There is minimal SIXAXIS support present. You can use it to balance yourself while crossing a narrow path, chuck grenades and a few other things. There is no real need to use it though so it’s completely optional. 

Graphics and Sound

I’ll say it right off the bat, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is the best looking PS3 game out, bar none. The visuals, animation, environments, cinematic presentation, the art style, everything just comes together beautifully. The single most impressive feature has to be individual character animation. In other games you could tell when your character switched animation from lets say running into a jump. It doesn’t matter how Nathan is positioned, where he’s looking there is perfect transition into ANY other aanimation. One particular animation had me dying repeatedly just to see it again. When Nathan would jump to a ledge located in a corner for example; simply some superb animation. Dependant on the direction he was facing he would land on the appropriate shoulder and shifts his weight realistically to give him leverage and pull himself up. Or he lets you approach an enemy who is on a slightly higher elevation where you can begin your brutal combo. You’ll grab him around the stomach and start punching him in the kidney and more. There is tons of animation for specific game situations. Don’t think the enemies aren’t given the same treatment, you can tell when you’ve shot one in the leg or when they’re nearly dead. Some of the cooler sequences are when you enter specific environments and Nathan’s animation set changes. When you first see the abandoned German U Boat, it really is a jaw dropping moment. Once you enter inside, the camera takes a much more cinematic angle and Nathan will traverse slowly through the boat, putting his hand when passing through a door for support. 

Next let’s look at the cinematic presentation. From the opening scene to the end credits Naughty Dog has outdone themselves. Character movements are incredibly convincing, they blink, smirk, convey emotions the lot. Each character is given their own quirks and mannerism. After playing the first few levels I swear I thought Nathan was based on actor Nathan Fillion. There were several instances that Nathan acted just like Nathan Fillion in the movie Serenity. Elena and Sully whom you’ll encounter in a large portion of the real time cinemas are just as convincing. Elena has a mischievous grin when she tilts her head slightly and you’ll see the anger in Sully’s face when he realizes the treasure is gone. Fantastic motion capture with great facial animation. Uncharted is a graphical “tour de force.”