Uncharted 4: The Perfect End

BY NICK McCOY

There are few video game franchises I hold closer to my heart than the Uncharted series. After all, it was the first game I ever played on my Playstation after I got a PS4 bundled with Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection. This allowed me to experience all three of the original games remastered for the brand-new console. 

I can’t remember how many times I played through each game, but it was a lot. The adventures of treasure hunter Nathan Drake and his allies as he travels the world in search of lost secrets and untold riches are some of my favorite experiences playing video games. Drake’s adventures never failed to bore me, and even though not every game in the franchise is perfect (i.e. Drake’s Fortune), Nathan Drake has earned his place as a legendary Playstation 4 mascot, despite being a relative newcomer. Uncharted 2 and 3 continue to be some of my favorite games, as well as some of the best action adventure games ever, especially the former.

Then, in 2016, Naughty Dog would surpass themselves in terms of story, action, and characters with the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The fourth entry in this beloved franchise served as the final chapter in Nathan Drake’s story, and to say he went out with a bang would be an understatement. A Thied’s End is filled with incredible setpieces, excellent graphics, outstanding characters, voice acting, and writing, a surprising amount of emotion, and one of the most satisfying endings to a character’s story ever. 

Aside from being quite possibly the best Uncharted game, it is a very fun action-adventure title with solid gameplay and some of the best action sequences of any video game. Much like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, A Thief’s End has earned its reputation as one of the greatest video games ever made. 

A Thief’s End is the last mainline installment of the series to feature protagonist, Nathan Drake. Its story takes place 15 years after the original three games, and sees Drake living a quiet life as a salvage worker with his wife, Elena Fisher. Despite being happy with Elena, Nate longs for adventure, and gets it following the sudden appearance of his older brother Sam. The two of them, alongside Nate’s mentor and longtime friend Victor “Sully” Sullivan, embark on an adventure in search of pirate captain Henry Avery’s long lost treasure. Along the way, they not only discover the existence of Libertalia, a legendary pirate colony consisting of numerous other pirate captains, but come in conflict with their former partner, Rafe Adler, who’s also looking for the treasure. Aiding Rafe is mercenary Nadine Ross and her private military group Shoreline. 

In comparison to the adventures in the previous games, the search for Avery’s treasure in Uncharted 4 is much more grounded. In the first game, Nate encounters actual zombies while searching for El Dorado; in Uncharted 2, he had to fight strong, barbaric guardians of the city of Shambala, and in 3, he faced demonic djinn creatures in the desert. These supernatural elements did not make the adventures bad, far from it. But I like that the last title had a much more down-to-earth odyssey in search of riches. Avery’s treasure also ties nicely into Nate and Sam’s backstory: Their mother was researching the treasure before she passed away. 

The Uncharted series is known for its incredible graphics and action set pieces; Uncharted 2, in particular, was acclaimed for its revolutionary graphics. For PS3-era games, they have held up remarkably well. Now, with the more advanced technology of the PS4, Naughty Dog was able to completely outdo itself in terms of graphical fidelity. The environments, lighting, and backdrops are so beautiful and detailed that you’ll stop climbing and just take a moment to appreciate the gorgeous scenery. 

This amount of detail and beauty also go to the character designs; all of the characters’ faces give off an astonishing amount of emotion during cutscenes, down to the smallest detail; including Nate’s lips pursing while arguing with Sam, Nadine’s eyebrows and eyes widening as she falls into a trap, Elena’s head nodding and twiddling her wedding ring during an emotional scene, and so much more. It’s so detailed you can clearly see each whisker of facial hair on Nate’s face.  

These details extend into the gameplay and how Nate reacts to the environment; He will stumble following a large fall, will step back when over a ledge, and will sometimes barely make jumps, often landing on his ribs. Aside from that, his clothes actually appear wet when coming out of water, and will be caked in mud after trekking through muddy areas.

Now with the characters themselves, they are all fantastic – for the most part. The performances of the cast, as well as the writing, make these amazing characters that much more likable and believable. Nathan Drake is voiced by Nolan North, a legendary voice actor who has had multiple iconic voice roles. Sam is voiced by another iconic voice actor, Troy Baker, and their chemistry, both on and off set, really convinces you that Nate and Sam are, in fact, brothers. Other incredible performances include Emily Rose as Elena, Richard McGonagle as Sully, and Laura Bailey as Nadine. Warren Kole also gives an excellent performance as Rafe, as quite possibly the best villain in the entire series. 

Rafe Adler as an antagonist, is great for a variety of reasons and sticks out compared to previous antagonists. In comparison to the other villains, Rafe has much more of a personal connection to Nate, and is also the most reasonable; he frequently gives Nate a chance to walk away, and there are multiple instances where you could argue that Rafe is right. While he is undeniably scummy and arrogant, he is an enjoyable character to watch. His transformation from a level-headed, wannabe treasure hunter to a crazed lunatic who just wants to see Nate dead is engrossing to watch, and with all the stuff he had to put up with, it’s not hard to see why he snapped. 

The story itself is also incredibly fun to play through. This is bolstered by the fantastic writing and dialogue, courtesy of Neil Druckmann (four years before he shot himself in the foot with The Last of Us Part 2) and Josh Scherr. The dialogue and the way the characters interact feel so natural and believable it might make you second guess whether or not these are even video game characters. 

The journey Nate and his friends go on is also incredibly well done: What starts out as a simple treasure hunt turns into the discovery of a massive colony created by Henry Avery and several other pirate captains, Libertalia’s ultimate downfall and how the captain’s turned on each other. There are also some pretty emotional moments scattered throughout; there is a particular scene where Nate is confronted by an angry and heartbroken Elena, which is incredibly hard to watch. 

