I've always had an issue with dropping games after getting stuck -- even if very briefly -- only to struggle to want to pick them up again after spending time away from the game. uncharted is a special case here, with me getting stuck on a puzzle around the final third of the game when I was a spry 12 years old. a couple months ago my gf asked me to pull this one out, and I ended up exhuming this decade-old save... slotting back in was almost too easy. when your whole game is the most by-the-numbers cover shooter it's hard to forget how to play it, and the rest of the components barely qualify as notable gameplay additions.
this an early cover shooter too, and it is relatively rough even compared to its forebears. snapping to cover is not a natural system and rather seems sloppily mapped per-object, meaning that many deaths will occur from drake refusing to crouch behind whatever wall or railing he's near. guns are piddly and lack weight, weapon variety is ho-hum, and enemy AI rarely pushes or does anything beyond leaning out of cover. it's effectively a series of light-gun corridors strung together by ico-ripoff platformer sections. they're not bad, and at its best it's a competent third-person shooter -- at the very least the pistol hits pretty hard! during this clean-up I didn't play any of the vehicle sections but given my sparse memories I'll assume they were nothing special, if at least not particularly frustrating. the only real other twist the game takes is a detour into some like horror elements with the introduction of zombie-monster-cursed-people things. perhaps playing a lot of RE has rotted my brain recently, but the ugly mo-cap animations these creatures perform after taking full shotgun rounds to the face really feels unsatisfying. no gibs? no more than a couple little spurts of blood? the added sixaxis-powered motion QTEs when they jump on you have really aged poorly as well, though I suppose I can forgive it considering it came out in only '07.
also it's old hat to say it on here by this point, but good god is nathan drake just completely devoid of character. naughty dog has never been good at making anything that wasn't just completely creatively bankrupt, and absolutely nothing in this game has a shred of originality. nathan does nothing and has no character beyond endlessly quipping, which I suppose may be lightly innovative for this time period. years before the overall cultural shift towards non-stop defusing of tension and suppposedly self-aware whedon-ass dialogue this game was already utterly mired in it.
this an early cover shooter too, and it is relatively rough even compared to its forebears. snapping to cover is not a natural system and rather seems sloppily mapped per-object, meaning that many deaths will occur from drake refusing to crouch behind whatever wall or railing he's near. guns are piddly and lack weight, weapon variety is ho-hum, and enemy AI rarely pushes or does anything beyond leaning out of cover. it's effectively a series of light-gun corridors strung together by ico-ripoff platformer sections. they're not bad, and at its best it's a competent third-person shooter -- at the very least the pistol hits pretty hard! during this clean-up I didn't play any of the vehicle sections but given my sparse memories I'll assume they were nothing special, if at least not particularly frustrating. the only real other twist the game takes is a detour into some like horror elements with the introduction of zombie-monster-cursed-people things. perhaps playing a lot of RE has rotted my brain recently, but the ugly mo-cap animations these creatures perform after taking full shotgun rounds to the face really feels unsatisfying. no gibs? no more than a couple little spurts of blood? the added sixaxis-powered motion QTEs when they jump on you have really aged poorly as well, though I suppose I can forgive it considering it came out in only '07.
also it's old hat to say it on here by this point, but good god is nathan drake just completely devoid of character. naughty dog has never been good at making anything that wasn't just completely creatively bankrupt, and absolutely nothing in this game has a shred of originality. nathan does nothing and has no character beyond endlessly quipping, which I suppose may be lightly innovative for this time period. years before the overall cultural shift towards non-stop defusing of tension and suppposedly self-aware whedon-ass dialogue this game was already utterly mired in it.
I struggle mightily with the PS3 controller. I'm not actually even certain the one I have isn't counterfeit or something; I only got a PS3 about a year ago. It's probably just decades of Xbox controller muscle memory, but I can't hit jack shit with the sticks on this DualShock. The stick height, width, position, deadzone and tension all feel wrong and it's like trying to game with mittens on. Basically this is all my way of saying I played on Easy because I was completely incapable of hitting anything. And I'm glad I did too because Uncharted is a real romp.
No one can accuse the folks at Naughty Dog of not giving a shit, that's for sure. Everything about this game demonstrates a AAA studio firing on all cylinders. The acting was engaging, the levels were super detailed and (mostly) well paced. I ended up liking it better than the Last of Us due to the wider variety of activities and emotional texture. Good checkpointing (with a couple rage-inducing exceptions) kept the action moving forward at a good pace.
Of course, the cost of this level of polish is in player freedom; as gorgeous as it can be, the game is still ultimately a tunnel down which the player is consistently pushed. Every step, every handhold is as pre-ordained as hopscotch; while it can be fun to follow a narrow path and not have to worry about going the wrong way, it can also start to feel like Guitar Hero after a while. The prompts are different, but you're just pushing the button they want you to in the order they want you to push it. Even the climactic final fight is a QTE for maximum cinematic flair (and minimum player agency).
