A good introduction to the franchise but a very aged one at that. It introduced us to the tropes the series would expand on and perfect as well as the charismatic Nathan Drake, who would go down as one of the best PlayStation mascots for the better half of a decade or so. Unfortunately, as mentioned, it is starting to show it's age as time progresses, regretfully.
I think this game, and others would agree, has obviously always been a bit jank. It's definitely a product of it's time and it shows, but it always had a certain charm and it still does, but this turned out to be a lot jankier than I remembered and also way shorter, somehow (maybe because I didn't play Hard on this playthrough)
The gunplay is still really fun, I think that's aged fine, despite the AI that runs around like a headless chicken in some encounters, it really solidified the future of the series and it was a great foundation for it, even seeping into inspiring The Last Of Us' gunplay, which would go on to become Naughty Dog's best achievement in that department (and many others too)
What really holds this title back though is the level design, there's almost zero sense of direction. Sometimes you'll walk around aimlessly for maybe 20-30 minutes until the thing you were looking for you find right under your nose. It just really has no sense of indication and it does not help when some of the levels have random open spaces with absolutely nothing detrimental towards progression.
Narratively, it feels like a B-movie... game? Which actually isn't a bad thing. It's very charming and it executes what it sets out to do in a very entertaining way, so nothing wrong with that.
Overall, yeah, I used to defend this game a lot, going as far to make excuses for it's jank as "skill issue" but after having played on Hard difficulty and going back to Normal, it really is actually pretty rough around the edges.
I think this game, and others would agree, has obviously always been a bit jank. It's definitely a product of it's time and it shows, but it always had a certain charm and it still does, but this turned out to be a lot jankier than I remembered and also way shorter, somehow (maybe because I didn't play Hard on this playthrough)
The gunplay is still really fun, I think that's aged fine, despite the AI that runs around like a headless chicken in some encounters, it really solidified the future of the series and it was a great foundation for it, even seeping into inspiring The Last Of Us' gunplay, which would go on to become Naughty Dog's best achievement in that department (and many others too)
What really holds this title back though is the level design, there's almost zero sense of direction. Sometimes you'll walk around aimlessly for maybe 20-30 minutes until the thing you were looking for you find right under your nose. It just really has no sense of indication and it does not help when some of the levels have random open spaces with absolutely nothing detrimental towards progression.
Narratively, it feels like a B-movie... game? Which actually isn't a bad thing. It's very charming and it executes what it sets out to do in a very entertaining way, so nothing wrong with that.
Overall, yeah, I used to defend this game a lot, going as far to make excuses for it's jank as "skill issue" but after having played on Hard difficulty and going back to Normal, it really is actually pretty rough around the edges.