Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection: PS4 Review

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection: PS4 Review

Released by Naughty Dog / Bluepoint Games
Platform: PS4

Lara Croft x Indiana Jones x PlayStation = Nathan Drake.

It's a fair comparison and to those unschooled in the life of Nathan Drake, one of PlayStation's icons, it's perhaps the easiest way to instantly give you a flavour of the game.

Wrapping all three of Drake's adventures into one bundle, this remaster and re-collection is clearly aimed at getting people on board ready for the hype of Uncharted 4 next year (and whose Beta arrives in December).

Mixing cinema style action with Indy style quippery and Sean Connery style older partners, Nathan Drake's PS4 outing proves to be as much fun as it was back in the PS3 days. Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves and Drake's Deception are relatively simple titles in terms of what you need to do, but what Naughty Dog did initially with the series was to drape it in a story-telling vibe that's as commendable as it is playable.

It's in effect a remastered port, a title which uses photo mode really as its newer edge as any additional edges would require long-term support and I suspect those resources are going on making the conclusion of Nathan Drake's career the best it possibly can be.

While everything's been given a spit and polish, it has to be said that the game's loading time initially does grate somewhat with you needing to spend another 10 minutes or so waiting for the titles to essentially unpack into your hard drive. Given this is a 40+GB title, that's possibly fair enough, but it did irritate when I simply wanted to get into it.

Drake's Fortune plays well, but has aged though that's unavoidable - and if you're willing to play through it all again, you may well start off at the beginning. And with each game, you get a sense of progression both in character but also in Naughty Dog's execution of the titles and a growing sense of confidence.

The scope of the Uncharted series has always been its adventuring and to be honest, none of that is lost in this remaster - sure, there will be those who bemoan the lack of the Multiplayer and feel like Sony's simply brought out yet another remaster, but when the game's of this higher quality and remains as playable as it did years after the initial release, those complaints are drowned out by those who are cheering instead.

Roll on the conclusion of the Uncharted series next March.

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