Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection 

Sic Parvis Magna 

The Uncharted series is a monumental journey in all sense's of the word. Engaging characters, clear cut villains, mystic plots, plot twists its got it all. To say that this is an essential title for any would be playstation fan, nay a fan of action adventure games as a whole, would be a disservice for Uncharted has proven without a shadow of a doubt that it has fought tooth and nail to earn a place among the greats and I for one am all to happy to recommend it to anyone seeking a fantastic gaming experience. Never has the phrase Sic Parvis Magna meant so much, as Uncharted really did become great from a small beginning. Lets find out why.

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune 

A good opening is necessary for a lot of things in life. A good opening joke on your best man speech, A good opening in a song to define it among others and will have the melody stuck in your head. If Uncharted has proven anything its that it knows how to grab you, how to throw you into the action without even telling you why. And that is exactly how Drake's Fortune begins. Nathan Drake, self styled ancestor of Sir Francis Drake, pry's open said ancestors coffin to find a clue on his long expedition to find the fabled treasure of El Dorado. Nearby stands a reporter one Elena Fisher, who comments on the desecration of his ancestors final resting place immediately adding a moral compass to Drakes more cavalier personality. Within seconds of opening the coffin our two protagonists are set upon by pirates, in which they have to fight for their lives. Already the game is making waves and its aim is to capture you in the Hollywood-esque style of high octane action undercut by mystery and romance. 

Uncharted does many things well. Its presentation for one thing, environments in the game are detailed, beautiful and full of colour. The detail that Drakes Fortune presents you with will become a staple throughout the entire series. A lonely Submarine marooned during a flood underneath a waterfall, an ancient temple barely being held aloft by shaking wooden pillars; threatening to bring it all crashing down on top of you, An abandoned Nazi research facility with flickering lights, metal vault doors and machinery consoles belching sparks. These are just some of the many environments that Drakes Fortune gives to you and with the added bonus of HD the detail of the game is better than ever.

Getting lost in the beauty of Drakes Fortune is fine but a strong parallel to the serene environments is when you're thrown into battle and those places that have remained quite for centuries suddenly become strewn with corpses. Drakes Fortune as with later titles gives you those moments to explore and as you are becoming immersed in the beauty, your suddenly yanked back brutally as bullets clip at Drakes fleeing heels. Those ancient places are now a site of devastation, disturbed, broken; the short lived peace of solving a puzzle descends into anarchy. This is the defining feature of Uncharted as you can be sure of one thing, there is never a dull moment. The enemy AI isn't dumb either as many fire fights can change from advantageous to cowering behind cover till the bullets go away. The AI is challenging and though some fights become frustrating in their repetitive nature it still feels good to pop off several enemies with a well placed grenade throw or getting the reticule alined with the enemies exposed head. The weapons in Uncharted aren't the same as in other Naughty Dog games, these aren't happy cartoony weapons, these are functional real weapons it seems that ND really wanted to hammer that point home. 

Drakes Fortune is a good game. For its time it was received well, following close on the success of Jak 3 the game had a good foot in the door and while it certainly was a good game I found it to be lacking something that later games delivered on more. As I said Drakes Fortune is a beginning and as beginnings go it was good. However I don't think Drakes Fortune is what people think of when you ask them about Uncharted. Among Thieves, now that is what I think of. Technical aspects of Drakes Fortune have been improved with enhanced loading times making an almost seamless jump from menu to the game.



Uncharted 2: Among Thieves


Imagine, if you will, a perilous situation in which there is very little chance of escape. Imagine that your hanging vertically at exactly 90 degrees sitting in a chair. Unconscious. With no idea that you are literally hanging by a thread. A slowly slipping thread that will help gravity do the rest of the work. That's how Uncharted 2 begins. Nathan Drake, our titular hero, awakes to find a crashed train, a bullet in his gut and the train slowly slipping away into the air. After a hard fought climb up the skeleton of this once great locomotive and a very near miss, Uncharted 2 tells you how Nathan Drake ended up here. Introducing two new protagonists, sort of, in the process. We learn that both have had a sorted past with Nathan, one romantic and one business. Harry Flynn, a wise cracking near mirror image of Drake and Chloe Frazer, femme fatal and Ahem "driver" of the group. These three concoct a plan to steal an object that belonged to Marco Polo with a secret on how to find the lost city of Shambala a.k.a Shangri-la. All the while they are supposedly double crossing a ruthless war criminal named Lazarevich. 

Where Drakes Fortune begins at the beginning, Uncharted 2 actually begins in the middle of the game. Not as easy as it sounds and while the majority of the first portion of the game is a flashback we eventually catch up with Nate and find out why he was in a slowly plummeting train car in the first place. This is an effective strategy for winning people over as we are drawn into situations with no real explanation as to why were in the mess. Eventually the game reveals all and brings the story back around to link back together in a nice little bow. But it takes the long way round, giving you a taste of some of the points that make Among Thieves one of the best, if not the best, game in the Uncharted series. 

