The more that I think about Uncharted: Golden Abyss the more I’ve realised how closely the Uncharted series of games mimics my love for the Indiana Jones franchise of films. Sure similarities could be made between the themes and comedic action stars Indy and Drake but what baffles me the most is how closely my affection for say the first two Indy flicks matches that of the first two Uncharted games and the comparison goes on for the third also. The exception it seems is the fourth Uncharted entry Golden Abyss which compared to the other games in the series is a massive disappointment. Perhaps I’ve just somehow manage to weave the two franchises together in my mind satisfying my lust for a great Indiana Jones game but my insane thoughts aside heres why Uncharted: Golden Abyss isn’t even the Crystal Skull of the series.
For what its worth Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull wasn’t a terrible movie, it was filled with goofy action like plunging down three consecutive waterfalls and escaping nuclear death by taking refugee in a refrigerator but it was the same old same old that it needed to be. It managed to crave out a space for itself where one should not have ever existed and created a legacy of its own thats respectful if nothing else. Its a 4/5 flick in my book and thats my opinion so there.
Uncharted Golden Abyss fails in this regard, sure the gameplay largely plays the same in that your taking cover and shooting dudes, climbing along a clearly stated path and occasionally go all detective and solve an ancient riddle but it lacks those magical moments that make for a defining memorable experience. I can name plenty of stand out moments from the first three games in the series (and the Crystal Skull too) but struggle to think of a stand out scene from Golden Abyss. It lacks the punch of the predecessors and as the game meant to show the power of the Vita its a huge let down.
The game also slows the gameplay down a lot more than the other entries in the series with the countless amounts of touch controls or gyroscope features shoehorned into the experience. I get that as a launch title you’ll probably want to show off all the niche features which won’t be used 6 months after launch but if I didn’t like tilting my Vita to save myself from falling to my death off a log the first time I certainly despised the action the fiftieth. The exception to this case would be the subtle features implemented with touch controls such as the option to reload a weapon by pressing its onscreen icon or to aim grenades by pointing where you want it to go. In the grand scheme of things they go unnoticed with all of lame the tacked on ones but for what it worth those two in particular felt really useful and added to my enjoyment of the game as a whole.
From a story point of view the game fails to live up to the previous titles (and once more even to the Crystal Skull). It isn’t memorable as a fun goofy side story or as a serious entry into the franchise and falls in the middle ground of purely existing to move the game along because thats how video games work. Granted the main duo of Drake and Sully do appear and are as charming as ever (even if they do feel a little flat this time around) but when the journey and the additional characters they meet along the way all seem irrelevant and pointless in the grand scheme of things, it makes for a bland bore of an experience not worth really paying attention too.
Uncharted: Golden Abyss feels like an Uncharted game made by the b-team and unsurprisingly as the game was not developed by series creator Naughty Dog this was unfortunately the case. It was a big ask for another studio to take the reigns behind the development of the next instalment in such a well established and critical masterpiece of a franchise. Sadly their attempt just comes across as an average experience that fails in all regards to exceed any of the previous games and comes across as a bad attempt to replicate the magic rather than crave out a legacy of its own. In short its Uncharted but its not Uncharted and its certainly no Crystal Skull either.