3.5/5 ★ – alcoholicgoat's review of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered.

It's honestly not that bad. A breezy 6 or so hours. A lot of people (Bricky) make this game out to be FAR worse than it actually is. I played it around the time that video came out and I was inclined to agree with it. I had a frustrating time playing it in 2022. But in 2023 it clicked way better. I think I went in with too high expectations in 2022. Is the gameplay simple? Yeah. A bit annoying, jank and frustrating on occasion? Sure. Is it the worst combat I've experienced? God no. My biggest complaints from a gameplay perspective is the platforming can be finnicky, the gunplay is a bit stiff, I hate the shoulder swapping in this game, the enemies have bizarre animations for taking fire, the reticle is annoying and weirdly inconsistent, taking cover is a bit fucked here and there (especially transitioning around corners) and the guns could be way better. Especially the pistol. That being said, not that bad. I'm at around a 7/10 and I think I can live with that. The story is admittedly quite thin, and Uncharted 2 REALLY steps everything up. Funny enough, Chloe (in U2) has the same arc as Nate in this game to an extent, only done far better. I wish Nate had more agency, and an active goal beyond money and him having a thing for Elena. Yeah that does push him to do things in the plot but he's not as active as I'd like. Yeah he realizes how cold and distant he is and how this line of work's affected him, and to some extent he seems ready to pack it in at this point, but a lot that was too "implied". I'd like more character development like they do in 2 onward. Especially the Sully twist. That felt a bit awkward and you could have cut that beat out, or rewritten it. Maybe only Nate should have been suspicious of Sully, and the topic of rescue been more up in the air, or Nate wanting to have his cake and eat it treasure-wise. The villains are pretty lame as well. Navaro only gets interesting in the last 5 minutes, and Eddy was a bit 1 dimensional (he made up for it in charm). Roman is just a flatline. Hindsight is 2020 so my readings from Uncharted 4 subtextually made me see Roman and Navaro as a bizarro Nate/Sully which could have been good if it was fleshed out. I do love the tone, music, atmosphere and art direction. The game looks amazing. I kinda wish it was in service of something better. I know it's unfair to judge it in context with the other games, and I know a lot of the stort was up in the air, but it's hard not to think about these things. I think Bruce Straley is the mvp for Naughty Dog. I think he's the reason why TLOU turned out so well and why Pt. 2 fell short. I gotta respect Amy Hennig for writing and directing Uncharted 1, but yeah I wish someone else helped out like Jason Rubin (I know he left but still, his influence on Jak 2 is goated). I'm on the fence though, considering Amy Hennig wrote Forspoken. I still have a lot of respect for her, but you gotta admit that's a bad sign. Idk which camp I fall in between Neil Druckmann and Amy Hennig, I think they both bring out the best in one another despite how toxic the working relationship was. Neil gets long-winded but has good storytelling, whereas Amy has good pacing but shallow characters. Uncharted 4 was Neil unrestrained and as much as I like that game, there are some parts which really really drag the experience down for me, and it's mostly the pacing and a few key creative choices. Uncharted 2 is a masterpiece. 1 is fine. 3 is fine. 4 is pretty good. Lost Legacy is mid. Golden Abyss is mid as well.