5/10
The beginning of the Uncharted franchise, Naughty Dog's cover shooter riff on classic adventure stories is an unfortunately mediocre affair.
We are Nathan Drake, a wise-cracking treasure hunter on the trail of El Dorado by following the lost journal of Sir Francis Drake. There are, of course, setbacks to this journey; we have to contend with a villainous gang of rival treasure hunters, and there's the presence of an obvious love interest and spunky documentary-maker for Nate to navigate as well. I personally find the dialogue very bland, but if you're into eye-rolling tough-guy jabs then perhaps you'll find Nate endearing.
Gameplay is a fairly safe blend of cover shooting and cinematic platforming. While the locations look stunning, it does sometimes make the platforming difficult to parse, while the shooting is as typical as it gets - you pop out from cover, plink away a bit, dip back behind a chest high wall, and rinse / repeat. There's a bit towards the end that jumps the shark quite seriously in a way that I found a bit daft, but perhaps that's the adventure genre for you.
Check out my full review! The Almighty Backlog, review #43:
https://thealmightybacklog.wordpress.com/2019/06/08/uncharted-drakes-fortune/
