The next Indiana Jones movie doesn’t land until July 2021. That’s a long time to wait. So if you are looking to fill that fedora sized hole in your heart look no further than Nathan Drake.
Who? If you aren’t a PlayStation family that’s probably what you said. Drake started out in 2007 as a Lara Croft rip-off who quickly went on to out Croft Croft. Interesting enough an early version of the Lara Croft Tomb Raider character had the then male hero running around wearing a fedora. Ah, what might have been if game developer, Core Design, hadn’t worried about a lawsuit from Lucasfilm.
Nevertheless, this Croft wannabe has gone on to be a better developed character and excellent modern day Indiana Jones rival.
In fact, Nathan Drake is a perfect blend of two of Harrison Ford’s two best characters: Indiana Jones and Han Solo. Drake is a globetrotting adventurer in search of lost cities and ancient treasures but instead of saying, “That belongs in a museum!” he’s looking to make a buck.
Drake, like Solo, starts with hopes of a big payday even if that means swindling the other guy in the process. He also isn’t afraid to shoot first but does possess the moral compass that makes him a hero at the end of the day.
There are the four games starring Drake in the Uncharted series.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
The game opens with Nathan Drake recovering the lost at sea coffin of his great great great great great great grandfather, Sir Francis Drake. Interred inside the metal casket are not the famed explorer’s remains but his diary, which holds the location of El Dorado.
While in pursuit of the famed golden city, Drake discovers Nazis had attempted to recover El Dorado when he finds a marooned German U-boat deep in the Amazon. *I told you he’s a great stand in for Jones.*
Eventually Drake finds El Dorado but nothing can prepare him for the truth of this golden treasure.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
For Drake’s sophomore outing, he attempts to unravel a mystery surrounding Marco Polo’s doomed and undocumented 1292 from China. It turns out that Polo discovered the location of Shanghai-La and the wish fulfilling Cintimani Stone. Drake isn’t the only one looking though. Evil Serbian mercenaries are also on the hunt and they have their own nefarious intentions for these ancient powers.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Once again fortune hunter Nathan Drake is catapulted headlong into an adventure that takes him on a daring trek into the heart of the Arabian Desert in a search for the fabled “Atlantis of the Sands.” This time around Drake is pitted against a shadowy clandestine organization and its ruthless leader.
When the terrible secrets of this lost city are unearthed, Drake’s quest descends into a desperate bid for survival that strains the limits of his endurance.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Here’s the elevator pitch for Uncharted 4—Indiana Jones meets The Goonies.
This time Drake is hunting pirate treasure. Not just any pirate treasure either. In the fourth installment of the series, Drake is searching for Libertalia, the pirate utopia deep in the forests of Madagascar, that holds mother of all pirate hordes Captain Henry Avery’s long-lost gold cache.
Uncharted 4 Nathan Drake is as close as you can get to Indiana Jones. Instead of a whip he carries a rope with grappling hook, which he uses to swing from ledge to ledge. The only thing missing is the iconic hat. Alothough in the scene below he’s wearing the leather coat while making a “bad dates” Easter egg joke.
Experience Nathan Drake for yourself
The best way to experience Nathan Drake is to play the games, but just because you don’t have a PlayStation doesn’t mean you can’t share in his adventures. That’s where Andy Gilleand’s YouTube channel comes in.
Gilleand takes video games and edits them into cinematic movies. He does a great job not only editing together all the cut scenes but adding just enough game play to connect the dots without getting bogged down with all the required video game grinding.
But don’t take my word for it start watching Gilleand’s Uncharted movies today and satisfy the thing you’ve been Jonesing *wink, wink* for.