Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - Review

It's been a while since I played an Uncharted 4 but I remember really enjoying it. I remember Lost Legacy coming out and at the time was unsure if the dynamic between Chloe and Nadine would work. Promptly it went out of my head until recently when a friend from work was looking to sell some games. I thought to myself 'yeah why not' and bought it from him.


One of my go-to snacks is pork scratchings - for those unsure what they are, the best thing to compare them to is hotdogs. As most of us know hotdogs are made up of lips and assholes, if there was a crispy snack version of them with the chance of finding the occasional pigs hair that's pork scratchings. I know they are bad for me, and health-wise the only thing worse would be meth. Things that don't seem very appealing are actually damn tasty and sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Playing Uncharted: The Lost Legacy I found myself asking had taken a leap of faith paid off?

Story


Nathan Drake and the Uncharted Series is well established and loved. After the end of Uncharted 4, it seemed like Drake and given up on his life as a thief/smuggler/collector/player but fans still wanted more. Naughty Dog decided to take two established characters from the series; mercenary Nadine Ross and thief/smuggler (you get the idea) Chloe Frazer and get them to team up together. They are on a mission to find a retrieve The Tusk of Ganesh. The game has you play as Chloe Frazer, and while it would be easy to dismiss Nadine Ross as just a sidekick that is far from being the case. The two have a great dynamic and by the end of the story, I was eager to go on another journey with them.


I was like many other fans, who were unsure if the duo would work. While they were good characters in their own right they were not Nathan Drake. It turns out they stand strong in their own right and their personal stories, along with the banter and overarching story, were really good. I am hopeful that Naughty Dog was using this game to gauge fan's reaction as to whether to create a new series of games featuring the duo, but only time will tell.

Visuals 


Naughty Dog never ceases to amaze with their visuals and The Lost Legacy is no different. Trekking through India was amazing, it was like visiting another world. The ruins of a near forgot civilization are starting to be reclaimed by nature but that doesn't mean they do not still hold secrets.  It may be strange to comment on but I love the rivers and lakes, and really liked the mud hills which look and feel real.


Overall it would be hard to argue that the visuals aren't picture perfect and hope that Naughty Dog continues this trend with any future projects.

Music


The Uncharted series features some very epic music, especially the last couple of instalments. The Lost Legacy features a blend of Indian style music with a film style score sounds that work really well. The master behind this is British composer Henry Jackson, who has a rich portfolio and composed the music for; Just Cause 3, Uncharted 4, Kick-Ass 1 and 2, X-Men First Class, Wreck-It-Ralph, Captain America: Civil War and 21 Bridges.


The soundtrack comes in just a smidge over one hour and features some great tracks, my favourites being; 'The Insurgency', 'Chloe Frazer', 'Shift Change', 'Ambushed', 'This Tigers Got Claws', 'A Familiar Foe' and 'End Of The Line'. Overall an amazing soundtrack which really adds to an already epic game.

Gameplay


The gameplay is almost exactly the same as the other Uncharted games, but hey, it ain't broke why fix it? The game has you play in the third person, and there are plenty of things to climb, swing off, and explore. Sometimes Chloe would fail to grab a ledge when she should of but it wasn't enough to be an annoyance. Similar to Uncharted 4 you get to spend a good bit of time in a jeep, which is really enjoyable. The game will have you solve a few puzzles, nothing particularly taxing with the exception of one near the end of the game where you need to cast shadows on two paintings.


The gunplay is something that is always a little weak in the Uncharted series, one weapon will often not feel much more powerful or accurate as any other. While there is the option to be stealthy there is a high level of the game encouraging you to shoot the place up. Chloe's evasion roll is pretty good and as she can move quite quickly and hide behind items or in the long grass you can usually avoid getting killed.


Some of the set pieces in the games are really great, especially when it comes to climbing cliffs and old buildings. I found myself distracted sometimes and ended up falling to my death. Other times I was not sure where to go and was winging it moving from objects quickly and even got a bit of an adrenaline rush a few times.


Overall the gameplay is pretty well balanced and very much feels like you are part of an Indiana Jones-style movie, but in a good way. It might be short, but sometimes it better to keep them wanting more.




Final Thoughts


So, after a mere eight hours how did I feel? Pretty good and excited about playing more games featuring Chloe and Nadine. The story was fun and epic, the visuals were amazing, the music was so well done, and the gameplay while it had some faults it never ruined my experience. This one gets a solid 4 out of 5