Naughty Dog is now officially gaming world Spielberg.
First of all its very hard to talk about this game and not give away any spoilers.
Story:
Singleplayer expirence is so awesome, as we all know that Drake has been badly wounded, half of the game consists of flashbacks, which ofcourse shows how he got into this mess. Games story is tied with Marco Polos expedition, what really happened to those poor crew members....? This time around Drake is after the Cintamani stone. Drake is really among thieves-you just cant trust them, because of them he is held in prison, gun pointed, and even shot.
I got to tell you, Naughty dog hit the nails head with the decision to add a couple of new characters into the game. You will totally love conversations between Drake and the new guy called Harry Flynn. And oh boy, Elena is still so lovely girl, whos also dragged into this pulse fastening action, and thats cos of her curiosity. Games ending comes to very spectacular and emotional ending.
Animation, body language in and out of cutsenes are so smooth this time around, lip sync is incridible, all characters are highly detailed, not just Drake anymore, speaking of Drake- he is even better this time around, by that i mean hes probably the most lovabale character over many years in video game history!
Visuals
I didnt belive i will say that but the fact is: developers far surpassed presentation level shown in first game, its like night and day. Drakes highly detailed body, his wrinkles, hair, beard textures – all look like real deal now. Not so plastic (or cartoony) like in the first game, the same goes to the whole environment (forest, plants, foliage). Its like with the first game they only tested the system. But Now they are pretty much going on full steam.
gosh, look at the very top first screens between those two games here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17119492&postcount=920
Explosions are better, more realistic.
Uncharted 2 Among Thieves is the best looking console game out there, thats mainly because it dosent afraid to show colours, very richful. Yeah, you could argue that I completely forgot Killzone 2 and MGS4 (or Gears of war). But U2 reminds us that grey isn't the only colour available, Among thieves palette of colours blow those aforementioned games away.
At the same time when ppl complain about camera angle, I would give a medallion (Oscar or smthng) to the guy responsible making it perfect! The way its done adds its own share to movie like feeling!
gameplay
Throwing a grenade dosnet force u to use motion sensors anymore.
Levels are very well designed, especially the train mission, museum, ice cavern,
i must name one particular level, which makes even the most critically and ill-disposed, and rather serious gamer to sream and cheer, thats right im talking about level where you were jumping from Truck to Truck in that Chase Sequence, i was so blowed away, and found my self admit: god, thats ingeniously done.
Developers added some stealth take downs, wrist fights are unbelievably smooth, they are not so clumsy like in original!
Multiplayer
Again it dosent refresh the genre, but I totally loved how features in singleplayer are all present online! Such as brilliant graphics, cover system, free climbing. Connecting and finding players could be done quicker, maybe patch will bring it to the same level as cod4s fast matchmaking expirence. Luckily theres no lag.
Audio:
And another new thing is how characters interact with eachother in the middle of gameplay, this means developers found a spectacular way to show characters persnoalities outside of cutscenes!! They never have forced feeling, instead their all creepely natural, and forexample jokes are said at the right moment so they make you laugh, honestly i have never seen anything like it in video games.
According by the situation in levels, Drakes complaints over his misurable life, his happy moments, chit chat with others are all punctually right
Gun shots, explosions are very high def. You really have to have surround sound system, otherwise you will badly miss some great aspects.
Cons:
• You cant get over the feeling that there could have been less cutscenes, especially at the very beginning of the game.
• Its still a bit too linear game
• After the point when Drake have to coop with Flynn again, story starts to fade away, you will see when you get there.
I even considered lowering score because of that but then, its spectacular and emotional ending saved it, when you played the first game and saw its ending and thought it was rushed, then this time its more polished, they took some time to make proper conclusion, you will come to understand all of what made little sense as the game proceeded.
Summary:
Dont belive ppl who say this game is worse than original. Yet they deny the fact that first adventures of Drake didnt have multiplayer (hello?) already cos of that U2 is much better game, plus add to that story, which is tons of times better, enchanced gameplay, and ofcourse such brilliant graphics.
Never a drop in frame rates and no evidence of screen-tearing, or whatsoever, and all of this is achieved without a mandatory installation or a single loading screen!! That's what I call IMPRESSIVE!
"is that marco polo's european dagger in your pocket?"
Nate: "Maybe im just happy to see you"