Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End Story mode review

It’s time to have a look at a video game for a change. We haven’t done one since the Ratchetrospective back in March. Let’s have a look at one of the year’s most anticipated games, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s end

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s end was a PS4 release but had a lot of trouble behind the scenes with the resignation of various members of the crew to the point where various parts of the game were completely redone. The behind the scenes ruckus lead to those who headed The Last of Us, Naughty Dog’s other hit PS3 game, to head the project and the result the story is significantly changed from its original intent. Hard to say if it’s for the better of the worse, no gameplay or story footage was ever released, just a teaser trailer.

But I don’t wish to judge what could have been, I’m more interested in the here and now, let’s start with the plot. Notes, if you don’t know the story of Uncharted 1-3, play them, they’re all good games, also this is spoiler heavy, you have been warned. I've added a few screenshots using the game's photo mode, but I forgot to turn off the ui on some of them, whoops.

Plot

The story begins in media-res with Nathan and Sam, Nate’s brother, getting into a shootout on a boat, in a massive storm and eventually they are separated, we flash back further than ever before and we see Nathan at a Catholic Orphanage, he’s in trouble and wasn’t allowed on a field trip. Fortunately, (well, your mileage may vary on how fortunate this is) he escapes to see Sam, who’s got him a motorcycle. He’s found a job which means he’ll be away for a year, but first he’s found their mother’s stuff. They head off to it.

We cut to several years later where Nate arranges a fight in a Panamanian jail. The warden orders them separated and leads Nate out of the prison. He knows they’re after the treasure of notoriously rich pirate Henry Avery. He wants a cut. Nate heads out looking and finds a cross, slightly damaged over the years. He lies to the warden and says he found nothing and takes it to Sam and their backer, Rafe. It took me 10 seconds to realise he was going to be the villain of the episode. Another fight breaks out and the Warden discovers the cross. He demands a cut of ¼ of the takings but Rafe kills him. They make their escape but Sam is shot and believed to be dead.

In the Present, Nathan is working for a salvage company and successfully salvages some copper wiring for a client. His boss asks him about a job in Malaysia but Nate won’t do it without permits. He heads home to his wife Elena and they briefly have fun together. Nate heads to file paperwork but is soon confronted by Sam, alive, but owing half of Avery’s treasure to a notorious thug named Hector Alcazar who helped facilitate his escape.

A similar cross to the one they discovered is on auction in Italy. With Sully’s help they manage to sneak in but discover that Rafe is there too and he has the help of Nadene Ross and her private mercenary group known as Shoreline. Nevertheless, they manage to steal the cross and escape, the cross contains an insignia found on Avery’s grave at St Dismus’ Cathedral in Scotland.

The duo head there and recover a coin and find they need to head to an old pirate colony in Madagascar. Unfortunately, Shoreline find out as well. They also realise that Avery was testing other pirates to come and join and share in their treasures.

They head out to Madagascar where they find the colony and its various watchtowers, 12 of them matching 12 pirate Captains, all pooling their treasure in a single location. They find a map stating the location of the 12 towers and split up to find the 2 that may match the symbol on their coin. Drake and Sully find the right tower and uncover the location of the legendary pirate colony of Libertalia, a set of Islands just east of Kings Bay

However, on calling Sam they find that Rafe has hacked their phones and also has their location. They manage to reunite and survive the ambush but somehow, and I really mean somehow, Elena has tracked them down. Upon the discovery that Nate has a brother, she decides she’s had enough of Nate’s mystique and leaves. Sully is sent after her whilst Nate and Sam head to the Islands, after solving some more puzzles they find their way to Libertalia, and we get the scene from the opening where they fight off some Shoreline boats and are eventually shipwrecked.

The storm eventually passes and the two reunite and head to the pirate’s treasury building. They find evidence of what looks to be a significant battle and upon entering the treasury building find it empty, the portraits of the 12 founders all branded as thieves. They see a map of Libertalia and find a home of New Devon, Devon was the birthplace of Henry Avery, the treasure was likely brought there.

They head that way but are ambushed by Nadene and are eventually forced to surrender. Rafe reveals that Sam had been lying to them, Alcazar died 6 months ago, Rafe bribed the new warden to secure Sam’s release and they’d been working together to find the treasure for the last 2 years before Sam went AWOL to find it for himself. Sam takes a bullet whilst Nate takes the fall, saved only by Elena conveniently finding him.

We cut back to the past, they head to the mansion of an old woman, looking for their mother’s research notes. They are eventually caught out and forced to wait for the police. The woman eventually recognises them as Cassandra Morgan’s children and tells them that they both believed Sir Francis Drake had heirs. She agrees to deal with the police but her illness catches up with her and she dies. Narrowly escaping the cops, Nate knows he can’t go back to the orphanage and Sam can’t go to his job. They both decide to change identities, going for the surname Drake in honour of their mother and not changing their first names at all because that would be sensible.

