Is this a collection worth collecting?
The award winning Uncharted series on PlayStation 3 has brought a thrilling sense of adventure to PlayStation gamers when it was released. Now, years after the 3rd entry into the franchise dropped, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection has finally made its way to the PlayStation 4 with a resolution upgrade and a few added features.
I must admit that the Uncharted series is one of my favorite gaming franchises to date. So you can imagine my excitement when it was announced. However, I have come to realize that my nostalgia has blinded me to some of the faults within the game.
Overall the port to PS4 is sound. BluePoint Games has done a fantastic job with upgrading the series, fine tuning gaming mechanics and adding new features into the game. Now gamers can see how their stats compare to their friends in game. For instance, a notification will appear showing how many headshots you have gotten compared to another player on your friends list. There are also 3 new game modes: Explorer, Brutal and Speed Run that add replay ability.
The issues that I have with the collection lies within the gaming mechanics. The shooting is a little difficult in Drake's Fortune. There has been quite a few times the reticle has been directly on an enemy and the bullets phased through them like it was nothing. They ate them. The enemies ate the bullets like M&Ms and I am not a fan. The enemy A.I. doesn't behave like you would predict. They dodge bullets like they are in the Matrix but stand completely still when you throw a grenade at them. Lastly, climbing/jumping/swing to ledges is harder than it should be. The camera angles have cause Nathan to die unnecessarily. There has been countless times when it looks like Nathan is going to jump directly to the right from his current positon but instead he jumps backwards and falls to his death.
On the positive side, all of this is a moot point in the later games. You can definitely see with each game that Naughty Dog addressed these issues and improved upon them. The games are energetic, fun, and the stories are well written. The conversations between Nathan and other characters are laugh out loud funny. It really feels like you are the star in an action packed comedy. It's probably best compared to the Indiana Jones series.
The final score for this collection is an 4.5/5. If you did not play the series from the last console generation, I would definitely recommend jumping on the Uncharted bandwagon now. Even if you did play the games on PS3 I would still recommend buying it now. It makes a great appetizer for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
