3/5 ★ – peacebrendanp's review of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

I wanted to revisit the Uncharted series after playing The Last of Us games to stay in line with some Naughty Dog vibes. Also, cause I need something a bit more light-hearted after playing some of the most gruesome and depressing games that exist. So, I booted up The Nathan Drake Collection, and started the first game of the series, which I have the least experience with. This entry feels mostly like a prototype of the games that are to come in the series. It feels very much inspired by films from the "Spielberg" genre; it's very filmic, and carries ambitions to be a bombastic blockbuster. It's writing feels fun and clever, and there are plenty of story twists to keep things interesting. The setting is mostly static, as you remain in the same area of the world, off the coast of Panama. Compared to the other games in the series, where they contain a globe-trotting story, this one felt a little one-note in this department. However, there are still plenty of environments that feel cool to explore through. I was surprised at how open some of the environments felt, but there isn't much to do besides progress forward, aside from collecting treasures. The treasures are modeled well, but I didn't find much incentive to actually collect them. Which, some of that is due to the actual gameplay. The biggest detriment to this entry is how it handles, and some of the design of the game. I might be crazy for this, but this entry feels like an obvious transition point for the studio, in that some of Nathan's movements remind me of Jak's movements from that series. He sometimes has this floaty run, that looks very cartoonish in certain instances. The platforming is pretty simple here, but still relatively fun. The combat is very simple, and satisfying enough, but isn't the most engaging. The hand-to-hand combat left something to be desired; it's very simple in nature, but sometimes I felt like the brutal combo the game introduced did not register. For 2007, it's dynamic enough though. Here is how the design of the game is laid out: you will enter different areas, and be met with, what feels like, endless waves of enemies. It's very dated, and does not feel interesting to play through. They are mostly the same enemies, and you will be greeted with deaths that feel undeserved. The cover-system is way too sticky, but works mostly for a game that came out in 2007. There is some variety here, but it's not necessarily always good. There are some jet-ski levels that break up the early monotony of the game, and while they aren't as bad as I remember, they are definitely not fun. Puzzles feel very infantile here, as they don't really feel like puzzles, and Nathan will say the same line at almost every single puzzle encounter: "wait, these symbols look familiar," or something along those lines. Thankfully, there is the quintessential supernatural element that the series typically leans into. This does spice up the experience in the last third of the game, but not by much. The story is pretty good, too. It doesn't do anything crazy, but there is definitely twists. And, at the very least, it introduces the main cast that the game plays around with throughout the series. Yeah, not much more to say. It's a solid game, and it does not overstay it's welcome. It's an easy 6-or-7-hour game to run through (might even be a bit shorter, depending on playthrough). It's easily the most skippable game of the Uncharted series, but it's worth at least a one-time playthrough. In fact, when I originally fell in love with the Uncharted games, it was because I started with the second game, back when it released. I didn't play the first one through until way later. I was surprised to see that the game had as many cinematic moments as it did, but even then, they are still small, and feel not that cinematic when compared to the rest of the series. Solid game, probably don't need to return to it. Console Played On: PS5 (PS4 Remastered via The Nathan Drake Collection) Game Played: 05/2024 - 05/2024 Review Written and Published: 05/13/2025