The main reason I'm giving it kind of a bad score though is that I felt like it took too long to get good, and most of the climbing was super annoying. There was no freedom to it, you could only climb on the paths they laid out and most of the action amounted to trial and error: "Is that a handhold? I'll try jumping--well now I'm dead. How about that... is that a handhold?" Sometimes your boy would fall 15 feet and be fine, other times he'd fall 5 feet and die instantly.
I was also kinda grossed out by the demographics of the characters. Especially with Nathan Drake being so obviously inspired by Lara Croft, it felt bad playing this chinny white man protecting his white girlfriend and their white dad from endless waves of bloodthirsty brown-skinned people. The whole time I was thinking "at least it's less racist than Resident Evil 5" but then Drake's final quip is "Adios, asshole" right before he blasts the last Hispanic person off the face of this island and his whole Caucasian contingent laughs and watches the sun come up on a new, whiter, day. I think calling this "dated" would be undeservedly generous.
Regardless, I had a good time; I'm going to try the second one next since it seems to be the fan favorite; now that my thumbs are warmed up a bit maybe I can even try it on Normal.
No one can accuse the folks at Naughty Dog of not giving a shit, that's for sure. Everything about this game demonstrates a AAA studio firing on all cylinders. The acting was engaging, the levels were super detailed and (mostly) well paced. I ended up liking it better than the Last of Us due to the wider variety of activities and emotional texture. Good checkpointing (with a couple rage-inducing exceptions) kept the action moving forward at a good pace.
Of course, the cost of this level of polish is in player freedom; as gorgeous as it can be, the game is still ultimately a tunnel down which the player is consistently pushed. Every step, every handhold is as pre-ordained as hopscotch; while it can be fun to follow a narrow path and not have to worry about going the wrong way, it can also start to feel like Guitar Hero after a while. The prompts are different, but you're just pushing the button they want you to in the order they want you to push it. Even the climactic final fight is a QTE for maximum cinematic flair (and minimum player agency).
The main reason I'm giving it kind of a bad score though is that I felt like it took too long to get good, and most of the climbing was super annoying. There was no freedom to it, you could only climb on the paths they laid out and most of the action amounted to trial and error: "Is that a handhold? I'll try jumping--well now I'm dead. How about that... is that a handhold?" Sometimes your boy would fall 15 feet and be fine, other times he'd fall 5 feet and die instantly.
I was also kinda grossed out by the demographics of the characters. Especially with Nathan Drake being so obviously inspired by Lara Croft, it felt bad playing this chinny white man protecting his white girlfriend and their white dad from endless waves of bloodthirsty brown-skinned people. The whole time I was thinking "at least it's less racist than Resident Evil 5" but then Drake's final quip is "Adios, asshole" right before he blasts the last Hispanic person off the face of this island and his whole Caucasian contingent laughs and watches the sun come up on a new, whiter, day. I think calling this "dated" would be undeservedly generous.
Regardless, I had a good time; I'm going to try the second one next since it seems to be the fan favorite; now that my thumbs are warmed up a bit maybe I can even try it on Normal.
This is by in large probably the game I detested playing the most in the past several years.
Nothing works here, it's a complete gen 7 cover shooter where nothing is kinesthetically satisfying to do and all the enemies are hitscanners that pad out time with very little strategy other than stop and pop. There's entire sections built around going as slow as possible, especially the notorious jet ski bullshit. The zombie section is equivalently jarring as it is more busywork, not even doing a decent job of giving pacing to the enemy designs.
Every climbing section is a bore, every setpiece underbaked, this is Naughty Dog's concept game through and through and it's made up by design pillars all of which I just detest from the offset. Don't get me wrong, I love UC4 and they've managed to salvage the series from the next installment but this one is just so utterly awful.
I didn't even chuckle a single time to the banter, so uninspired and lifeless I felt myself in limbo as I crossed every hour.
If you are absolutely interested in the Uncharted series at all, you start from 2. ANYTHING is better than playing this one. (1/10)
Nothing works here, it's a complete gen 7 cover shooter where nothing is kinesthetically satisfying to do and all the enemies are hitscanners that pad out time with very little strategy other than stop and pop. There's entire sections built around going as slow as possible, especially the notorious jet ski bullshit. The zombie section is equivalently jarring as it is more busywork, not even doing a decent job of giving pacing to the enemy designs.
Every climbing section is a bore, every setpiece underbaked, this is Naughty Dog's concept game through and through and it's made up by design pillars all of which I just detest from the offset. Don't get me wrong, I love UC4 and they've managed to salvage the series from the next installment but this one is just so utterly awful.
