RSS
Home
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves review (PS3)
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
Wow. Just writing about Uncharted 2, sequel to 2007’s excellent Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, makes me tense up a bit as I replay the often ridiculously intense campaign in my mind. With Uncharted 2, developer Naughty Dog set out to craft the ultimate playable popcorn action movie. They have succeeded brilliantly, delivering an interactive thrill ride that will amaze everyone who plays it and which leaves what was already one of the PS3’s best games in the dust. Judged as an overall experience, I’d say Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is an example of pulp entertainment at its absolute finest.
A big part of the fun of playing through an Uncharted game is following treasure hunter and all-around badass Nathan Drake as he pursues a real world mystery that uncovers a much more epic and unexpected adventure, so I’m not going to spill many details of Uncharted 2’s main quest here. Suffice it to say that about a year after the end of the first game, Nate is back in the market for a job requiring his unique talents and finds one thanks to a couple of new faces who share his passion for stolen artifacts (or at least the prices they fetch). From there, Nate and his fellow thieves engage in a daring heist that uncovers details about the mysterious lost fleet of Marco Polo—thirteen ships said to have been loaded with treasure and shipwrecked somewhere on their return voyage from Polo’s journey to the Far East.
Following this initial setup, Uncharted 2’s roughly 10-hour campaign quickly becomes a much more epic adventure than the first game’s, but the expanded scope never sacrifices the character-driven experience that makes this series so compelling. Instead, Uncharted 2’s campaign offers more variety, more set-pieces, better pacing, and an overwhelming sense that everything that made Drake’s Fortune fun has been ratcheted up several notches for the sequel. For example, the number of different locations in which Among Thieves takes place is vastly increased compared to the first game, lending it a sense of globetrotting adventure and preventing the gameplay from ever feeling stale. This is a textbook example of how a sequel should build on the foundation of its predecessor without losing sight of what made the original title successful.
The gameplay in Uncharted 2 boils down to three core tenets: climbing, shooting, and hand-to-hand/stealth combat. For those unfamiliar with the series, it essentially mixes the cover-based shooting of Gears of War with the acrobatic exploration of Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia. While this combination was fun in the original Uncharted, it has been subtly yet thoroughly improved in Among Thieves.
All three gameplay aspects have been refined and blended into a virtually seamless experience. This is due to the game’s brilliant level design as much as improved mechanics like eliminating the needless sixaxis grenade throwing from the first game. The average scenario feels much more open this time around, giving the player several viable options as to how to tackle each combat section. Stealth is much more useful than in Drake’s Fortune, and it’s very satisfying to silently eliminate four or five enemy soldiers before the rest are alerted and all hell breaks loose. Hand-to-hand combat is also more intuitive, with simple combos that involve dodging enemy strikes and then delivering a finishing blow. No combat scenario will play out exactly the same twice, and the whole affair has a supremely polished, satisfyingly chaotic, yet never frustrating feel.
Uncharted 2’s climbing mechanics have also been refined, making it a thrill to guide Drake as he scales buildings and tiptoes along cliffs. Again, fantastic level design is what pushes the experience over the top. One sequence in particular, which has Nate traversing a series of gorgeous Himalayan ice caves, might actually force you to set the controller down for a minute to catch your breath. Uncharted 2’s gameplay truly dissolves into the universe Naughty Dog has created, allowing the player to become totally absorbed in the adventure. It’s an absolute blast from start to finish.
It's also worth noting that Drake is accompanied by at least one A.I. companion for nearly the entire single-player campaign. Constant A.I. companions have proven to be a terrible drag in many other games, but in Uncharted 2 they are a pleasure. Not once was my progress impeded by having to wait for an A.I. partner or my combat tactics ruined by a boneheaded follower. Drake's stable of allies are not only genuinely helpful in combat or traversal sections, but they provide a constant opportunity for entertaining banter and infuse every scene with a sense of life and believability. You really feel as if you're exploring underground ruins with fellow treasure hunter Chloe, or fighting through the jungle with old pal Victor Sullivan, rather than simply moving from point A to point B in a video game level.
Of course, it’s impossible to discuss Uncharted 2 without mentioning what an utterly amazing technical achievement it is. Drake’s Fortune gave us glimpses of what the PS3 could really do, but Among Thieves truly delivers on all those crazy promises made by Sony about how powerful their system would be. The amount of detail in Uncharted 2’s environments is staggering. There were literally dozens of moments when I was forced to stop playing and simply marvel at Drake’s surroundings. Photorealistic character models, incredible effects (best video game snow ever), and hands down the best animations in the industry—Naughty Dog has set a graphical benchmark with Uncharted 2 that I frankly can’t imagine being met until Uncharted 3 comes out.
In the end, Uncharted 2 succeeds because it embraces what it is: a big-budget pulp adventure. There are no pretensions here, just a focused effort to deliver the most heart-pounding, enjoyable experience one can have with an action video game. Naughty Dog took the time to craft believable, genuinely fun characters that you can’t help but love spending time with. They then put those characters through a gauntlet of intensely thrilling situations and task the player with getting them out alive. That formula, coupled with a generally lighthearted tone and great character-driven humor is what puts Uncharted in the same league as the best of Hollywood entertainment and what gives it that magical sense of fun that recent movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Iron Man rode to such success.
Uncharted 2’s single-player quest is one jaw-dropping moment after another, with breathless chases, frantic gunfights, narrow escapes, and heart-pounding climbs. To describe such moments in detail would be ruining the fun of discovering just how far Naughty Dog goes to top themselves with each successive set-piece, but believe me when I say that your heart rate will increase while playing this game.
Add all of the aforementioned excitement with a very robust multiplayer experience, and you might feel guilty about only paying $60 for Uncharted 2. Among Thieves takes all the silky smooth gunplay and climbing from its single-player and brings it online, with the standard litany of deathmatch and objective-based competitive multiplayer for up to ten players. The gameplay translates wonderfully to multiplayer, and a full progression system with unlockable characters and “boosters” (think Call of Duty’s perks) rounds out the experience.
In addition to competitive, there’s also cooperative multiplayer. Co-op takes the form of several self-contained missions that task three players with fighting through enemies to reach an objective, as well as an arena mode that is Uncharted’s version of Gears of War’s Horde or Halo 3: ODST’s firefight modes. Uncharted 2’s multiplayer never feels tacked-on, and will keep you playing long after every hidden treasure has been found and every difficulty level conquered in the game’s single-player component.
Naughty Dog should be applauded for what they’ve delivered with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. This is not a typical sequel and this is not a typical game. Uncharted 2 is a monumental achievement in action gaming, and it’s now clear that the Uncharted franchise deserves iconic status right alongside the Halos, Zeldas, and Final Fantasies of the industry as a true standard-bearing property not only for its system, but for the gaming medium as a whole. In case it isn’t already clear, if you own a PS3 and don’t buy this game there it truly something wrong with you. If you don’t own a PS3, then there’s no better way to jump in. Do not miss out on this one. Here’s to hoping that Nathan Drake and the gang are around for a very long time to come.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
