Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

I've been on a little bit of a video game kick recently. That has probably added to the situation that I find myself in where I haven't been kicking out movie or even TV show reviews lately. There are a lot of shows I've been watching for fun, but they've mainly been on in the background when I'm playing video games, and they're probably shows I've already watched and reviewed before. But the measly 3 reviews I did for the month of August was not acceptable for me and I have decided that I need to pick up my game a little bit. While I'm writing reviews for films however, I'm going to do a review of the story (and maybe a little bit of the gameplay) of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on the PS4.

Playstation has been on the bottom of my list of gaming consoles. As a kid I was full blown Nintendo. Then when I got older, I was Xbox for a while. While I think I prefer Xbox, I got a PS4 earlier this year and I've been delving into some of the Playstation exclusive games and I'm a little bit disappointed I didn't splurge and get a Playstation earlier. There are a lot of games I think are more focused on the story on Playstation and I have them all on my list to play and review. To start off though, I wanted to play through Uncharted 1: Drake's Fortune.

The story follows the character Nathan Drake (voiced by Nolan North). Drake is a treasure hunter who is joined by his partner Sully (voiced by Richard McGonagle) and a TV journalist named Elena (voiced by Emily Rose). The three of them are on a journey through the Amazon in search of the lost treasure of El Dorado.

Along the way there is another group of treasure hunters led by a ruthless rival by the name of Gabriel Roman (voiced by Simon Templeman) who will stop at nothing to get to the treasure before Nate and his friends. They are more ruthless than Drake and they intend to... sell it? use it? I don't know it's pretty typical bad treasure hunter plotline so don't think too much into it.

And that's really the bottom line of the story of Uncharted, it's all a very much typical treasure hunting story. That is not to say the story is bad, in fact quite the opposite. But if you've seen any Indiana Jones film, this story is pretty much that, just updated to modern times and with different names and no Harrison Ford.

The game puts you in the body of a very capable protagonist who must make his way through the puzzles, traps, and dangers of the Amazon and there is a lot of fun to be had.

The game also focuses on combat with armies of nameless henchmen of the rival treasure hunter team. While there is a lot of gun play in the game, that is not the main focus of it. The game shares the focus with interesting puzzles. They're not incredibly hard, but they do create a platformer puzzle game that you don't see very often. These days almost every game is a shoot em up game focused on violence. While Uncharted has it's fair share of violence, it's just an element of the game and not the entire thing. The puzzles and the story are where the game really changes things up.

I don't mean to say that video games where the major gameplay is violence can't be good and story driven, but Uncharted is a nice change of pace and still throws in the gunplay intrigue that will entice hesitant gamers.

The game is pretty well done because it allows you to be immersed in the cinematic nature of the story while still enjoying some great voice acting and motion capture from the cutscenes. Like I said, the puzzle based gameplay is something a little bit different than usual games and it allows for the gamer to be immersed in the story while playing.

The cutscenes are great and they're almost the parts I enjoyed more than the actual gameplay. Nolan North is a voice actor who has done almost every voice for every character in every video game over the past 5-10 years and he is a lot of fun in this game.

It also plays well into the treasure hunter genre. While there are a lot of callbacks to Indiana Jones, there is also a little bit of a National Treasure vibe to the story and overall it is very enjoyable.

I will say the story is pretty basic. Like I said, it's not necessarily a bad thing, there are a lot of good elements about a simple story. But I think with all the hype about this game, I think I was kind of expecting something a little bit more. As cinematic as this story is, it is your pretty typical episodic cinematic outing.

There is a little bit of a fantasy element to the story but it's done in a way that isn't over the top and it doesn't change the nature of the game. I wish I had been doing this blog when I went through the Assassin's Creed video games because there is a lot to say about how the ending and the mystical elements of the game really ruined the vibe I was getting from the game.

Uncharted is able to have mystical elements and still remain based in reality. I don't feel like I'm playing a fantasy game at the end of it, that Indiana Jones adventure feeling remains throughout the entire game.

As I've said before, the entire game is pretty cinematic and I think with the basic level story telling it is, some of the relationships and course of events can feel pretty formulaic and expected. However, I think the simplicity of the game and the story allow for a fun romp. Combined with the lowered expectations of a video game story, the simplistic story allows the audience to fill in the blanks and not have it go too much into detail. It makes for a really fun adventure.

Uncharted is nothing new. There were games like this when Tomb Raider was a thing. I don't want to say it was a revolutionary idea when it came out back in 2007, but like I've said, it's different than the run of the mill Call of Duty's or Grand Theft Autos. And with the simplistic but cinematic experience this game is, I think it's a lot of fun. Even if you're not a fan of video games, if you have access to a Playstation, get your hands on a copy of Uncharted. It might not be the best adventure story to it and I think there are some flaws with the story, but you will have a good time and a quick adventure.

I'm definitely going to be playing the sequels and probably do a review of all of the games and give a comparison, but for now those are my thoughts on Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. What did you think? Did you get it back in 2007? What did you think 10 years ago of this game? Does it stand up still? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me you thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. I don't do a lot of video game reviews and maybe that's not my audience right now, but for those who are big video game fans and like Spongebob, you might get a kick out of this. Enjoy!