Nate and Elena’s relationship serves as the emotional core of this game; them repairing their relationship and learning they were truly made for the life of adventurers is simultaneously sweet, heartwarming, and absolutely epic. This just makes the ending that much more satisfying. 

A major theme of Uncharted 4 is obsession: How one man can spiral out of control, and completely ruin himself over his fascination with something. Nate, and especially Sam’s journey to find Avery’s treasure, does see them going down this path. However, by the end, Nate is a changed man; he doesn’t care about the treasure, and realizes his friends, and his brother, are more important than some lost gold. The same cannot be said about Rafe. Another thing that makes Rafe so interesting and why he’s such a great villain is that his motivations are grounded and believable. 

Having come from a rich upbringing, the only thing he seeks is glory; Avery’s treasure, in his eyes, is the only way of accomplishing this. As he gets closer and closer to his goal, and keeps getting undermined by Nate and even his own allies, he snaps, and suffers an appropriate fate as a result. The complete contrast between Nate and Rafe is so interesting, and is what makes the conflict between them so much more captivating. 

The gameplay of Uncharted 4 is a simple loop of running, jumping, climbing, and shooting. In contrast to the previous games in the series, A Thief’s End has noticeably less combat sequences. Instead, the majority of the runtime is dedicated to climbing various terrains and solving puzzles, usually with Sam, Sully, and later Elena. While this may get boring for some, the banter between each character is always enjoyable to listen to, amplified by the voice acting and writing.

When combat sequences do happen, they never disappoint. Uncharted 4 contains some of the best combat, not just in the series, but in video games, period; there is a particular chase in Madagascar that may possibly go down as one of the greatest video game chases ever. 

The gameplay of Uncharted 4 is very similar to the previous entries while adding a few new mechanics; these include a grappling hook, sliding, and later a piton, which allows Nate to climb walls that he normally wouldn’t be able to. Enemy encounters can be dealt with in two ways: Combat or stealth. The stealth is much more enjoyable and practical thanks to the inclusion of tall grass, which covers your positions and hides the bodies of enemies. 

If you choose to go the guns-blazing approach, don’t worry: Gunplay is snappy and satisfying, and each weapon has its own distinct firepower and style. For example, SMGs have a quick fire rate but lack power or accuracy, while Sniper Rifles can down enemies in one hit. Platforming is also much more heavily used during gunplay; you are able to use ledges as cover and can shoot while swinging from your grappling hook. And let me tell you: There’s nothing more amazing than tackling an enemy mid-air while swinging around like Spider-Man. 

Now, as much as I adore this game, there are some criticisms I have. First, the controls and mechanics can be a bit clunky, mainly in climbing, rolling and the cover system. The climbing, as fun as it is, has its problems; there are oftentimes I found myself frantically pushing the stick only for Nate not to move, and other times where I tried jumping to a specific ledge only for Nate to either miss it entirely or go for a different ledge than I wanted. When I’m trying to do a stealth run and get caught because I landed on the wrong ledge, I’m sure you can imagine how frustrating that can become. 

With rolling and taking cover, the frustration comes with the fact these two actions are bound to the same button; and in a firefight, this can lead to some absolute blood-boiling moments. Keep in mind that in my most recent playthrough, I played the game on hard difficulty. So, when I rolled to avoid damage and Nate suddenly snapped to a wall, it didn’t take long before I was completely peppered with bullets and my health was at zero. While this thankfully didn’t happen frequently, there was never a moment where I didn’t feel like throwing my controller across the room when it did.

Now, remember when I said “for the most part” when talking about how great the characters are? Well, there is one character who didn’t really stick out to me: Nadine. Now, Nadine is not a bad character by any means, and Laura Bailey’s performance really propels her; she is just, at least to me, not that interesting. She is your typical tough-as-nails mercenary who doesn’t take crap from anybody and doesn’t go much beyond that. While Rafe is much more practical and reasonable, Nadine is more ready to have her men blow everything to pieces. While that makes for some great action, it doesn’t make for a compelling character, at least in my eyes. 

Nadine, unfortunately, is also responsible for my least favorite part of the entire game: Her boss fights. Now, boss fights have admittedly never been Uncharted’s strong suit, but some are certainly better than others. Rafe’s boss battle at the end of this game is actually really cool. But the fights against Nadine are terrible for one specific reason: You can’t win. 

Like, it doesn’t matter how many punches you try to throw, how many times you escape her grab or anything; it is impossible to win against Nadine. I know what this is meant to accomplish: It’s supposed to show Nadine isn’t someone to be messed with. But there are so many better ways to show this besides a tedious boss battle which always ends the same way. 

Aside from just being a chore to play through, it also does make a lick of sense. In previous games, Nate has managed to beat men about twice his size. But yet he’s unable to beat one woman who’s just more muscular. Some might try to argue that Nate wasn’t in his prime when he fought Nadine, which is why he lost so easily. However, considering he had no problem climbing and making long jumps despite being out of the game for 15 years, I don’t think the argument is valid. The fight against Nadine becomes even more laughable the second time, when she’s able to easily defeat both Nate and Sam at the same time. To me, these fights come off as a cheap, contrived way of establishing Nadine has a tough character when there are so many better ways of accomplishing that goal.

Despite these gripes, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End still remains one of the best action adventure titles, probably the best game in the Uncharted series next to 2, and one of the best video games ever. It’s full of amazing set pieces, excellent writing and characters, some truly stellar performances and plenty of heart. I would say Uncharted 4 is Naughty Dog’s best title next to The Last of Us, and Nathan Drake’s final adventure still holds the test of time. Uncha