After Uncharted 4’s explosive showing at Sony’s E3 2015 press conference, my faith had been somewhat restored in the franchise. What I was shown behind closed doors — which almost doubled the length of what had already been shown — makes me believe that Drake and company are in safe hands.
Being that, by all accounts, Uncharted 4 will be the final adventure for Drake, it’s only fitting that the title be worthy of the best of the franchise and let’s be honest, Drake’s Deception was a misstep. It eschewed the much loved elements of Uncharted – narrative interest, comedy and puzzles – for a walk down a long corridor filled with goons and occasionally punctuated by a ridiculous (albeit impressive) set piece. Something was missing.
That spark that made Among Thieves the masterpiece it is wasn’t there. Maybe the team was fatigued from pumping out three AAA games in such a short space of time. Maybe there were some internal issues we’ve never been made aware of. Whatever the issues though they’re a thing of the past. Uncharted 3 was released in 2011 and since then Designer Amy Hennig has moved on and the team behind The Last of Us, Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, have taken up directorial roles.
Hennig must be applauded for her work on the franchise, but fatigue can set in for anyone and for my money, that’s what happened with Uncharted 3. A fresh set of eyes, a fresh set of ideas and a new team can help reinvigorate any project and from what I saw at E3, reinvigorated is the perfect adjective for the fourth Uncharted. The footage shown at Sony’s press conference and the subsequent footage now more widely released was explosive, it was full of energy and most of all it captured that Uncharted spirit in a way that Drake’s Deception seemed not to.
Moreover, let’s not forget how stunningly gorgeous it looked. Once again it’s taken Naughty Dog and Nathan Drake to truly show off what the PlayStation hardware is capable of. Easily the most graphically impressive game of the current-generation, Uncharted 4 is simply breathtaking. It walks the line between uncanny valley and exaggerated humanity perfectly and Drake, his friends and the world of Uncharted have never looked better.
Following Drake’s daring chase and grappling onto the escaping truck the demo only got better. Naughty Dog had clearly saved the best for last. Nate mud skiing behind a truck while dodging obstacles, shooting enemies and clambering aboard other vehicles is 100% pure adrenalised Uncharted. Once again the graphical power of the PS4 is on display as Drake is covered head to toe in mud, whilst the vehicles flick up huge swathes of it and spray it across everything in their path. When Drake eventually fights his way into the driver’s seat, in a first for the series, the player actually has control of the vehicle.
This is still Uncharted though, so despite having some control, the sequence has to end the same way. With Drake’s jeep flipped over, him trapped inside and the entire thing catching, rapidly, on fire. I don’t mean to harp on about the graphics, but once again, while trapped with Drake inside the upturned jeep, Naughty Dog is pretty much just showing off. The detail of Drake’s character model, the dynamic lighting from the fire and the textures of oil, mud, sweat, blood and more make for a gruesomely gorgeous image. It’s a tense moment too as Nate, fighting against the smoke and choking heat has to bust open the door and take out two goons while still trapped. Thankfully the Troy Baker voiced Sam Drake arrives just in time to whisk Nate away on the back of his dirt bike and to safety, but not before yet another heart stopping chase sequence.
The final moments of Nate, Sully and Sam giddily exchanging stories and preparing to locate their score feels pulled right from Uncharted 1 and 2 and helps to establish a tone that suits the franchise to the ground. The surprise reveal of Elena in Drake’s room and her shock to find him there raises tonnes of questions, but those are better left to be answered when we finally get to play Uncharted 4 in 2016.
Uncharted 4 looks to be shaping up as a truly phenomenal game and a true return to form for the series. It’s fun, frenetic, dangerous exciting and gorgeous. Everything an Uncharted should be. Let’s hope it lives up to its potential.
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