 again and give this a try. Sounds too cool.

The press kit made me interested; I wasn't before. There was a lot of mystery and history to it; if that feel makes it to the overall experience, bring it on.

Just a headsup to EU ps3 owners who are thinking to leech from the US PSN, hold it out for a few cause at the moment the demo is region locked haha.

I checked it out. I guess I was hoping for more adventure and less gun play. It just seemed like the combat isn't extremely tight, and I felt like that was the majority of the demo. I want environmental puzzles and traps for this sort of game. I guess I was expecting more of an Indiana Jones vibe then I'm getting: more running from boulders and swinging over cliffs, less protracted battles with AK-47s.

Dang, I completely forgot about the demo... I guess I have something to do later today.

Yellow5 wrote:

I checked it out. I guess I was hoping for more adventure and less gun play. It just seemed like the combat isn't extremely tight, and I felt like that was the majority of the demo. I want environmental puzzles and traps for this sort of game. I guess I was expecting more of an Indiana Jones vibe then I'm getting: more running from boulders and swinging over cliffs, less protracted battles with AK-47s.

That's exactly how I felt. I wanted more Indy/Prince of Persia/Tomb Raider and less crappy knock off Gears combat. I'll still definitely give it a rent after the fall rush is over, but I really hope this demo was not very representative of the gameplay mix in the final game.

Of course my impressions may well be tainted by the fact that in my opinion the PS3 controller is crap for shooters. The sticks and triggers just don't have the feel I want in a shooter and the lack rumble is more noticeable than in other genres. Folks who do like the PS3 controller for shooters, though, may feel differently. At the very least I think I'll wait until I can get my hands on a dualshock 3 controller before I play this one.

Some people on GAF were saying it wasn't a good demo to show the game off, but I have no idea. Still downloading right now. I agree, ever since the 360 controller the DualShock doesn't feel good at all. It's too loose, I feel sloppy, the PS3 version is too light, and there's no rumble. The 360 controller is my perfect controller.

I really enjoyed the demo, but I also like shooting things so the pacing seemed great to me. I love the music and all the personal ticks Drake has, loads of personality throughout.

Demo is up on the Playstation Network. Downloaded it and gave it a quick play.

Really liked what I saw. Graphics are gorgeous, really lush environments and the water (especially the waterfalls) is fantastic. Just has a really natural feel to it, I like it. There's a small amount of screen tearing but nothing major and if that's the worst of it then it won't be a big deal.

Some people have been complaining about the controls but overall I think they work just fine. You move really slowly when aiming but I think it works. You don't have to precisely aim if you need to move and still take some shots... I'd do that with the AK sometimes when necessary. I really had no issues aiming. Combat is mostly about taking cover and I think the cover system works. I haven't played Gears of War but it's been compared to that. Circle button is used to roll while running and also to get into cover. You can hold fire to lean out and shoot, pull back on the stick to get out and push forward and X (jump) to hop over if it's a low wall. I was hanging off of a wall and could just peek up over it to fire... I liked that. The demo is really combat heavy so you'll get really familiar with the cover system. Grenades use the sixaxis to adjust the distance. Hopefully the final game will have an option to turn that off but it wasn't too bad, just a little unnecessary I guess. Melee combat is also cool and the attacks are contextual based on your environment. Still haven't figured out the timing on melee attacks but they're fun when it works.

Animations are great. There are a few odd transitions here and there but overall I really like how the characters animate, especially when you shoot the bad guys. Seems like there's a ton of variety based on where you shoot them which is fun. A few areas appear to have a couple of different routes/approaches which is nice. It's also quite challenging, lots of bad guys and they are semi-intelligent in moving to flank you, etc. At one point I was hiding behind a pillar and when shots would hit the other side of the wall my guy would cringe... a nice touch.

So yeah, it's basically Tomb Raider with more emphasis on cover over run-and-gun. Seems like a lot of fun to me. Hopefully the combat to adventure ratio will be good. Not sure yet if I'm gonna Gamefly it or outright purchase, we'll see. Demo certainly has me looking forward to it though.

I love it. Amazing graphics (like, really, really freaking good) and the controls weren't as sloppy from what I had expected. The shooting wasn't a deterrent, it was a lot of fun. The lifelike animations are pretty impressive too, you really get a feel for these being more "real" people than what you're used to in a game. I'll probably be buying this with gift card money after Xmas for sure.