Uncharted into new territory

It's always a pleasure to get to review games that are near and dear to my heart. Especially when they are as good as the Uncharted series, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is no exception.

Lost Legacy is not meant to be a stand-alone game in the series — it’s technically DLC for the superlative Uncharted 4 — but to Naughty Dog’s credit, they have not tried to expand upon the story from that game and have instead chosen tofocus on a new story that very loosely ties into the previous game.

Gone is Nathan Drake, and in his place we have the dynamic duo of fan favourite Chloe Frazer (who features prominently in Uncharted 2 and 3), and Nadine Ross (from Uncharted 4). It’s a brave move too; Nathan Drake is Uncharted as much as Master Chief is Halo.

It pays off though, to a degree. Chloe is an excellent character who has been somewhat mysterious in previous games, giving Naughty Dog quite a bit of freedom to flesh out her backstory. I didn’t warm to Nadine very much; I didn’t particularly like the character in Uncharted 4 and it sort of carries on here. She’s by no means dull or boring, but I just didn’t really have any connection to her and her motivations.

Chloe’s motivation is to retrieve a lost artefact named the Tusk of Ganesh, before (you guessed it) an evil paramilitary leader gets his hands on it. It’s a familiar tale (particularly in the Uncharted universe), but it still works.

The settings of the Uncharted games are as much characters in the story as the actual characters, and once again Naughty Dog has gone above and beyond. The Indian setting, and cultural aspects of the story are second to none. The environments and attention to detail will blow your mind.

To be honest, I had to remind myself that this wasn’t in fact a ‘‘new’’ game — merely an expansion. The only times I was reminded of this was whenever the combat areas (introduced in Uncharted 4) appeared. I greatly disliked them in that game and not much has changed, although they do seem to have been tweaked to be more tolerable. It still feels as if it’s only a matter of time before you are spotted and all hell breaks loose, under the illusion that you can clear the areas completely stealthily.

Perhaps I’m just not patient enough for that.

If you’re concerned about length (read value for money), don’t be. Uncharted’s mid-range price point belies its length and depth. A six­to eight-hour single-player campaign, and access to all of Uncharted 4’s multiplayer modes (as well as a new survival mode) bolster the value of the package massively. This is by no means a cheap cash in.

Final verdict: If you loved Uncharted 4, then you will absolutely love this.
If you’ve not played Uncharted 4 yet — are you mad? — play it and then play this. You will not regret it.

UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY

For: PS4

From: Naughty Dog

Rating: (R13) ★★★★+

 - by Simon Bishop