Out of the original trilogy this game definitely shows its age the most, but still quite a solid first-attempt at a more serious title from Naughty Dog.

Most of the game's struggles revolve around pacing (lots of repetitive gunfights without breaking) and its slightly dated gameplay, with lack of enemy variety until end-game. Thankfully, the game's short runtime makes the repetition an easy pill to swallow.

Unfortunately, characters and the storyline, where Naughty Dog typically shines, seems to take a backseat in this game. This is definitely a lesson learned, as it plays a much higher emphasis going forward in future entries of the series.

I'd recommend a quick runthrough of this game if you plan on playing the rest of the series or trilogy. With retrospect of the time of release, it can be easily seen how this was a great title when it launched for the PS3. There's still fun to be had here and I enjoyed my time, but it definitely doesn't reach the peaks that future titles do.

A decent start to the Uncharted franchise. The writing, characters, set pieces, and sense of adventure are all top notch. I enjoyed the story overall but I felt that the "twist" towards the end of the game was a misstep and felt a bit generic. My biggest frustration, and the part that felt the most dated, was how the gunfights felt like big open arenas where enemies spawned seemingly out of nowhere, attacking in constant waves. Otherwise, I enjoyed my time and am excited to see the rest of the series unfold.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune might not be as good as the other games in the series but it's definitely not a bad game. In fact, I think it's a "great" game. It has great voice acting, solid combat, very good level design and an iconic soundtrack. It still holds up and it's still definitely worth a playthrough.

The Full Review(No Spoilers):

Birth of a Legend
These days, if you ask about the first Uncharted game to people, the most popular answer you'll get will be that it's a game that did not age very well. They will tell you that the sequels are much better and it was a miracle that Sony let Naughty Dog continue the franchise after that first game.

I, was one of those people. But now after completing the original game again and getting the Platinum trophy for it's Remastered version, I think differently. Uncharted 1 is also an Uncharted game, for sure. And forget being a bad game, forget being a good game, I think this is a "great" game.

Our story is about a group of treasure hunters. Nathan Drake, his mentor and partner Victor Sullivan and journalist Elena Fisher. This trio travels to an island to find the legendary golden city El Dorado but things gets really bad, really quickly when old enemies of Sully shows up and decides to find the treasure before Drake's group and to maybe even kill all three during the process.

The story is definitely the weakest point of this game. It's your typical treasure hunting story. It has one very interesting twist towards the end and while I definitely like it, it feels it was done just to have a twist like that.

In terms of characters, the game is also not very good. Villains are terrible. You will probably forget their names in a few days after you complete the game and they never feel threatening or scary at any part of the game. They are really, really poorly written.

Our main trio isn't that much better. Sully is very underwritten and while Nathan and Elena has a great chemistry, their personalities are not explained very fell. However, you will probably remember these 3 characters because they have incredible voice acting.

Nolan North is iconic as Nathan Drake while Richard McGonagle and Emily Rose does very well jobs as Sully and Elena as well, respectively. These three performances are definitely what keeps you going. You wonder what they will talk about next and what their reactions will be to certain events. These 3 actors are really, really incredible. Like, wow.

When it comes to gameplay, the game becomes much better. Uncharted is a third person shooter action/adventure game. It's linear. It has 22 chapters and you go through each of them doing multiple different things like combat, puzzle solving and platforming.

Combat is obviously the most important part of the game and it's pretty good. Weapon variety is fine when you consider that this is a 6-8 hour game and enemy variety is actually pretty solid. In the first half, you won't see that much different enemies but the second half throws in some different and interesting enemies at you.

Going back to weapons, they all feel great and enemies have solid reactions to getting shot as well. Shooting them from different body parts will change their reaction and a headshot makes them drop down like a sack so that is always fun to see as well.

Game is mostly about ranged combat but you have a melee option as well. Unfortunately, it's not very good. It takes too long, animations are not very good and it's very, repetitive. You have two combos you can perform. Normal one requires you to hit square 5 times to kill an enemy. The other one called brutal combo is square, triangle, square but that doesn't register very well.

So in most cases I tried to totally skip melee and only focus on ranged combat. Platforming is the second biggest thing this game focuses on. There is nothing special to it but it's a fun challenge to see where you have to go. It's sort of like a mini puzzle itself.

Speaking of puzzles, this game has a few. But they are pretty easy to solve with clear hints given to you by the game. This is not a full on puzzle game, these types of puzzles are included in pretty much every game these days. Don't worry too much about them.

When all three of these core mechanics combined, Uncharted definitely has the blueprint for having great levels. And yes, it has them. Pacing wise, the game is perfect. The game transitions from combat to platforming and vice versa pretty quickly while inserting a puzzle in every few chapters.

