By Rob Dolen
COLUMNIST
If there ever were the perfect series of video games to make you feel like Indiana Jones, “Uncharted” is definitely that series.
“Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection” contains the first three games in the action-adventure series remastered for the PlayStation 4.
The player follows Nathan Drake, the witty treasure hunter, his mentor and Victor Sullivan around the world searching for fortunes from Sir Francis Drake (his ancestor), Marco Polo and more.
Drake visits many diverse locales from unknown jungles and islands of South America to the blizzard-prone mountains of Tibet.
Players control Drake through hectic, arcade-like firefights filled with his quips and typical 80s-action-movie enemies. Environments can be simple areas like enemy camps, old ruins, or large set-piece moments (like the train sequence in “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves”) that are mostly scripted moments but these moments are where the game design shines the most.
Gameplay in “Uncharted” purposely doesn’t strive for realism. Drake and his enemies can take insane amounts of damage from guns but enemies can be dispatched with a quick one-two melee. Despite this, controls and game mechanics can overlap and sometimes cause frustration. At times the player wants to roll, but takes cover instead, or vice versa.
These issues improve as the games continue but it’s important to remember that the first “Uncharted” game came out eight years ago.
Between the gunfire and set pieces, Drake spends most of his time climbing, jumping and exploring old ruins, jungles and more around the world. That can sometimes be more of a puzzle than some of the actual treasure puzzles; Drake has to make risky decisions as to what footholds he can jump onto while also taking into account the ledge strength so that it doesn’t break and fall down.
“Uncharted” also features relatively laidback puzzle sequences that require you to compare symbols and align them with the corresponding pictures in Drake’s notebook to unlock doors.
For those who haven’t played the series before, it’s hard to notice any graphical changes in “Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection” from their primary iterations.
If you are revisiting the series, the improvements are noticeable. Gameplay is much smoother at 60 frames per second, paired with many updated character textures (most notably Drake’s character) and improved environmental effects make “Uncharted” look much better than before.
PlayStation 4 owners looking for a purely fun game akin to action movies should definitely pick up the remastered “Uncharted” series, but be aware that this is a re-master. The controls still feel slightly less refined compared to modern games.
“Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection” is solid eye candy for series veterans who want to relive the iconic moments from the series but is also a great inaugural collection for newcomers who missed out on the series on previous consoles.