Author’s note: It’s safe to say that a game involving shooting, killing, and various other mature themes isn’t going to be great for kids to play or for families to play together. That established, this review will look at this game from a “after the kids are in bed” perspective.
Every summer, there are the big blockbuster movies that everybody talks about. Titles like Captain America: Civil War, Independance Day 2, Star Trek Beyond, Suicide Squad, and more are on our tongues, promising big spectacles of popcorn-munching action glory. But the biggest summer blockbuster of 2016 might just be the fourth entry in a series about a plucky treasure hunter and his merry band of misfit accomplices as they race and fight against time and other treasure hunters in their biggest (and final) adventure yet. Action, emotions, intrigue, deceit, romance, friendship, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End might just be THE summer blockbuster of 2016.
Just one more time
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, exclusively for the PS4, sees Our Hero, Nathan Drake, back for one last treasure hunt, but this time, it’s about family. Yes, we find out that Nathan Drake has a long-lost brother, Sam, and together, along with good ol’ Victor “Sully” Sullivan, the boys are out to get one last big score. Of course, they aren’t the only ones interested in this newest treasure, so they’ll be battling against former accomplice Rafe and mercenaries-for-hire Shoreline in trying to locate yet another lost city and the treasure that it promises. Standard Uncharted fare, to be sure, but as usual, it delivers.
Perhaps fittingly for the series finale, it felt like Uncharted 4, moreso than the games that came before it, really focused heavily on the character development aspect. We get a lot of the Drake boys’ back story. There is a significant amount of time spent on Nathan’s relationship with Elena and how he deals with being “out of the game”. I’ll stop there because I’m venturing dangerously into spoiler territory, but this is easily the most character-driven Uncharted game yet.
That character work comes at the slight expense of the massive set pieces that the franchise is famous for. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of action here still, and a whole whack of blockbuster moments. And things still blow up. A lot. But I didn’t come away from the game thinking about that one “holy crap” moment like the train scene from Among Thieves or the airplane scene from Drake’s Deception. Just a few “wow, that was crazy moments” and a terrific story to send the series off into the sunset.
It all results in a much more balanced experience, and my favourite one of the series. I am equal parts sad to see it end and happy with the conclusion.
Nathan’s got some new tricks
Uncharted 4 follows pretty much the same formula as its predecessors: climb, explore, gunfight, puzzle, rinse, and repeat. Thankfully, there have been some incremental improvements made to some of these gameplay loops. In some places the world is a bit more open, giving you multiple path options. It’s still a linear game, but there are multiple ways now to get from point A to point B.
For combat, a new-ish wrinkle this time around is a bit more focus on stealth. There are more opportunities to catch bad guys unawares, such as corner cover, and lying in wait in tall grass (it’s not just for wild Pokemon anymore). This can serve as a great alternative to the good ol’ “guns-a-blazing” approach that we’ve become accustomed to, if you’re so inclined. Of course, if you prefer just shooting everyone, you can do that, and failed stealth simply means it’s shooty-shooty bang-bang time (with the opportunity to hide again and get the heat off of you). As an Assassin’s Creed fan, this all felt vaguely familiar, but I still liked having options.
Also new is the grappling hook, which seems to be 2015-16’s version of the bow and arrow as the popular item-du-jour. After using it in Uncharted 4, I realized what a significant omission it was in previous games given all the climbing that Drake does. Like, through all of his adventures, it never occurred to him that he should have a grappling hook with him at all times? Plot issues aside, it’s a fun addition and fits in perfectly.
Nathan Drake never quite discovered the Uncanny Valley
Not surprisingly, Uncharted 4 is one of the prettiest games I’ve ever played on a console. Naughty Dog are masters at maximizing Sony hardware, so this almost feels like table stakes now, but it bears mentioning how spoiled we’ve been by these folks. I stopped playing countless times to fiddle with the Photo Mode and take screenshots of the incredible vistas this game gave me. It all adds to that larger than life “you’re playing a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster” feel that these games have always given us. But in less hectic moments, the facial expressions of the characters sometimes tell more of a story than their words.
Still, the words spoken are spoken well. It doesn’t hurt to have some of the best voice actors in video games in your cast. Nolan North AND Troy Baker together in featured roles? It works as well as you would imagine it would. The supporting character work (still love hearing Sully talk) is also top notch and when combined with effective use of score and sound effects, I can safely say that overall presentation is nearly flawless, with only a few graphical glitches here and there when I turned the camera quickly.
The GamerPops Recommendation
Uncharted 4 is a fitting end to the series, and one that left me emotionally spent. I’ll definitely miss the series and the characters, but I’m satisfied with how everything turned out. Yes, it overuses its tropes (take a drink every time Nathan hangs from a cliff by a single hand, has the path behind him cut off, or gets beaten to the punch by the bad guys), but at this point it’s all part of the charm. For all the criticisms about its gameplay mechanics, Uncharted has always been about experiences. When I’m finished playing video games, I will always remember the crazy things I got to do while living vicariously through Nathan Drake. Uncharted 4 is a fitting thief’s end, and a terrific final chapter in a series that will be remembered for a long, long time.
A review code was provided to GamerPops by the publisher.
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