The Uncharted series has been a PlayStation mainstay since the first instalment ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’ in 2007. The swashbuckling, Indiana Jones-style blockbusters are high-octane action-adventures that push their consoles graphically, and usually get props for their cinematic presentation.
We and hung out with Arne Meyer, the community guy for ‘Uncharted’ developer Naughty Dog, who walked us through the background of this one. It’s set around pirate Steven Every, a 16th century pirate in the Indian Ocean who, according to legend, accrued a huge haul of Mughal treasure. Our series main Nathan Drake finds himself chasing the treasure, pursued by all manner of crims and villains.
We played a segment of the game which gave us basically no insight into the story – they’re keeping this one close to their chest – but certainly revealed some cool new gameplay mechanics. The section available for preview follows Drake and his crew tear across a rocky plain in Madagascar in a jeep, heading towards a volcano.
We didn’t get to see what happens at the volcano in the preview, though we definitely corked some baddies along the way. So who’s complaining? Me, a known volcano fan, that’s who.
It’s fun – it looks good, the car handling feels good and it’s a nice wide open space to explore. You can stop the car at any point and get around looking for collectibles, making it feel more open than previous instalments.
The combat is fun and fluid, if a little derivative. It’s quite similar to the other ‘Uncharted’ games in many ways, with some new stealth mechanics tacked on, but it feels nice and open. You get the sense that you could approach these open encounters in a variety of different ways, kinda like ‘Far Cry’, if that’s your jam. And the fight animations are deeply, deeply satisfying.
It looks like it’ll be a heap of fun, and the sheer impossibility of getting any deep insight into the story right now obviously means there’s gonna be some ~twists~. Love twists. Twists: we’re for ’em.
The game drops on PS4 on May 10.
Images supplied.
