Initially releasing back in November 2007 on PS3, Uncharted Drake’s Fortune was the game that changed me from a guy who enjoyed dabbling in games to a GAMER. Up until that point I had always played plenty of games but it was never a priority to me. I would estimate up to that point I had only ever rolled credits in three or four games in my life. Uncharted blew me away though. Movie style presentation, characters and a story I actually cared about. It completely changed my mind on what gaming could be.
Since that time I have completed the game probably 4-5 times, including picking up the platinum trophy on PS3 several years ago, which is no easy feat as crushing difficulty is a complete ball ache. This was my first time returning to it in around five years though and certainly my first time experiencing the remastered version as part of the Nathan Drake Collection on PS4. I did also go back and dabble in the PS3 version so I can accurately comment on the graphics as they have been updated in the remaster.
Starting off with the story. While in 2007 I had felt the story was a real step forward for gaming, in 2019 it is pretty standard fare. In truth even when the game first released it wasn’t that the writing or story beats were anything exceptional, it was more that the way it was presented was more fluid and natural than I had ever seen in a game. Obviously in 2019 this doesn’t remain as eye opening, but at the same time it doesn’t age badly either. If you are new to the series I still recommend starting from the beginning and following this crazy journey that we all went on from the start.
Controls for the most part remain good. The Uncharted game iterated with every new outing but this was mostly by way of more fluid animation. For instance in Drake’s Fortune you won’t see Drake naturally stick out a hand and lean against a wall as you walk past. These are small bits of immersion that were added as the series progressed and so going back it is noticeable, but that level of detail just wasn’t possible eleven years ago. The climbing remains strong and I was surprised to see much less environmental hints on where to climb. In later games climbable areas would be almost immediately obvious when you entered a location, but a few times here I found myself resorting to trial and error.
The gun play is an area that has always came under scrutiny in Naughty Dog games and while I don’t necessarily disagree, I believe the main reason this happens is because there just isn’t much else to pick at. Sure the aim reticle is larger than most games and this can lead to some frustration when going for headshots, but I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s a weakness of the game. Like anything else, once you get used to it and adapt you’ll be popping heads like watermelons.
In terms of difficulty this is definitely the hardest of the six games. Crushing really does provide a challenge and a few of the shootouts can be very frustrating. On the remastered version you even have the option of a new ‘brutal’ difficulty which I have yet to try and endure, but it’s there if you want it. Thankfully easy and even ‘explorer’ difficulty options are available so that anyone can enjoy the experience.
Trophies were added to the original game in a patch after release. They followed the in-game medal system at the time awarding trophies for X kills with most of the different guns, X amount of headshots, completing the game on the different difficulties and so on. In the remastered version they mostly remain the same except for a few speed run trophies, tasking you with completing three different chapters within a certain amount of time. For those looking for an even bigger challenge there are DLC trophies not required to obtain the platinum that add a new ‘brutal’ difficulty, a speed run of the full game and more. It’s a basic list, but one that is fun to go through nonetheless.
I still believe Uncharted Drake’s Fortune had a massive impact on gaming. It set the standard for third person action adventure games going forward and to this day Naughty Dog are for me the industry leaders in narrative action adventures. The template used here also breathed new life into the Tomb Raider series which has enjoyed a second life with a similar approach. The set pieces and storytelling only improve in the games that followed this and for that reason it doesn’t fully stand the test of time, but it is however well worth playing through before moving on to Drake’s greatest adventures.
