Platform: PlayStation 4

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Release Date: May 10th, 2016

Genre: Action-Adventure, Third-Person Shooter

Nerd Rating: 9.5 out of 10

One. Last. Time.

Nathan Drake has been a sort of treasure hunter for the larger portion of his life. Most of the time, of course, the practice takes some illegal turns..

Okay, it’s mostly illegal… But if your name is Nathan Drake, then you probably not only found the ancient, hidden cities, but you probably left the places destroyed and empty-handed, save for maybe a few coins or trinkets to make your fortune.

A married couple tryin’ to live a normal life.

After so many awesome adventures under your belt, you’d want to settle down eventually, and try to lead a normal life, right? Well, so did our “heroic” treasure hunter, Nathan Drake. He married the gal that’s been there for him since game one. Her name is Elena Fisher (Well, I guess I mean ‘Elena Drake’ now). She is a reporter of magazines like our real life National Geographic, for ancient artifacts and discoveries. Living a normal life in a normal port city, with a normal job. Everything seems just… boring! That was, until he showed up.

Samuel Drake.

Thought by Nathan to have been dead for the last 15 years, Sam makes a sudden appearance. He reveals to drake that he was busted out of a prison by a crazed drug lord and that Sam only had a short amount of time to find the lost treasure of Captain Avery or die. Apparently, it was some kind of deal they struck. All Nathan wanted was to keep his promise to Elena and not go on any more crazy adventures. He had been through enough. In the past three games Nathan Drake had found El-Dorado, discovered Shambhala and the Tree of Life, and even locating the lost Iram of the Pillars.

After all that, I think I’d want to retire too!

I have always loved the Uncharted series, and the fourth of the series eloquently brings the story to a satisfying close… and by “eloquently” I mean jaw-dropping, heart-skipping, nonstop action!

The world! It’s beautiful!

Let’s start digging into the meat of this beautiful game. First thing is always first – the graphics and world design. Boy! Where do I begin? I know that Naughty Dog has been consistent with their overall superior detailing in their games,but Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End takes the cake in detailing facial features and flow of movement. Expressions are realistic and are easy to discern what emotion is being felt. body movements are accurate to the ‘T’. World design is large, overall. Spots to climb are slightly easy to see, which helps the player figure things out like puzzles and where to go next. Truth be told though, sometimes the answer was hidden in plain view. Water, mud, dirt, grass, and even the sky were a mesmerizing sight to see. If I weren’t holding a controller the whole time, I’d thing I was watching a live action film! (No one has any idea how long I have been waiting to say that!)

And with a face like this, why WOULD you wanna put the controller down?

Secondly, I want to get into the execution of the story. If anyone knows anything about me, I pay a very close eye on the story being told. Without story, without reason, there is no game: no reason to keep pushing forward. Even Pong has a reason behind it. (you better believe it!) Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has an amazing story to tell you with its heroes vs the bad guys style. Nathan and friends race the bad guys to the finish line where Nathan and the baddie duke it out. In the end, Nathan comes out a better man than when he started, with lessons learned and memories to share. And that’s what’s really important, right?

Thirdly, I want to get into the controls of the game. Of course every game has some controls to get used to. But here is where I have my one and only complaint. When fighting ensues (prepare for a LOT of shooting fights!) it’s too easy to die. an enemy might have an automatic gun of some type with a hair trigger. because within a few hits on Normal mode, you are deader than a door nail. Now, the game did just come out, so I’m expecting this issue to get resolved; at least to allow me enough time to get back into some cover. Other than automatic guns, I have no problems with the other combat encounters. Sneak attacks are my favorite. you can be Death from above or Death in the tall grass. There’s even achievements for quiet kills, so yeah, silent assassination is encouraged.

There’s also a few new things added to the game that really separates this game from the rest of the series. First off, you get a grappling rope that you will use very often. In fact, it’ll be your best friend, right next to your gun. Another, is a new sort of feature in which instead of just going with the story like we usually would, Uncharted 4 gives you dialogue options as if you’re playing a Tell Tale Game! There’s not a whole lot of these chances to choose what to say, but I feel that the occasional choice is a nice touch. It’s a very different approach to the story that is always a welcome feature in my book.

Last but not least, I want to talk about some Easter Eggs. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has a lot of references to the previous three games in the series. But one Easter Egg shines the brightest in the most unusually orange way. I’m talking about Crash Bandicoot for the original PlayStation! Early on in the game, Nathan challenges Elena to the game. You play as Nathan playing Crash Bandicoot while Elena picks fun at you for being so bad at it. Crash Bandicoot was the first game to be a break-out hit for Naughty Dog, so it was nice to feel the nostalgia lovingly suck all the youth from my soul.

I’m just gonna put this here to try and sell you this game some more.

That said, I highly recommend adding this lovely game to your collection. You’ll have plenty of achievements to hunt for, along with stunning graphics and secrets to uncover; all carefully wrapped in a well-put story!