When it comes to PlayStation exclusives, it's hard to get much bigger than Uncharted. Ever since the first game hit the PlayStation 3, the series has become synonymous with Sony's console – and for good reason. For a lot of people, the franchise was the Indiana Jones game that everyone wanted but never got – a never-ending series of spectacular setpieces, lovable characters and long-lost ancient treasures.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Naughty Dog announced that Uncharted 4 would miss its original release date. Fans were understandably upset to learn that the finale of the series would be pushed back until 2016, but there was one saving grace: in the meantime, Sony and Bluepoint Games planned to bundle the original trilogy onto one PS4 Blu-ray as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.
Now that the collection is here, it's clear that the Uncharted games have never looked better ... but graphics are only a single piece of the overall package. Are the remastered Uncharted games worth their new price of admission, or are fans better off sticking with the original versions?
If there's any one area of the Uncharted franchise should be left untouched, it's the story. Thankfully, Bluepoint Games didn't try to fix what wasn't broken.
The first Uncharted, which is a bit simplistic compared with later games in the franchise, still serves as a solid introduction to the world and the characters that inhabit it. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a vast, entirely successful expansion on the first game's storytelling, and while it's a bit predictable at times, it's the video game equivalent of a roller coaster. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is far more character-driven than any of the other games, and even if the design resulted in some restrictions in regard to gameplay, it's the best story of the bunch.
Simply put, the Uncharted games' stories aren't on the level of something like Metal Gear or Deus Ex, but they're far removed from the forgettable tales of most modern military shooters. The stories are fun, Indiana Jones-esque adventures, they just don't break the mold. The main draw here is the characters and the interactions between them – they're all so well-defined that any plot-related shortcomings are easily forgotten.
From the get-go, Uncharted was designed to be an homage to both classic adventure films and classic action-adventure games, just with a modern twist. The Uncharted games are all a blend of third-person shooting and (relatively simple) platforming – when the first game was released, it was like every trope in action-adventure gaming rolled into one. True, the games are so linear that any attempt at exploration is relatively pointless, but the Uncharted games are so much fun to play that it's impossible to complain about a lack of freedom.
As with the series' story, Bluepoint Games left much of Uncharted's gameplay as it was. There have been a few tweaks to the formula (most of them being updates to the first Uncharted's aging mechanics), but most everything else remains unchanged. Uncharted 2 is still the series' highlight when it comes to gameplay and level design, followed by Uncharted 3's solid-yet-overly-scripted campaign and the first Uncharted's initial attempt. The second and third games' multiplayer has been nixed in favor of remastering the campaigns, and while it's a shame that the mode didn't make the jump to the PlayStation 4, it's one that won't be missed by many.
If there are any real gameplay issues with the Uncharted Collection, it's the collection itself. Halo: The Master Chief Collection, despite its own numerous issues, proved that an HD collection can be more than just a few menus tacked together. Sadly, the Uncharted Collection is a few menus tacked together: there's nothing here in terms of playlists, unlockables or extras. There are a few new extras in Uncharted 3, but for the most part, the Uncharted Collection is all about getting from one game to the next.
It's a shame, too: the standard version of the original games came with a ton of bonus features, including behind-the-scenes documentaries. Sure, they were all in standard definition, but that's not much of an excuse for their omission. The simplicity of the collection is definitely appreciated – you won't have much trouble switching from one game to the next – but it's a shame that Bluepoint didn't try to do more with the franchise's rich history.
As is the case with any HD collection, the presentation is one of the biggest selling points. With the Uncharted Collection, it's important to remember that this is a remaster, not a remake – Bluepoint Games didn't remake the trilogy from the ground up, they took some already fantastic-looking games and made them even prettier.
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is easily the biggest benefactor of these upgrades. Most of the game's major presentation issues have been eliminated: the obnoxious screen-tearing of the original game is gone, as are the muddy textures. On top of that, the upgrade to 1080p makes the entire game look better in general – and while some issues remain (explosions are still as goofy as they ever were), the jump to the PlayStation 4 has been good to the first Uncharted.
The other two games have also received their fair share of updates, but the new graphical touches aren't quite as noticeable. Uncharted 3 has a slightly cleaner look than the second game, but there's a good chance you won't notice any of the differences unless you go looking for them. A few textures seemingly missed the jump to 1080p, and a few glitches pop up inconsistently, but in all honesty, that's nitpicking.
Of course, there's also the jump to 60 frames-per-second – while some HD collections may buckle under the increased framerate, every game in the Uncharted Collection runs flawlessly. Even during the biggest firefights, the Uncharted Collection refuses to drop frames or stutter even for a moment. It won't make much of an impact on how you play the game, but there's no denying that the added smoothness of 60 FPS makes the games look better.
There's always one major question to ask when looking at HD collections: is it worth it? For newcomers, that's a definite yes: the collection doesn't have much in the way of extras, that much is true, but you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not playing these games, especially when they look this good.
For those who are already fans of the franchise, that's a much tougher question: there's nothing new about the Uncharted Collection. Basically, if you played the games on the PlayStation 3, you've already seen everything the collection has to offer. They're still great games, there's no denying that – it's just that there's not much here to justify a $60 price tag for those who already own the games.
In short, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is a solid compilation of the series thus far. It doesn't do much to revolutionize HD collections, nor is there anything new for pre-existing fans to latch onto, but at the end of the day, it's all about the games, and it's hard to do better than Uncharted.
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