Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection Review by: Eirinn - 9.6/10
One Of The Best Experiences In Gaming Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is a collection of all three Uncharted games released for the PlayStation 3, remastered for the PlayStation 4. Now let me give a quick disclaimer here: I have never played any of these titles on the PlayStation 3, so I cannot compare the remastered versions to them. Instead I will compare them to other PlayStation 4 games.
I won't take much time with the formalities here since there are three games to review, and each varies considerably from the other in most areas, so I'll try to be as all encompassing as I can on all of them without dwelling too long on any one of them.
Overall Graphics:
9/10
Excellent.
Graphics for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune:
8/10
Exceptional.
I was very happy with the graphics in this game, and with it being my first Uncharted on console, and one of my first high end AAA games on PS4, I was also impressed with what I saw (and I still am, despite having seen better graphics in the others). Had I reviewed this one before playing the others, I would have given a 10, doubtless.
The characters all look great, super smooth, good animations in game and cutscene alike. However, the characters are where my two point deduction for graphics comes into play. The mouths seem ever so slightly out of sink, at least at the beginning of the game. This was noticeable from the first time I saw the opening scene and it was a little offputting, but it was acceptable given how good everything looked otherwise. Furthermore, I cannot say that I ever noticed this later in the game, though it could very well be just as bad later on and I may have overlooked it because by that time I was so engrossed with the game that I failed to notice. I've played through it three or four times now and still haven't noticed it if it's there, but I won't rule it out as a possibility.
Next, they look a little too smooth and polished. It isn't always so noticeable, but if the camera stays too close to one of their faces for too long, it becomes overly apparent that they're too perfect. The skin looks smooth as glass. Now I understand this is just a prettier version of a last gen game, and an early one at that, but the issue is still there, and it's thankfully an issue that current gen console gaming is finally getting past.
The environments are all gorgeous (well, except the ruins and such, but even they look well done) and believable, and between them and the gameplay I found myself sucked into this adventure. Same goes for the effects as well.
Graphics for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves:
9/10
Excellent.
A definite step up from the first one (which was already more than good enough for me), I almost feel wrong rating this less than a 10, but I have to compare it to other PS4 games or I'll end up rating all AAA games on the system a 10. They just all look so good though!
Enough rambling though.
The graphics of Among Thieves are great and they fixed all of the real problems that I found in the first one, but they still aren't quite up to par with something like, say, Batman: Arkham Knight, or Uncharted 4, but then that's to be expected.
Without repeating the positives I found in the first one that are also true here, I'll say that the characters look slightly less plastic, and the environments are rendered even better here than in the previous one...ya know... when they aren't all snow and ice.
Graphics for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception:
10/10
Incredible.
So this might be a tiny bit too generous, I'm not entirely sure, but the graphics here pushed the bar even higher than 2 had. The characters look believable here, more so than before even. The plastic appearance is gone entirely, though everyone's faces are blemish and pore free, at least there were some more skin details present.
The environments are chock full of detail, and sharp detail at that. Among Thieves had introduced us to astounding draw distances and highly detailed backdrops that must have taken weeks to make just so we could rush past them and never notice (unless like me, you stopped to enter photo mode and study the shape of Windows and roofs in the background, or blinking lights in the distance), and Drake's Deception picked up where the former had left off. While we didn't see as many backdrops with great detail, we did see great detail of upcoming portions of the level thanks in part to great level design. Additionally the play environments are highly detailed as well.
All in all, every one of the games has fantastic graphics, but the last one looks the best, as is usually the case.
Highlights:
•They all look great
•Unnecessarily detailed backdrops
•Good animation almost throughout
Overall Sound:
10/10
Incredible.
Sound for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune:
10/10
Incredible.
I'll be the first to say that I'm liberal with audio ratings, simply because I don't worry so much about a game having amazing music, and sound effects don't matter much as long as they're serviceable. The voice acting is what I care about, and if there is no voice acting, then it's the music.
