Right OK as promised here is the review of Uncharted 4, the latest (and supposedly the last) game in the Uncharted series, which follows the adventures of a treasuer hunter, Nathan Drake, which was released on the PS4 a few weeks ago. So how does it stack up??? Well let's find out.
So as usual the following story section features.....SPOILERS AHEAD!!
STORY
Right so a bit about the story which is told partly in flashbacks but mainly in the present and to cut to the present stuff it sees its main character, Nathan "Nate" Drake (voiced by Nolan North) who formerly lived the dangerous life of a treasure hunter, but is now married and settled down with his wife, Elena (voiced by Emily Rose). Nate now does deep salvage work for a company in New Orleans but he still misses the life of adventure.
One night however Nate is visited by his older brother, Sam (voiced by Troy Baker) who during a flasback sequence we were left to believe that Sam was killed during an escape attempt from a jail they sneaked into in Panama. Sam explains that he actually was survived and was patched up by the prison doctor and he ended serving a life sentence but got broken with help from a fellow prisoner, a drug lord named Hector Alcazar (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes). However during a flasback sequence after their escape Alcazar becomes angry when Sam appears to have mislead him to know the whereabouts of a legendary pirate's treasure, Captain Henry Avery, so Alcazar gives Sam three months to find it or he will kill him. Nate on hearing this is at first reluctant to help but realises he little choice and calls up Elena and as a cover tells her he has heard word about a deep salvage job out in Malaysia and he is going ahead with it, while instead he embarks on his journey with Sam to locate the treasure.
So from here Nate and Sam recruit the help of Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Richard McGonagle) to help them out in their quest. However along the way the three men are confronted by a rival treasure hunter, and the game's main antagonist, Rafe Adler (Warren Kole) who is accompanied by Nadine Ross (voiced by Laura Bailey) who Rafe has recruited Nadine's PMC, Shorline to help them find the treasure. And what follows is a long and very dangerous journey as Nate and Sam try to race against time to get to the treasure before Rafe and Nadine can....
THOUGHTS
It has to be said that Uncharted 4 really is terrific adventure game that is almost every inch as good as the highly acclaimed Uncharted 2: Drake's Fortunate, which is has often been lauded as one of the greatest games of all time and this one sits very close to it. And what is key to the game's success next to its gameplay and action is also its engrossing story which really pulls you in and for me its one of those rare things when you play a game that you want to follow the story (cos usually I like to skip to the action!).
But also what works so well in Uncharted 4 is the characters, particularly the four leads of Nate, Sam, Sully and Elena as they are all very engaging and likeable characters. And I also think its fair to say that the new gritty Tomb Raider games borrowed heavily from the visuals and action of the Uncharted series but the new TR games are nowhere near as fun simply because they forgot to include the element of fun itself and in Uncharted the characters are forever bantering back and forth with witty dialogue, helping to keep the game light hearted. And that alone makes the Uncharted series way more superior to the new gritty Tomb Raider series.
GAMEPLAY
Anyway moving onto the gameplay well its pretty similar to what went before in the previous games as the main playable character, Nate can do all sorts of moves and is an adept climber as he can jump, sprint, swim, climb, scale ledges and swing on a rope via the use of a grapplehook. Nate also has access to an array weapons that include pistols, assault rifles, shotguns and grenades but he can also perform melee attacks on his enemies and take the guns of his fallen foes, although Nate can only hold two guns at a time. Nate can also perform stealth attacks on his enemies and the game features moments where he can hide in tallgrass to prevent himself from being seen to sneak up and kill them off.
As for others aspects of the gameplay it deploys the use of quicktime events, where you player needs to press a button to make an action to either avoid say falling debris or an explosion and there are sequences where Nate must run away from armoured vehicles or indeed actual explosions that required fast movement. The game makes use of the quicktime events also later on towards the game's climax during a combat scene but I won't say anymore than that but its pretty much a familiar thing in itself so if you have played Uncharted before then you will know to expect it.
Nate can also drive cars in the game or he can take during certain action scenes, jump between cars and take control of them. And another feature relating to the cars in the game are the use of a winch which is attached to a car that Nate uses during the later levels which he uses to tie around solid objects (e.g a tree) to pull the car up difficult terrain or even use it to activate other equipment.
GRAPHICS
As for the game's graphics......well.....what can I say about them? Well frankly they are utter crap. Pure crap! Total pish! There you go a quick end to this paragraph!
Of course I am kidding, no the graphics are......well quite frankly if there is a better looking game out there just now or has there ever been a better game out there than Uncharted 4 then I have never seen or heard of it, because THIS game's graphics are without a doubt the greatest I have EVER seen in any video game. The graphics in this game are simply and absolutely stunning and breathtaking and the game's environments are extremely rich, vibrant and colourful looking with loads of great texture and detail down to the sandy beaches to the scabby surface of cliff faces and old buildings. Its a game which surely does not see any need for 4K gaming to come along anytime soon in a hurry if 1080p HD can still produces games that look as good as this.
