Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

It's hard to believe in 2018, but this game was at one point both a ground-breaking tech demo and a preview into what game developers believed was the future of gaming. I remember being floored at E3 when the protag actually got wet when he walked into a small lagoon. These small details, full body mo-cap, and a focus on linear setpieces were set to usher in a new era of games that could be easily justified as art - we were going to make games films, and the easiest first step was to create a convincing action flick. In recent years, the gaming industry has pivoted away from on-rails, "cinematic" experiences in favor of more nuanced, player-driven exploration and exposition. While I very much appreciate this direction, as I feel like it's brought forth some thoughtful game design trends, I think the actual cinematic qualities present in games like Uncharted are played down as a consequence.

Let's first get this out of the way - the story is ridiculous and the characters are usually caricatures at best. It follows wisecracking totally-not-Han-Solo protagonist Nathan Drake, his cigar-smoking, totally-not-JJ-Jameson partner Sullivan, and the sarcastic and clever love interest, a news reporter named Elena Fisher. All three of them have narrow schticks, with predictable behavior and reactions to everything in front of them. They're following Nathan's ancestor, Sir Francis Drake, on a quest for the El Dorado, a 500-pound statue of solid gold, but find more and more evidence of an ancient curse surrounding the totem (and Nazi experimentation on it), and find out quickly that they're not the only ones searching for it. I'll leave it at that as it actually gets pretty interesting. You essentially make your way from setpiece to setpiece, where you'll be presented with an open area and some enemies, a braindead puzzle to solve, or some PoP: Sands of Time-esque platforming.

But the pacing of this thing... it really does feel like a late 70s action flick. The areas that you might walk around and take in during some dialogue or an environmental puzzle usually end up as your cover in a firefight. They're never overwhelmingly big - usually only as big as a courtyard in a Deus Ex game - and a myriad of spare clips and weapons across the battlefield (and enemies pushing up on you in CQC gear) force you to move often and thoughtfully. Indecisiveness will guaranteed get you killed, so some fights can frustrate until you figure out a solid strategy, but they're also over quickly (with generous checkpoints) so your time never feels especially wasted on death.

The game is also kind of arcade-y in structure, rewarding headshots, kills with variety of guns, and going for "streaks" (50 kills with no deaths, 5 straight melee kills, etc), and the collection of various treasures hidden around the levels. The only mode is story mode, with chapter select - so they added a shitton of replayability factors like weapon select, fast/slow motion, and costumes. These things make it easier to earn certain rewards, which in turn unlocks you more shit - so if you like the game it's actually fun to go back through at least a second time to play clean-up. Ultimately though, the game does remind you of its insular nature a bit too often (the pause menu *is* the main menu, for instance), a problem that would be fixed in the sequels.

All in all, does it encroach on Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider territory too much? Absolutely yes, this is straight up lifting a ton of tropes from both and it can be grating to hear the two guys go back and forth exactly like Indy and his father. But it does have a lot of charm, and the game is well-thought out enough to give momentum to its story. At its absolute worst, the game is merely an inconsequential romp through a jungle and ruins, and for some that might sound miserable. But action movie aficionados and general appreciators of B-reel dumb shit will find fun here.

So I was recently compelled to go back and play all of the Uncharted games again because of the awesome-ness that is Uncharted 4! And I gotta say that first off; yes! Going back and playing this nearly decade old game was a bit challenging because the series has come so far since then. Nearly every aspect of this game was improved upon in future Uncharted games which makes getting into this a challenge in and of itself. But I must say........ Despite all of that this is still a pretty great adventure!

There's nothing in this game that I would say is broken or incompetent. The narrative in this game was pretty interesting, I was genuinely intrigued by the El Dorado and the meta-narrative surrounding Sir Francis Drake and the Nazis. The settings are pretty cool in this game aswell, from a South American tomb, a sunken city, and a hellish old WWII bunker this game has some interesting places to take you! Even more interesting to me is how the game almost entirely takes place in one continuous environment, unlike other games in this series that cut the environment up into separate acts. This game's audio is wonderful, from the game's classic score to the very realistic environmental sound effects. The writing and dialog.... Sure, less organic than in the later Uncharted games but still pretty impressive for a game this old. I will say that Drake's Fortune has the least interesting villains in the whole series, there's no build up or development, they kinda just show up out of the blue and are like: "Sup, we're the villains.".......

