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[SolidSnakex]

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/uncharted3drakesdeception/images.html

The live demo of Uncharted 3 catches Drake and Sully just as the action begins to ramp up. They're deep inside the bowels of the wooden medieval ruins. The place has been overrun by ivy and moss. Shafts of light shoot through gaps in the roof and a four-post canopy bed is crowded by creeping foliage. The setting, as one would expect, is lovely – perfectly expressing the Uncharted series' strengths in recreating vivid ruins and out-of-control nature.

The pair have little time to breathe as they're quickly ambushed by villains. Amy Hennig notes that Drake's enemy this go-around wouldn't be just an evil warlord or a greedy dealer in antiquities, but members of an ancient order that uses fear as a weapon. She alludes to some of the players in the days of the Drake's ancestor Sir Francis Drake, particularly John Dee, the Hermetic adviser to Queen Elisabeth I. In addition to Dee's interests in mathematics and astronomy, the man also dabbled in magic and the occult.

How Drake's pursuers are connected to Dee remains a mystery for now. But it's clear that these men don't want Drake and Sully to live to find another treasure. Drake spies a pair of the gun-wielding thugs on a floor below them – they're pouring cans of gasoline, soaking the building's splintered timbers with fuel. Soon the place is ablaze and the chase is on. Drake leads the way, leaping across gaping chasms, scaling the decaying walls of the ruin in hopes of opening new routes that his less agile partner can use. Soon the action reveals subtle new tweaks to the way that Nathan Drake plays.

While climbing the walls of the French Chateau, Drake cosies up to an arched ceiling. In earlier Uncharted games this would be the end of the hero's ascent, but in Uncharted 3 Drake can propel himself upwards and backwards, making a daring leap that allows him to grab hold of an opening in the ceiling. Game director Justin Richman confides that this new ability would break half the climbing puzzles in the game's earlier instalments, but in Uncharted 3 the new, acrobatic moves give the player more ways to get in and out of trouble.

Richman also touts Drake's ability to traverse physics objects, meaning the hero will be able to climb, crawl and walk on things that are bouncing about willy-nilly in the game's world. This new ability comes to light when Drake makes a daring leap across a mutli-storey chasm onto a giant chandelier. The massive, dusty ornament swings with the momentum of his landing. Drake pulls himself to his feet while his precarious platform sways back and forth. His motion-captured movements, each reel or attempt to gain balance, feel real and organic.

Perhaps the most welcome tweak to Uncharted gameplay comes in hand-to-hand combat. Drake's fisticuffs will take on the feel of a brawl. Justin Richman notes that Uncharted games have never delivered a bar fight – a staple in action-packed movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark. He promises that Uncharted 3 will be able to recreate a wild, cinematic fight scene leveraging the environment to add flavour to the encounter. If Drake finds himself pinned against a bar, he'll be able to pick up a bottle and use it to brain his opponent.

During the live demo we see a moment where Drake is set upon by two assailants. One grapples him from behind and the other pulls his gun. Drake leans back and kicks his legs forward, sending the armed man spilling backwards. In another tight spot he fools a gunman into shooting his ally.

The demo ends on a cliffhanger. Drake and Sully, after surviving the near collapse of the Chateau – by now a smouldering inferno – make one final leap of faith onto a ladder. They see sunlight – a possible way out of the deathtrap. But the entire wall they're on shakes and crumbles. The demo cuts to black, leaving us with a taste of the fast-paced action set-pieces we'll experience late next year when Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception ships for the PlayStation 3 – and leaving us in no doubt we'll want to be there again for the ride.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-12-17-uncharted-3-drakes-deception-preview

At one point, Nate was shuffling along a wall and needed to leap off of it, turn in midair and grab a handhold on the other side of the room. No sweat, right? You've seen him do it a million times before. However, when he got to the other end, the ledge he grabbed broke away and he tumbled to a lower point only barely getting his grip. Later, Drake grabbed on to a chandelier, and the hanging fixture bobbed and swayed with his weight -- objects like this that formerly would've been static now have weight and gravity.

Still, it was the little moments that got me. Teamwork in Uncharted 2 was really just a quick scene of someone jumping and grabbing on to someone else's arm (except for the stuff with Jeff the cameraman, God, rest his soul), but even in this short demo, it was interesting to see Naughty Dog toying with that concept.

At one point, Nate and Sully are separated by a chasm and the old man starts tight-rope walking over a beam like Nate has done a thousand times before. Bad guys burst in from behind Sully, and the player has to fend them off as Victor crosses -- and Nate quips "Is it an inner ear thing? Let's go!" Later, in the section (which you can watch above), Drake's foot goes through some rickety steps and as Sully tries to free him, Nate has to defend the duo from advancing bad guys. Moments where you actually feel like a team are really cool, and I'm interested to see how Naughty Dog expands on them through the game.

