Who should play Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie? Who cares?

Before going to AMC Theaters in San Francisco, CA for a special hands-off demo of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, I texted my friend, a huge fan of the series.

"I’m probably going to meet some developers. Are there any questions you want me to ask?”

"No idea. Who is Naughty Dog’s ideal choice to play Nathan Drake in the movie adaptation?"

I kept my friend’s question in mind as I watched the developers from Naughty Dog play the game on the gigantic screen. The half-an-hour demo contained not a single cut-scene. This was when I decided not to ask anymore. It didn’t matter. The game is the movie.

Journalists praise Uncharted 2 for its gameplay and, more importantly, its cinematic-quality storytelling. The cut-scenes have great writing, pacing, and atmosphere. Also, the voice actors are fantastic. Their interaction between one another is pure since they wear motion capture suits while acting out their scripts.

A good, well-paced story, great atmosphere, and amazing character development. These descriptions could easily describe cinema. Then why is it that we’re still asking for movie adaptations when we’re already playing them?

I’d say it’s the "gamey” parts, which is the gameplay portion. In Uncharted’s case, these are the segments when a player controls Nathan Drake as he murders countless, nameless thugs. Naughty Dog considers the gameplay almost as an abstraction just so the game can remain fun. So does that mean that in the Uncharted storyline, Nathan isn’t really killing that many people? That maybe he didn’t take down all those yetis in Uncharted 2?

I disagree with the claim that the gameplay is an abstraction. In fact, I believe Naughty Dog is unknowingly bridging the gap between gameplay and cut-scenes with Uncharted 3. I realized this while watching the developers play through a level where Nathan and his old pal, Sully, are trying to escape a burning chateau. Nathan and Sully interacted the entire time, retaining the charm that the cut-scenes in Uncharted are known for.

At one point, Nathan was climbing around trying to find a way to the floor above when an entire section of the roof fell down. Sully briskly walked on top of the rubble and made his way up. He thanked Nathan: "Hey, that works!"

Another section had the boards below Nathan collapsing as Sully strolls around teasing, "I’ll just go this way."

Moments like these combined with interactions, such as Sully asking for help to break a door open, is reminiscent of buddy-cop movies like Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon. In these movies, the heroes help each other out through peril, banter with one another, and, of course, kill their fair share of nameless thugs. The directors of such films don’t consider the action scenes abstractions just so the audience can have their share of shooting and explosions. The mayhem actually happened. The heroes really killed all those men.

Naughty Dog may have added simple in-game interactions between characters in Uncharted 3, but that goes a long way in making the "gamey" parts seem like they actually tie in with the world. The cut-scenes merge with these sections to become a cohesive story, where the levels aren’t simply a way for Nathan to get from one area to the next. When I play Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, I’ll be playing a great game and watching an amazing movie.