‘Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception’ — Game Review

We’re angry at ‘Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.‘ Why does it have to bother us in November, when our trillions-strong to-do list expands into the quadrillions? Doesn’t developer Naughty Dog realize that we’ve got kids to raise, holidays to dread and work to do? Doesn’t it care that the level of addictiveness of Uncharted’s Indiana Jones-style story and progressive-leveling multiplayer directly correlate with the waning amounts of sleep we allow ourselves each night?

Playing the game teaches us that not only does Naughty Dog not pity us, it exists to actively screw with us. That’s the reason the game unfolds more like a movie than a game, with missions bleeding seamlessly into cut-scenes that purposefully end in cliffhangers in an endless loop so suddenly it’s 4 a.m. and we’re so late for fourthmeal that we may as well call it breakfast.

Affable rogue Nathan Drake, voiced by Nolan North, once again trots the globe in search of a lost city in the Middle East believed to contain infinite treasures. But really, Drake is searching for so much more. Like a way to make us resentful of our own pathetic lives. If only we could dismiss our jobs to go off on treasure hunts, like we promised ourselves we’d do when we were kids. If only we could scale vertical structures with the ease of a parkour master with magnetic hands. If only we could take a punch, then rear back and knock a fool out while delivering a catch phrase, much like Mr. Drake.

A formidable contender for our game of the year — facing ‘L.A. Noire,’ ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ and ‘Portal 2,’ with new entries from the ‘Call of Duty,’ ‘Zelda’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed’ franchises still waiting in the wings — we’ll not only be angry but enraged if any game yet to come this year is somehow better than ‘Uncharted 3.’ We’d be much too busy to complain though.

RATING: 9.5/10

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception  ($60), was developed by Naughty Dog, published by Sony Computer Entertainment of America and is available on the PlayStation 3. Rated T. The publisher provided a copy of the game for review.

Read Phil Villarreal’s blog at becauseitoldyouso.com and follow him on Twitter: @philvillarreal