Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4)

Date Purchased: May 9, 2016
Date Completed: May 19, 2016
Price: $59.99

I very rarely buy games on release day anymore unless it's a Nintendo property, but even then, I've shown patience more recently waiting for a price drop or for it to be gifted in some variety.  I was lucky to get Uncharted 4 for 1/3rd off (can you believe $60 is at a discount still?) through an Amazon promotion, and was especially delighted to see it arrive a day early despite the fact that I had to go into work that night.

So the hype machine was running at full tilt for this game.  I'd played fairly close attention, but tried not to spoil anything for myself.  I read reviews very carefully, and watched very little gameplay videos.   The game positioned itself to have some huge twists, Nate is older and wiser, his brother is back in his life (and you know those neck tattoos means he's been through some stuff), and heck, the title is "A thief's end".  Someone's got to die right?  Who is it?  Nate?  His Bro?  I really thought Nate was going to die.  But how?  Was it going to be honorable?  Would his lust for treasure be his ultimate demise?  Is that skeleton in the cage at the games title screen Nate?  Man, more than any other game, I was so excited for this story, perhaps a little too excited.

That excitement for the games story and how it would ultimately end did affect the way I played the game.  I wouldn't say I "rushed" through it, but really, I kind of did.  By the end I must say I was a little disappointed.  It's great story telling, the fact that I'm this excited for a VIDEO GAME story, will tell you that it's something special.

Okay, story beats aside, this game looks and sounds amazing.  I could go on and gush about it for a few paragraphs, but all you have to do is look at it to see.  There are a million screen grabs out there, and I even spent a decent amount of time with the games photo mode, just because the game looks so good.

The game play will be familiar to anyone who's played a game in the series, I did find this one paced a little slower than previous games.  There are some pretty long segments where you don't really do anything but explore the environments, but then there are moments like these (it's my own gameplay video, but I'm sure it plays the same for everyone):

Would I recommend this game?  Most definitely.  Play this game, especially if you've played the previous.  While I was a little dissatisfied with the ending (I was expecting "Sixth Sense"  or "Lost" like story telling where the wool's been pulled over our eyes all along) it's still a fantastic game and a really nice end to the series.  I'll miss Uncharted, but not for a while, I've decided to replay all the previous games in the meantime.