This game has voice acting and, as is the case with all Uncharted games, the voice acting is great. It's spot on and always believable, and manages to make the script shine even more than it already does. And while it could certainly be argued that this wasn't the crowning moment of the series by way of writing and acting, it most definitely has to be admitted that it's solid at the very least.
Sound for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves:
10/10
Incredible.
Can I just spoil the rest of this section and say that you can expect 10s across the board here?
Among Thieves followed in the footsteps of the first Uncharted title in the sound department, and actually bumped things up a notch which logically would put Drake's Fortune at a 9, but seriously, have you played it? How could that only score a 9 for sound?
Regardless, this one sports a great soundtrack for sure, the music highlighting the tense action scenes and helping to set the mood well. And while, as I said above, I don't tend to pay a great deal of attention to the music, when a soundtrack seriously missteps, it's a big deal; on the other hand, when a soundtrack hits it right on the head, that too is not something that will go unnoticed, and Among Thieves hit it on the head with it's soundtrack.
The effects step it up a notch here too, not in that they're so much better, just in that the action of this game is much higher, giving the sound effects more of a chance to shine. The game honestly peaks in this department early, but the let down thereafter isn't a big deal really. More on that later though.
And of course the voice acting is too notch once more. Whoever scouted this group did an amazing job, without question.
Sound for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception:
10/10.
Incredible.
I nearly dropped this one to a 9 because of the voice actors of all things, but after a moment of consideration I decided that it wasn't so much the voice acting that I didn't like about the new villains, but rather the new villains themselves. The actual acting always managed to feel so in place that I actually never considered that it was separate from what I saw on screen. Indeed, it felt as though what I heard and what I saw were one piece of work as in a movie, but that's far from the truth.
Also Also just Also to mention that prior to writing this, it never occurred to me how difficult many of the scenes with dialogue between Nathan and Salim just have been, but it too was as spot on.
The music... I really didn't like the music in several areas, but the music, when it wasn't trying to match the sound of the native areas, was good. The rest, not so much.
And the sounds were as good as ever, but those spiders could nearly set your nerves on end with the noise alone.
In the end, all of the games shine in the audio department, and though Drake's Deception struggled a bit in music, the rest of the areas of the audio made up for it.
Highlights:
•Great music in two of the three
•Fantastic voice acting on all accounts
•Booms
Addictiveness:
10/10
Incredible.
Addictiveness for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune:
10/10
Incredible.
If you haven't noticed already, I really love these games. No, seriously, the Uncharted series more than earned a spot in my top two favorite game series of all time, and with good reason too.
Drake's Fortune started the series off strong with it's humor, intense gunfights, and extreme parkour elements. And while it didn't have the kinds of actions scenes that the later titles had, it was working to establish itself as a brand new IP, and had nothing to work with going in but a concept. It redefined the action genre, and that would be a trend that would continue over the next installments as well. But here they did so by among up the parkour elements, and cleverly throwing in some scripted elements in such a way that they felt genuinely unique to your game and entirely unscripted.
Addictiveness for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves:
9/10
Excellent.
Yeah yeah, I know I just angered the entire Uncharted fan base by rating Drake's Fortune, or anything, higher than Among Thieves, but it's a legitimate rating. I just didn't care for a few portions of Among Thieves, More so than the less desirable portions of the third title even. Namely anything prior to the chapter where we see our first glimpse of the big bad (somewhere between chapterd two and four I believe), and then certain later portions of the game were a little less impressive to me in light of Drake's Fortune.
All is not lost however, ad the urban areas of Among Thieves are great, and indeed, some of the best in the series, despite Chloe's best attempts to ruin them. And nothing could top the explosive urban areas where after the helicopter comes into play.
Addictiveness for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception:
10/10
Incredible.
Do it's no secret that Drake's Deception has some really annoying antagonists, and that the there are some less than amazing chapters, but it's also true that it has some of my favorite levels, such as Caravan, and whatever the boat level is called. It also packs in some really solid action sequences, especially in the earlier chapters. Fire. House. Spiders. That is all.
The first three titles all had some great moments, and they all had some weak points, but in the end I'd say the good far outweighs the bad.
