Among Masterpieces
What's the first thing you notice in Uncharted 2? Well, probably the visuals. Simply put, Uncharted 2 is the prettiest game on consoles. It's got highly detailed environments which are rich with color, and fantastic character models and facial animations. The game is simply pleasing to the eye. Not many parts of the game fail to impress, and unlike Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves has a vast number of locations, such as snowy mountains, jungles, villages, tombs, and a train segment. Each of these are just as impressive as the other. Drake's wet clothing as he got out of water is now complemented by frosting when he rolls around in the snow. The attention to detail is so superb, that later on in the game, there is a segment where you're simply forced to look at the scenery and witness your jaw drop.
After you get over the visuals, you realize that this is actually a game. Or is it? Uncharted 2, like Metal Gear Solid 4, is a cinematic game that uses cutscenes. However, Uncharted 2 uses cutscenes the right way. There's a total of 90 minutes of cinematics, giving just enough for the player to get a movie-like feel from it without taking them out of the experience. The cutscenes are used to tell the tale of Nathan Drake and his treasure seeking adventures.
The story here is pretty basic stuff. Drake wants treasure. Evil enemy wants treasure. Treasure was pursued by ancient explorers. None were said to have found it. And the rest is blank until you progress through the story. It may seem cliche, and to a certain extent, it is. But Naughty Dog has crafted these characters so superbly, that you forget how stereotypical they may be. For newcomers to the series, Drake is a treasure hunter who is well known among his enemies. who are also thieves( hence "Among Thieves" ). Nolan North's voice work is simply put, spectacular. In fact, all the voice actors deliver their lines with such great emotion. After Drake, there's Elena, who is a cameraman. She comes across Drake in this big mess. How she does, I will not spoil for you. Sully makes a return in the sequel as well. He's a bit of a lazy old guy who's in it for the money. It's a bit disappointing that Sully is only present for a very small portion of the game. However, that's more than made up for with the inclusion of the new characters.
Chloe. Damn. This is one fine babe. Her and Nate have a history together, which is not truly explained, but its still evident. She has a thing for Drake but goes after anything to get whatever she wants. She's also not afraid to use a gun, and can easily kick your ass.
Zoran Lazaravic is the enemy here. He's after the treasure as well. I won't tell you his motives since that would be a spoiler.
That's all I will be speaking of for the story, because the game is that much more powerful when it keeps you guessing. Just know that its paced so perfectly that you'll come to expect this type of pacing from every other game you play.
In terms of gameplay, everything has been kicked up a few notches and fine tuned. First, you've got the gunplay. This is like Gears of War. You can move around, take cover at the press of a button, peek out of cover to fire your shots, then get back under cover when you're hit. If you get hit by an enemy, you can take cover and heal up to normal health if you avoid enemy fire. On the normal difficulty, it takes around six to ten well placed shots to pin you. Bump that sucker up to Crushing, and you will find yourself dead in a matter of one to two shots. It doesn't get too cheap, but like the first game, they do tend to just throw out large number of enemies at you, which does get frustrating. However, the gunplay is a lot better this time around, and it's a lot more fluid to fire from the hip. And you'll have to do so many times in the game. Drake moves very fluidly and it's easy to just pick up the controller and move Drake and use him in combat.
A sizeable portion of the game is solving puzzles and finding treasures. The puzzles are for the most part easy to solve. They involve using Drake's journal and flipping to the right page which says "obvious clue is obvious" and you say "holy smokes why didn't I think of that?". Then it repeats. There are a lot less puzzles than in Drake's Fortune, but they're a lot more fun this time around. As for finding treasures, there are more treasures now, but I just didn't find the incentive to go find them all. These are all optional. You can go through the entire game without getting any treasures and you won't notice a difference in your gameplay experience.
Now, the third major gameplay mechanic is platforming. This is how you get from level to level. It's REALLY easy. Drake jumps perfectly and it's all following a linear path. This may seem like a negative, but it ends up working in the game's favor because it paces the game perfectly. The last thing you want is to be stranded for 10 minutes trying to find out where to jump. The game pretty much tells you where to jump, as there are obvious protrusions from walls or the ground which you can grab on to.
After you beat the single player campaign, which lasts around 12 hours on your first playthrough, you can play it again on harder difficulties. If replaying a game is not your thing, then you can hop online. There are a variety of modes in Uncharted 2's multiplayer suite. It's a full fledged multiplayer system with your standard Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, etc. Then for Co-op, there is the campaign-like co-op in which a total of 3 people can tackle on missions similar to the campaign. Then there's the horde mode, obviously inspired by Gears of War, in which 3 people can either Survive wave after wave of enemies, or Capture the treasure to progress to the next round. These modes have you playing a total of 10 rounds, with enemies getting tougher and tougher each round.
The multiplayer in Uncharted 2 allows you to do anything you could in the single player. Yes. You can climb up anything and use Vertical cover. It really is varied and fun in bursts, though it doesn't require a whole lot of skill.
If you skipped reading the review to this last paragraph to get quick glimpse of what I said, all I'm going to say is that Uncharted 2 is not a perfect game. It's got its flaws. However, it is a game that everyone who has a PS3 needs to own. If you don't have a PS3, it's definitely worth buying the system for; you will not be disappointed. It's a full game in every way, from a meaty single player campaign, to a full fledged multiplayer experience, there's no reason to miss out on this masterpiece.
10/10