Game Reviews

Uncharted: Fortune Hunter - Is it worth your time, and how does it compare to Lara Croft GO and more?

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Uncharted: Fortune Hunter - Is it worth your time, and how does it compare to Lara Croft GO and more?

Uncharted: Fortune Hunter isn't as terrible as you might expect. In that it's not really terrible at all. And, more importantly, it's not an endless runner.

In fact it's a more casual riff on the likes of Lara Croft GO. You control Nathan Drake, and need to scoot around a series of puzzling levels to nab some treasure.

You can collect bonuses for the Playstation 4 game as well, if that's the sort of thing you're into. To be honest though, it's worth playing even if you've no intention of splurging on the console release.

Okay, you're going to have to sell this to me

The levels take place on a single screen. There's a treasure chest you need to unlock, and a series of traps you need to get past in order to nab the gold and move on.

To move Drake you trace a line across the squares you want to traverse. Lift your finger and he wanders off. You tap switches to push them, and poke the treasure to pick it up once you've got to it.

There are plenty of tricky challenges to navigate though. Turrets fire a dart every time you move, and some of them rotate with each step as well. Blocks rise out of the floor when you push a switch, and if you're stood on one you'll die.

Then there are crumbling blocks that you can only stand on once, and seemingly impassable gaps that you need to bridge before you can cross them.

On top of all that, each of the levels has a move limit. Complete them in under that limit and you'll get a key you can use to unlock loot chests that Sully barks at you about.

And it all works really well. The controls are simple, but they hide a plethora of interesting mechanics that'll have you thinking several moves ahead if you want to succeed.

Plus there's a whole bunch of levels here, and plenty of things to unlock to use in the multiplayer mode of the main console game when it comes out.

So is it worth your time?

Absolutely. Even if you're not a fan of Drake's wise-cracking, grave-robbing murder sprees on PlayStation, this is a brilliant puzzler that will keep you engaged for a good long while.

It looks great, it plays great, and while it might not quite hit the heights of some other games in the same genre, it's still one of the best mobile tie-in games we've seen for a good long while.

How does it compare?

  • Lara Croft GO - Uncharted: Fortune Hunter isn't quite as sharp, or as good looking, as Lara's puzzling adventure. If you're just starting off in the genre, start here.
  • Hitman GO - Probably on a par with Agent 47's murderous boardgame rampage. Both are a lot of fun, but Uncharted: Fortune Hunter's price tag might just give it the edge.
  • Rust Bucket - A bit of a left-field one this, but Rust Bucket's dungeon crawling does have a lot in common with Fortune Hunter. Nitrome's title has more of an arcade bent, and it's a little deeper too.
Need some help? Why not check out our guide for the first 30 levels?

Uncharted: Fortune Hunter - Is it worth your time, and how does it compare to Lara Croft GO and more?

A surprisingly great puzzle adventure that captures a lot of what makes Uncharted so good and makes it work on mobile
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.