Veilsix's Gaming Update & The PS3 stirs and wakes!

Let's face it: since I bought it, I've gotten some serious mileage out of my Xbox 360. Mr.PS3 sat back in jealousy during my seemingly everlasting and torrid love affair with Bill Gates' lovechild. However as I ate my way through 360 titles like I was PacMan, I find that the well has pretty much run dry for the moment. I sat in my basement/gaming altar at a loss one day, wondering what to do next when suddenly I swear I heard my PS3 clear its throat and scoot forward on the tv stand a couple of inches in preparation.

So I popped in Ubisoft's Uncharted: Drake's fortune and played the last bit I had left. I have to honestly say this was one of the best games I have ever played. It had such a mix of different genres in it, and they were so well put together it felt like you were playing through a blockbuster movie. In terms of graphics and soundtrack, it was all brilliant and spot on. Uncharted had a unique look to it, almost a cellshaded cinematic quality to it. Think "A Scanner Darkly" but more gritty and real looking, the facial reactions especially giving things a real life feel.

The action involved everything you can think of: 3rd person shooting with emphasis on obtaining cover (behind destructible environment areas and items) done largely in a Gears of War style with shooting from the hip and also aiming (even a zoomable sniper rifle is utilized from time to time). Also involving hand to hand combat and combos, riding vehicles like jet skis up a river, area puzzle solving. The platform based action was great too, including death defyingly high swinging action and climbing (much like Assasin's Creed's highlight moments).

Some of the attention given to little details really stood out for me: if you take too long trying to figure out how to proceed in an area, the game gives you an option to hold L2 down, which shifts the camera to the general direction of the answer you're looking for; also, the in-game trophies, treasures and rewards system. The trophies/medals were setup very similar to Xbox Achievements, asking to you achieve X event or kill X enemies in X ways, just to name a few. It really encouraged me to use as many of the different weapons and moves that were available. The treasures were the hidden items in the game, however (unlike Call of Duty 4's enemy intel items and other similar games), these were small shiny glints of light hidden behind trees, in corners and such that you had to pay attention to spot -much like a real treasure hunter- and once rewarded you were told the specific treasure was with a nicely rendered image of it. Finally, the rewards system was based on the medals and treasures, unlocking previously hidden treats for those who like bonus content.

Plot and characters were on par with a Hollywood movie. The story was great, with lots of twists, turns and nailbiting moments. The acting and voice talent are amont the best I've seen -if not the best I've seen to date. I found myself really caring about Nathan Drake's If you enjoy action-mystery-adventure movies sprinkled with bits of good comedy, you will thoroughly enjoy this game.

I really have to say that if you have not played Uncharted and you are a PS3 owner, you are really missing out on a fun, solid quality game that exceeds expectations, and really drops a surprise turn during the last 10-12% to change things up. This game will go on my "keeper" shelf of non-trade-in games.

You're probably wondering by now what this update has to do with the picture under the title. Well, there's no need to fret about it. On Sunday I ceremoniously unwrapped Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and inserted the game disc into my PS3.

After about an 8 to 10 minute install time, during which the game does make a decent attempt at entertaining you, I began Solid Snake's final venture through the MGS series. I won't give anything away just yet, but I will say that I'm thus far blown away by the story and gameplay mixture. The game renders every detail imaginable. You really feel more than ever like a passing ghost in the middle of an all out open war between two factions. Also (thank God) So far there hasn't been a single issue with controls, everything works smoothly in and out of combat so all those issues are laid to rest.

The weapon customization, item variation (even an iPod with tracks you can play) are enough to keep you entertained for a long while. Once you meet Drebin, the arms dealer, these options go through the roof. That's about as detailed as I'm going to get in terms of characters and storyline, as it would be a disservice to spoiler this game to any wandering fan.

My only complaint so far is how long the cutscenes and sequences can take sometimes, but even so I have to admit this is almost necessary and seems to really work for the deep storyline, which would probably suffer without these extended storyarcs.

Metal Gear Solid 4's excellence is clearly a result of Kojima's painstaking care and development. I'll give my beloved audience a spoiler free wrap-up rewport after the smoke clears.

In conclusion, the only games I hadn't finished or played at this point in my library are MGS4, Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and Heavenly Sword. There are also several other PS3 titles I've yet to pick up. With this in mind, and taking into account that the Playstation 2.43 Update is releasing today granting us new perks including but not limited to trophies (Sony's answer to Microsoft's Achievement system), and with Playstation Home coming this year, it looks like my PS3 is officially out of hibernation for quite some time.