I didn't even chuckle a single time to the banter, so uninspired and lifeless I felt myself in limbo as I crossed every hour.
If you are absolutely interested in the Uncharted series at all, you start from 2. ANYTHING is better than playing this one. (1/10)
Was pretty good, but even on normal difficulty the first 3 quarters were really easy. The boat sections were definitely the weakest part of the game. I found the boat annoying to control at times (especially the part in the river where you constantly are against the current), and it feels unnecessary. I liked the rest of the gameplay, the story, and the characters though.
UNCHARTED?!? MORE LIKE UN-SHARTED!!!
Ahem. Always wanted to say that at least once.
As far as I can tell, Uncharted is the origin of Sony's current recipe for success: a third-person, over-the-shoulder, linear, cinematic adventure game. And in my honest opinion, I don't get the appeal.
The game looks beautiful, but I feel like that beauty is constantly diminished by how often you retread areas, and also by how frequently you get into firefights. It seriously distracts me how all these ancient ruins have crumbled in the perfect way to provide cover from incoming fire. The game is structured in a way where it's just combat room->combat room->kinda janky platforming->combat room->mildly interesting puzzle->combat room. It's so mind-numbing after a while. This game also has like, three quick-time events in it. Just three. They're there, apparently.
I'm honestly not sure I liked a single character in this game. Our heroes are all cocky jerks to each other, and I struggle to root for a crowd like that. The moment I stop to think about Drake and his friends' motives, I realize that it's because they want treasure. The villains are ridiculously one-dimensional as well. When the main villain role was usurped by another guy at the very end, I wish I could say I was more shocked, but I barely knew either of them!
Honestly, my favorite part of this game was the art galleries you unlock as you progress through the game, particularly the very last one, which shows several photos of the development team having a grand old time, from fun around the workplace, straight down to funny screenshots of things breaking in debug builds. This game also has honest-to-goodness cheats in it, unlocked by playing the game to completion and on harder difficulties. One of them is a "next-gen" camera filter that turns the screen piss yellow, which gave me a good laugh.
I wish I had a better way to end this review, but I'm ashamed to admit that I wasted the only joke I could think of as my opener. Maybe I could use more "un-" words, but I should probably save those for the other games. Yep, I plan on playing 2 and 3, at the very least. Got the trilogy for free during Sony's covid promotion. This is still "pre-The Last of Us" Naughty Dog, so I do have faith that they'll improve.
Ahem. Always wanted to say that at least once.
As far as I can tell, Uncharted is the origin of Sony's current recipe for success: a third-person, over-the-shoulder, linear, cinematic adventure game. And in my honest opinion, I don't get the appeal.
The game looks beautiful, but I feel like that beauty is constantly diminished by how often you retread areas, and also by how frequently you get into firefights. It seriously distracts me how all these ancient ruins have crumbled in the perfect way to provide cover from incoming fire. The game is structured in a way where it's just combat room->combat room->kinda janky platforming->combat room->mildly interesting puzzle->combat room. It's so mind-numbing after a while. This game also has like, three quick-time events in it. Just three. They're there, apparently.
I'm honestly not sure I liked a single character in this game. Our heroes are all cocky jerks to each other, and I struggle to root for a crowd like that. The moment I stop to think about Drake and his friends' motives, I realize that it's because they want treasure. The villains are ridiculously one-dimensional as well. When the main villain role was usurped by another guy at the very end, I wish I could say I was more shocked, but I barely knew either of them!
Honestly, my favorite part of this game was the art galleries you unlock as you progress through the game, particularly the very last one, which shows several photos of the development team having a grand old time, from fun around the workplace, straight down to funny screenshots of things breaking in debug builds. This game also has honest-to-goodness cheats in it, unlocked by playing the game to completion and on harder difficulties. One of them is a "next-gen" camera filter that turns the screen piss yellow, which gave me a good laugh.
I wish I had a better way to end this review, but I'm ashamed to admit that I wasted the only joke I could think of as my opener. Maybe I could use more "un-" words, but I should probably save those for the other games. Yep, I plan on playing 2 and 3, at the very least. Got the trilogy for free during Sony's covid promotion. This is still "pre-The Last of Us" Naughty Dog, so I do have faith that they'll improve.
Jogo super divertido! Por mais que tenha um fator de repetição bem visível e muita gente não goste da história se for comparar com os outros, pra uma primeira vez zerando, eu adorei. A interface é bem simples de entender, o jogo normalmente não faz os puzzles serem muito complexos, apenas raciocínio lógico e prestar atenção já são o suficientes, o que é bom porque eu sou burro pra crl. Eu amei a ambientação, achei os gráficos lindíssimos e a floresta é muito colorida e bonita. Gostei bastante dos personagens, especialmente o Sully, achei ele bem carismático. Ótimo jogo, recomendo.
