You’ll assemble torn pieces of paper together to re-create documents, take rubbings off of rock carvings, move statues around… all sorts of things. Uncharted has always had a focus on puzzle-solving, but the Vita’s touchscreen controls offer some of the series’ best yet, no question. The ideal control scheme involves mixing the two, using the analog stick to get your crosshairs close to your target and the motion controls to line up a headshot. The twist is that you can also manipulate the Vita itself, tilting it forward/backward and left/right, to fine-tune your aim. You’ll still hold down the left trigger to aim down a weapon’s sights and adjust that aim with the right analog stick. Weapon aiming gets a boost too, thanks to some clever implementation of the Vita’s built-in gyroscope. You extend a finger slightly and suddenly you’ve suddenly got another set of secondary controls to work with. It’s not terribly convenient to tap the little fist icon that appears on the screen when a button press can perform the same act, but functions like weapon reloading, machete use, treasure collection and Drake’s camera are smartly mapped to the left and right fringes of the touchscreen. His longtime friend Sully is largely absent, but there’s a new love interest, a bloodthirsty dictator, a back-stabbing ex-con associate and a body count that piles up so high it might make even Sylvester Stallone blush. This latest adventure finds our hero following the 400-year-old trail of a Spanish expedition through a predominantly jungle setting. Nathan Drake is a little bit younger and a little more brash, but his skills as an expert treasure hunter and climber (and so-so shooter) are the same as they’ve always been. Golden Abyss is a prequel to the Uncharted stories you know.
#Uncharted golden abyss portable
There are a surprising number of reasons to own the Vita at launch - as a First Edition bundle this week for forward-thinking pre-order-ers, or as an a la carte portable game device purchase next week on February 22 - and this console-style launch title, for any of its flaws, is most certainly among them.
#Uncharted golden abyss series
As a game cut from the exact same cloth as previous entries in the series from creator Naughty Dog Studios, it’s… well, it’s another Uncharted game. As a showcase of what Sony’s new PlayStation Vita can do, Uncharted: Golden Abyss from Bend Studios is pretty much perfect.