The game also gets a much darker tone both in the environment and in the story as the game progresses and our characters gets deeper into the island and into the mystery of the treasure. The mood goes downhill and even steps into horror territory at some levels. That is great to experience.

One of the things that everyone will tell you about this game is that it doesn't have the iconic set pieces of the Uncharted series. I wouldn't call that a pure lie but it's kind of misleading. Yeah, there is nothing like the train from 2, plane from 3 or car chase from 4 but there are plenty of good action moments here.

I don't want to spoil anything but they didn't just made a corridor shooter here, you get to participate in different kind of action scenes throughout the game. There could have been a lot more and a little bit more variation on them but well, that's one of the reasos why this game is not a masterpiece.

Before we get to the verdict, let's talk about the technical stuff. Here, I will talk about the PS3 version as I remember it. Today, the game will look okay to newcomers. Environments definitely looks nice but obviously technology has changed a lot since 2007.

The biggest dislike you will have about the graphics will probably be the character models, faces and animations. Everyone's faces looks bad. Main characters have passable models and decent animations but enemies and side characters are definitely old at this point.

In terms of sound, weapon sounds are nice and music is excellent. But environmental sound is pretty two dimensional and it's not very immersive. That is totally okay obviously, it's a pretty old game but just wanted to let you know.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune might not be as good as the other games in the series but it's definitely not a bad game. In fact, I think it's a "great" game. It has great voice acting, solid combat, very good level design and an iconic soundtrack. It still holds up and it's still definitely worth a playthrough.

So I mainly played this game so I could eventually play and fully enjoy the better sequels (specifically 2 and 4) and I do see the potential for sure. My main issue is how repetitive the game is, but it is short, so I still had a good time with it. It's basically just traversal section->combat section->traversal section->combat section and so on with a few puzzles sprinkled in and a couple vehicle sections. I loved the car chase part, but the jet skis controlled like ass and you had to stop driving it to shoot, which ended up being clunky and not enjoyable. Really needed more variety (MORE PUZZLES) and more and better vehicle sections. There were also too many waves of enemies in the numerous combat sections, which are pretty much all just duck and cover marathons.

The good thing, though, is I loved the cheesy 80's action flick vibes and the main characters are fun and I already really like them. Set pieces were great too.

The thing with the first Uncharted is that it was a remarkable game for the year 2007, but it feels a bit wooden by today's standards. There are some aspects of the game that feel dated, which is understandable given its pioneering role in the series.

The story is alright, not groundbreaking, but it sets the stage for the series by kicking off Nathan Drake's adventure. The real highlight is the characters, especially Elena and Sully, who bring charm and personality to the game. Their interactions and chemistry with Nate make the narrative engaging, even if the plot itself is relatively straightforward.
For its time, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was visually stunning. The lush environments, detailed character models, and fluid animations were a benchmark in 2007. While it may not hold up to the graphical standards of today, it still has a certain charm and showcases the technical prowess of Naughty Dog at the time.
The gameplay is decent, combining shooting and climbing mechanics that were innovative at the time. The cover system trick is a life saver, especially on Crushing difficulty where you die immediately. The game's areas are well-designed, capturing the Indiana Jones ancient lush jungle vibes perfectly. The mix of exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat keeps the gameplay loop engaging.
However, not everything is perfect. There are some annoying sections, like the Jet Ski segment with Elena, which can be frustrating and break the flow of the game. These moments are few and far between but noticeable enough to impact the overall experience.
The soundtrack is pretty much nonexistent besides "Nate's Theme," which every game in the series has recycled. It's Naughty Dog's fault, they fail to create more than one memorable track per game, whatever that game might be. This lack of a varied and impactful soundtrack can make some parts of the game feel less immersive.

Even though this is my least favorite Uncharted, it remains a solid game that set the stage for an incredible series. While it may feel dated and wooden in some areas, it remains an important piece of gaming history. The characters, gameplay, and overall adventure capture the essence of a great action-adventure game.
However, the fact that it didn't age as gracefully as its sequels and that the later games surpassed it in almost every aspect drags the game down a bit.
But despite its flaws and the superior quality of its sequels, it's still worth playing for anyone interested in the origins of Nathan Drake's epic journey.

I can definitely see why this game has the lowest rating of all 4 games. There are parts that I did enjoy from this game but the combat was poorly paced and very basic. There was absolutely no stealth and it felt like a sludge to get through. On the other hand the story was interesting and the characters were well done. I enjoyed a good amount which is why I was ready to give it a 3 star but then I played the boss fight which was by far one of the most frustrating and stupid boss fights I’ve ever played. But besides the stupid boss gift the game was enjoyable for a good majority and it has the basis for what the later uncharted games would improve upon.