Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - hands-on

Oct 2, 2007

While some games take forever to reveal their secrets, Uncharted is happy to give us a guided tour of its own mysterious island, complete with thick jungle, hostile inhabitants, strange monuments and skeletons of previous visitors. All that's missing is a polar bear, though we wouldn't rule out seeing one of those at some point either. That's not to say the game is short on mystery - it's storyline packs loads of intrigue, while simultaneously serving up a muscular, fast-paced action romp in the style of Indiana Jones.

Like Indy, hero Nathan Drake is a sucker for fortune and glory, flinging himself headlong into a search for the treasure of El Dorado after being contacted by TV host Elena Fisher who wants to make a program about his travels. Drake believes he's descended from Sir Francis Drake, and after looting the explorer's coffin, the pair finds his 400-year-old diary, which details his links with a secret gold-running Spanish colony on an uncharted Pacific island. This isn't as uncharted as it seems, because when they get close to the island, their plane is shot down by anti-aircraft fire - forcing them to parachute out and become separated.