Here to kick off the 7th anniversary celebrations are what we believe to be the 7 greatest moments in Uncharted; Drake’s Fortune. Let us know if we have missed out your favourite section!
Nathan and Elena parachute out of a burning plane…
Fresh faced and ready for adventure Nathan and Elena make their way to the island indicated on a Kriegsmarine map found in the U-Boat. Elena is filming a slightly bashful and camera shy Nate when they are rudely interrupted by anti-aircraft fire. Nate and Elena both seem to be new to the world of parachuting, but Nate urges Elena to bail out, telling her that “you jump, count to five, and pull the cord.” Elena leaps out with her parachute (and film camera) and Nate comes to his senses and tries to follow her. However, a little panic comes over him, and he reminds himself of the drill; “you jump, count to five and pull the cord. How hard can that be?” Dear Nate leaps from the plane, screaming. “AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHONETWOTHREEFOURFIVE[pullscord]CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP!!!!!”
And then there’s a suggestion when he finally reaches the ground that he… er… soiled himself on the way down.
Nathan and Elena find the body of Sir Francis Drake…
We know the history of Nathan Drake and his relationship to Sir Francis Drake (if you don’t you may want to skip this part). We meet Nathan in Uncharted; Drake’s Fortune, and he is clumsy, charismatic and a deeply proud of his heritage. He tells Elena when she asks about the ring around his neck about how he “sort of inherited it” from Sir Francis and how it led him to the empty coffin that they had earlier raised from the seabed. A little while later in Drake’s Fortune Nathan and Elena come across the body of Sir Francis propped up against a pillar in the deepest darkest recesses of the island on which the game is mostly set. Nathan is gutted; he believes it means that Sir Francis had gotten so far, only to end up dying lost and alone and forgotten. Of course Drake had succeeding in doing precisely what he had intended; to prevent the horrors of the island leaving the island; a feat that Nathan himself would repeat soon after.
Nathan, however, feels let down and broken by the assumed failure of the man whom he had looked up to for most of his life; a man whose name he had taken in place of one of his own. The revelations that follow in Uncharted 3; Drake’s Deception make this moment even more poignant and painful.
Eddy Raja. Eddy “no one messes with Eddy Raja” Raja…
One of the biggest fan favourites of not just Uncharted; Drake’s Fortune, but all of the Uncharted franchise is Nathan’s pal cum nemesis from the first game; Eddy Raja. Chronologically we first meet Eddy in the motion comic The Eye of Indra. Nate gets a somewhat rude awakening when the room of the lady whose bed he had been sharing was unceremoniously broken into one morning, only to discover that it was his some time associate and brother of the bed’s owner, Eddy Raja.
They manage to put their differences aside just long enough for the Pinkerton heist, but the truce is short lived when Eddy is hired by the big villain of Drake’s Fortune as the head of an army of modern day pirates. One thing leads to another, and Nathan finds himself behind bars. After being woken through the bars by Elena who disappears to find the tools to bust him out, in walks Eddy Raja. The dialogue between the two quickly lays out their backstory (none of us knew about The Eye of Indra at this point) and Eddy revels in Nate’s current misfortune. Nate tries to throw Eddy off when Eddy tries to cut him a deal. Eddy knows that Nate will almost certainly be able to find what they are looking for, so he kindly offers ‘the girl’ as a reward to the winner and Nate tries to convince him that Elena is long gone. Eddy’s face is a picture when the back wall of the cell is ripped out, revealing Elena in a Jeep yelling at Nate to get in.
Sully interrupts Nathan and Elena’s ‘moment’…
At the end of any good adventure tale there lies a snog between the leading love interests. Nathan has beaten off the bad guy (whose corpse presumably is still attached to a massive gold statue at the bottom of the ocean) and limps towards a barely conscious Elena. She is fine, if a little battered and bruised following the helicopter crash earlier. While waiting for Sully to catch them up, Nate and Elena have a tender moment, and lean in for a kiss, but bless Sully’s soul; “you two have a funny idea of romance!” And we have to wait a looooong time before we finally get to see that satisfying snog. Damn you Naughty Dog for keeping us all waiting.
Elena Fisher makes her feelings known…
Towards the beginning of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, before Nate and Elena have had much of an opportunity to get to know each other, Sully persuades Nate to sail off and leave Elena behind, fearing that her activities as a reporter will bring all manner of unwanted attention to their search. Reluctantly Nate agrees. A little later, while exploring the ruins they uncovered, Sully mentions that he noticed the “way you were eyeing [Elena]”. Nate’s response makes it clear that while he did find her attractive, he believes he has scuppered any chance of a ‘thing’ when they “ditched her on the dock”. And when Elena runs into Nate later on (following his dash from Roman and Navarro at the U-Boat) she hammers that home by punching him in the face. What is also interesting to note is that this moment was the idea of Emily Rose, the actress who plays Elena. Apparently she thought Elena would really want to hit him. And you now what? I think she was right.
Nathan and Sully make an unexpected discovery…
Uncharted is pretty, isn’t it? I mean, you always knew that. Those lush greens and the beautiful water (seriously can’t get over the water). But I am willing to bet that you weren’t prepared for the full ‘WOW’ of the U-boat reveal, amirite? Just as Nathan and Sully stop to catch their breaths after stumbling upon the sight, so do we. To this day I can’t not stop and admire the view.
Atoq Navarro reveals his true colours…
And finally – Atoq Navarro is a guy whose life choices I can appreciate. He spent the entire game doing all the hard work for his boss, only to screw him royally at the end. Huge amount of respect for him.
Anything you would add or change? Let us know, either by way of a comment, or send us a tweet – @allUNCHARTED,