Naughty Dog said "let's make an Indiana Jones/Lara Croft game" and hey that's what they did. It's a neat game with bad shooting that helps lay the groundworks for better games to come.
Disclaimer: These are my brief thoughts based on my memory of playing this 7 years ago:
Disclaimer: These are my brief thoughts based on my memory of playing this 7 years ago:
AYE AYE nathan in the fuckign building! whats good university of OHIO!!! I got treasure and shit lets fucking get liot!! I have a blonde reporting badddieeeeeee in my arms whats fuvking good ohio!!???
In retrospect, it's absolutely hilarious that Drake's Fortune somehow established one of the most important (for better and worse) franchises for this era of gaming, because it's a remarkably generic cultural product. It's like if the Wanted film adaptation somehow had the cultural impact of The Matrix. Look, I know there are plenty of vocal Uncharted haters out there, but the other games in the franchise have a lot going for them in terms of production values, creativity, and sharp blockbuster writing. They're not to everyone's tastes, and that's fine. Drake's Fortune has literally none of that: it's a soulless corridor shooter that feels like a B-grade Indiana Jones ripoff, complete with the lame supernatural twist near the end. There are many, many worse games out there, but nobody would remember Drake's Fortune if it wasn't for its sequels, and that really says it all. Also, this is my go-to example of a game that takes place mostly in one day (along with Sands of Time), so I guess it has value as an answer to that particular trivia question.
yeah its pretty fun. kinda shallow but has the intrinsic joy of being a shooty guy. that said this game definitely highlights all the quality of life improvements the sequel had over its predecessor. pretty unclear where to climb at points and there are some cover mechanics that leave things to be desired.
drake himself is still a fun protag even in these earlier titles
drake himself is still a fun protag even in these earlier titles
zerei em 1 dia, jogo começa divertido e vai ficando cada vez mais chato. Acho que não dei tanto tiro em um jogo desde COD. Sessão de parkour chata, cutscene desinteressante, tiroteio, esse é o loop da gameplay. Tem seus momentos de brilho, mas mais baixos do que altos. O boss final é uma merda completa e ainda tive que jogar ele escutando despacito de fundo
While it’s successors (from what I’ve heard) may bypass it’s quality, Uncharted is still a great game that lays great foundations for a beloved series. The story and camera movement make this feel cinematic as fuck, the shootouts are quite bare bones in terms of mechanics but are still engaging, and the platforming is fun. (Albeit there were a couple times playing I didn’t know if an object was climbable or not lol)
Overall, Uncharted as a game has a great mix of story and gameplay that comes together brilliantly to form a great game.
Overall, Uncharted as a game has a great mix of story and gameplay that comes together brilliantly to form a great game.
An interesting story and charming characters mixed with some clunky, uninspired gameplay. I liked it, but not enough for me to want to check it out again.
Kinda boring, just shooting waves of enemies.
I’m hoping for Uncharted 2 (and beyond) to turn out great because I can’t believe this would even get a sequel. If you were to break down Uncharted to its concept, it’s pretty much a modern Indiana Jones adventure you get to play. Which should be enough to at least be a pretty fun action-adventure game living up to that premise. But I don’t think Drake’s Fortune was the one so far best suited to fulfilling that.
The story doesn’t really do many interesting things with its own setting, whether it be really bombastic action set-pieces or a solid hook, to become thoroughly engaging. The only crazy thing happening I guess was a fakeout character death and a really stupid twist that kinda ruined the more modernized pulpy adventurous vibe I was really digging. The characters were fine? Nathan Drake had some moments of charm here and there but like the rest fell into being too uncharismatic for me to really endear towards. They just feel too simplistic, which makes sense considering this was when Naughty Dog was trying to transition from their background in cartoonish platformers, to feel like the believable well-written characters I’ve expected going into this franchise. I like to think this is just “first game-itis” and really comes to form later down the line.
What soured my experience was how dated the game still felt even while I was playing it through the remastered PS4 collection. This has every hallmark of a definitive PS3 title and I think it was for the worse; from the annoying cover-based shooter mechanics, the unsuccessful attempts at being a blockbuster cinematic, and the obligatory out-of-nowhere-only-to-be-used-once turret section. Just when I thought it had decent moment-to-moment gameplay going on it was cut short by whenever I had to swim and realize how kinda embarrassing that felt only for that to be overthrown by the terrible boat driving segments. This combination of just really middling gameplay elements crescendo into the last hours of the game where I got frustrated by shooting the same large hordes of enemies and what might be one of the lamest final bosses I've encountered yet in a game’s climax.
I want to give credit where credit is due and say I can understand why this was big for 2007, especially with how stacked that year was for gaming. I can even respect how this helped lay the foundation for a lot of big action-adventure titles to take from and improve upon in many ways. But trying to play Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune for the first time in the current year makes it very difficult to enjoy as much as I can try to respect it.
