Video Game Review: Uncharted: Golden Abyss

I have to begin this video game review with the disclaimer that I am a huge fan of Naughty Dog's Uncharted series of games. I have versions 1, 2, and 3 for the PS3 as well as the remastered versions of them for the PS4. When Uncharted 4 is released in April I will get a copy of that too. Now for a small confession. I have only ever finished Uncharted 1. I started it on the PS3 and never went back to it. I was finally able to run through the whole game on the PS4 during Christmas. I found it to be a lot of fun and so when I started using my PlayStation Vita to kill time at airports, the first game I played was Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

Golden Abyss has the usual characters from Uncharted such as Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan (Sully) but also introduces a new female character for the story: Marisa Chase. While Naughty Dog is the game developer for all of the other Uncharted games, Bend Studio created this title for the Vita. Both studios are part of Sony PlayStation's World-Wide Studios and so everything is kept in the family. Golden Abyss was a release title for the handheld console and so it serves two purposes: providing a game at launch and showing off the features of the new console. Some of the guys at work feel like the Vita-specific controls detract from the game. Fortunately the developer exercised wisdom and provided dual controls for most everything. If you are familiar with the larger console titles, you will have no trouble controlling the game on the Vita.

One major difference with Golden Abyss over Uncharted 1, 2, or 3 is that the chapters are a lot shorter. However there are more of them. That is great as sometimes you often don't have as much uninterrupted time on a mobile console as you might on one connected to the television in your living room.

I found the game to be a lot of fun and it helped me while away the time when my flight was delayed by several hours one evening. Now comes the question: would I recommend it? That depends. If you already own a PlayStation Vita, then I recommend you purchase this game if you have not already done so. If you don't then I am not sure it is good enough to recommend purchasing one. I have a very specific use for my Vita but realize that not everyone needs to entertain themselves while waiting for flights on Thursday evenings. The game is rated T for Teen because of violence and strong language.