5/5 ★ – movie_meter's review of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End These Uncharted games have been an absolute blast, and I’m now reviewing the concluding adventure in this thrilling franchise. In Uncharted 4, Nate embarks on his final treasure hunt to protect the people he loves, and he’s forced to determine what he’s willing to sacrifice along the way. Video games are unlike movies. They are so much deeper and richer in the way they’re made and also how they’re presented to the consumer. Thus, resulting in this review being the longest review I’ve ever written. I do apologise for that, but I do feel I need to express myself and I’ll be humbled if you do stick around to read its entirety. Without further ado, let’s begin my review for the concluding chapter in Nathan Drake’s story. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Visually, this game is a true achievement. The environments and landscapes are stunning, and the motion-capture of the humans are incredible. I have no idea how games are supposed to improve visually from this. I am so impressed with the grand scale of this game. The set pieces are HUGE and the maps seem like they go on forever. I’m dying to see a boundary break episode of Uncharted 4. These massive maps allow this game to offer something the past three couldn’t. Exploration. No, this isn’t an open-world game, so the exploration has got nothing on Red Dead Redemption 2, Fallen Order, or Assassins Creed. However, despite it being extremely linear much like all Uncharted games, for the first time we can take Nate on multiple paths to get to the desired destination. While this isn’t all that impressive because usually, the paths are only a minute or two before you come back to the main path, it’s still a step forward to making these types of games even more personal. With absolutely no surprise, this extra exploration includes exploring countless cliff-faces. Different people have different opinions about the platforming in the Uncharted games. Some find it a chore, others consider it leisure. However, I’d argue Uncharted 4’s platforming is the most tolerable with the inclusion of sliding, piton climbing, and rope slinging. Henry Jackman, a famous film composer, has reimagined Nate’s awesome theme and made it somehow even more awesome. The whole score is excellent and it’s probably my favourite score from the franchise. I am, however, a little disappointed it was recently taken off Spotify. I have only one disappointment about this game, and the good news is that it’s not even a flaw, it’s more of a gameplay preference. Let me explain. In the first three Uncharted games, you walk into an area with all this conveniently placed cover. Even before you trigger the mercenaries to start attacking, you can tell there’s going to be a gunfight just by looking at the layout of the area. Sure enough, as soon as you walk past a certain spot, the mercenaries or pirates will attack you with maybe one or two waves. I love that style of gameplay. However, Uncharted 4’s style is different. You walk into an ‘encounter’ which looks prime for a multiplayer map. The mercenaries are just standing or wandering around this area and you have two options. One, you could hide in the long grass, sneak around the map and take them out with stealth. Or two, you could harness your inner John Wick and paint the walls. As much as I loved the stealth aspect (probably the best stealth in any game I’ve played), I don’t enjoy these ‘encounters’ as much as the ‘enemy waves’ from the previous games. It’s annoying because whenever I tried to go for an all-out gunfight, I would get overwhelmed and I didn’t feel like the awesome action hero Drake is supposed to be. On the flip side, if I take out a third of my enemies before a single bullet is shot, the gunfight is over too quickly and I feel robbed of a really fun experience. I know people must love this encounter style, but I personally don’t. However, Chapters 19 and 20 go back to the original, fast-paced action that I love. And chapter 20 is easily the best Uncharted chapter and also my favourite section of gaming I’ve ever experienced. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the action gameplay, I still found the game so much fun. I just have my preferences in order. All that said, the shooting itself is excellent. It’s easily way better than anything else Uncharted has offered. It’s so smooth and slick, I love it. Also, I think this game was lacking some of the big spectacles. Uncharted is an action franchise. In Uncharted 2 they crashed that train, in Uncharted 3 there was that awesome sinking ship. There’s nothing like that in Uncharted 4. There was that cool car chase in Madagascar, but there weren’t any big action specials. Just little ones. Maybe it was intentional? Maybe it was to make this game seem a little more grounded? This is certainly what they were going for with the plot. Naughty