Of all the Uncharted games, Drake's Fortune puts the largest emphasis on gun fights (This game is basically just a third person shooter TBH). It got to the point where I would begin rolling my eyes every time I walked into an open space or room and waves of enemies would come poring in. The combat itself is fine, I've just always been at odds with the cover system in the Uncharted games which has always had me fumbling around like an idiot during fights. The climbing mechanics may have been really impressive for it's day, but after playing Uncharted 4 I can't help but feel like it's a bit stiff. The fortress section of the game is a bit of a slog, but I will say that the bunker section actually had my heart racing cause of dem crazy zombies! 0_o I really enjoyed the jet ski sections as well, they added some much needed diversity to the game-play! :P

Sure this game is flawed, but it's still a pretty fun adventure on it's own. I really don't think it should be written off just because of how good the later game's have gotten. Please don't overlook this hidden gem! :)

During a time when video games became inexplicably grey and gloomy, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was a breath of fresh air. With even JRPGs (Lost Odyssey [ロストオデッセイ]) losing their sense of color and joy, Uncharted’s tropical jungles and carefree protagonist brought joie de vivre to the cover-based shooter along with a variety of mechanics and refined controls that similar titles lacked.

After pioneering open-world games with the Jak and Daxter series, a linear shooter appeared to be a step back for the creative minds at Naughty Dog. The limited scope of the developers first PS3 outing is made up for by its high production quality and momentum. Across its eight-hours of cave crawling, shootouts, cliff scaling and cutscenes, Drake’s Fortune doesn’t have a dull moment. Sure the edges are sometimes rough, but even the previous year’s Gears of War didn’t have such an irresistible pull to see what comes next. This is largely due to the excellent writing, direction and performances.

Nolan North plays Nathan Drake so well that he still gets typecast for it, despite his incredible range as a voice actor (see: Dota 2). Part Indiana Jones and part Firefly’s Mal, Drake is a fun-loving, witty hero that doesn’t come across as a psychopathic jerk like Duke Nukem. He’s a rarity in games. His fellow adventurers, Sully and Elena, give him plenty of opportunities to get into unique scenarios and enjoyable banter. The villains of Drake’s Fortune might not be convincing, but Drake’s joy of adventure is infectious and gives the game a forward momentum even during its worst moments.

Released after the monumental Gears of War with expectations of being Sony’s first system-seller for the PS3, Uncharted has a lot to live up to. It only gets worse as time goes on, with sequels that outshine it in nearly every facet. Taken on its own merits, it’s still a worthwhile game with few mis-steps. I played the PS4’s Uncharted Collection version this time, so I may be feeling more favorable to it than I did in 2007 due to possible adjustments to combat. I was surprised by how well Uncharted plays nearly a decade later. The cover system is often too sticky in some environments and not sticky enough in others, but other than that gripe I had a ton of fun in Uncharted’s battle arenas. It certainly helps that grenades in this version are no longer tied to six-axis.

Playing on hard, I enjoyed the struggle for maintaining a healthy ammo count, going for stealth kills, depending on headshots and making smart use of cover. All of the guns feel great. The physics can be ridiculous when a revolver shot sends an enemy flying into the sky like a rocket, but it’s a good kind of ridiculous that fits the game’s attitude. Melee combat still had a long way to go, being mostly useless unless you are attacking the last man on the field. Despite a solid foundation, combat would only get better. The platforming, on the other hand, had much more work ahead before it met the expectations that Naughty Dog’s previous games set.

As colorful and fun as Uncharted was in its day, it couldn’t escape the browns and greys that ruled game development entirely. The game’s interiors take the hardest hit, where walls are a bland, indistinct mess of geometry. This affects more than aesthetics unfortunately, because when you are looking for your next platform to leap to the lack of visual cues can lead to many deaths. On top of this, the controls for the platforming are loose to a fault. It can be difficult knowing when an edge ends and fixed camera perspectives can make it difficult to read where a platform ahead might begin. Even when these sections work flawlessly, they are nothing more than down time that isn’t much more challenging than scaling buildings in Assassin's Creed. At least later Uncharted games provided visual cues and peppered these sections with spectacle to keep them more than a pacing tool.

At the time of its release, Uncharted’s failings stood out and made for a disappointing follow-up to the Jak series that never had such glaring problems. Two entries later (and one to come), I am now struck by how much Naughty Dog got right on its first attempt at a drastically different type of game. While many better games came out of 2007, few still hold the allure of Drake’s Fortune. With a pacing and wit that outmatches the disappointing Indiana Jones film the year gave us, the first Uncharted pairs excellent pulp adventure with consistently enjoyable action in colorful, frivolous escapist entertainment that gaming seemed to have forgotten about a decade ago.