The story doesn’t really do many interesting things with its own setting, whether it be really bombastic action set-pieces or a solid hook, to become thoroughly engaging. The only crazy thing happening I guess was a fakeout character death and a really stupid twist that kinda ruined the more modernized pulpy adventurous vibe I was really digging. The characters were fine? Nathan Drake had some moments of charm here and there but like the rest fell into being too uncharismatic for me to really endear towards. They just feel too simplistic, which makes sense considering this was when Naughty Dog was trying to transition from their background in cartoonish platformers, to feel like the believable well-written characters I’ve expected going into this franchise. I like to think this is just “first game-itis” and really comes to form later down the line.
What soured my experience was how dated the game still felt even while I was playing it through the remastered PS4 collection. This has every hallmark of a definitive PS3 title and I think it was for the worse; from the annoying cover-based shooter mechanics, the unsuccessful attempts at being a blockbuster cinematic, and the obligatory out-of-nowhere-only-to-be-used-once turret section. Just when I thought it had decent moment-to-moment gameplay going on it was cut short by whenever I had to swim and realize how kinda embarrassing that felt only for that to be overthrown by the terrible boat driving segments. This combination of just really middling gameplay elements crescendo into the last hours of the game where I got frustrated by shooting the same large hordes of enemies and what might be one of the lamest final bosses I've encountered yet in a game’s climax.
I want to give credit where credit is due and say I can understand why this was big for 2007, especially with how stacked that year was for gaming. I can even respect how this helped lay the foundation for a lot of big action-adventure titles to take from and improve upon in many ways. But trying to play Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune for the first time in the current year makes it very difficult to enjoy as much as I can try to respect it.
A prime example of a game feeling like more than the sum of its parts. There's a lot that feels dated about this game, and a lot to dislike, but it still has a certain charm to it that made me want to finish it out. The combat mechanics are passable but get overused in boring combat rooms that are unnatural looking and apparent as soon as you walk into them. There's some variation added at the very end of the game which is nice but it's too little too late for how much combat there is in the game. The exploration and climbing is fine, and probably the best part of the gameplay even though it's been done better since. The puzzles are very basic but do enough to be a change of pace and add to the vibe the game's going for. The story really isn't anything special either, it's like a trope-filled mix of indiana jones and national treasure, but it was still fun enough to want to see it through. I will commend how the major twist is handled. I was spoiled on it beforehand but still enjoyed the execution of it a lot. Very interested to see how they polish this formula in the later games and see if they live up to the hype.
Ahh yes…uncharted. The naughty dog series where a bloke is just trying to make money off of some treasure, and it pretty much never works. If someone usually mentions the uncharted series they usually have great things to say about the second game, the third game (not for me), and the fourth game…but never this one. So, is this game bad? Not necessarily, but it’s definitely not great either.
You play as Nathan drake, a descendent of the legendary Francis drake, on his way to discover the treasure of el dorado. So it’s a standard adventure plot with a love interest and a partner alongside you: elena and sully. You can kinda tell this game was really inspired by Tomb raider and Indiana jones with its similar ideas.
The gameplay is…it’s eh. Shooting isn’t really that great…like…it’s very likely for complaints…you really aren’t gonna like it that much especially coming from the later games. The puzzles also aren’t that extraordinary but at least they’re not unbearable. And climbing is climbing.
So…is uncharted 1 a ‘bad’ game? Not really. I stand by the fact the later games (maybe not 3) are probably better and refine things a lot.
Decent first game, mid gameplay, ok puzzles, some people really shouldn’t have survived during this game like geez
You play as Nathan drake, a descendent of the legendary Francis drake, on his way to discover the treasure of el dorado. So it’s a standard adventure plot with a love interest and a partner alongside you: elena and sully. You can kinda tell this game was really inspired by Tomb raider and Indiana jones with its similar ideas.
The gameplay is…it’s eh. Shooting isn’t really that great…like…it’s very likely for complaints…you really aren’t gonna like it that much especially coming from the later games. The puzzles also aren’t that extraordinary but at least they’re not unbearable. And climbing is climbing.
So…is uncharted 1 a ‘bad’ game? Not really. I stand by the fact the later games (maybe not 3) are probably better and refine things a lot.
