This collection provides you with three things: the single player packages for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. If you’re familiar with them from your PS3 playing days then you should know that all three games have been upgraded to run at 1080p and 60fps and there’s better all-round lighting and textures. There is now also a Photo Mode together with new trophies. Apart from that, however, there’s nothing particularly new here so if you’re familiar with the series you may feel that you’re simply going to wait until next year for the next brand new instalment (Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End). Have a read on, though, as you never know. Plus, what was ever wrong with a bit of nostalgia and fondly recalling the past? Julian Fellowes has, rightly or wrongly, done rather well out of the whole idea after all. Anyway, I digress.

So, if you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, who or what is Nathan Drake? He was created by Naughty Dog, who attempted to give Drake an everyman persona and the realism continued into the gameplay. So, for example, he might stumble whilst running or barely clear an obstacle he’s attempting to jump. Bless. The character and the series is regarded as one of the most influential of its time and with the latest in the series due for release in the coming months, it obviously seems like the fitting time to package the last three together and allow gamers to relive those heady days of the mid to late noughties.

This packaged Collection, then, offers the chance to revisit Drake in each of his previous three adventures, with some improvements as mentioned above. The oldest game, Drake’s Fortune, is the one which has probably benefited most from the upgraded frame-rate. It’s also fun to revisit the game where it all began and reassuring to note that it has aged surprisingly well, bearing in mind that 8 years is a long time when taking technology and its advances into account.

It seems a shame that, regarding this package as it stands now, there is little new to report. Indeed, it is also regrettable that flaws which existed in the original games have in fact been carried over to this collection. Thus, animation in shooting scenes can still be rather hit-and-miss (pardon the pun). This would surely have been the perfect opportunity for the developers to improve on content such as the character biographies, artwork and interviews and arguably it wouldn’t have taken too much effort to have done so. Still, the improvement in graphics does make a huge difference and so perhaps it was felt sufficient to let this speak for itself and allow gamers to appreciate where it all began in all its glory. Being able to play all three in quick succession also has clear benefits and amply whets the appetite for the next in the series.

If you haven’t already played this collection, then it’s a fantastic bundle that is an absolute no-brainer – amazing value. Fair to say then, that this collection does just enough to justify its release – sufficient improvements, and a timely reminder of all that is good about Drake and his adventures. Roll on A Thief’s End!

Rating – 8.7