Hello there & welcome to another entry of D-Pad’s Joystick Reviews, a review blog where you are given a quick taste of what games have to offer.  I am your reviewer, author, & overall cool guy D-Pad here with today’s game…Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the Playstation Vita.

Because being called Uncharted: Vita, is just silly.

Now when this game was first announced, I pretty much knew I’d be buying a Vita.  Uncharted is one of the few newer IPs that I have really leached onto like I have with certain series in the past (Ratchet & Clank, Kingdom Hearts, etc.).  It seemed with every drop of information released for this game, my excitement grew & grew.  I knew, after playing the shitty demo, that this game had much more in store for me.  I was half right.  I was definitely expecting a lot from this game, but I wasn’t expecting anything better than Uncharted 2.  I figured, as far as scale or ‘epicness’ goes, this game would be on par with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune…well…I was wrong.

There really isn’t a moment in this game that comes off as crazy memorable or epic by any means.  There are some interesting characters & a few twist along the way, but nothing earth shattering.  However, the ‘fun-enough’ gameplay & beautiful visuals did keep me playing all the way ’til the end.

At first glance one would think ,”Holy fuckin’ shit this game looks as good as tits!” and one would be correct in that immediate visual evaluation.  The graphics in this game are absolutely stunning…at times.  There are some points, here & there, where you can see the power of the Vita lacking in the department of “This thing is as powerful as a PS3″-ness.  It definitely isn’t quite there, but really…who thought it would be?  Well, probably a lot of people since that is basically what Sony said.  Regardless, the game is still a marvel to look at.  Visual presentation on a handheld has never looked so good.

As far as controls, it’s about what you’d expect from Uncharted.  I haven’t played Uncharted 3 yet, but from what I’ve heard there are some features in there that were not ported over to this release.  Regardless, I had fun running & gunning, just as I did in all the past entries.  I will say though, there seems to be a bit of weirdness with environmental detection.  Basically, you can always tell you’re on a ‘road’ from what place to the next…the environment around you rarely feels alive or tangible.

I actually noticed many reused sound-effects & music, but all the original stuff they had was good.  The acting is spectacular as usual, so no complaints there.

So I guess that about wraps things up here.  Thanks for rea-…what?  Touch-controls?  What about’em?  Oh…yeah…that.  Yeah well…the touch shit sucks.  Pretty much all of it.  It is kind of fun solving puzzles with it here & there.  And using it for the machete can be enjoyable.  The charcoal rubbings are cool…the first couple of times, but son of a bitch does it get old fast.  Forcing the player to use touch controls for melee combat was a baaad choice!  The game was advertised as allowing the player to chose how they want to play…with traditional or touch controls.  Well they flat-out lied because there are several portions of the game that force you to use touch/motion controls.  Yeah…the touch/motion controls stuff is kind of a joke, but it doesn’t break the game by any means…I will say though, they did declare this game as my least favorite Uncharted (but there are only 4 of’em, so give it a break).

As far as recommending this game to Vita owners. Well my answer would be Yes, because…what the hell else are you going to buy?  Sure there are other games like Gravity Rush, but what are you gonna play after you beat that?  As a Vita owner, it is a must-own.  However, should you go buy a Vita NOW for this game as an Uncharted fan?  No.  You’d be wasting your money right now.  There isn’t enough on the console to excuse a purchase.  I’m not bashing the Vita…I freakin’ love the thing.  But really, there just isn’t enough here.  Whenever you do decide to pick up a Vita, Uncharted & Gravity Rush will still be here waiting for you.  So until then, buy a 3DSXL…the thing is gorgeous & has a much larger library to keep you busy.

 

Thanks for reading!  If you have any suggestions on how I can improve these blogs, or games you’d like to see me review, please leave a comment below or better yet…visit me on the forums at the following link: http://retrowaretv.com/forum/?cid=33&show=504