Uncharted 3: Fortune Hunter
by Orion_NGC1976, HSM team writer
Uncharted: Fortune Hunter is not the first Home TGI (Total Game Integration) game. Its predecessors were Killzone 3 and Dead Island. Both of these were implemented with a redesign of Central Plaza. Fortune Hunter is the first to have its own dedicated space. Implementing this TGI in this manner has some advantages; mainly, it has its own gaming environment that could grow and evolve.
Both TGI games Dead Island and Fortune Hunter have been moved to the revamped Home with the Hub and its districts – Dead Island in the Action District and Fortune Hunter in the Adventure District. The Adventure District has been implemented a little differently from the other districts in that Uncharted 3’s streets of Yemen are the setting for the Adventure District.
The description for the Adventure District states that it is, “brought to you by UNCHARTED 3.” This leads me to think that Fortune Hunter may not become a permanent game in Home and that the Adventure District may be a place to feature transitory Home TGI games. It would be a shame if Fortune Hunter left Home.
Since Fortune Hunter is a TGI game, you are able to play this third person shooter with your Home avatar dressed for the part or not. Soon after the release of Fortune Hunter in Home, Joanna Dark placed a video on YouTube of her avatar playing in a swimsuit. My wife played it in a dress and high-heels, which makes for some real entertaining playing. After receiving my Uncharted 3 pre-order redeem code for the Nathan Drake outfit, I was able to play it as the man himself.
I am not one for war simulation first person shooters, but I enjoy adventure games such as Uncharted and Tomb Raider, even though they incorporate elements of shooter games. It is the story, quests and puzzles that make adventure games real interesting. I bought my first gaming console, the PS2, in order to play turn-based RPGs like the Final Fantasy series and it was the release of Final Fantasy XIII that pushed me to buy the PS3. Even though I enjoyed playing turn-based RPG games, I sought out real-time game play and found Dragon Age, and a natural progression from that was to adventure games.
Although, one doesn’t have the same freedom in Fortune Hunter that you have in a full Uncharted game, there is enough there to give you a really good feel of the game and allows the player to focus more on aiming and shooting rather than crouching for cover or maneuvering your player. Movement of your avatar in the TGI is limited to moving along a wall, with movement across greater distances controlled by pressing buttons on the PS3 controller.
One should always to keep in mind which button to press when a quick escape is needed to avoid grenades and heavy fire, especially during the third wave. Aside from the movement, the actual aiming and firing is similar how it is in the full game.
The goals of Fortune Hunter are very simple. You receive points for killing opponents and collecting artifacts. Also, headshot kills receive more points than body-shot kills and are instant kills. The first wave is very playable for even the novice, who has never played shooting games. A targeting aid, which novices and experienced players can utilize, is the white targeting dot that indicates where you will be aiming before you actually come out of cover to aim your gun. This is a very useful guide to setup head shots and to reduce the amount of time that you expose yourself to the enemy. At times it is very difficult to see the white dot, as it is very easy for it to get lost in the background. For a long time, I didn’t even realize that it was there.
To finish a wave, you need to eliminate the final bad guy, who has more brains and superior weapons than the other virtual opponents on that wave that do little to stay alive. This last opponent of the wave moves in and out of cover so he isn’t always in view as a target. He also has a life bar so one headshot is not going to kill him. If you can consistently keep hitting him when he emerges from cover, you can prevent him from firing at you. In the second wave, if he shoots the rocket launcher at you, you can move between the pillars to avoid being hit. At the end of the third wave you must bring down the helicopter. Each wave provides new levels of difficulty, with more opponents with heavier weaponry. In the third wave you have to defeat opponents with machine guns, rocket launchers and a helicopter.
There is a wall hanging reward for completing each wave and rewards for completing certain achievements, like 150 kills or getting all the artifacts on every wave. For beating the third wave there is a special reward of a helicopter companion. Completion of these tasks can be monitored by viewing challenges in the game menu.
I realize that the purpose of Home TGI’s is to bring in revenue from game preorders, so they are no longer needed once the release date has passed. It worked for me. I pre-ordered Uncharted 3 in Home, but it was a game I was going to purchase regardless. Just as the Dead Island TGI is a part of the Action District, I hope that Fortune Hunter finds a permanent home in the Adventure District.
I hope that more games of this type will find their way to the Adventure District. I was very excited when Sony announced that there would be an Adventure District in the revamped Home, in hopes that there would be a full-blown adventure game.
With updates over time, Fortune Hunter could evolve to be a more well-rounded adventure game that would incorporate some of these other elements that makes adventure gaming great.
Of recent there have been several avatar interactive games released in Home and I am excited to see what the future will have in store for us.
- Playable by players from novice to experienced.
- Able to play with your avatar.
- Enjoyable third person shooter.
- Ten challenges for rewards.
- Nice helicopter Home companion as a reward for playing all three waves.
- Only incorporates shooting and dodging aspects of adventure games.
- Only three game levels.
November 20th, 2011 by Orion_NGC1976 | 8 comments
Father, husband, dolphy racer and sometimes Home world traveler.
