casual archeology 101

I interrupt this delicious ham and pineapple pizza to bring you my latest thoughts on Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Because the internet is nothing if its not about letting total strangers know what you're eating at any given moment.

Ah Uncharted, the casual summer blockbuster of the Sony consoles. Little behind the curve on this series but there's not much of a curve to get up to speed on really. Haven't played Uncharted 3 but even without having done so I dare wager the experience will be one cut from much the same cloth.

Exciting hijinx, casual archeology, wisecracks and the murder of henchmen on a scale that would leave most serial killers positively convulsing in envy. Naturally there will be the spunky love interest to be chased, rescued and lamented by alleged scholar of antiquities, one Nathan Drake.

Plotting, intrigue, betrayal as standard, this series has it all. Okay so maybe not but it does what it does well even if it doesn't stray far outside the template it so obviously adores. Technically amazing graphically and mechanically, the games bring it all together seamlessly. Almost like a mission statement that games can take on Hollywood on its own turf and win.

So what of Golden Abyss, the debut title for the Vita constructed from the bottom up to take advantage of the new tech? Well all the above applies still but this time on a handheld. Impressively though, very little if any of the graphical prowess of these games has been compromised in the jump to the small screen. It is a Vita game doing an utterly impeccable imitation of a PS3 game.

The touchscreens are used but never in a way that feels like they're absolutely needed for the job, same for most of the neat extras on the Vita. They are offered as a complimentary control scheme but never as one that you absolutely must use. Nice to have the choice but you almost wonder why they bothered really.

Its fun in a totally popcorn way, in that you'll enjoy it whilst its in front of you and probably forget about it until you revisit the same game in its sequels clothing a few years later. That's not to say you won't have a blast only that these games don't resonate with me for long afterwards the same way other games do. Don't feel too bad Uncharted, you might not be a Deus Ex or a Max Payne but you're a solid serving of agreeable nonsense disguised as rollicking adventure.