I am going to be spoiling the hell out of this game, so be warned.
Wow, this was a great ending to the Uncharted series. First of all, the game is the best looking game I have ever seen on a console. It is just so gorgeous. I had to stop occasionally to just look around at all of the beauty. Also, with emotions on their faces. Doubt, disbelief, anger, laughter, etc. All were awesome.
Some people do not like the pacing of this game, but I loved it. There was a lot going on in different timelines of the story, but it made for such an incredible beginning to the game. Slow? Yes, but in the best possible way.
Whether you enjoy this game may be whether you connect with Nathan and Sam as brothers. They spend a lot of time together and if you don’t like that, the game may not work for you. I loved it. Getting to know how they get together in the game was handled well with a few flashback scenes. Those flashbacks to them when they were children were just so interesting and cool. Along with a few twists along the way, their relationship was handled very well. Yes, there was the expected (at least to me), betrayal, but it was even done with a cool misdirect.
The downside was that you did not get as much of Sullivan as usual. He was in the game, just not as much and that was a small complaint.
Then there is Elena, who may be the best character in this series. First the scene where she and Nathan were playing Crash Bandicoot to see who did the dishes was both unexpected and just amazing. Made me tear up as I realize how much I grew to love these two as characters. I enjoyed them in previous games, but it really hit me here.
I was a little worried playing the game that Elena was not in it enough, and then suddenly she was. Also, the interaction between her and Drake was very sweet, and at times heartbreaking as usual Drake being the bonehead he is, lied to her about the “job”. So, she had no idea what he was doing, that he even had a brothers, and where was. So, that came to a head and she was hurt and angry and you spend time in the game wondering if they lived, if their marriage would last. It was handled so well and even though she did not leave him, for a moment you thought she might.
Then to the villains. I really liked Rafe and Nadine. He was obviously a bit of a nut job, but the flashbacks did a lot to explain his relationship with the Drake brothers. Nadine was cool too as she spend her limited time in the game just beating the hell out of anything with the last name Drake. The last fight between Nathan and Rafe was pretty awesome as well.
The voice acting was amazing, all across the board. Just amazing.
The only real downside to the game was the introduction to vehicles to the game. This was only cuz I sucked at it. Although driving the crew off a cliff was kind of funny. There was one scene where I was being chased and I kept dying cuz I was not handling the driving well at all. That more on me than the game though.
The epilogue was amazing. It sets up future games with their daughter Cassie if they so choose. But it was just so damn sweet as she walked around their house and you can see the Nathan and Elena were still out doing the things they loved. I love the symmetry of her coming across the same items that Nathan did early on in the game in the attic. Just a lot of sweet moments and the perfect way to end the game.
Rating 10 out of 10. One of my favorite games of all time and very slightly under the Last of Us.