Decent first game, mid gameplay, ok puzzles, some people really shouldn’t have survived during this game like geez
this game is garbage
nolan north and richard mcgonagle give good performances as Nate and Sully for what they're given. thats everything good i have to say about this game
at its best, its the world's most generic cover shooter with the same problems all these ungodly games have. at its worst, its a repetitive series of climbing, braindead puzzle solving, and irritating monotony.
i cant even put into credible thoughts just how bad this game so here's some general shit i hate
- there were several instances where i had my reticle over an enemy's head and it registered as me shooting them in the chest
- enemies are all bullet sponges unless you hit them in the head, so the pistol is the only good weapon due to it not having horrible accuracy
- enemies will figuratively and literally pop out of cover dramatically like an actual whack-a-mole machine
- the level design is so uninspired with every shootout being so obviously marked by bright, glowing chest-high walls
- shoulder switching slightly moves the camera and takes several seconds, so if you come out of cover and the camera is on the wrong side its not even worth hitting the button
- getting into cover can sometimes be smooth (with the nice edition that dodge rolling near cover automatically puts you into it) but it can sometimes never put you into cover at all and nathan sticks so hard to it that if an enemy flanks you its up to the good lord whether or not you can get away
- enemies blend into the environment so much you have to step out of cover and let yourself get shot so you can follow the bullet trail back to the enemy
- most of my deaths were from the shitty climbing
- the distances nathan drake can actually jump are completely contextual
- quick time events
- nathan drake and ellen have like no chemistry and their idea of flirtation is sarcasming at each other
- no characters have any development and while sullivan and nobody else can sometimes have funny lines, the idea that there's actually a story in this game is the funniest joke it can tell
- nathan shooting a man in the god damn head and saying "ooh, that ones gonna sting in the morning!" makes him seem like a god damn psychopath
- the zombie stuff feels completely left field and while the enemies were a decent change of pace to the braindead fucking cover shooting, they get stale quickly and dont gel well with regular enemies at all
- this game marked the death of third person shooters until naughty dog themselves had to revive it again
i cannot fucking believe this is by the same developers as the last of us and uncharted 4. fuck this game
nolan north and richard mcgonagle give good performances as Nate and Sully for what they're given. thats everything good i have to say about this game
at its best, its the world's most generic cover shooter with the same problems all these ungodly games have. at its worst, its a repetitive series of climbing, braindead puzzle solving, and irritating monotony.
i cant even put into credible thoughts just how bad this game so here's some general shit i hate
- there were several instances where i had my reticle over an enemy's head and it registered as me shooting them in the chest
- enemies are all bullet sponges unless you hit them in the head, so the pistol is the only good weapon due to it not having horrible accuracy
- enemies will figuratively and literally pop out of cover dramatically like an actual whack-a-mole machine
- the level design is so uninspired with every shootout being so obviously marked by bright, glowing chest-high walls
- shoulder switching slightly moves the camera and takes several seconds, so if you come out of cover and the camera is on the wrong side its not even worth hitting the button
- getting into cover can sometimes be smooth (with the nice edition that dodge rolling near cover automatically puts you into it) but it can sometimes never put you into cover at all and nathan sticks so hard to it that if an enemy flanks you its up to the good lord whether or not you can get away
- enemies blend into the environment so much you have to step out of cover and let yourself get shot so you can follow the bullet trail back to the enemy
- most of my deaths were from the shitty climbing
- the distances nathan drake can actually jump are completely contextual
- quick time events
- nathan drake and ellen have like no chemistry and their idea of flirtation is sarcasming at each other
- no characters have any development and while sullivan and nobody else can sometimes have funny lines, the idea that there's actually a story in this game is the funniest joke it can tell
- nathan shooting a man in the god damn head and saying "ooh, that ones gonna sting in the morning!" makes him seem like a god damn psychopath
- the zombie stuff feels completely left field and while the enemies were a decent change of pace to the braindead fucking cover shooting, they get stale quickly and dont gel well with regular enemies at all
- this game marked the death of third person shooters until naughty dog themselves had to revive it again
i cannot fucking believe this is by the same developers as the last of us and uncharted 4. fuck this game
Worst of the Uncharted series but definitely a great game in its own right. Has its issues with certain mechanics and the aiming can be shit at times but Uncharted 1 is still very fun and worth the play if you like third person shooters.
This may be the worst big budget game i've ever played , i really can't think of any reason to reccomend it, story and characters are the definiton of uninteresting, shooting a water gun in real life is probably more satisfying than gunplay of this game, hand to hand combat is possibly the worst in a video game and makes Cyberpunk's hand to hand combat look like God Of War, level layout is the same for every chapter, puzzles are an insult to the player's intelligience, and the final boss is a joke. The only good thing about this game is that it made a foundation for Uncharted 2 and 3
This review contains spoilers
20
Clearing My Backlog #4
I’m astounded as to how this game spawned a whole ass franchise after it, considering how straight up awful the first one is. I guess it probably helped that it sold well but the actual quality found in here is not good… even when compared to other 2007 games, such as Bioshock, God of War II, and the critically acclaimed Ratatouille! It’s even crazier to think that Batman: Arkham Asylum came out less than two years later. This game wasn’t good then and it’s even worse now.