Highlights:
•The story experience of Drake's Fortune
•The Urban areas of Among Thieves
•The caravan in Drake's Deception
Depth:
10/10
Incredible.
I'm too biased here probably, but when you can get three full sized AAA games, each offering several hours of gameplay for completionists for the price of one game, I can't see rating it anything but a 10. You will definitely get plenty of content and fun for the amount of money this will cost you.
I won't rate each game separately here because this is a rating for the entire collection, and if even one of them hits a 10, then the collection does as well, and even though I would consider a 9 for some of them, if not all of them, collectively there's just far too much to love not to rate it a 10. I've already platinumed Drake's Fortune, and beaten half of Among Thieves on Crushing (my second time through the game), and finished Drake's Deception, but I have every intention of returning to all three of them at some point in the near future.
Highlights:
•Three amazing full size AAA games for the price of one
Story:
9/10
Excellent.
Story for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune:
10/10
Incredible.
This. This is what makes Drake's Fortune my favorite of the first three (and possibly favorite of all Uncharted games). The story may be a little more obvious than you could hope for, but it thrives in it's innocence (never thought you'd hear THAT about Uncharted, right?) in it's dealings with a believable beginning for the three stars, and especially of Nathan and Elena.
The only downside is that the story throws a few things at us that we simply have to accept without explanation, namely the connection between Eddy, Nathan and Sully, and between Roman and Sully. But it's a first entry, so unless they'd started from the very beginning, there wasn't much choice there. It doesn't amount to much in the end anyway, so it's all good.
Story for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves:
6/10
Good.
Chloe. Chloe and old Australian boy whose name slips my mind at current: they were nothing short of forced in my opinion. And in fact they almost felt like a betrayal to the story and again forced us to understand things that hadn't been explained whatsoever. This time however, the lack of an explanation was simply not excusable. We already had an established foundation, but they felt the need to skip a huge plot point or ten and just roll with it.
In the end it all worked out well, but with a rocky start and an ally that's more annoying than the villains, the story never fully recovered. It was still quite enjoyable as a whole however.
Story for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception:
10/10
Incredible.
So this one wasn't perfect either, and it was bogged down by it's villains and a small amount of plot skipping, but it made up for this by finally filling in the blanks left in the story behind the first two, especially the first one. 2's plot skips never really fully made sense.
What pushes Drake's Deception up to a 10 in this department is that they laid some much needed groundwork for the plots of the previous two and honestly brought us some closure to the tale, so much so that I would argue that it could have served well as a sign off for the franchise, and honestly I wished it was until I played A Thief's End, which was just too awesome to wish away. This one served for the best storyline and ending since the first title, and made the entire journey feel complete, and that's a wonderful thing that we don't often see in gaming due to the need to milk franchises far beyond their proper stopping point.
Highlights:
•The story of Drake's Fortune and Drake's Deception
•A sense of completion
Difficulty:
4/10
Easy.
Again I'm lumping all three together even though the first one probably offers a bit more challenge than the next two, because they're all pretty even for the most part and it'd be redundant to cover them all in this section.
Simply put, on Easy the games all give you an easy progression, saving for a scene or two that will take a few tries. The checkpoint system Dave's so frequently though that you should manage with little trouble.
Crushing on the other hand, especially in Drake's Fortune, are just that: crushing. You will definitely have your work cut out for you there.
Highlights:
•Thanks to difficulty
select, each one of the games offers something that will suit your skill level
Overall:
9.6/10
Excellent.
The collection had it's ups and downs, but in the end each one is a very solid game and we'll worth the price of admission. In fact I'd say that $60 Is a fair price for each of them, but thanks to them being all rolled into one, and the age of the collection bow, you can get all three of them for somewhere between $20 and $30 usually. But again, even if you have to pay $60 you're getting steal.
What more could be said about Uncharted than what I and many others have already said? It's a series that you need to experience for yourself, and it's easily one of the greatest experiences that the gaming industry has offered us.
Graphics
9 Sound
10 Addictive
10 Depth
10 Story
9 Difficulty
4
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