Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection - Review

The Uncharted series has provided me countless hours of enjoyment, some slight frustration and dozens of wow moments, getting a chance to replay the more recent titles on PlayStation 5 was something I was very happy to do. Was this a strong debut of the series on the new hardware, or was it nothing but a relic of a time since passed that now belongs in a museum?

This review is going to be slightly different, I have already reviewed both Uncharted 4 A Thief’s End and Uncharted Lost Legacy, so be sure to give them a read for story beats. Instead, we are going to focus on the gameplay improvements, along with the obvious visual enhancements across the board, something which PlayStation pushed quite heavily in their marketing. For the gameplay enhancements, you can’t think of them as changes to puzzles, or combat encounters, but more with how you play the game and that comes down to the DualSense controller. In the original release of both titles, running around and shooting was always presented, but it never felt connected to the inputs from the player, using the new controller though, that changes. Guns now kick in your hand, making them feel more dangerous and in turn, it made me want to be stealthier, or at least try to last as long as I could before the guns came out.

The same impact can be felt when you venture into the wilds with the car, something both games make solid use of and now, having the triggers fight you, as you attempt to drive the car up the muddy slopes of a steep hill. Being forced to essentially fight to get the car up those hills, made me feel like I was connected to the actions taking place on screen and then when I had finally made it up to the top, there was a real sense of satisfaction. Does the addition of the DualSense controller make this a must play experience, no but what it does offer is more tactile gameplay and when you couple that with the games enhanced visuals, combined it makes for a must play.

Depending on the screen you are playing the games on, there are three possible modes for you to enjoy, Quality mode, Performance mode and Performance Plus mode, the last one requires a screen capable of 120hz, which mine was not, but I wanted to see the games in the best light, so I mainly stuck to Quality mode. Like the name suggests, this is for those who want all the bells and whistles, that means the largest resolution, while keeping things locked to 30fps, which is the same framerate that the games originally launched in back on the PlayStation 4. I did sample the Performance mode, which dropped the resolution, but increased the framerate to 60fps, and while it did run smoother, I noticed more hiccups with some elements, which turned me away from it. Regardless of the mode you choose, the game still plays brilliantly and of course, the load times are almost non-existent on the PlayStation 5.

Across both games the draw distance, the element that defines how much you can see - before elements pop in, has been increased quite a bit and while the original releases never had any issues with the draw distance, it is so much larger now, you shouldn’t have any issues. The opening chase scene of Lost Legacy where Chloe and Nadine are running across the roofs in the rain, looks incredible here now, purely because there is less of a break between the immediate area around them and what is out in the distance. Similarly, when Nate, Sam and Sully hit the wilds of Madagascar, you can see further into the distance, which makes exploring the region easier and more fun.

For all the good though, there are a few issues to spotlight and most of them stem from the shortcuts the developer used back in the PlayStation 4 days. Weather effects are perhaps the worst example, rain seems to now land in a repeating pattern, I don’t know if this is related to the extra draw distance, or something else, but that opening scene from Lost Legacy, is one such area where the raindrops look out of place. Another example is with the foliage deformation, it still looks good, but with the enhanced visual touches, you can more easily spot when things swap between the regular and the flat version, any tall grass scene will allow that to be seen. Neither of those elements impact the overall presentation, but it does highlight that in making everything look better, it means what was average before, now looks even better.

The Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a great way to discover two very fun games or re-discover, as was in my case. While returning players may not find anything new story wise, the fun of playing through them again, honestly can’t be beat. The power of the PlayStation 5 makes everything pop off the screen like never before, but it can highlight some of the less well executed parts as well. Normally I disabled all the adaptive trigger features in games, but here, it was just executed so well and connected me to the on-screen action, I couldn’t find a reason to disable it. IF you have never experienced these games before, this is the best way to do so and even if you have, the adventures and characters contained within are well worth a revisit.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by PlayStation

The Pros

+Two great games that now look better and play smoother

+The DualSense connects you to the games like you can’t imagine

The Cons

-Still has the same pacing issues and such from the original release

-The visual boost also puts a spotlight on the shortcuts used back from the PlayStation 4 release