The characters being likeable is pretty much the only thing Uncharted has going for it—without that, it’d be a miserable experience from start to finish; however luckily, the interactions between them are funny, charming, and entertaining, which makes up for the lack of depth found in all of them. It’s pretty funny how they clearly had no intention of expanding on the characters’ backstories—or so it seems—with how the characters react to certain situations. For example, Sully gets shot and seemingly dies right in front of Nate, and it doesn’t seem like he cares that much? Especially in the next scene where he’s basically like “Sully’s dead, anyways…”. These characters are supposed to share a lot more history together so seeing dialogue this un-future-proof takes me out of it instantly, it's like they didn't plan anything beyond this first entry. There’s nothing interesting about the story, it’s all meaningless and devoid of any substance, especially when it takes a detour in the second half of the game to throw you into a bunker filled with… nazi zombies? That was weird. And that final chapter, what the fuck? Probably one of the worst boss fights I’ve ever played. The villains are horrible too, they’re very generic bad guys who have boring motives and aren’t memorable whatsoever.
As for the gameplay loop, it’s pretty much just a shooting room, followed by another shooting room, then a very simple symbol-matching puzzle, followed by a boring climbing section, and then another shooting room, with some occasional set pieces in between; only one of which was actually fun to play (the truck one). There’s three different occasions where you’ll be forced to use a jet ski, and I’m baffled as to why they thought that would be fun, seeing as it’s an absolute nightmare to control. The shooting sections aren’t inherently bad or anything, but this game throws them at you constantly with almost no variety, it doesn’t help that it feels very clunky thanks to its enemy behaviour, their health, the amount of damage they inflict, and how they can fucking shoot you through walls and cover at all times. They can also spawn out of nowhere; like you’ll literally clear out a room and then die from behind because you were apparently supposed to push up more, pair that up with the frustrating checkpoints and you get some really annoying/monotonous gameplay. Side note: there are these weird QTE’s that happen at random points in the game and they feel so out of place, it’s even more strange that they only appear like three times? Hopefully the next game removes them entirely.
Some random notes:
- The soundtrack, especially Nate's Theme SLAPS like holy shit listen to this, it’s probably one of the best themes I’ve ever heard in any game.
- The graphics hold up pretty well, although the setting doesn’t really lend itself well because of how boring it is (forests/jungles suck).
- The mocap is one of the things that really stood out to me, it’s actually surprising how good it still looks, there’s a lot of weight behind Nate’s movements and that’s something I really appreciate.
- When I went for the brutal trophy, it felt extremely unfair as to how the enemies could just kill you as soon as you got control of Nate, leading to many RNG moments where you just had to hope they would miss, which is very lazy difficulty scaling.
Playtime: 27.2 hours
Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Playstation Exclusives - Ranked
Naughty Dog - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog
Uncharted - Ranked
2007 - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog #4
I’m astounded as to how this game spawned a whole ass franchise after it, considering how straight up awful the first one is. I guess it probably helped that it sold well but the actual quality found in here is not good… even when compared to other 2007 games, such as Bioshock, God of War II, and the critically acclaimed Ratatouille! It’s even crazier to think that Batman: Arkham Asylum came out less than two years later. This game wasn’t good then and it’s even worse now.
The characters being likeable is pretty much the only thing Uncharted has going for it—without that, it’d be a miserable experience from start to finish; however luckily, the interactions between them are funny, charming, and entertaining, which makes up for the lack of depth found in all of them. It’s pretty funny how they clearly had no intention of expanding on the characters’ backstories—or so it seems—with how the characters react to certain situations. For example, Sully gets shot and seemingly dies right in front of Nate, and it doesn’t seem like he cares that much? Especially in the next scene where he’s basically like “Sully’s dead, anyways…”. These characters are supposed to share a lot more history together so seeing dialogue this un-future-proof takes me out of it instantly, it's like they didn't plan anything beyond this first entry. There’s nothing interesting about the story, it’s all meaningless and devoid of any substance, especially when it takes a detour in the second half of the game to throw you into a bunker filled with… nazi zombies? That was weird. And that final chapter, what the fuck? Probably one of the worst boss fights I’ve ever played. The villains are horrible too, they’re very generic bad guys who have boring motives and aren’t memorable whatsoever.
As for the gameplay loop, it’s pretty much just a shooting room, followed by another shooting room, then a very simple symbol-matching puzzle, followed by a boring climbing section, and then another shooting room, with some occasional set pieces in between; only one of which was actually fun to play (the truck one). There’s three different occasions where you’ll be forced to use a jet ski, and I’m baffled as to why they thought that would be fun, seeing as it’s an absolute nightmare to control. The shooting sections aren’t inherently bad or anything, but this game throws them at you constantly with almost no variety, it doesn’t help that it feels very clunky thanks to its enemy behaviour, their health, the amount of damage they inflict, and how they can fucking shoot you through walls and cover at all times. They can also spawn out of nowhere; like you’ll literally clear out a room and then die from behind because you were apparently supposed to push up more, pair that up with the frustrating checkpoints and you get some really annoying/monotonous gameplay. Side note: there are these weird QTE’s that happen at random points in the game and they feel so out of place, it’s even more strange that they only appear like three times? Hopefully the next game removes them entirely.
