Uncharted 3

[MadPlanet]

Well just like I did with Arkham City, I meant to go ahead and pre-order Uncharted 3 to get the freebie since I'm going to buy it early anyway, but I got busy with other stuff and kept putting it off and what do you know it's too late. So I'll just have to buy it new without the freebie. Onion (who did pre-order) said it allowed you to turn into a swarm of insects on multi-player which is no biggie for me so I don't fell too bad.

I know Onion is getting his copy on day 1. FG?  I assume you will be doing the same?  I'll probably pick up a copy tomorrow too. Although I still haven't worked my way through several of the side missions on Arkham yet...  Not too mention several things on Gears of War 3 I still haven't gone back to yet.  Too many good games all bunched around the same time!

[Fallguy40]

I preordered it from Gamestop a couple of months ago, but I probably won't have time to pick it up today due to softball obligations. I presume I still get my preorder bonus even if I pick it up a day or two later.

I've completed all Batman side missions except three: Riddler, rescuing political prisoners and trackng down some serial killer.

[Fallguy40]

I finally picked up my copy of U3 today. I'm off work today so I'm playing it. Played the first 3 or 4 chapters of single player, now I'm doing some online stuff. I like how the story starts.

[MadPlanet]

I think I might actually go get my PS3 U3 bundle today as well, but I have a critical deadline that will probably mean late nights working today and tomorrow so I still might not be able to start until later in the week. Dang!

[MadPlanet]

I got my U3 PS3 320GB bundle today so I'm ready to go. Unfortunately I'm swamped with deadlines the next couple of days so I probably won't get much playtime in between now and Thursday or so.

[Fallguy40]

I'm just a little ways into the story. I'll hold off and let you catch up. I've played a lot of the multiplayer on it. They brought back 3 of the maps from U2, albeit slightly altered: the facility, the museum and the flooded ruins (now known as the molten ruins). Beyond those, there looks to be another 5 or 6 maps so far.

[MadPlanet]

It's been SO long since I played a full-fledged open deathmatch that I would probably completely stink at it. I tried a little of the U3 beta when it came out and got completely smoked. I remember back with R1 and MW1 I was never great or anything but was halfway decent at least.

Amazing how much lighter and smaller this new slim is versus my launch 60GB.  I still might get my old one repaired one of these days but for now it's just going on the shelf. Now I gotta reinstall games and copy over save files to set this one up - ugh

[Fallguy40]

You could probably find someone on Craigslist to fix the 60gb one for less than sending it back to Sony. It might be worth a look since you already have a replacement.

I typically suck at U3 deathmatch but I'm trying to level up to the M9 as I'm MUCH better with that gun than the stuff you get early.

They do have a deathmatch mode I'd like to try with you and TUS. It's called 3-team deathmatch in which 3 teams of 3 players each fight it out against the others.

Co-op is the fastest way to level up quickly.

Check your e-mail too, because ND sent me a code for some free goodies for partcipating in the beta. The main one being that they give you $100K of in-game cash to start with on the co-op/multiplayer stuff.

[MadPlanet]

yeah I saw a few guys advertising repair but the ones I saw offhand were only like $10-$20 less and for that small amount I'd rather just let Sony's guys do it. I don't know if I trust the Craigslist guys so much. But since I have a replacement no real hurry now either way.

I actually don't feel like I got my fill of Arkham yet - kinda wish they'd spaced out these blockbuster titles a bit more since I don't feel like I'm quite giving any of them the amount of attention they deserve. Guess I'll just come back to Arkham.

[Fallguy40]

Is your Arkham save file still around?  I've completed all of the main game except the Riddler stuff and I'm getting tired of that part. I would like to do some more of the challenge map stuff though. I messed  with it some yesterday and was getting better at the fighting. The trick is to let each animation play out before pushing the button again (except for the counters).

[MadPlanet]

yeah I should still have my Arkham save file on a memory card. For some reason Pain is taking forever to install. This thing better not be faulty.

I don't enjoy the Riddler stuff all that much.  And one of the few side missions I still have left are saving the hostages from him but I saved the first one - a cop - but it didn't give me the rescue the first hostage trophy so I wonder if I missed something on that.

Another useful technique on the fighting is to start pulling in the opposite direction of the guy you are currently punching to set up your next punch if there is someone over there since Bats will fly all the way across the screen to hit  the next guy and keep the freeflow going while getting you out of range of the guys who were closing in on you a second earlier. The only problem with flying blind like that is if the upcoming guy has a stun stick or is armored or shielded it'll stop you cold.

[Fallguy40]

I completed the campaign on Uncharted 3 this morning. For me, I think the story actually surpassed Uncharted 2's, which I didn't think would happen for a part 3 game. The emotional connection to the characters has never been higher.

I'll probably take a stab at Crushing mode.

Where are you on the game?

[MadPlanet]

I completed it today also - this evening. I've been sick the last couple of days so wasn't really up to trying any multi-player or anything but did play the story. At first I didn't think it surpassed U2, but by the time I completed it I think I have to agree with you. I started Crushing too - got to where they are in the underground train station or whatever the hell it was after he got the map out of the Golden Hind deer head.

Tough for me to rate it in my usual 1-10 scale though. Great game and I have to say that it was better in most aspects than U2 which I usually call my favorite PS3 game - so what to rate this one?  It did add some new features but didn't really break as much new ground as U2 did compared to U1, and a lot of the gameplay was recycled which is expected and appropriate for a franchise but because of it the play is slightly dulled with a been-there-done-that factor know what I mean?  I don't know.  What would you rate it?

[Fallguy40]

Good points. It definitely was not innovative like U2 was. However, the story was better and I think what made it better was the backstory on Drake and Sully and the between game marriage and separation of Nate and Elena.

Maybe 9.7?

It's funny to really even discuss characters and to a lesser extent, story as a major consideration for a video game, but since these games are like blockbuster movies, it seems appropriate. I really can't think of another game ever that makes you care about the characters as much as this franchise.

[MadPlanet]

Agreed - this is where rating games on a numerical scale like that gets dicey since I was so much more impressed with U1 and U2 at the times when they were fresh a few years ago - I looked back at my ratings and I gave Uncharted 1 a 9.7 at the time and then I gave Uncharted 2 a 9.9.  So if I gave Uncharted 3 a 9.7 it would put it below U2 on my PS3 list. But then again I did get more impact from U2 at the time so maybe that is appropriate.  I dunno.

I've thought about that issue before on the sports games too like Madden, MLB etc. Obviously in the great majority of the cases the newer version are at least marginally better than their previous year's counterparts but that isn't always reflected in the ratings. I guess ratings are more of a dynamic thing that always have to be taken in the context of the date in which they were rated.

Either way I'd put all 3 Uncharted games in my top 10 list of must-own PS3 games.