Elena and Nate begin to make up as they head after Sam in New Devon. They find a table with 10 of the 12 Pirate Captains dead. Henry Avery and Thomas Tue had set them up with poisoned drinks to claim the treasure for themselves. They enter the house of Henry Avery and learn that Avery had gone mad in his final days, he and Tue were warring with each other and the treasure had been dragged to his ship.

They head through the underground tunnels and eventually, with the help of Sully, catch up with and rescue Sam. Nate just wants to leave with the others but Sam eventually splits off from the group after the treasure and Nate is obligated to go after him. He discovers Nadene having secured enough treasure for her taste, wants to leave. Most of her men are already dead or scared off and she thinks the ship would likely kill them all, however she’s not exactly in a great position financially and Rafe had manage to bribe what’s left of her men into his employ.

Nate follows them onto the ship where an explosion kills all the remaining men. Nate finds Sam, trapped under a wooden beam whilst the ship is on fire, he tries to help but is confronted by Rafe and Nadene. Nadene turns the temples, pointing out the bodies of Avery and Tue who fought in this very ship to their dying breath. Anyone involved with the treasure ends up dead. She leaves them and Rafe and Nate fight it out. Rafe is defeated when Nate crushes him with treasure.

Nate uses a cannon to rescue Sam and they head back to shore finding Sully and Elena waiting for them. They say their goodbyes as Sam heads off with Sully and Nate heads off with Elena. Nate’s boss at the salvage company tells Nate he’d been bought out, by him. He soon finds Elena who shows that Sam had left them enough treasure to buy the place outright. She’s managed to get the permits for the Malaysia job and plans to hire a crew and bring back the show she was doing back in the first game.

In an epilogue we see Nate and Elena’s child, living on a desert island or something find evidence of the two’s misadventures and ask what the f*ck was going on.

Story Analysis

This story has always been an important part of the uncharted series, a mix of real life events and people, witty banter and highly outrageous plots. What can I say? Uncharted 4 delivers on all of these exactly the way you’d expect.

The original trailer for the game painted Sam as more of an antagonist, bitter about the 15 years he was in prison. He plays a crafty game with Nate but is more of a protagonist in this version. Would the story have been better? It’s impossible to tell, maybe if they release more information about what they old story was but…

Sam instead plays a rough, tough type, combining some of the best and the worst traits of both Nate and Sully. Except whilst Nate’s tampered his worse sides, partially thanks to Elena, Sam has had 15 years for it to build up in him. He has the ambition, drive and obsession Nate had in his early years, along with the same sense of humour which he even had as a child but he’s also a smoker and more ruthless and manipulative which remind me more of Sully. It’s not difficult to see why the two went off together in the end.

Nate is the central focus of the story, as he should be and there’s a definite air of finality to this story with him. His starts still somewhat missing the thrill and the danger, but still satisfied with the life he has built for himself and knowing the danger. The guilt he feels for his brother feels honest, his reasons for not telling the truth to Elena don’t. But it’s not impossible to see why he did what he did, especially given everything they’ve been through together. Uncharted 3 posed some questions about Nate’s identity that were left in the air in that game because it was just teases by the villain to make him uncomfortable. Here it’s given some more exploration and whilst I covered a slight issue in my summary, I’ll say it was fine.  

It’s not an especially dark story, but then Uncharted is not that kind of game. It’s not shocking, but it isn’t entirely predictable either. The lie about Alcazar was convincing, you actually played his escape as a segment (partially because the first act does not offer a lot of action otherwise) so it was a surprise to hear that Sam lied about the whole thing.

But the best part about this game is the lore. My summary is bare bones compared to what the game offers, explorers can find small anecdotes which give the world so much more flavour.

In terms of issues, I have a couple. Elena coming back felt a little convenient. There could’ve been a scene with Sully and Elena talking that could’ve added a bit more context to her return, plus it might’ve done a little more world-building when it comes to the relationship between Sully and Sam, which starts out a little rockier than Nate’s.

But that’s a nitpick compared to my biggest issue. The villains. Nadene Ross is deliberately written as a badass, that’s no match for either of the two, the problem of that is the sections fighting her end up feeling incredibly scripted because that’s the only way you could make it out alive. As for her character, she’s difficult to pinpoint, we hear bits about her past and why she is the way she is, but she’s not especially dripping in personality the way Chloe was in the previous two games, she’s referred to but does not appear in the game.

Rafe is even worse, he’s not especially threatening, he only engages in the final battle where he loses. And his motivation is somewhat of a let-down. He’s had everything and wants to make his mark on the world and not be remembered as someone who inherited the money off someone else. Fair enough, I guess. But then there comes the other half of his motivation at the end, he’s jealous of Nate. Jealousy is usually boring and they don’t give him that much to do outside of that fight, he’s either complaining, being cocky or ordering people around. He’s not especially ruthless, cunning, manipulative, strong, arrogant (most of the time), insane or any of the more interesting quirks you can give a villain and they have done in the past.

