well, i beat the game two days ago or so. set pieces, character models and sound quality is simply amazing, you have to expierience it yourself to believe it.

pretty standard gameplay. i had no problems playing through the shooting sequences like some other people, platforming is pretty much still automatic and the melee fighting got some entertaining improvements. stealth seemed worse and unpolished, even more than in U2. i don't feel like the AI is up to the stealth challenge. that's a bummer, since i love stealth gameplay more than actual shooting.

story and characters are the weakest link of this game. you'll long for more background and information about past events, but nobody will hear you. it's a constant tease, so i'll just assume this game didn't get the development time it deserved, judging by past efforts. it left me disappointed.

From what I've read, the writer of these games prefers to leave a lot of things "unsaid." That often works in cases where the characters are already fairly developed (there's a beautiful Nate/Elena scene midway through the game which speaks volumes by being subtle) but it leaves the new characters (especially the villains) struggling to make an impression. What motivated Marlowe? Your guess is as good as mine. And in general, it feels like the set pieces were conceived first and then a story was written around them.

Beat the game twice, once on Normal to gain all 101 treasures, and again on Hard.  I'm in agreement with most of you; I rank it higher than Uncharted 1, but nowhere near as high as Uncharted 2.  The game feels rough around the edges when compared to its predecessor: poor first half pacing, stiffer aiming (I too kinda got used to it; head shots and snipers from a distance are still a major chore, but I got along just fine blasting guys in non vital areas until they dropped), and aggressively misplaced AI. (The heavily armored soldiers with shotguns running right up to you were especially painful -- especially when you're already engaged in melee combat with a bunch of grunts.)  Some mechanics felt like they were used ad nauseam, such as the..... spider-avoiding sections, and the hand to hand battles against the big brute characters.

Happily, the game manages to find steadier footing toward the second half of the game.  Spectacle and gameplay go hand in hand beautifully from Chapter 12 onward, and the momentum doesn't let up till the end.  Noteworthy set pieces include.... the ship graveyard, the ballroom battle, the sinking cruiser, and the caravan horse chase.  Also, the hallucinatory sections were, suitably put, artfully trippin'.

Story-wise, the ending left something to be desired.  I see where Naughty Dog's coming from with their "leaving things unsaid" method of story telling, but I was disappointed we didn't get any sort of resolution when it came to.... Chloe and Cutter.  (I really dug Cutter; I hope he becomes a series regular. ^_^)  As villains, I thought Marlowe and Talbot were handled well enough, but there are two glaringly nagging plot holes I wish were answered: 1) How is it that Talbot survived that gunshot from Cutter in Syria?  Did it even happen?  Or was Cutter still under the influence of the drugged dart?  And 2) What exactly was the significance of that tarot card that Cutter had in his coat pocket after he got shot? 

It did take me a second playthrough to pick up on the subtext between Nate and Elena's current relationship, but yeah, I did wish they had embellished a little more on what transpired between UC2 and UC3.

Her motivation seems straightforward enough.  She's.... the current head of a secret organization that dates back to Elizabethan England, and what she wanted was to fulfill said organization's long sought endeavor of exploiting the potential power of the Atlantis of the Sands.  Francis Drake placed a snag in the organization's plans when he discovered the horrible power involved, and attempted to hide all evidence of his findings.  Marlowe has it in for Nate because he stole the crucial piece needed to begin unraveling Drake's findings: the ring in Cartagena from twenty years ago.

Merry Christmas from Naughty Dog:
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/28/uncha … tscene-vi/

I'll be curious to hear what you guys think of the changes.

It's too little too late as far as I'm concerned.
I've finished the main campaign, and I have no interest in going through again, or in spending time in multiplayer.

I want to hear what people think of the changes, too - I'll be buying the game at some point and want to know which control scheme I should go with...

It's definitely a better aiming scheme (and unfortunately, not selected by default for any new players). Of course, at this point, it's too little too late as I'm finished with the SP part of the game.

The new aiming is fantastic, more or less how it was in Uncharted 2.  Just earned the "Headshot Expert" trophy during the very first shootout, something I couldn't manage during my initial playthroughs on Normal and Hard.

And it's never too little too late for a go-ahead on Crushing; it just felt suicidal to do so under the old control scheme.  The return of motion blur should also make seeing the game again worthwhile.

I haven't tried Crushing on either of the three games yet. Maybe one of these days, I'll get ballsy.

check out the golden abyss trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNJjqLuw-ts

they will use the gameplay models for cutscenes it seems.

Just finished Crushing Mode, and consequently, snagged the Platinum Trophy.  Maybe it's the result of the improved aiming after the patch, but I breezed through plenty of areas that gave me trouble on both Normal and Hard.  Was almost sure I'd be tearing my hair out during the..... cruise ship's ballroom battle and the encounter with the fire spirit guys toward the end, but nope.  Instead, stupid shit like the scene where Nate gets his foot trapped in the chateau's staircase and he has to take out the two guys with just the pistol had me dying over and over.

Rendering a final opinion on Uncharted 3 (the single player portion anyway), I'd say it's a game that got considerably better with subsequent playthroughs.  It's not just the patch that made the shooting component more enjoyable, but also coming to grips with what I initially perceived as shortcomings my first go around.  Flaws seem less pronounced; the pacing feels less deliberate during the first half, now that I know exactly how to proceed -- and with solutions in hand, puzzles are less the overbearing presence. (At worst, they're like the minor but irksome speed bumps that made up the last two titles.)  UC3 is still no UC2, but even with its warts, the game is a seriously solid adventure that's as much fun to play as it is to watch.