Uncharted: A series of adventure

Uncharted: A series of adventure

Nathan Drake, an orphan, grows up unlocking secrets and finding hidden treasure. Drake, appears to be a normal human being, however, he is anything but human. From insane grip strength helping him grab onto a halfway fallen off the mountain train in the Himalayas to jumping through a clock tower in South Africa, Nathan Drake is a super human, yet he still relates to us in many ways.

Naughty-Dog, known for their infamous Crash Bandicoot Series has had a lot of success in putting out highly renowned games on the PlayStation console. Its Uncharted Series came to a beautiful end when after years of work they released the Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End on May 10, 2016.

I have been an avid fan of the Uncharted Series from the beginning where it all started off for Nathan Drake on a quest to find the hidden treasure of El Dorado. Throughout the four games, we not only follow his journey finding treasure, but also his journey finding himself. The players grow and feel a connection with Drake, that is what separates this game from the rest- along with gameplay and visuals that were ahead of their time.

Uncharted graphic changes
Uncharted graphic changes

Uncharted 4 was rated a solid 9/10 stars on IGN and 10/10 on GameSpot, along with a 93% on user score for Metacritic. Metacritc is a very harsh gaming review site where games all criticized for the most unnecessary things that, in my opinion, don’t make a good video game a good video game.

However, even the critics couldn’t even find many flaws in this virtual adventure of Nathan Drake traveling the globe in order to find Henry Avery’s hidden treasure.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, released on October 13, 2009, is rated  9.5/10 on IGN rating and a 96% on Metacritic. The leap they made from the first in the series, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, was breathtaking in all aspects. The gameplay was next level and never seen before, and more specifically for the first time, this action-adventure video game was longer than 15 hours of gameplay. Uncharted 2 was simply a beautifully crafted game and one way ahead of its time, and the best part of it all is that it’s still fun to play.

Senior Jake Roth, long time Uncharted fan claims, “Uncharted 2 is by far my favorite. The gameplay was unbelievable and it really was just an all-around great game.”

Still, it wasn’t until Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception released in 2011 when the gaming community actually gave Naughty-Dog the respect it has earned from putting out games like Uncharted and Crash Bandicoot. Uncharted 3 picked up right where Naughty-Dog left off by advancing visuals, gameplay, length, and creativity. Uncharted 3 received a 10/10 on IGN and received many game of the year awards from companies all around. Thus, the five-year anticipation for the final chapter of Uncharted was building among fans like me and Elder grad Sam Middendorf ’16.

Middendorf has been a life-long Uncharted fan and couldn’t wait for the release of the newest one.

“I just remember going down to my man cave, popping open a vanilla coke, and playing it for hours,” said Middendorf.

Middendorf told me he couldn’t have been happier with the ending to Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and he thinks there may be a possibility for a fifth one. However, I disagree. Uncharted 4 has a beautiful ending and has already won numerous awards for its breathtaking story witty twists throughout it. Uncharted 4 is my all-time favorite game, and if you haven’t already played the series. Play it!