It's Like I'm Playing A Movie: Let's Play Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

It's Like I'm Playing A Movie: Let's Play Uncharted: Drake's Fortune



The Uncharted series is undeniably one of the star titles of the Playstation 3, attempting to combine gameplay and cinematography in ways that you don't normally see in a video game.

On it's surface, Uncharted is your typical third-person cover shooter. What sets the series apart, though, is the presentation. Uncharted is more then just your typical soldier facing countless odds. Nathan Drake is more of your typical fortune hunter, caught in a situation he's not really prepared for. He's in over his head, and knows it. And best of all, it's all mo-cap.

That's right. When Uncharted was advertised as "just like a movie!", it was more because Marketing totally misunderstood. Like usual. The voice actors that play the various characters in Uncharted are more then just voice actors. Scenes in the game are actually acted out by them in motion-capture suits, mostly unheard of before this. As a result, characters played out their scenes much more naturally and dramatically then you normally see in typical hand-crafted animation. And the actors were also given leeway with the script, and encouraged to play off each other.

But enough about that.

Uncharted is the tale of Nathan Drake (Nolan North) and Victor Sullivan (Richard McGonagle), as they try to score the big treasure that will set them for life, and the (mis)adventures along the way. In Drake's Fortune, Nate managed to track down the coffin of his (self-proclaimed) ancestor, Sir Francis Drake, where he hid the secret to his last discovery. Will this treasure finally be the big score he and his friend have been looking for...?

I've teamed up with some friends of mine from the Simchamber; Fleed Arsus and Mechalomaniac. Another friend of mine will likely join us later, but he's having some computer issues right now.


In order to try and present these videos in the right dimensions, I've started up a video streamer on my own website. Let me know if there's issues with the speed or quality, as I'm still getting this configured.



In this episode: Pirates, jungles, and ruining ancient Mayan ruins. Further.

Addendum to things mentioned in this episode:
- Relic Hunter is Canadian. I would have remembered that, but I didn't watch a whole lot of it. So I may also be forgetting a lot of supernatural stuff in it, too...!
- I assumed that Uncharted came out earlier in the PS3's life cycle then it actually did. It came out about a year after the PS3's launch, but it WAS still one of the first titles to implement Trophies.


Like with the G Gen World LP, I'm also going to be taking a few weeks off because of Christmas. It took a bit longer then I was expecting to get my friends together to record, so I ended up starting later then I hoped. Sorry about this!

Not bad, Umba. The commentary seems to echo, and it's a little ahead of the video... But I'll be watching for more.

Always watching.

I had always meant to get around to playing the Uncharted series, but other games kept getting in the way. I guess now I won't have to!

Is... is that an Eevee in a Red Mage outfit? Even if it's not, that thing is great.

The Uncharted games have always been great fun... Though I'll also be looking forward to that other LP of yours, Umba. ;3 Although, I am curious... Why record all the videos at once?

Soren: Yes, yes it is. My friend Fait made it for me a few years back. ^^ Using it there is also something of a reference, as you might guess.

Recording all at once means fewer delays overall. I just really like having all the videos available first and then working on that, and when it's a bit of a struggle to organize everyone for ONE sitting, you might as well get as much done then as you can.

With regards to the timing, that is actually how it came out; for some reason Fleed was about 4 seconds in the future from the rest of us, even with me trying to coordinate it.

He doesn't really look that much like him, but for some reason I can't unsee that guy as Hugh Laurie.

He looks more like Karlos from Just Cause 2 to me. Except with less alcohol poisoning.

Episode 2


In this episode, Britons, Nazis, and Spaniards.

On the keeping track of ammo games, the Halo series does this.

Argh, talking over cutscenes—with the developers' half-assed subtitles being largely completely useless, no less!

Motion capture's been a Thing since at least the dawn of the PS2 era, and even making your voice actors also do their characters' motion capture goes back about just as long.

Ah, but not like this. The difference is that mo-cap wasn't used to get stock movements for folks. For example, the cutscene in the first video with Drake and Sully talking in the boat while Elena was pacing outside was done with the actors wearing mocap suits and actually acting out the scene (if they did 1 like they did 2 and 3, which I'm thinking they did, after looking up some things).

The point is more that they used mo-cap to have the actors actually ACT the scenes, so it's more like a play or movie. Folks were in the same mo-cap studio, interacting with each other as they played out the scene. And that's something you don't see much of.

Episode 3


In this episode: logs, waterfalls, and timing issues.

Addendum to things mentioned in this episode:
- There are 12 weapons in Uncharted.
- Alan Wake is indeed 360 only. It also wasn't the game I was actually thinking of at the time.
- No Uncharted game, nor Little Big Planet 1, has Move support.

Less shooting, more shimmying.

Episode 4


In this episode: Shimmying, kidding, and traps.

Drake's t-shirt IS pretty awesome: sheds blood, self-heals from multiple bullet holes..... but is it washable?

Your combat skills are making me cry . You need to move around more. You have a crazy maneuverable character for a reason.

I need to stop slacking so much on processing my videos.

Episode 5


In this episode: Dead zones, aqueducts, and press O to not die.

Recently, one of the guys who was commentating with me on this has had personal issues, and won't be able to continue for some time. I'll either continue on with my other friend, or find someone else, though. I would say that this could delay me, but I've been taking way too long to process these videos as it is, so.

Episode 6


In this episode: Trouble, jeeps, and grenade launchers.

Yeah, I'm probably going to change up the way I'm doing this when I get to the sequels...

Episode 7


In this episode: Jet skis, customs, and grenade launchers. From the other end.

This game seems both fun (Naughty Dog platforming!) and unfun (Shooting sections! Lots of them!). I'm not entirely sure at this point that I'd want to play it.

Though I will admit that killing a dude by catching him off-guard is pretty hilarious.

Episode 8


In this episode: Foyers, falls, and surprises.

Episode 9


In this episode: "Something", a monastery, and snipers.

That is a hell of a toothpick. o_o

Episode 10


In this episode: Religion, churches, and crypts.

Episode 11


In this episode: Graveyards, vaults, and magic torches.

Episode 12


In this episode: Zombies?, gun etiquette, and things that are not good.

Episode 13


In this episode: Zombies?, Nazis!, Nazi Zombies?!

Anyone else having trouble seeing the video past 10:17? At that point I get a loading icon that just perpetually spins.

It seems that for some odd reason, part of the file wasn't properly uploaded. It should be fine now.