Dog had a choice between an awesome, action-filled, blockbuster finish, or a grounded, character-based, intimate conclusion. They chose the latter, and I’m honestly not sure which was a better option. (It’s still an action game. Please don’t think it’s not an action game. Except, to me it feels like a slightly more realistic story than the ridiculous antics that go on in the other games). Warning! The following paragraph will explain plot details and will contain SPOILERS! In terms of characters and overall plot, Uncharted 4 is probably the best in the franchise. I thought the inclusion of Samuel Drake was a little dumb at first because he wasn’t even mentioned in the first three games. But what Naughty Dog did with his character was so mesmerising and impactful to the story, there’s no doubt it was the right choice. Samuel’s character was fantastic and I can’t wait to see him in future instalments of this franchise. In fact, all the characters had fantastic arcs. Except for maybe Sully who peaked in Uncharted 3 when it explored his relationship with Nate, all the characters are the best they’ve ever been. And the exploration of Nate and Elena’s relationship is so pure and realistic, it’s truly the roots of this game. I’m gonna be brutally honest, the Uncharted villains from the first three games have been terrible. Harry Flynn was probably the best villain out of them all, but then again… he’s not really a true villain. Rafe Adler and Nadine Ross!!! For those who have played this game can you just go back and remember how awesome these villains were. Rafe especially is one of my favourite video game villains ever. His character is awesome, driven mad, searching for this treasure for more than 15 years. He’s so compelling, so awesome, and if Jake Gyllenhaal isn’t cast as him in a future movie, I’m going to harness my inner John Wick. More SPOILERS on this slide!! I was ever so slightly disappointed when I discovered there were no supernatural elements in this game unlike the first three. I understand why this is the case, if there was something, it would have ruined the pacing of the third act. But I’m disappointed none the less. It’s frustrating because the zombies in the first game were so damn cool. Ever since then, the supernatural ‘thing’ that comes out at the end just got worse and worse as the games progressed. I was hoping this game would be an epic return to form, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. But the sword fight was EPIC so I guess that made up for it. I’m not going to lie; I was expecting Nate to die at the end. Especially with the title of the game: A Thief’s End. But that title is clever because it refers to Rafe’s end who was planning on taking the treasure that’s not rightfully his, and it also refers to Nate hanging up the treasure-hunting cape and retiring to his lovely beach house. Which leads me to Cassie. There is no doubt in my mind there will be an Uncharted 5. Why would they let you play as Cassie during the epilogue if she’s not going to be an important character later? They could have done it as a cutscene, but they chose not to. Maybe we’ll play as Sam, maybe we’ll play as Cassie, maybe both. But I don’t think we’ll ever play as Nate again. In my opinion, the ending was perfect and the story of this game is brilliant. I couldn’t and wouldn’t ask for anything better. I know I don’t do this anymore but the story and plot easily get a 10/10. There’s no denying it, Naughty Dog has made a satisfying and near-perfect conclusion to Nathan Drake’s story. For me, the Uncharted games are a rare positive which came from 2020. If lockdown hadn’t happened, I’m not sure if I would have discovered this franchise. These games took me on a journey, an escape from the pre-apocalyptic world we currently live in. I was right beside Nate through all of it. Both of us experienced the ups, downs, ins, and outs of the adventures. And finally, when the credits of A Thief’s End finished rolling, I knew the adventures were over, and I had to step out of the truly immersive experience these games have been. I enjoyed every cliff face, every bullet, every cutscene, every puzzle, every minute of these games. I enjoyed all of it. I laughed a lot. I cried a little. And I loved it all. I cannot wait to play Lost Legacy and go on another adventure with Chloe, Nadine, and I think Sam’s in it as well. Even though Nate’s story is over, the Uncharted franchise isn’t done. There is so much Naughty Dog can do to extend this franchise and develop other characters, and they’d have to be out of their mind if they don’t give us that fifth title. This was so close to becoming my favourite game ever. So close to becoming a masterpiece. The perfect plot couldn’t save that gameplay preference issue I have. I’m already dying to replay this absolute gem of a game, so possibly this score will rise in the future. I certainly suspect it will. Score: 94 (Fantastic)