Adam’s Video Game Review: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Thanks to DPP and PC Tunney, I have been slowly playing a game series that has always caught my eye and that’s the Uncharted series. What will I think of this beloved series of games? Well we can’t get ahead of ourselves, there are four games after all so why don’t we start where every story starts, at the beginning.

No brown fedora or whip needed for this treasure adventure; just an old journal, a ring and the story of El Dorado.

• Systems: PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4
  
• Release Date: November 20,2007
• Style: Action/Adventure- Single Player
• Rating: T
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

CONCEPT/STORY

Our hero, Nathan Drake comes across the treasure of his long ancestor, Francis Drake, in the middle of the sea. With a diary of Francis Drake’s findings, Nathan Drake, his long time friend and teacher, Victor Sullivan and news reporter Elena Fisher, the crew goes to find El Dorado. After getting to the location, they find out more and more about El Dorado and the ominous secret behind it all while escaping and dodging mercenaries following and stopping you at every major point to find the exact location of the treasure and the horrifying secret along the way.

Concept/Story Score: 

ENTERTAINMENT/PLAYABILITY

From the start, you learn the ins and outs of the game series. Parkouring, how to shoot a gun, lobbing grenades and solving puzzles that you look through your personal journal to make connections to see if someone from the past made any notes of a pattern to unlock a new area or a secret. There are hidden treasures in every area that the player can find so if the first time around you just wanted to complete the game, you can always play it again and maybe get all the small treasures around the world or maybe there is a way you wanted to play the game like using punches only or going through with just a pistol. The possibilities are endless just like the treasure in the game just… don’t blame me if the melee only plan fails horribly

I personally loved punching out a machine gun wielding villain but, it might not be for the best.

Entertainment/Playability Score: 

GRAPHICS/SOUND

There isn’t too much music in the game other than the always important fighting and maybe during a cutscene in an important part of the story. That being said however, for the PlayStation 3’s first game released (since it was the PS3 game add-on), the graphics are insanely good for 2007 standards. There will always be a small error for mouth movement when there is no voice sync, or maybe it was a weird transition in the cutscene, it’s still really good graphically in spite of the blocky features of the PS2 or awkward CGI.

Graphics/Sound Score:

Overall: 

And like that, it’s crazy eights across the board! I had a lot of fun playing the first game mainly because I had the hard copy of it thirteen years ago but this was before I found my funkiness or phenomenal finesse because well, I was more interested in sport games and I believe my exact words when I was ten or eleven was, “I don’t feel like playing an Indiana Jones game.” I guess with age does come understanding or… knowledge? Ah, it’s one of those sayings. So, that is my opinion on the first of four Uncharted games due to the PlayStation Store having the trilogy up for free.

How will the next installments compare to the first one? Well, we’re gonna have to find those now aren’t we, Sully?