This is one of several pieces that I wrote on my old blog. I am bringing some of my old work to this site. (Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection – Review was published on my old blog on October 14, 2015)

Welcome back, my good-looking old friend.

The Uncharted series which originated on the PlayStation 3 is on Sony’s biggest and best exclusives. These action adventure games made you feel as if you were Indiana Jones. Going to jungles, temples and deserts and looking for treasure nailed that treasure hunter vibe. The Uncharted series is also known for its presentation. Whenever these games were released they always set a standard for graphics in a video game on a console. The gameplay was also great, it evolved over each iteration of the series. The developer, Naughty Dog never put a foot wrong and they developed yet another great series of games.

Now with the Nathan Drake Collection, which is a collection of the three Uncharted games released on the PS3 which have been remastered and released as a collection for PlayStation 4. The Nathan Drake collection was developed by Bluepoint Games and overseen by Naughty Dog. Naughty Dog couldn’t remaster the games themselves because they are developing the highly anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Do not worry though Bluepoint Games has handled the remastering of the Uncharted games with a lot of care and they have even added few new things for fans and returning players. Even a multiplayer beta for Uncharted 4 is included, which goes live in December.

 

Let’s start off by talking about the remastered, Uncharted Drake’s Fortune. The game that started one of PlayStation’s biggest exclusive franchise is showing it’s age and even though it’s been remastered it still shows its age, just not as bad. It not a bad-looking game but when you compare it to its sequels you can tell that this is an old game. The same goes for the animations, they’re not as smooth or as realistic as its successors. However, Drake’s Fortune hasn’t lost that charm. The cheesy action-adventure charm is still strong and will hook anybody who is new like it did me and many others years ago.

Veteran Uncharted fans will know that Drake’s Fortune featured the dreaded Sixaxis controls. Luckily for the remaster they have been removed, so no more tilting the controller to aim where you are going to throw the grenade. As with the original, we have rewards like character skins and tweaks for doing certain things in the game. Bluepoint has also added a ‘Speed Run’ mode, where you can continuously speed run through the game or pick a chapter and speed run through that. It’s a cool idea that will keep die-hard Uncharted fans happy.

There is also an ‘Explorer’ difficulty where you can soak up a lot of bullets so you can go looking for those treasures even in a firefight. There’s also now a difficulty higher than the crushing, called ‘Brutal’. Now I’m going to say this now, this difficulty is exactly what it is, brutal. I would honestly rather play Ninja Gaiden 2 than play brutal difficulty. Some parts of the series are fine but, then there are some where you feel like launching the PS4 controller through the window. You can also compare your stats with friends as well so if you’re a bit competitive, then you can see how your friends are doing.

Now for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Uncharted 2, in my opinion, is the best in the series. The gameplay was tight, the sound and music were great and the story was the best, it had incredible pacing. Now playing Uncharted 2 straight after Drake’s Fortune shows the stark contrast in graphics. You can tell that Uncharted 2 had an upgrade in graphics and the remaster has made it even prettier. The remastered Uncharted 2 looks that good that if you didn’t know it was a remaster, you would think it is a native PS4 game. Bluepoint games have really outdone themselves. Nothing has been changed to the near-perfect story of Among Thieves so don’t worry about that. You’ve got the speed run mode and the brutal and explorer difficulties here too, as well as comparing stats. However I don’t know how Bluepoint have done it but, they have made the already awesome and tight controls of Uncharted 2 even better. How? The result nonetheless is an amazing game with now even better controls and better graphics.

Last but not least is Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Now like the others this has the additional difficulties and modes and so on. They have improved the controls of Uncharted 3 which is good as they felt slower and not as smooth as Uncharted 2, so good controls across the board. However, I will have to say that the remaster of Uncharted 3 is gorgeous. Graphically this game puts some native PS4 games to shame. Kudos to Bluepoint games for going above and beyond.

However, the collection isn’t perfect even though it runs at 1080p and 60fps. Let’s start off with the big one, there’s no multiplayer. Now I can understand why they chose not to include the multiplayer but I’ll just say, I can blitz through all three of the campaigns for the Uncharted series in a day if I put my mind to it and I know that I am not the only one that can do this. Including multiplayer would have added longevity. Another negative but this one is more understandable is that there is no Uncharted: Golden Abyss. It is a PS Vita title which used the touch screen and touchpad capabilities of the handheld. Golden Abyss though is another adventure starring Nathan Drake. Maybe they will redo the game for PS4 at a later date, who knows.

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is an awesome bundle of awesome games. You can see how the series has evolved throughout the games as well as Naughty Dog themselves. The Nathan Drake collection is a great place for people who have never tried the series to pick up and start and for veterans of the series. If you want your Uncharted fix until A Thief’s End comes out on March 18th then this will be just what you need.

 

Pros

Stable 60fps.

Amazing controls throughout the collection.

3 Awesome stories.

Graphical upgrade.

 

Cons

No Multiplayer.

No Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

 

Score 9/10

(This post was originally posted on my old blog I no longer use. I thought I would repost some of the work that I did there instead of just letting sit in the internet closet gathering dust. There will be a few edits here and there from the original post such as different images and going through the post for spelling mistakes.)

 

Do you like Uncharted? Do you like video games? If so, why not talk to me on Twitter – @ThatGreenDude95