Some random notes:
- The soundtrack, especially Nate's Theme SLAPS like holy shit listen to this, it’s probably one of the best themes I’ve ever heard in any game.
- The graphics hold up pretty well, although the setting doesn’t really lend itself well because of how boring it is (forests/jungles suck).
- The mocap is one of the things that really stood out to me, it’s actually surprising how good it still looks, there’s a lot of weight behind Nate’s movements and that’s something I really appreciate.
- When I went for the brutal trophy, it felt extremely unfair as to how the enemies could just kill you as soon as you got control of Nate, leading to many RNG moments where you just had to hope they would miss, which is very lazy difficulty scaling.
Playtime: 27.2 hours
Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Playstation Exclusives - Ranked
Naughty Dog - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog
Uncharted - Ranked
2007 - Ranked
It's a wonder this became such a massive series because I did not have much fun with the first one. The combat is not very good, and even on easy mode, the combat sequences are ridiculous in how bullet-spongey and numerous the enemies are. The story isn't very fun and I didn't like how most of the game looked pretty similar.
I barely made it three hours into the game until I ended up exclaiming, "Nope, I can't fucking do it anymore!" and closed the title. An incredibly boring, mundane, and miserable experience. I originally wanted to make an in depth review for this like I did with 'The Last Of Us', but this doesn't deserve anymore of my time or effort.
A decent action-shooter that introduced us to Nathan Drake, gaming's most beloved mass-murdering psychopath.
I know the aiming is shitty and the controls are shitty and the story is just ok, but all the uncharted games hold a special place in my heart so it’s alright
The most cynical cartoon. For a game so brisk it feels like an eternity to get through. After the promising first hour, introducing the iconic trio of characters with charming banter, the game devolves into an endless barrage of enemy spawns, poorly designed arenas, and clunky gunplay with little respite. The game's attempts of being self-aware about these shortcomings with Nathan's quips come off as flaccid and cowardly. It's in the "platforming" sequences where the game shines the most but even then the intense linearity makes these moments bland and uninspired. Enemy design is lazy at best and vaguely racist at worst. For as lavish as its presentation is, I'm baffled by most the decisions made by the developers here. I can only hope its successors hold up as well as I remembered.
Nothing immerses me in the archaeological adventure more than random never-ending shootouts with waves of identical fodders that are hunting me down for no reason at all and even are constantly ahead of me, a random schizo who not only does not take the threat seriously, but anyone or anything (and no one seems to mind)
It took the Uncharted movie getting announced way back when to get me to cross this off the backlog, and boy I'm glad I did. It's fun! Yes, a bit frustrating at times, but I love it anyways. Sets up a nice story centered around treasure hunting and companionship and was overall a good experience. If the others are apparently better than this one, I'm in for a wild ride!
Most game genres have a landmark title that’s considered the definitive template. For platformers it’s Super Mario Bros, for first-person shooters it’s Doom, these are legendarily great games that not only established a genre, but shaped the course of the entire industry. However, it’s not always the best games that earn a spot in history, sometimes it’s the ones that fill an unserved demand. This is the case for Uncharted, a game that doesn’t have the same timeless appeal as its genre-founding contemporaries. Even series fans commonly suggest to skip it and play Uncharted 2 instead, the more successful followup which raised the bar for games to come. While I agree that this game isn’t as good, I would recommend it to anyone interested in the genre exactly for that reason. These cinematic adventure games might seem mindless and simple at first, but Drake’s Fortune has flaws that highlight the otherwise subtle details that make these games work. Developers would soon learn how cover-based shooting isn’t interesting on its own, and would instead use it as the glue that links setpieces and narrative moments together. This game’s jungle was little more than a backdrop, but future installments would use locations like sinking ships and burning buildings to ramp up the excitement in interesting ways. Even though you’re essentially doing the same shooting and climbing in each game, the difference in player engagement is vastly different. It’s a perfect demonstration of how the unobvious details can be the difference between mediocrity and greatness.
Certainly a pretty average start to this series. Drake's Fortune isn't really all that special nowadays since the core appeal this game had has been outdone by an incredible margin since, everything that remains outside of the virtue of being a "cinematic game" doesn't really deliver all too well. The shooter gameplay is serviceable, the locales get pretty stale, the story isn't really anything special. Something that does still shine though is the characters who are all decently well written and fun to watch. Although I will probably never go back to this game I still recommend it to anyone who is planning on getting into the series, it isn't too long of a game thankfully.