Gameplay

  

I count 5 different types of gameplay in this game

Let’s start with the combat. Because it’s really the centre of the Uncharted Franchise. I’ll admit, I’ve been playing the game on easy because I’d rather get through the story than have to fine-tune the difficulty every 5 minutes. But anyway, there is more variety in combat this time, stealth is more prominent as you can now hide in the long grass and make the timing to take enemies down. Stealth like this I don’t mind, it’s when it becomes mandatory I have a problem. (Batman: Arkham Asylum had a few of the type I don’t like, not every stealth segment but the ones where you had to reach location undetected via a specific route, otherwise the Arkham games are an exception to this) fortunately, it’s not mandatory in Uncharted 4 like it was in Uncharted 2 (is the one of the reasons I don’t rate it as highly as so many others) you can still shoot it out with your enemies using a standard affair duck and cover system and various weapons you can find across the battlefield. It’s well done.

Enemy variety is relatively minimal in this game, all the enemies you fight are human. There are no zombies, mutants or hallucinations in this game. The closest thing you get is exploding mummies and it’s really more about platforming than actual combat. I’ll get to those f*cking things soon. However, it’s a minor point as human enemies are usually the primary force you combat in these games anyway. As for the physical fights, aside from the final encounter, they all feel relatively scripted. You can’t lose them and ultimately you feel kinda cheated from that.

Platforming makes a return in the game, another primary element of the franchise and it largely the same as it always has been, helped by very good controls that can handle the subtle movements of Nathan Drake’s hand, it’s easier than ever to climb up the cliffs, and that’s actually its biggest weakness as well. Often the major challenges with platforming in this game involve knowing where to go as opposed to actually going there, with only on a few occasions the actual platforming itself becoming difficult.

Considering Naughty Dog’s history with the Jak series, some of the hardest platformers ever, it’s disappointing that this is as easy as it is. The checkpoints are all fairly generous as well. There are 2 new platforming elements to add some variety to the gameplay. You can now slide down muddy or gravelly slopes, and later culminate in the best platforming segments in the game, and there’s also the grapple, easily the most entertaining addition to the platforming.

The puzzles are another segment of the gameplay and this is probably the area with the most issues, both from a gameplay and logistical standpoint.  Much like the platforming, the puzzles are relatively straightforward, because they don’t really want you stuck on them for ages. There’s a pattern to them, something recently found that’s relevant in the journal. You get to look it up and finish the puzzle.

Logistically, and this probably true for all the Uncharted but it stuck out here to me in particular. How were all these set up? Avery was a wanted man, a notorious outlaw, how is he setting up puzzles in Scotland and Kings Bay without getting caught. How logistically can you set up all this without getting attention.

The fourth is a new addition, vehicles. There are a mixture of linear and less linear levels that involve you piloting a vehicle. The controls of all the vehicles are easy to grasp and it’s a chance to see the stunning designs, something which I’ll cover in more detail later. Personally I prefer the ones that are a little more action packed such as the chase in King’s Bay. The ones that are a little slower may bore you, especially if you’re invested in the characters or the story.

Fortunately, I am and I found all of them enjoyable, and there are a scattering of combat and platforming missions just to break it up a little.

The final addition is those few levels where it’s pure exploration. Where you’re creeping around the Italian Mansion or exploring a Mansion in America as children or just in a segment where there’s nothing more to do than explore, like the Market area in Kings Bay. These are also a little slow but allow for some interesting humour and give you a chance to absorb the lore.

You also get dialogue options in the game, but they’re not especially important, they feel kinda tacked on if I’m honest.

Presentation

Uncharted has been stellar at this from the very beginning, the idea was to utilise the best that they could out the hardware they had and Uncharted 4 is no exception. It looks gorgeous at a fully 1080p resolution. The game does not play at 60fps but that’s not exactly an important factor to me. The multiplayer does but opts for a lower resolution to keep that 60fps, personally I don’t think they should compromise image quality when in fully 1080p it looks stunning.

The character models also look incredible, with motion capture capturing the motion really well. For the human characters anyway. The dog at the end does not look great and I honestly can’t put my finger on why. It just made me laugh at how bad it looked the first time I saw it.

In terms of voice acting, we have a decent line-up. Nolan North and Troy Baker playing Nate and Sam respectively, are seasoned voice actors and deliver with exactly what you’d expect from two of the greats of our time. Richard McGonagle and Emily Rose reprise their roles as Victor Sullivan and Elena Fisher and are brilliant as always. The most odd choice is Laura Bailey as Nadine Ross. I’ll say this, her other major video game role, that of Fetch in Infamous: Second Son is really good, but more often than not I remember her as Black Widow off Avengers Assemble (the series). Let me be clear, I think she was phenomenally miscast there. Here, where’s she’s a white actress playing someone of African-American origin, you could argue her to be miscast here as well. Personally, I think she does the job well enough to avoid complaints from me.

Conclusion

The Single Player section of Uncharted 4 is excellent and if you haven’t already and like the cinematic storytelling that Uncharted goes for, pick this up and you will not regret it.

Rating 87/100

Images/clips used in this review are from Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Batman Forever and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use