I hate to be that guy, but it's actually a shame the video above cuts off where it does. Right after that, the whole staircase gives out, Sully's dangling from the fire below, and Nate's got to shimmy to him and boost him up. The whole thing breaks in another direction and duo has to climb for everything their worth. Of course, the music's thunderous during all of this and really driving home the tension and how nuts the situation is.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/114/1140768p1.html

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/burning-chateau-uncharted-3/708553

Youtube video for those who don't want to go to the shithole known as gametrailers....
Looks great outside of the video compression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvsHMBg6hjg&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

 

[Sn4ke_911]

HOLY DAMN!

 

[Dennis]

Looked OK as expected.

 

[Always-honest]

holy fuckfart.

needs headshot sound.

looks good so far.

 

[Averon]

The fire effects are damn incredible.

 

[longdi]

looks like 2, graphically i think thats the limit for ps3, i want them to kick the AI up a notch, add a few sandbox levels, only then will U3 knock our jaws off again.

 

[lowrider007]

wow, Playstation 4 right ?

 

[glaurung]

I'd probably come in here screaming of bullshots, but knowing what this is...

Excellent work.

Makes me want to platinum the first two games before this lands.

 

[jump_button]

Playing as sully?

cant wait i really should try and not see to much this time

 

[Dennis]

looks like 2, graphically i think thats the limit for ps3, i want them to kick the AI up a notch, add a few sandbox levels, only then will U3 knock our jaws off again.

Uncharted is linear, restricted and scripted. Thats why it can look so good. Throw in large sandbox areas and the visuals will suffer.

They are best of sticking to what the fans want from Uncharted: the linear, cinematic experience.

wow, Playstation 4 right ?

Hyperbole post of the day.

 

[Majmun]

Thanks. This makes the wait hurt a little more.

 

[JaseC]

looks like 2, graphically i think thats the limit for ps3, i want them to kick the AI up a notch, add a few sandbox levels, only then will U3 knock our jaws off again.

Yeah, if you're familiar with Uncharted 2's engine development you'll remember that they relegated the RSX to pretty much just polygon pushing, shading and AA (and, obviously, fundamental stuff such as rasterisation). There wasn't a whole lot more to improve upon from a technical standpoint, as the engine was a stone's throw away from being as efficient as possible.

The only "wow" factor for me in these screens is the fire.

 

[Aaron]

It looks like someone set Uncharted 2 on fire. Not really wow worthy, even if UC2 is one of the best looking games out there.

 

[Majine]

Where.

Is.

Elena!?

 

[Mr_Brit]

Yeah, if you're familiar with Uncharted 2's engine development you'll remember that they relegated the RSX to pretty much just polygon pushing, shading and AA (and, obviously, fundamental stuff such as rasterisation). There wasn't a whole lot more to improve upon from a technical standpoint, as the engine was a stone's throw away from being as efficient as possible.

The only "wow" factor for me in these screens is the fire.

The engine could always be more efficient, the question is whether optimising it further will provide any noticeable leap in graphical quality. It's impressive that they've managed to cram in MLAA as well especially with all the things that their SPUs were pushing in the second game.

 

[Router]

Huh... Looks like uncharted.

 

[CrushDance]

wow, Playstation 4 right ?

.

Still looks rough, but it's early.

 

[thuway]

Looks the same as 2 :-/. Oh well, it will be fuck-awesome as usual. I was hoping for some insane leap in terms of tech. Time to start holding out for the PS4.

 

[Forsete]

Brilliant, as expected.

 

[dwebo]

Where.

Is.

Elena!?

Seriously.

I don't even like Sully that much. Good god, I hope he's not the sidekick for the entire game to facilitate co-op.

 

[lowrider007]

I'm guessing the anti-aisling won't be that high in game?

 

[rvy]

I hope that's shitty compression.

 

[K' Dash]

I need to play 2.

Just saw the video... Naughty God indeed.

 

[longdi]

I blame COD4 for the linear scripted hole developers are trying to dig deeper. Last gen i remember a lot of devspeak for wanting to create the best AI system for multi-core cpus, now it is about the biggest baddest cinematic event.

 

[careful]

Don't see much difference with U2, which looks really damn great. I think this is about as good as the current consoles will output graphically.

 

[wouwie]

UC2's first screenshots looked a lot better and more imrpessive than these, as far as i remember.

Not sure what they were trying to show with this particular part of the game. It's underwhelming unless we were meant to be impressed with the fire effect. The UC2 reveal was a lot more impressive.

Anyway, i'm going on a media blackout from now until november. Game is going to be awseome anyway and look stellar by the time it's finished.

 

[BeeDog]

The animation seems much better than in UC2, especially when Drake is behind cover. The fire effects are also very impressive, but overall this is not the best area to show off. Also, is there a new lighting system in place? It looks much nicer and it looks like HDR is running now.

 

[TTP]

I want to see the whole sequence described by Destructoid. Please.

People should really need to read that before commenting on the pics.

