Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
PlayStation 3
Check out my reviews for the other Uncharted games!
Nostalgia Factor:
It’s a funny coincidence that I’ve played and reviewed every single “main” title in the Uncharted series except for the original. Back in 2010, this was the first Uncharted title I ever had the pleasure of playing. Over the years I’ve become a pretty big fan of the series, and it has been really interesting watching it evolve and blossom into the phenomenon that it is now. This will be an intriguing review, because normally I start at the beginning of a series and note the improvements made to the series with each passing game. I’m doing the opposite here. We’re going back to the basics. Will the original Uncharted still withstand the test of time? Let’s see.
Story:
This game has the most simplistic story in the entire series. Nate uses an inscription from a family heirloom to determine what he believes to be the resting spot of Sir Francis Drake. Nate retrieves the coffin and finds it empty, save for a journal that gives the location of El Dorado, a mythical city of gold.
Nate heads off with the assistance of best buddy Sully and reporter Elena Fisher to the location of El Dorado, but with this being a video game where treasure hunters are looking for a long lost treasure, of course there is an opposing group in play that they have to race against. This is always a pet peeve of mine in these kinds of games. This treasure has sat untouched for hundreds of years. What are the odds that every time the treasure hunter is about to have a breakthrough, a nefarious group of enemy soldiers tries to force their way in? That treasure has sat peacefully for ages and ages, and all of a sudden two groups close in on it at the EXACT same time and get into a giant, gunfire and explosion-filled scuffle over it? Never fails. Every time.
Anyway, spoiler alert, El Dorado turns out to be not a city but a priceless statue. There’s a catch, however. This statue is “cursed” and turns anyone who comes into contact with its innards into a deadly Gollum-like wall crawly zombie creature. Nate battles against the bad guys who want to bring this dangerous statue to the mainland. Who wins this epic showdown? Ho, ho! You’ll just have to play and find out.
Gameplay:
Not only does this game have a pretty simple storyline compared to other titles in the series, its gameplay is pretty simple as well. Stealth doesn’t play much of a factor. There are no open-world elements to be found here. You don’t even climb and swing and jump on things as much as you do in the other games in the series. This is almost exclusively a straightforward, no-frills shooter.
While I do enjoy what the Uncharted series has evolved into, I actually found this game’s pace pretty refreshing. There’s no filler. No long, convoluted story segments. No time-consuming stages where you simply walk and talk to another character. No segments where you attend parties or gala events. What you get is a fun, fast paced action adventure where you do a lot of shooting. A LOT of shooting.
If you’ve never played an Uncharted title before, the game takes place from a behind-the-back perspective. Controlling Nate, you can run, walk, jump, and climb on things in your environment. Mainly things are pretty linear in this game. You follow a path, shooting enemies and unlocking more of the story as you play. You enter an arena where you kill a bunch of bad guys. This activates more story sequences and unlocks the next area of the game for you. You walk, you follow a path, you kill more enemies, and you proceed.
Much of this game’s fun can be found with the wide variety of weapons at your disposal. You get trophies for killing enemies with all of the different weapons, so I found myself using them all instead of picking a favorite and relying on that. There’s handguns, shotguns, machine guns, sniper rifles, hand grenades, grenade launchers, and much more at your disposal.
When you aren’t running and climbing and shooting at people, the game offers a few variant stages to keep things fresh. There’s a jet ski area where you shoot things from a jet ski. There’s an on-rails shooting level where you shoot people from a mounted rifle on the back of a Jeep. Okay, I guess the common theme here is still shooting things, but at least you aren’t always doing it from your boring old feet.
Graphics:
Considering this game is 13 years old, I think it looks quite good. No, I wouldn’t really qualify it as “gorgeous” or anything, but it definitely stands the test of time. The characters look great. The scenery looks really good. Some of the weather and lighting effects make you stop and look.
It’s also very atmospheric too. There’s a few areas where you’ll find yourself wandering around in the dark with only your flashlight lighting your way. Water filled areas really sell you on the idea that your character is struggling with the water. I have zero complaints about the way this game looks.
Sound:
The game sounds really good, too. The voice acting is wonderful. The musical score is terrific. The gunfire and the explosions sound just as they should. It’s impressive to think that the original game in a long running series like this has held up so well.
Overall:
I suspected when I first started playing this game that I wouldn’t be very impressed by it, and I would consider it to be far inferior to all the other titles in the series. While it is true that it lacks the polish and the extra features of some of the later games in the series, I still had a lot of fun with it.
It’s fast paced. It’s got really fun and addicting gameplay. The story is simple and easy to understand. The graphics are good. The sound is good. The presentation is top-notch. It’s filled with memorable characters portrayed by solid voice actors.
I’d rank this game ahead of Uncharted 3, which I really didn’t think was that great. It can’t touch the near-perfection of Uncharteds 2, 4, and the Lost Legacy, but then again few games can. Considering that this is the first game in the series, the blueprint that all the other games are built upon, I think I can forgive it for that.
So to answer my original question: does this game withstand the test of time? Absolutely! It may not be the deepest title out there, and it certainly is much shorter than I remember it being (about 7 or 8 hours long). But if you’re looking to sit down and be entertained by a video game you really can’t go wrong with this. This game is good, quality fun.
Final Score:
B+
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