Uncharted The Lost Legacy Review – Spoiler Free 🙂
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is a standalone expansion/DLC to the recently released Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The game expands on the Uncharted universe with the story focused on Chloe Frazer, a character who first appeared in Uncharted 2, but the game continues without the Uncharted main character, Nathan Drake.
I hadn’t really expected much to come from Naughty Dog and their Uncharted series ever since Uncharted 4 which was meant to be the end of it all. It was because of this that I found myself actually surprised when the game was first announced in December 2016 as it came out of nowhere for me. But as a person who simply loves the Uncharted universe and has enjoyed every single one of Naughty Dog’s games over the years, I was very excited to get a chance to go back in that universe. Chloe was a character that I was very interested to see in Uncharted 4, but she didn’t really appear there and I guess the reason was because they were saving her for this expansion.
Playing an Uncharted game without Nathan Drake makes a massive difference. Even though the gameplay is the same and the levels look just as great or even better than they ever have before. Much of the Uncharted experience was around the character of Nathan Drake. If the main character changes the game’s tone and feel just isn’t the same, although the writers do try their best to make it all as similar as possible.
While I found the adventure with Chloe to be interesting. You basically are an explorer/treasure hunter just like Nathan Drake and you’re out there in the jungle of India looking for an elephant tusk that’s worth a fortune. Unfortunately though, as things go in the Uncharted universe, there’s a bad guy lurking about and he’s got tonnes of guns for hire with him and he’s going to cause poor Chloe a lot of trouble.
As something that expands the Uncharted universe this game is great! I had no idea about Chloe’s background or her connection to India at all. Learning about her likes and interests as I proceeded through the story was a delight. But most of what the Uncharted story telling experience is, is also centred around the companions that accompany you on your journey through the ancient ruins. Everyone loves Sully and Drakes banter and even after a few playthrough’s they’re both fun characters to listen to.
In this game though we have Nadine. She is not a Sully and just doesn’t have the same humour. I unfortunately found her to be the weak point of this game. I just couldn’t get into her character at all and her tone was so negative and tough all the time, which I know is her character, but it just wasn’t great listening to her. I am hopeful that they might do another Chloe Frazer game where they might be able to introduce someone new to accompany her on her next journey. Someone she can have much better chemistry with.
The game’s villain Asav was a little weak as far as villains go, he was a constant threat in the story and appeared multiple times. But I never really cared about anything he was doing or trying to do. The villain’s side of things was weak and is the lower part of the game.
The gameplay in this game is one of the standout features. Like all Uncharted games you are going to have a good time with this. This now being the fifth game in the series, the gun mechanics are spot on, the aiming and shooting is fun, the jumping and climbing is great and the there’s no real great fault to be found at all. The transition between in game cinematics and actual gameplay scenes seems to be mastered by now by the developers and it’s hard to find a fault in it. It’s an incredibly polished gameplay experience.
One of things that I loved about this game is the return of puzzles. This was something that was really big in the first Uncharted game and in this one they seemed to have really smashed us with them. I do like wandering around an ancient temple or ruin and having to solve a puzzle by moving stones, blocks or other things just to open a door. At times they can be challenging, especially at first when you have to figure them out. I love this aspect of the game because as something that is very fast paced in action and even storytelling, these challenges do slow things down before they pick up again and it does well to balance the feel of the story.
The music is another point in the game’s favour. It is excellent all throughout the game and it’s use throughout the story always helps to elevate the tension in the scene. At times you do really feel like you’re an action hero in a movie and the music and sound certainly helps with that feeling.
The game itself is a little short. If you did have a lot of time, you could probably finish this is one weekend sitting. But as it’s not a full priced AAA game, I don’t mind this. There’s still decent playtime here and it’s so entertaining that it’s certainly worth your money.
The voice acting is great all over. Claudia Black was great as Chloe and while I didn’t really enjoy the character of Nadine, Laura Baily did put in some good work there.
Overall this is a more than decent expansion/dlc offer from Naughty Dog. If you’re a lover of the Uncharted series this is a great game to add to your collection and it will give you that return to the franchise you can no longer have due to the Nathan Drake story ending. While it’s not as great as one of Nathan Drake’s adventures, it certainly is still a good time and it was nice getting to know Chloe. It is a shame though that Nadine and the game’s villain Asad aren’t so great along the way. But the gameplay is incredibly polished and the level design, graphics and overall look of everything is beautiful. As games go this month, this is certainly worth a look and worthy of adding to your collection.