 

[gogogow]

I think ND is really smart to show this level, these "Uncharted 2" levels first, because I have a feeling the sand levels will really wow us. The rocket scene looks really nice and I hope that was a hint of destructible environment.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Humanahumanahumana

11 months to polish, should looks sick as fuck when it drops.

 

[thuway]

UC2's first screenshots looked a lot better and more imrpessive than these, as far as i remember.

Agreed.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

I'm guessing the anti-aisling won't be that high in game?

UC2's first screenshots looked a lot better and more imrpessive than these, as far as i remember.

Not sure what they were trying to show with this particular part of the game. It's underwhelming unless we were meant to be impressed with the fire effect. The UC2 reveal was a lot more impressive.

and that's the reason why i think they showed gameplay footage way too early. It's still a year to go. How can you judge the graphics for now?

Uncharted 2 had pretty much the best AA i've seen on the PS3. UC3 will be no exception.

 

[gofreak]

I want to see the whole sequence described by Destructoid. Please.

Me too. Want to see the chandelier bit etc.

I like what I'm hearing about improvements to the traversal system, it being more general.

Re. the media, it's hard not to make a comparison to the first 'screenshots' :lol But... I have a feeling when the game is out, we'll be coming back and making A/B comparisons with this media. I think they probably have still a few licks of paint to add before they're done. (Don't get me wrong though, by ordinary standards it looks great as is.)

edit - Chandelier bit is a reference to the eurogamer article. But yeah, I would like to see the other stuff mentioned in the Destructoid article too!

http://www.destructoid.com/preview-...eption-189502.phtml&mainnav=&track=featurebox

 

[mysteriousmage09]

Looks really nice, not mindblowing but still damn good. It's pretty clear that the main emphasis of this demo is to show off the new fire and not zomg textures. I expect tons of improvements on everything in the coming months and by E3 they will have another demo that will make everyone's jaw hit the floor just like the helicopter demo for U2.

 

[Lard]

Christ, I'm already sick of hearing about this game.

It's going to be a long year.

 

[DoomGyver]

Now's probably a good time to start that media blackout.

 

[anaron]

Elena plz.

Spoiler

Game looks absolutely gorgeous.

 

[a1m]

GOTY 2011 easily.

 

[TTP]

One thing ppl forget to realize (by not reading the damn impressions :lol) is that the fire spreads around the environment.

It basically goes from this

to this as you play.

 

[thuway]

Christ, I'm already sick of hearing about this game.

It's going to be a long year.

This isn't a troll post.

 

[Yoboman]

Holy fuck. Impressions got me so excited

 

[gofreak]

According to this article, the whole 10-minute sequence might be released later in the month?

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2010-12-17-uncharted17_ST_N.htm

In a longer, 10-minute preview of the level to be released later this month, the overgrown chateau slowly goes up in spectacular flames. A pulse-pounding soundtrack plays along as Drake and Sully — again voiced by actors Nolan North and Richard McGonagle — climb, jump and scramble to escape.

 

[[HP]]

nice!

 

[Augemitbutter]

not healthy to hype me up this early

can't wait.

 

[thuway]

Looks really nice, not mindblowing but still damn good. It's pretty clear that the main emphasis of this demo is to show off the new fire and not zomg textures. I expect tons of improvements on everything in the coming months and by E3 they will have another demo that will make everyone's jaw hit the floor just like the helicopter demo for U2.

I honestly don't expect that many improvements. Realistically, between the initial UC2 reveal and the final, there wasn't a river's worth of improvements. This area either just looks really bland or our minds are into this pie in the sky stuff thanks to UC2 being the big leap that it was.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

not healthy to hype me up this early

Yep, it’s far too early.

And it looks nice I suppose, but pretty much nothing thus far has really blown me away.

I can see this game having a hard time impressing when it comes out because of UC2...

 

[get2sammyb]

According to this article, the whole 10-minute sequence might be released later in the month?

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2010-12-17-uncharted17_ST_N.htm

I kinda don't want them to, y'know. I get they want to create some kind of mass hysteria around the Uncharted franchise, but I'd rather not see anymore to be honest.

Of course, I can always choose not to watch it. Which I probably will to be honest. Want it all to be a surprise though.

 

[Unknown One]

A year away from release. Looks awesome. Will look even better when it release.

 

[thuway]

I kinda don't want them to, y'know. I get they want to create some kind of mass hysteria around the Uncharted franchise, but I'd rather not see anymore to be honest.

Of course, I can always choose not to watch it. Which I probably will to be honest. Want it all to be a surprise.

I probably won't. I ruined tons of shit for myself by watching preview code, betas, etc. I want to go in this like a lamb to slaughter. I'm hoping this game gets a boost graphically because at this point I'm disappointed. I had this insane expectation that they would bring it up a notch, but it just seems like everything looks bland and the textures look blah.

 

[Phantast2k]

Hmm. I'm not impressed. Looks like more of the same :/