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Nathan Drake being terrible at PS1 enables Uncharted to reach its full potential

Spoiler warning, boys and girls! This details content in the fourth chapter of Uncharted 4.

Elena Fisher is a big gamer. At least she used to be, a couple of console generations ago, before a thirst for adventure took hold. Nathan Drake, not so much. If you grew up in the ‘90s, chances are your parents didn’t understand your new-fangled obsession with a PS1 or Nintendo 64. If they were anything like mine, they tried to join in, or at least pretend to be interested, using all the wrong terminology (GameStation, anyone?).

Nathan Drake is a ‘90s non-gamer parent in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Naughty Dog’s latest places a greater emphasis on narrative and characterisation than the previous entries, and there are plenty of light-hearted moments to balance the life-and-death drama.

Once such nicety occurs early, in Chapter 4, as Nate challenges Elena to a game on her “video thingy” to determine who would do the dishes. Enter a chunky PlayStation, complete with that mesmerising Sony Computer Entertainment boot-up screen.

You play a small segment of Naughty Dog’s original Crash Bandicoot, as Nate, trying to beat Elena’s high score. She has an impressive record, with a working memory card, and the narrative is pointed towards him failing. After all, he doesn’t even know how to start the ruddy thing (so yes, I didn’t beat her very high score, but I notice there are a lot of hidden trophies I’m yet to unlock…).

Crash Bandicoot PS4

There’s an element of breaking the fourth wall in an iconic video game character being almost ignorant of video games; pointing out how he possesses all abilities of the protagonist in real life, as well as how much Crash looks like a wolf with a severe apple addiction. But it’s so much more than that.

The jovial moment is set between critical junctions in the more dramatic story that encompasses Uncharted 4. This is a relationship that intensified over three games, but never felt genuine. I couldn’t have cared less about who Nathan Drake went home with after a busy day being a murderer on PS3.

The PS1 encounter in Uncharted 4 is the scene that changes everything. In the blink of an eye, I became invested in Elena and Nathan, not only as individuals, but as a married couple with a tumultuous history. I believed they had fallen in-love and settled down from significantly more exciting lifestyles, and I was beyond curious to learn how Nathan would be drawn out of retirement back into a life of thievery and ruthless killing.

Naughty Dog had me on the edge of my seat, needing to know what happened next, whilst merely watching Nate being confused by a PS1. I haven’t experienced such intrigue and a desperate desire to keep playing since Uncharted 2 – it’s what Uncharted 3 was desperately lacking, amongst other things – and even that is no match for the depth of character development.

Crash Bandicoot Uncharted 4

No other developer could have achieved so much in such an innocent scene that unashamedly tugs at PlayStation fans’ heartstrings. That includes Naughty Dog, pre-The Last of Us. Much has been said about how the studio has matured from Crash Bandicoot to Jak & Daxter to The Last of Us. The same rings true between the original Uncharted trilogy and the final entry in Drake’s saga.

Take nothing away from Uncharted 2 – it was ahead of its time for narrative in an action game. But by comparison to Uncharted 4, it’s the work of a developer still learning its craft as an industry leading interactive storyteller. Uncharted 3 was a monumental step backwards in that regard. It’s a shame it has a couple of key plot points important to the broader series wrapped around generic gameplay, shoehorned set pieces and a rubbish story, but Uncharted 3 was the misstep Naughty Dog had to make. It, and the massive strides forward achieved in The Last of Us, allow the recurring characters of Uncharted to finally achieve their full potential in A Thief’s End.

And it’s all enabled by a self-depreciating nod to the past on PS1.


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About the author

Ben Salter

Ben has been writing about games in a professional capacity since 2008. He even did it full-time for a while, but his mum never really understood what that meant. He's been part of the Stevivor team since 2016. You will find his work across all sections of the site (if you look hard enough). Gamertag / PSN ID: Gryllis.