Review timebias 3/5 · Nov 30, 2020
20 Games for 2020, #1 – Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS4, in Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection)
A friend recommended skipping Drake's Fortune and beginning with the second game in the series, but it felt odd to do so when I'd be playing The Nathan Drake Collection rather than buying the games individually. I made my first attempts to play …
20 Games for 2020, #1 – Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS4, in Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection)
A friend recommended skipping Drake's Fortune and beginning with the second game in the series, but it felt odd to do so when I'd be playing The Nathan Drake Collection rather than buying the games individually. I made my first attempts to play this back in late 2017/early 2018, but abandoned it about two-thirds in. Having finally replayed and completed it (in March 2020), I enjoyed it—but I think that it would've been more satisfying as a punchier six-hour experience, ending before I was losing interest in the run-of-the-mill story and repetitive gameplay.
For the most part, I enjoyed the combination of simple platforming and cover-based shooting—on Normal difficulty, it's a gentle challenge for someone, like me, who isn't very good at shooting games. I wasn't particularly taken with the narrative, but it's fun enough and I assume that the world and characters become more interesting in the sequels (which I haven't played yet). Some attempts to vary the gameplay are implemented rather ham-fistedly—for example, the (notorious) jet-skiing sections are bunched together too closely and outstay their welcome. I think I would've enjoyed it more if the developers had focused their efforts on interestingly-designed puzzles and shoot-outs instead—and the gameplay would've been more consistent with the story's themes if there were greater opportunities for exploration.
I think I agree that this is a skippable (or abandonable) game, but I had enough fun with it to be glad to have persevered. I'm hoping that Among Thieves lives up to the hype.