An amazing 3rd Person Shooter!
The game starts off around a year after the previous game with Nate and a few fellow mates trying to find the legendary Marco Polo's lost fleet. As expected, things don't work as easy as planned and takes them on an even bigger adventure. This game doesn't just occur on one island, it changes locations a lot of times over the course of the story. The pacing feels great, even though you're still doing the same shooting and climbing and whatnot, the way the scenes are presented tends to let a better flow than the previous game. Every character feels like they should be there, and the way the all interact with each other has a realistic feeling to it.Nate and his friends go through a lot during Nate's tale, which helps reel you in and keeps you hooked on the game until the end. The story although not perfect, tells itself in a very good manner though the amazing cut scenes and acting.
As for the game play, it feels a lot more balanced in this game. The combat has improved, mainly due to the fact that there was so many in the previous game which could get repetitive and quite frankly boring, this game offers you a better way to deal with battles, especially since the last game just had some cover spots and had it mainly on ground floors, this game offers you more levels which you game use to your advantage. Stealth is also another factor that is more easier to perform. You can take out 4-5 enemies before starting a big fight scene, which was quite rare in the previous game. You can skip big fights altogether if you are able to take out all enemies silently. Obviously, you don't have to use stealth and can go all out guns blazing on your enemies. The climbing sequences although still come across as very linear, are still interesting and make a nice break from the fights with enemies. It'd be nice if in Uncharted 3 they'd make multiple ways to get to a certain vantage point, instead of just one way.
The puzzles are still in this game, while some are quite easy, there is a certain one that requires a few page flicking in order to solve it. Drake also keeps his own diary, which is quite cool. You can freely flip through it and in the first couple of pages there are some pictures of him and a few mates. Another thing I have to mention is the AI, they feel smart and use cover to their advantage. They can toss grenades are move from cover to cover smartly. While your enemy AI is great, your friendly AI is even better. They really feel like they are there and never get in your way. They take their own cover spots and take out enemies themselves. You are also constantly with different friendly AI, which is a nice touch. It's fun doing quests with different people. But of course, there are parts when Nate has to do it all on his own as well, but the friendly AI is great.
Now, the visuals in this game is absolutely sublime. A lot of it has nothing to do with the game play itself, but makes you feel like you are fighting in a real environment. The lighting is very good and the detail is some of the best I had witnessed. The characters look realistic and the guns feel balanced.Every animation looks and feels smooth, to climbing up a wall to shooting an enemy. Even explosions are great.
For multi player, it is highly addictive. This game had me hooked on it, playing it day in and day out. There is many different game modes from Team Deathmatch to Plunder, and plus co-operative modes such as Gold Rush, this game offers a variety of things online to do which keeps you hooked. The servers are good, but could be better. The maps are great, with DLC taken from the original game. The guns are spread out throughout the maps, as you start off with your AK-47, Standard Pistol and Grenades. As you level up you gain access to more perks, which vary to helpful perks and negative perks, which boost how much in game Cash you earn during a game.
Overall this game has excellent presentation, the graphics are some of the best you'll come across, the sound is great from character voices to the shooting of a gun and the game play is great and runs very smoothly.
While this game isn't that long and doesn't have the best story, it's still one of the best games I have played. My score for Uncharted 2 is 9.5.