Unknown to the general public, the Bluepoint Games studio is not yet its first feat. In a few years, the Texas firm has specialized in HD remakes of all kinds. God of War Collection (2010), ICO & Shadow of the Colossus HD (2011), Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (2012), and the recent Flower on PS4 are some of the titles the studio has worked on in recent years. Always very successful ports that have pushed Sony to trust him once again for the remastered Uncharted trilogy, but also the next Gravity Rush Remaster which will arrive in 2016 on PS4. For the time being, it is the first three adventures of Nathan Drake that interest us and we will also try to understand how three such imposing games manage to fit on the same Blu-ray when they have all been upscaled. Because yes, there is a little trickery, but we will come back to it later... Obviously, one of the first promises that Sony made when announcing Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, was the update of the three games in 1080p and 60fps, the ultimate threshold that any gamer expects from this new generation. From this point of view, Sony can be proud of the work done by the guys at Bluepoint Games, each of the three episodes having gained in fluidity, thus offering optimal gaming comfort. It will seem a bit pompous to you what we are going to tell you here, but this framerate gain (double all the same!) is a real rediscovery, especially with regard to the first Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.
THE ULTIMATE COLLEC', WITHOUT DEC'!
Released in November 2007, only a year after the arrival of the PS3 on the market, Uncharted was certainly the new project of the creators of Crash Bandicoot, but the latter had to prove itself to the general public. If the title did not experience the resounding success of the following two episodes, it was nevertheless able to lay the foundations of the series, with gameplay inspired by Tomb Raider, which today takes Uncharted as a reference. The circle is complete. At that time, Uncharted also aimed to demonstrate that the gyroscopic features of the Sixaxis controller were not just marketing arguments, and the gameplay had been adapted accordingly. This was the case for the passages where Drake had to balance on pieces of wood, but also the throwing of grenades. Eight years later, this kind of gimmicks no longer really has its place and Bluepoint Games made the – good – decision to harmonize the gameplay with that of the other two Uncharted.
Of the three episodes, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is also the game that has benefited the most from the graphic improvements brought by this remastering.
But that's obviously not all. Of the three episodes, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is also the game that has benefited the most from the graphic improvements brought by this remastering. Tearing and aliasing have disappeared, textures have gained in detail, backgrounds display a little more relief, pyrotechnic effects (especially flames and explosions) have been reworked, light management has been improved, while that particle effects have been added. Better, by taking out the cake from the first Uncharted on PS3, we also found that even the modeling of the characters has gained in polygons. In short, so many significant additions that allow Drake's Fortune to now rise to the same level as Uncharted 2 and 3. The latter have also taken advantage of the superior capacities of the PS4 to appear in a better light, but the differences are much less visible, given that they were already very impressive at the time. In truth, Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3 have mainly benefited from the switch to 1080p and 60 frames per second to offer unparalleled playing comfort, and rediscovering them in these conditions is a luxury that one can hardly refuse.
NO MULTI BUT...
Always in this approach to offer the best possible experience for the three Uncharted, Bluepoint Games has also implemented a whole bunch of configurations to personalize each of the three games according to the gear we have at home. The main one concerns the sound of course, and depending on whether you have a home cinema at home, it will be possible to customize each of the channels used to boost the sound environment according to the location of your speakers. For example, it is possible to force the dialogues on the center speaker, or conversely deactivate it completely. You can even change the surround effects of the front and rear speakers to suit your listening preferences. A real luxury that we appreciate at its fair value. Similarly, by going to the "Language" option, you will be able to configure the text, the subtitles and the dialogues, knowing that you have the choice between English (the VO of course), French, German, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Norwegian, Polish, Turkish, in short all the countries of Europe and those around them. You can also have fun activating motion blur or not, either on objects alone or with the camera as well. On this subject, know that Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection offers a “Photo” mode which allows you to pause the game at any time to take your own shots. As usual, filters, camera angles and many other parameters allow you to make the ultimate screenshot that we will be proud to share on social networks.
In truth, Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3 have mainly benefited from the switch to 1080p and 60 frames per second to offer unparalleled playing comfort, and rediscovering them in these conditions is a luxury that one can hardly refuse.
Three complete games, with so many added options, but how did Bluepoint Games manage to fit all of this into a single Blu-ray? The trick (or trick, call it what you want) lies in the absence of multiplayer modes from Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3. Certainly for reasons of space, time but also cost, it was decided between Sony, Naughty Dog and Bluepoint Games to skip the online game, yet quite fun to play. It's quite unfortunate for those who were already taking pleasure in finding certain maps and game modes such as "Chain Reaction", but those will have to get used to the idea that it will be necessary to return to PS3 to enjoy it again since the servers are still active. To compensate for this unexpected absence, Bluepoint Games has introduced a "Time Trial" mode that will interest speedrunners who like to challenge themselves in the evening at 2 a.m., especially since two difficulty modes have been added: "Explorer" for the noobs from noobs and "Brutal" for the guys who are not afraid of anything. And then, if you ever still grumble about the lack of multiplayer, know that by purchasing Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, you will have access to the multiplayer beta of Uncharted 4, scheduled between December 4 and 13, 2015. what to silence once and for all these fucking moaners.