Which brings me onto the game's character models which again are just terrific as the characters in the game look almost lifelike and Nate actually kept reminding me of a few different celebrities, as he looks across between the actor, Nathan Fillion and the tennis player, Grigor Dimitrov! The other characters also look great, particularly Nate's wife, Elena, who in certain moments so lifelike you think are actually looking at a real person. I mean seriously that is just how good Uncharted 4 looks, its a visual treat.
VOICE ACTING AND MUSIC
As for the voice acting it is top notch and all the cast give great performances throughout and they are given some great, witty dialogue to deliver.
I won't go into too much detail on this but I will quickly mention some of the main voice actors, starting with Nolan North who reprises his role as Nate and he does a great job once again and he plays the part with a great deal of humour, warmth and geniality. North also get's some great lines of dialogue that include a scene where Nate is at home with Elena and Elena challenges Nate to a game of Crash Bandicoot on her PS1 (yep shameless product placement Sony, or rather Naughty Dog (the company behind both Uncharted and Crash). And in the scene as Nate loses the game he says to her "So, why do you keep playing this?" and Elena says "Cos I'm great at it!" and Nate says to her "I don't know why people get into video games!".
Then there is Troy Baker who is great as Nate's older brother, Sam, who turns up out of nowhere and they end up going on the treasure hunt together. Baker is also a very versatile voice actor in the gaming industry so its good to see him get a really good part here as Sam must easily be one of his best voice performances.
Richard McGonagle is also great as Sully, Nate's mentor, who is a wisened and wise-cracking veteran who helps out Nate and Sam. Emily Rose also does a fine job as Elena, Nate's wife who is unaware that Nate is off on a treasure hunt but (SPOILER!!) she does find out about later on. Warren Kole also gives a very good performance as the main villain and rival treasure hunter, Rafe, who is after Avery's treasure. And lastly Laura Bailey does a fine job as the secondary villain in the game, Nadine Ross, although there was some controversy over her casting as she is voicing a South African character but Bailey herself is a white actress and some groups felt it was a racial misrepresentation.
As for the game's music is orchestral score was composed by film and video game composer, Henry Jackman and its a very good score indeed and it perfectly fits the tone of the game as it has plenty of tracks that convey the game's sense of adventure and excitement. Jackman replaced the original composer of the series, Greg Edmonson and in doing so he's done an excellent job with the game and its probably even a soundtrack you can listen to independent of the game itself.
FLAWS
As for the game's flaws... well Uncharted 4 is so good it doesn't have anything major worth moaning about but it still does have one or two quirky niggles.
And for starters I thought one of the few things wrong the game was its cover system during combat scenes, where Nate tries to duck for cover behind a wall or under a post or a bolder etc, and sometimes Nate ends up not being able to duck properly and he still takes gunfire. This is also a problem when the enemies often come at Nate from all sides so when he tries to take cover he still get's caught in the crossfire so the cover system is certainly less effective than it was before.
Another issue I had with the game was to do with the inconsistency of its use of in-game physics relating to Nate's ability to drop from certain big distances without dying yet at other moments Nate can appear to be less high up on a platform but when he drops off he will instantly be killed! So in these moments you think that's where the creators of the game had a big lapse in their logic of keeping the game's system all in check and consistent but instead we get moments we Nate surely in reality wouldn't actually even die from dropping from a fairly small height but in the game he doesn't even take any damage from dropping from greater heights!
And lastly even though the game's story is very entertaining and engrossing I did feel that some of the flashback scenes did drag the pace of the game down a little bit, especially the chapters where it flashes back to when Nate and Sam were kids. They are OK levels in themselves but next to the rest of the game's epic action and great gameplay, these ones pale in comparison.
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up Uncharted 4 is a terrific game and a great (possible) end to the series and if it is to be the last game it really has sent it out with an almighty bang as the game's stunning visuals, great gameplay and action really sell it. Not only that the game also has a very engaging story and its characters are really likeable and relatable and that has always been the appeal of the Uncharted series, its not just about the action its also about the story and for me that is what makes a great game.
And if I were to rate this game I would easily give it 9/10 as it pretty much ticks just about every box and any little niggles can easily be forgiven because it gives the player so much fun and enjoyment throughout and I'm sure it will be one that will be on many gamer's favourites list this year. And if you have a PS4 and are familiar with the series then I urge you to go check it out, you won't be disappointed.
Right so that's it for now and I might be back to try and squeeze in another post before the end of the month.
Anyway till the next one its bye for now.
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