First, a word about the Playstation Vita. I waited a couple of months to get one even though I wanted one very badly. The reason: I felt like a price drop was coming because of the lack of enthusiasm upon release. Eventually, my inner impulse demon struck and I bought one. I LOVE MY VITA. It is awesome to play. It is very comfortable and lightweight and is everything Sony promised. The only problem is the storage. It is a low-blow for Sony to make us have to buy a proprietary memory card. I understand needing one if you download games from the PSN, but the actual game cartridges should come with enough space to save two or more files for the game. That's low Sony.
Uncharted is either my favorite or second favorite first-party franchise on Playstation. It and God of War are the two games I enjoy playing the most. Out of the nine games Sony has released from those franchises, not a single one of them is a bad game. In fact all of them, including Golden Abyss, are some of the finest showcases for console and portable gaming.
Sony Bend (Syphon Filter, Resistance on PSP) developed Golden Abyss (heretofore referred to as GA) instead of normal Uncharted (and most-loved Sony first-party studio) Naughty Dog. Bend took everything we have come to know and love about Uncharted and put it on the Vita. It looks, sounds, acts and plays like a console Uncharted and just the fact alone is amazing.
Graphically, GA looks almost as good as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It doesn't quite have the same visuals, but GA looks better than any PS2 game ever made. The closest comparison graphically is Resistance: Fall of Man. They have about the same fidelity and character models are pretty similar. Just the fact that Vita games already look as good as early PS3 games has me excited for future Vita games.
Uncharted is always about the story and its three PS3 iterations have all come with compelling and fun stories. The sense of adventure the games present are by far and away the best for a "linear" game. Only open-world games like Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect and Skyrim have a better sense of adventure. GA not only continues that trend but also builds on it.
The Uncharted games have always had treasures to find, but GA adds tons more stuff. There are four different sets of treasures to find based on what chapters your in. On top of that, there are pictures to take, using the Vita like a camera, charcoal rubbings to seek out (on which you literally rub the screen) and various other items that deliver more back story on characters (daggers, bracelets, etc.). All of that is a welcome addition for a trophy hunter like myself.
Gameplay is the same as the console Uncharted's. It's a cover-based third-person shooter. It handles very well on the Vita. The only minor complaint (and this could just be me) is it is very hard to aim. It feels like the sensitivity is out of control, but that could just be because of the smaller screen and I'm used to being able to move the gun as quickly as I wanted to. On GA, you have to take your time a little bit in order to make each shot count. It's tough at first, but I was very comfortable about 40% of the way through the game.
The touch controls work very well, though I didn't use them very much. If I tried to grab a gun that was on a piece of cover, sometimes Drake would vault over the cover right into gunfire, which is problematic. I also ran into some problems when I tried to take cover. Sometimes Drake would roll instead of going into cover, which led to some deaths.
Bend used Naughty Dog's technique and studio to do full acting for it's cutscenes (for which Bend says there are two hours worth in the game) and they come across flawlessly. The dialogue between characters is just as top-notch as the console games and that is huge part of the success of the franchise.
The story in GA is very good, though it is slightly lacking compared to the PS3 games. I feel that way only because much of the story is found within the items you find in the game. Yes, you can follow the story just fine without finding any of the items, but if you want the full story (and trophies!) then you must seek out the items.
Overall, GA is a fantastic game and it is a great launch title for the Vita. It doesn't have much to offer after beating the game the first time unless you want to go find all of the treasures and get all (or most, Crushing is too hard for me) of the trophies. I enjoyed myself playing it the entire time and was awed by the visuals the Vita was able to produce. For Vita owners, GA is a MUST OWN. Do it.
Score 9.2/10
