Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

A grapple swing and a hit! This classic is essential

FORMAT PS4 / YEAR 2016 / PUB SONY / DEV NAUGHTY DOG / ISSUE OPM #123 / SCORE 10/10

01While this is very much an Uncharted game, what’s marvellous about the series’ fourth entry is how in many respects it marches to the beat of its own drum, how it stands apart from the original PS3 trilogy. For starters, this is a game about an older Nathan Drake, who at the beginning has abandoned his treasurehunting adventuring ways and settled down. And, of course, how he can’t quite give it all up. When the past catches up with him, he has to confront it – and in the process re-examine who he is and what it is he wants. For a series that’s always put the fun pulpiness of the adventure at the forefront, Uncharted 4 really showcases some mature chops too.

There’s plenty to love in the series’ step forward to PS4 as well. Some set-pieces are truly bombastic. Toppling clock towers, fast-paced car chases across multiple vehicles, and a prison breakout – it’s a game that can leave your mouth hanging open with spectacle (and then put on the brakes at just the right moments to drive home the fantastically acted story beats). A couple of chapters even take the traditionally linear adventure in a new direction with small open environments (dubbed “wide linear” by the studio). These are well designed and the change of pace is welcome, having Nate and co searching Madagascar in a jeep and across islands in a speedboat.

But it’s when the moment-to-moment gameplay widens out that Uncharted 4 really impresses and stands apart from its predecessors. Enemies can now lose track of your location in firefights, and coupled with a grappling hook that Nate can use dynamically in most arenas, you can constantly outwit the enemy and fight them on new fronts. Nate’s final adventure is the first game you should play on PS Now.