Drakes Fortune gave us a starting point, it set up our heroes, their moral coding and personalities. We get to experience new things as well, betrayal, mystery, discovery, Nate's knowledge it all adds to the experience and makes us care about the characters even more than we did. Among thieves also pits us against new foes who have designs on the same treasure but not for the same reason. 

If Uncharted 1 was a Hollywood movie, fresh and unscrupulous with its presentation then Among Thieves is a Hollywood epic. The visual design of Uncharted 2, though not that different from the original, is greatly enhanced by the places you visit. Its all so immersive from snow capped mountains to deep subterranean caves, from the battered and destroyed streets of a war torn Nepal to flowing jungles deep with water of Borneo Uncharted 2 takes all of these places and meticulously makes them stunning. The depth and the feeling of each location can leave you breathless, the way that encounters work as well with destructible environments only seek to draw you further into the action. 

Among Thieves took some valuable lessons from Drakes Fortune, it learned how to present itself how to bring the best out of its characters. Because while Drakes Fortune main villain wasn't bad it was more the side show, Eddy Raja, that gave the game its vest. Lazarevich takes all the feeling out of these villains they aren't memorable at all. He is ruthless, merciless and incredibly intimidating. More than anything he is memorable, his presence is a constant reminder to Nate that he is basically one step behind nearly all the time. The presence of this foe can be felt in almost all of the encounters in the game, apart from the village segment which gives you a brief respite from the violence that followed.

Gameplay wise not much has changed from Drakes Fortune. Luckily Naughty dog are the type of people who go "Eh. If it aint broke". The gunplay remains one of the best in the series and while some new weapons make it in, its the common weapons that stick out the most. Some new enemy AI are introduced in the form of shielded enemies which can take most forms of bullet abuse, aside from rocket launchers and heavy platted enemies which take a little more coaxing than usual. All of these add to Uncharted's good but sometimes frustrating encounters.

If there were ever a game that you would hear me recommend it would be Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. It is one of the greatest games of our generation and it does extremely well proving that point. Solid gunplay, puzzle elements that are genuinely hard, intriguing characters, monsters, a helicopter attacking you....three times and a cast of characters that you will both love and hate. Its fair to say that if a game has this much impact on you, you won't be forgetting it in a hurry.



Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception 

An encore can't easily be ignored. Naughty dog have often proved that they do things in three's its a pattern that most of their fans have picked up on. It would be right then to assume that Naughty dog are going for the third time lucky streak they always seem to get. Where Uncharted 1 gave us Francis Drake's quest, Uncharted 3 wants to bring that to a close to bring everything full circle, to answer some questions that were left out last time. Our story begins with Sully and Nate making a trip to London to meet with someone to buy Drakes ring. Which, unbeknownst to us, has an alternate use other than being a piece of jewellery. In true Uncharted fashion it takes almost a full minute for things to kick off and we leap straight into the action without a seconds explanation. But thats Uncharted's style it doesn't need to explain straight away, it would rather throw you in the deep end and hope that you know how to swim before telling you why your in the drink.

Eventually after the scuffle, we are introduced to the origins of the duo team of Drake and Sully. Its actually rather interesting seeing how their dynamic changes so much from their initial meeting. One thing remains the same: Nate is a cocky smart ass and thats what we love about him. The story eventually pans back around to the present, Nate and Sully are assisted by a new British character; Charlie a.k.a Cutter. 

The story of Uncharted 3 is different in that the villains are introduced early and most of the way through they have a strangle hold on Nate's activities, being only a few steps behind them most of the time which adds a certain level of tension to the encounters of the game. It also makes it incredibly exciting to get ahead of those villains as each new discovery pushes you a little closer towards Nate's goal. Where Uncharted 1 was about discovering a legacy, Uncharted 3 is about not only completing that legacy but also proving that Nate is worthy of the name of Drake. This game is about bringing two of the best characters, the father son pair a moment in the spotlight, it shows the deep trust and indeed the limits, or lack thereof,  to which both Sully and Nate are willing to go to help each other. Its an endearing part of the story and its not one that has been repeated often by other games.

Ultimately Uncharted 3 is out to prove that it can hold its own and while I wouldn't consider it the best title it definitely shows its strengths engaging story, series staple charismatic and entertaining characters and as usual great gun play. Add on some death defying escapes from burning chateaus to sinking cruise ships to transport planes that tumble out of the sky  exploding and throwing you into the treacherous Rub' al Khali desert. These are the moments that define Uncharted as a series.

All great things come to an end

Several things are true in all forms of entertainment and media. Don't milk a good thing. Keep them wanting more even if nothing new comes from it. Having said that Naughty Dog have decided to go one further with Uncharted.

Uncharted 4 looms on the horizon. For now I am not going to say much on it. I covered the original trailer some time ago. However I will leave some more gameplay below for you guys to sink into. 


Thanks as usual, guys. Look forward to more later.