I liked the Uncharted 3 integration the best out of all of the ones they have had so far. Great rewards and lots of fun obtaining them too. I too hope they have more to come in this area of Home, and wish they would consider some type of RPG as well, now that would be epic! Good review Orion!
Honestly I’m kind of split down the middle on the games offered for the TGI on Home.I didn’t like the Killzone 1 very much,mostly because of the targeting.Dead Island I thought was very good and Uncharted 3 I found very enjoyable except for the targeting which was similiar to Killzone’s but in Uncharted you got to move around more and was more realistic looking IMO.Overall I think TGI is a very good idea for a number of reasons and I too would like to see an RPG offered in this manner.
The TGI events have been thoroughly enjoyable, but they also speak to the commercial viability of Home as a promotional support tool. Those TGI events can’t have been cheap to put together, so to see three of them in fairly rapid succession suggests that Home is having some sort of measurable impact, even if it’s slight, in assisting with game title sales as well as Home’s own metrics.
Of the three, the one which I enjoyed the least was the Dead Island event. Collision detection just wasn’t very good. But, considering how big a hit it was (and how many people are on the zombie bandwagon), I know I’m in the minority there. I actually had a lot of fun with the Killzone invasion, but that’s because I could run around the plaza and pick up supplies for guys playing the main game. Plus, the Killzone promotion was just aurally and visually stunning; they ripped the guts out of Central Plaza, and it really was a work of art.
As for the UC3 TGI? I’ve never played an Uncharted game, but I’ll say this: the UC3 event convinced me to try the series out. For someone who doesn’t play games very much at all any more (aside from Angry Birds, which is just bloody addictive), that’s a pretty big deal.
The two major upsides for the Home community that I can see from these TGI events:
1. Central Plaza makes an obvious choice for TGI events. We may never see the actual CP again, but it’s a wonderful way to periodically revisit it with a twist. This will help Sony placate those members of the community who, understandably, want the plaza back — without feeling like they’re taking a step backwards.
2. These TGI events show that some really remarkable movements and gesticulations can be programmed into Home’s avatars. One of the most heavily-requested features from the community, for as long as I can remember, is an expansion of the gesticulations, dance moves, and overall social interface for our avatars. Granted, there’s a big difference between extra moves for a self-contained event and a core client update to introduce such things across all of Home, but every time the community gets another taste of these things, the more it becomes a necessity to finally suck up the cost, take the risk, and finally deliver.
Dead Island certainly had some issues but of the three it was the only one I could play with some friends and talk with at the same time(unless I somehow missed seeing that function on the others) which for me adds a hefty bonus to it’s enjoyability factor.Actually none of them convinced me to buy a game but then I’m pretty selective when it comes to games I’ll pay $50 or more for,I’m not a big FPS-game player normally.However TGI on Home did give me a chance to get a good long view of 3 games I otherwise wouldn’t have normally given a second glance at,so from a marketing standpoint it succeeded in getting more eyeballs on their product and I know for a fact resulted in getting at least a few extra sales for some of these games as many of my friends liked what they saw and purchased 1 or more of these games based on what they saw on Home.
i agree we need more like UC3 i think home is getting to be the best game on playstation its like the only game on playstation where theres no cheats yet just gliches. i think the people who work for home are the best . they keep me happy after playing any shotter game on playstation ( i have most of them ) and in the pass few months ,you can t find one game without cheaters so im now at the point where im done buying any more games till playstation win s back control of online playing . so home s the only thing ima play for now on playstation . sony if you would email me when i can play shotter games again . anyone want any shotter games message me im done with them . my playstation 2 i only gotta watch laggswitchers ,so join me on cod 3 the best game online on ps 2
home keep up the good work and pass this to your friends at playstation i”d hate to quit sony i ve ben your costurmer since i was 15 ,from car radio to my tv if sony makes it and i need it its sony , hey to jump back to home why cant we lay down like ( on are beds ) ….. i love the RC rally race its great… thanks for reading ACE
Cleared all challenges but still playing there for the fun of dressing up and clearing it!
Nice review Orion! Before it released I was actually under the impression that this TGI would be VS with friends. I was very pleased with how this game turned out. I am VERY curious to see if this TGI takes place IN the Adventure District, or if the Adventure District will include a portal to this TGI… much like the Action District includes Dead Island and Killzone TGI.
I love your idea of continuing updating TGI’s past their initial release with content. I wish they would do this!
Great article Orion! Fortune Hunter belongs definitely to my favourite spaces in Home. The rewards are really amazing, but the best thing about this space is the game itself. Although you can’t move as you want, it’s always a great pleasure to play and find new ways to kill more enemies faster! For me, as a Home user, it’s just the perfect example of what a public place should be: beautiful landscape, nice rewards and great game.
However, this space was launched to promote the Uncharted 3 game, so it could be removed anytime, once it will be considered to be unnecessary. By the way, I am wondering on what criteria Sony base their decision to remove or keep a space. There are so many places that I visited only once or twice…
Well, I just hope that the Fortune Hunter space will be kept! And I am also glad that old spaces such as Killzone 3 and Dead Island are back now. I already got all the rewards but I enjoy playing these games again and again.