Striking Gold: Finally, after years of watching tweets from my friends zoom past my eyes, I finally get to play the Uncharted series! This game (for its day) was something truly good. With hilarious dialogue, a male version of Tomb Raider, a lacking story and controls that were both bad but struck gold at the time. A revelation is easy to come by when you haven’t seen it all. Recycled Concepts Handled Well: Throughout the game, there are a lot of recycled concepts, themes, motifs and plotline structures. The uniqueness of this game lies in the voice acting, dialogue and writing. This game offers and incredible experience when it comes to these three elements combined and almost feels like a movie that you are experiencing instead of a game. It all comes together so naturally, it’s as if I could sit down with Nathan, have a cup of coffee and discuss our next adventure. The story, even though there are recycled themes and motifs (adventurer’s trying to find a lost city of gold and has trouble along the way), It’s the classic Indiana Jones, Lora Croft predicament. Is the treasure on the east cove of darkness, or on the west side of liberty cavern? The game presents itself in a very beginner friendly manner. I would say this is more of an approachable game as opposed to Tomb Raider, or other very lore heavy games. Uncharted has enough story that it is easily digestible but isn’t too much on someone who is just coming into the series. Naughty Dog made this game age VERY well in regard to how approachable it really is for any type of player.
Vampires, World War 2, and Treasure OH MY: Now, a lot of this game, while predicable had some moments that made me geek out in every sense of the word. Vampires. I got to a certain point in the game when more of the story had been reviled and the Spaniards never left the island, they were just becoming vampires. Now the whole connection to the treasure of El Dorado and WW2 I completely get because Hitler was into collecting ancient artifacts and Occultist perihelia. But vampires, mutants whatever you want to call them that were cursed from the statue that the Germans were trying to obtain during WW2, seem a bit conflated and a weird storytelling mechanic to say the least.
It was incorporated into the game very seamlessly, in terms of how the vampires were brought in and how chaos being to reign, but as a story mechanic it doesn’t make sense since these creatures came into being from an airborne mutagenic virus. A vampire is not born from a virus, in the lore it would be through a sire that would embrace the human so lore-wise the way these creatures are brought into the story of uncharted in inaccurate.
Controls that are nothing to Boat:
I don’t think I could discuss an older game without mentioning its controls, and just how abhorrent they were. Now back in the day gamers wouldn’t notice bad controls, because quite frankly there was nothing to compare it too. Did people think Silent Hills controls were bad, no they just were what they were, kind of like this game. Now a day’s gamers are so spoiled in getting high quality content, that all of us notice just how badly constructed the games mechanics actually were. In Uncharted the controls made me feel like I was walking around drunk and out of control, especially when utilizing the boat. The boat had the worst driving mechanics that I have ever seen, walking around the camera angels had me feeling slightly nauseated as well with how fast they switched, and platforming in this game could have been executed a lot smoother.
The Flow of it All: When putting in all the different elements of storytelling, cinematography and action pack drama that encases the games not taking itself seriously interior I think this really was, in essence a simple game with a simple message. It was fun and didn’t take itself too seriously. Not all games have to have a revelation in them or have their character emotional with a spiritual awakening. Sometimes it's good to have a quick, simple fun game that leaves your heart warm and your smile big. From the cheesy lines and amazing comedic timing, Uncharted: Drake's fortune is a lighthearted adventure game that anyone can get into.
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