Uncharted: the Lost Legacy

game Out nOw | PS4

with its lead having retired at the end of Uncharted 4, Sony’s breezy blockbuster series takes a break from Drake. Protagonist duties are handed to the third point of Uncharted 2’s love triangle, fellow artefact enthusiast Chloe Frazer, whose half-Indian heritage means she’s doubly invested in beating a local warlord to Lost Legacy’s MacGuffin, the Tusk of Ganesh.

Farscape’s Claudia Black lends Frazer an easygoing charisma, and she gets the lion’s share of the best gags. Laura Bailey has the more difficult job as

mercenary Nadine Ross, though her harder edges have been softened from her antagonist role in Uncharted 4. The rapport between the two is one of the strengths of a story that otherwise hits familiar beats, their uneasy alliance gradually becoming a firmer bond.

Yes, it’s mostly Uncharted by numbers: a hero with daddy issues, an anaemic villain, handholds giving way and ancient mechanisms rumbling to life. But developer Naughty Dog again finds a playful charm in its Indy-aping tone, and the set-pieces are expertly choreographed – particularly a rousing climactic chase that trumps 4’s finale.

As an expansion that’s been fleshed out into a standalone adventure, the joins can be a little too apparent. Still, this is smartly paced and consistently entertaining – the kind of matinee thrill-ride that’ll have you gasping and grinning throughout. Chris Schilling