2.5/5 ★ – hifeliciahardy's review of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

Listen, this game is a product of its time. I think Bricky's review on this game says it best, but personally, definitely the weakest mainline Uncharted game compared to the bangers that come next. However, besides maybe Spider-Man PS4, Uncharted was my first favorite game, and this is the small beginning from where it transformed into a giant, beautiful moneymaker from Sony/PlayStation. The strongest parts of this game come from Nolan North, Emily Rose, and Richard McGonagle, and the dialogue and character writing. They are perfectly cast and the game would never have taken off without this OG trio and the great writing by Amy Hennig. It's a cover shooter, and the gameplay does its job. I struggled a lot personally 'cause I'm dogshit at all video games except Spider-Man, but I learned to get used to the gunplay. Every cutscene between Nate and Elena is a treat. Elena, to this day, is one of gaming's best female characters who isn't oversexualised and actually undergoes wonderful character development. For 2007, she was written very respectfully. In this game, they're babies, but by Uncharted 4, they were literally my mom and dad, so I'm very, very attached to them. The worst part of this game is the goddamn jet ski. Bricky warned me about it, but I didn't know how ASSSSSSSSSSS it was. The handling is dogshit, and I kept dying as I slowly and slowly progressed. Agonizing part. And then after some other gameplay I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN. Someone at NaughtyDog did not want to come into work that day. The actual plot is generic, but there are some details here and there that do add to its quality and the saying that 'good characters can carry a bad plot' applies here. This game was very much a trial run of NaughtyDog, and I appreciate it for what it is. The humor in this game is A plus. Overall, definitely worth a shot and a great starting point to get into Uncharted, obviously.